Throughout the year of 2019, people took to the streets all around the world – including in West Asia and North Africa. We asked activists from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, and Algeria how they perceive the protests in their neighboring countries.
Adel Abdel-Mahdi became the most recent example for change caused by the recent protests that challenged the political status quo in North Africa and West Asia. Abdel-Mahdi resigned from his mandate as the Prime Minister of Iraq in the end of November, after Algeria’s long term ruler Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Sudan’s dictator Omar al-Bashir were already forced to step down earlier this year.
In Lebanon thousands have taken to the streets in the past months protesting against corruption and an elite that failed to provide basic public infrastructure. In Iran, nationwide protests have been brutally put down and the country’s internet has been shut down repeatedly. In year nine of Syria’s civil war there are still pockets of active civil society where people fight for democratic self-governance, despite the bombing by Syria’s dictator Bashir Al-Assad, Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
Is there a common ground between these protests? Has the new generation of activists learned from the revolutions that swept the region almost ten years ago? In which ways do activists perceive the protests in their neighboring countries? These are some of the questions we have asked activists from Iraq, (North-Eastern) Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, and Algeria.
"We are all facing the same system."
Sami Adnan, 28 – political activist from Baghdad and founder of the group “Workers against Sectarianism“ which is actively involved in the current protests in Iraq.
I see a lot of similarities between all the protests in West Asia and North Africa, as it is not only an Arab revolution. If you look at the region, you will find the same sectarian, Islamist political system ruling us – from Teheran to Beirut.
In Lebanon, there is a rule of militias backed by Iran and the same goes for Iraq. In Iran, there is the revolutionary guard, killing the Iranian people. We saw in the current protests how they kill and injure people. These militias even carry the same names: It’s Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hezbollah in Syria, and Hezbollah in Iraq – all funded by Iran.
The regimes also use the same propaganda: “We are here to protect you, to end corruption, to fight Israel, to do whatever…” There is huge corruption in both Lebanon and Iraq. And when people protest against this rule, there is the same suppressive answer by the government: Cutting people’s internet and brutally suppressing the protests.
The electricity problems in Beirut exist also in Baghdad. There is huge unemployment everywhere. There is crazy privatization in Lebanon. The same goes for Iraq. They are rooted in the same neo-liberal ideas from the US.
We painted several graffiti in solidarity with other protesters, saying for example: “From Baghdad to Lebanon”. We also raised some other flags and we chanted slogans. Last night, I saw people painting the picture of Abdelbasit Sarout, the Syrian revolutionary who has been killed, in the Turkish restaurant [a building on Tahrir Square in Baghdad, squatted by protesters. Editor’s note]. But I think there is no real network between us that would allow a better exchange. This kind of network would make us even stronger.
We experienced solidarity from Lebanon as well, where people raised some Iraqi or Palestinian flags. We saw on social media that in Iran, some people painted graffiti in solidarity with us. One of them said: “One struggle, one class against the same system – support the protests in Iraq”.
We realized how important it is that we learn from other protests. In Lebanon, people learned from us how to occupy buildings or how to build barricades on a bridge or how to use helmets and motorcycles. We learned from Lebanon how to dance in the protests, how to put music in Al-Tahrir. And how to use joy, art and graffiti. This gives us motivation. We are all facing the same system.
Image: graffiti showing the Syrian Abdelbasit Sarout.
"Wall paintings and graffiti are very important"
Karim*, 30 – director of a youth center in Atareb, Aleppo province in Syria. He has been involved in different activities against the regime and for a positive development of the local civil society since 2011. Even though Atareb is nowadays under the control of Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, activists like Karim find ever new ways of resistance against the authoritarian regime.
All protests calling for freedom and dignity and demanding an end to autocratic regimes are similar to our struggle.
We were able to exchange our messages of solidarity with other protests during our demonstrations. We made our messages visible on signs of solidarity and saw other signs from abroad in foreign media outlets as well. Wall paintings and graffiti are also an important medium. The current struggles and revolutions are, in my opinion, the extension of our revolution in Syria that is now in its eighth year.
As Syrians, we thought that the extent of violence that we are facing combined with the missing international solidarity, would undermine any other uprising or revolution – especially here in the region. Today though, we are proven wrong. We know exactly how hard this struggle is and how all forces conspire against those fighting for freedom. We place great hopes in the new movements and uprisings. We too will continue to hold on to our demands and dreams.
"The situation is terrible. But the revolutions around me make me optimistic."
Roj*, 35 – political activist from a small town near Qamishlo in Northern Syria. His activism started even before 2011 when he joined the peaceful revolutionary movement. He contributed greatly to the construction of a community center in the small town of Ain Issa (near Tall Abyad) where many refugees from Raqqa found shelter. He is currently considering to leave the country as a life under the Assad regime is not possible for political opponents like him.
The situation here is terrible, we are lost between all fronts. But the revolutions around me make me optimistic. Three of the countries that are relevant for our political situation are witnessing revolutions by the people at the moment. Lebanon, Iran, Iraq. All of them are demanding “madaniya”, a civil government, instead of a military or sectarian governments. All of them are inclusive, which means anti-sectarian and anti-racist.
This kind of change is important for this region. It is only through this inclusive identity that we can develop stability and ensure freedom for all people. At the same time we need an economic upturn and improve our education systems to reach the goal of a free society. It would be best if there was no more regional or international interference. Without interference, there would be hope for success of our revolutions.
During the protests in Lebanon, people were shouting clear anti-Turkish slogans, to show their solidarity with us. This phenomenon also shows that the revolutions are more educated about political causal relationships, for example of the role of Turkey and its greed.
The people who take to the streets now, have taken the first step towards a snowball effect. They will cause change.
Image: "Idlib - Gaza", mural in Idlib, Syria, showing solidarity with the people of Gaza.
"We as activists should share our knowledge of resistance with each other!"
Muzna Alhaj, 29 – activist from Khartoum
The triggers for different protests and revolutions are globally similar: Corruption, injustice, and brutality. It often starts by economic hardship that is caused by corruption and that makes people take to the streets. Here in Sudan, one of the triggers was that school children were not able to afford breakfast anymore.
Not only the triggers but also the regimes’ reaction is always the same: Brutality and repression. It was the same with us in Sudan as it is now in Iraq. There are many details that are the same, even beyond North Africa and West Asia: In Sudan, many protesters lost their eyesight by the hands of the regime, exactly as it is happening now in Chile. In Sudan we had the internet blocked, just as now in Iran. To make it short: The mechanisms of oppression are comparable and so we also understand our protests as universal.
This is why the solidarity with other revolutions and protests in very important to us. A big part of it is happening online on social media. During our protests, Egyptians especially expressed their solidarity with us. They warned us, not to make the same mistakes they did in the post-revolutionary phase after 2011. They helped us to anticipate the next steps of the regime. At the same time the Egyptian government was actively involved in Sudan. They wanted to prevent a regime change which would have led to a civil government and supported the Sudanese military.
In September, when the short wave of protests sprang up in Egypt, we followed the events closely. They had direct impact on us because they forced president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to focus on interior politics instead of politics in Sudan. On the other hand, we also felt an emotional revolutionary solidarity with the people in Cairo. In addition, some Sudanese activists who were in Cairo at the time were arrested. They were accused of encouraging Egyptians to take the streets and protest. Most of them are freed by now.
During our revolution there was also a lot of solidarity with Algeria. We waved their flag during our protests and we kept each other updated about our revolutions by using the same hashtags on social media. We warned them that the involvement of the military was a trap that the protesters should be aware of. Solidarity means for me as well an exchange of information about specific techniques of resistance. For example the construction of barricades, the TukTuks but also about the slogans we chant. In Lebanon for example they chant slogans that are very critical of the banking system. I think we could have stressed this aspect more in Sudan as well.
Many of the revolutionary structures though, cannot be depicted on social media. This is the case with our revolutionary neighborhood committees that have been an important backbone of the Sudanese revolution. They are still in place and could be an example for protests in other countries. Therefore, I strongly believe that we as activists should share our knowledge of resistance with each other!
Image: Alaa Salah became an icon of the Sudanese Revolution. The Syrian collective "Kash Malek" painted her portrait on a wall in Idlib.
"The protests in Sudan were a role model and a source of motivation."
Kouceila Zerguine, 39 – human rights activist from Annaba, Algeria. He is fighting for the cultural rights of Amazigh (self-designation of Berber groups in Algeria) and is an advocate for the rights of migrants in Algeria.
First of all, I want to question the term “region”. There is no such thing as “the Arab world”. It is a construct. We do not feel as part of an Arab World, many of us experience the Arab identity as something that has been forced on us. We are Amazigh, or Berber. Even pan-Arabism was forced on us. I want to make it very clear: We do not see ourselves as Arabs. The demands for Amazigh cultural rights were very central to our revolutions as well.
This might be one of the reasons why our solidarity during the revolution was focused on Sudan. Our shared African context was more relevant than the context of the “Arab World”. We are neighbors. When we saw how much people in Sudan achieved and how brave they were, we thought: Why are we not as ambitious? That’s why the protests in Sudan were a role model and a source of motivation for us.
We expressed our solidarity with the revolution in Sudan through signs that we carried in the protests. It stayed at this rather symbolic level because we do not have real connections between the different revolutionary movements. On social media, we saw that people in Khartoum likewise expressed solidarity with our revolution, for example by carrying our flags together in their protests. Besides the solidarity from Sudan, we saw a few posts in Lebanon but they were rather occasional.
We closely followed the protests in Sudan from the beginning as their demands were the same as ours: Freedom and the end of the military regime. Sudan and Algeria were controlled by similar military regimes, by presidents who were in power since a very long time. In both our cases the lines of conflict are not sectarian, as it is the case in the Levant. Another reason why we were linked more closely with Sudan than with Lebanon or Iraq, was the timing: Sudan and Algeria have been fighting for their revolutions almost simultaneously.
Nevertheless, we feel deeply connected to all people who fight similar post- and anti-colonial fights as we do. This is the case, for example, in other countries where the people suffered from French colonialism. Especially within the Maghreb region we see ourselves as one. The borders are of no relevance to us, we are one family, and we have the same tribal structures, the same culture. Consequently, there have been expressions of solidarity with our revolution in Morocco, especially close to our shared border. One of the aims of the revolution was the re-opening of this very border. So far, this claim has not been fulfilled.
"These revolutions restore our lost hopes."
Farah Baba, 23 – political activist in Beirut. She supports the Lebanese revolution as a member of different feminist and anti-racist groups.
It is the common outrage that unites global protest movements. Outrage about unfair taxation, the socio-economic and political systems that institutionalize oppression.
In addition, the protests in Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran are united by the fight against sectarian or regional divides of identities and societies. Another reason for our outrage is the concept of “resistance” against Israel that has been violently monopolized by Iran and its representatives in Lebanon and Iraq.
For years, they have been emotionally and politically blackmailing the population with a pseudo-leftist phrase: “Either you support us, as we provide protection from Israel and the imperial-colonial West, or you are a traitor, a spy of the West, a supporter of neo-liberal Saudi Arabia, and the opposition that is influenced by the US.”
In all three countries we strongly reject this binary logic of political affiliation and ideology. The people oppose these two poles, as well as Israel. This way we try to de-fetishize and de-monopolize the concept of resistance against Israel.
In my opinion, the people are revolting against this “culture of death” that has a central role in the narratives of resistance used by Hezbollah, as well as by the Syrian and the Iranian regime.
The people protesting in Lebanon are creating a transnational discourse by highlighting the common struggles of all those living under neo-liberal and oppressive regimes and systems. As people are brutally killed, simultaneously in occupied Gaza, in Idlib, Chile, Iraq, or Iran we believe that international solidarity in form of slogans and quiet demonstrations for other protests is extremely important. At the same time we create new political cultures in order to leave behind identity based concepts such as sectarianism. We hope to explore new paths of solidarity and political life based on democracy and justice for all.
These revolutions restore the lost hopes of my generation. We are able to believe now that we can smash the oppressive and unjust structures of our societies through political activism.
*names changed by the editors.
with help from: Ansar Jasim, Schluwa Sama, Jan Altaner
