Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:11:37.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Street Protest and Opposition in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

from Part III - Domestic Political Developments and the Kurds in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2021

Hamit Bozarslan
Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Cengiz Gunes
Affiliation:
The Open University, Milton Keynes
Veli Yadirgi
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines protest in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Prior to 1991, street protests in Iraqi Kurdistan played important roles in perpetuating local claims and broadcasting popular perspectives in a series of regimes that gave ordinary people few avenues for exercising influence. Attention to such protests highlights the fact that the Kurdish struggle under the Ba’ath was waged not only by peshmerga in the mountains but by civilians in towns and cities whose public manifestations of discontent continually pushed the limits of Iraqi authority and validated collective action as a legitimate form of political expression. Since 1991 and especially after 2003, street demonstrations have played an increasingly significant role in Iraqi Kurdish political life. The chapter divides such protests into three main phases, each differentiated primarily by shifts in state society relations, resources and mobilization capacity. Initially focused on improving service provision and infrastructure in specific locales, popular protests soon broadened in geographic and political scope to encompass systemic reforms calling for the redistribution of resources and the rule of law. Expanded meso-level mobilization capacity combined with newly potent master frames and forms of mobilization helped build and sustain a significant level of popular challenge to Kurdish authorities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abd al-Jabbar, F. (1992). Why the uprisings failed. Middle East Report, 176 (May–June), 214.Google Scholar
Abdelrahman, M. (2013). In praise of organization: Egypt between activism and revolution. Development and Change, 44 (3), 569–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abdulla, M. (2011). ‘Two years on: Gorran’s big challenge’. Kurdistan Tribune, 1 August. http://kurdistantribune.com/2011/two-years-on-gorrans-big-challenge/.Google Scholar
Abdulla, N. (2011). ‘Iraq: Free speech protests in Kurdistan’. The New York Times, 4 January. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/world/middleeast/05briefs-iraq.html.Google Scholar
Ad Hoc Committee of Maidani Azadi (2011). ‘The road map to radical solution for the political and governing crisis in Kurdistan: A peaceful transition of power in the Kurdistan Region’. 10 April.Google Scholar
Al-Ali, N. and Pratt, N. (2011). Between nationalism and women’s rights: The Kurdish women’s movement in Iraq. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 4, 337–53.Google Scholar
Amnesty International (1995). ‘Human rights abuses in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991’. www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde14/001/1995/en/.Google Scholar
Amnesty International (2009). ‘Hope and fear: Human rights in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’. www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE14/006/2009.Google Scholar
Amnesty International (2011). ‘Days of rage: Protest and repression in Iraq’. www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/d-iq/dv/d-iq20120925_08_/d-iq20120925_08_en.pdf.Google Scholar
Bali, A. O. (2018). The roots of clientelism in Iraqi Kurdistan and the efforts to fight it. Open Political Science, 1, 98104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batatu, H. (1978). The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Benford, R. D. and Snow, D. A. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1994). Rethinking the state: Genesis and structure of the bureaucratic field. Sociological Theory, 12, 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozarslan, M. (2015). ‘Iraqi Kurdistan’s brewing crisis’. Al-Monitor, 20 October. www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/turkey-iraq-kurdistan-economic-political-crisis-kdp-goran.html.Google Scholar
Brayati (2003). ‘Iraqi Kurdistan women protest against Turkish intervention in the region’. 1 March. BBC Monitoring Middle East – Political; London (4 March 2003): 1.Google Scholar
Dagher, S. (2009). ‘As Kurdish polls open, effort to ease parties’ grip’. The New York Times, 24 July. www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/world/middleeast/25kurd.html.Google Scholar
Dagher, S. (2010). ‘Abducted Kurdish writer is found dead in Iraq’. The New York Times, 6 May. www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/world/middleeast/07erbil.html.Google Scholar
Darnton, J. (1994). ‘Salahaddin journal; a son’s promise: That Kurds’ dream doesn’t die’. The New York Times, 28 January.Google Scholar
Edwards, B. and McCarthy, J. D. (2004). Resources and social movement mobilization. In Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A. and Kriesi, H. (eds), The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (pp. 116–52). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Farouk-Sluglett, M. and Sluglett, P. (2003). Iraq since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship. London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Fawcett, P., Flinders, M., Hay, C. and Wood, M. (eds) (2017). Anti-politics, Depoliticization, and Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gali Kurdistan (2011). ‘Iraq: Programme summary of Gali Kurdistan satellite TV news 0800 GMT’. 31 December. BBC Monitoring Middle East (31 December 2011).Google Scholar
Giugni, M., McAdam, D. and Tilly, C. (eds) (1999). How Social Movements Matter. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Golpy, O. (2015). ‘Kurdish civil society condemns violence, calls for calm’. Rudaw, 11 October.Google Scholar
Gorgas, J. T. (2008). Urban mobilization in Iraqi Kurdistan during the British Mandate: Sulaimaniya 1918–30. Middle Eastern Studies, 44 (4), 537–52.Google Scholar
Gorgas, J. T. (2017). ‘Dangerous liaisons’: Abd al-Karim Qasim and the student movements of the first Iraqi republic, 1958–63. In Isakhan, B., Mako, S. and Dawood, F. (eds), State and Society in Iraq: Citizenship under Occupation, Dictatorship and Democratization (pp. 135–55). London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Hardi, A. (2019). Author interview. Sulaimani, 3 March.Google Scholar
Hassan, F. (2014). ‘Erbil: Marching for Kobane’. Rudaw, 21 September. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/21092014.Google Scholar
Hawlati (2005a). 5 October, p. 1.Google Scholar
Hawlati (2005b). 19 October, p. 1.Google Scholar
Hawlati (2005c). 14 September, pp. 1 and 3.Google Scholar
Hawlati (2006a). 8 February.Google Scholar
Hawlati (2006b). 12–16 August.Google Scholar
Hay, C. and Stoker, G. (2009). Revitalising politics: Have we lost the plot? Representation, 45 (3), 225–36.Google Scholar
Hiltermann, J. R. (1994). ‘Bureaucracy of repression: The Iraqi government in its own words’. Human Rights Watch and Middle East Watch.Google Scholar
Howard, M. (2005). ‘Kurdish youth hold key to power in Iraqi elections’. The Guardian, 12 December. www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/12/iraq.michaelhoward.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2011). ‘Iraq: Widening crackdown on protests: New restrictions, abuse in Arbil, Sulaimaniya, Baghdad’. 21 April. www.hrw.org/news/2011/04/21/iraq-widening-crackdown-protests.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2017). ‘Kurdistan Region of Iraq: 32 arrested at peaceful protest’. 16 March. www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/16/kurdistan-region-iraq-32-arrested-peaceful-protest.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2018). ‘Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Protesters beaten, journalists detained’. 15 April. www.hrw.org/news/2018/04/15/kurdistan-region-iraq-protesters-beaten-journalists-detained.Google Scholar
Hussein, H. H. S. (2018). The role of news media in supporting democracy in the Kurdistan Region. Unpublished PhD thesis, Nottingham Trent University.Google Scholar
Ismael, A. K. and Saleem, H. S. (2015). Population distribution in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq: Experiences from 1957–2009 population census. Raparin Academic Journal, 2 (4), 89108.Google Scholar
Joseph, J. and Sumer, F. (2019). Public sector reforms in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Tackling the socially constructed barriers to change. In Anaid, A. and Tugdar, E. E. (eds), Iraqi Kurdistan’s Statehood Aspirations: A Political Economy Approach (pp. 125–53). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kurdistan Regional Government Cabinet (2011). ‘Prime Minister Salih responds to Suleimaniah protesters’ demands’. 16 March. http://cabinet.gov.krd/a/d.aspx?a=39231&l=12&r=223&s=010000.Google Scholar
Kurdistani Nwe (2005). ‘Some outsiders distorted the demonstration’. 8 September.Google Scholar
KurdSat TV (2005). ‘General strike held in Iraqi Kurdish area over lack of development projects’. 21 June. BBC Monitoring Middle East (3 June 2011).Google Scholar
Le Monde (1982). ‘Grèves et manifestations se multiplieraient au Kurdistan irakien’. 15 May, p. 6.Google Scholar
Loschky, J. (2012). ‘In Iraqi Kurdistan, satisfaction with infrastructure crumbles’. 7 September. www.gallup.com/poll/157298/iraqi-kurdistan-satisfaction-infrastructure-crumbles.aspx.Google Scholar
McDowall, D. (1997). A Modern History of the Kurds. London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Meyer, D. S. (2003). How social movements matter. Contexts, 2 (4), 30–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, D. S. (2015). The Politics of Protest. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Al-Musawi, H. and Khalil, A. (2006). ‘Cartoon protest: Slogans surprised some organisers and Sulaimaniyah residents’. Institute for War and Peace Reporting (Iraq Crisis Report no. 163), 11 February. https://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2006/2/kurdlocal93.htm.Google Scholar
Natali, D. (2005). The Kurds and the State: Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Natali, D. (2010). The Kurdish Quasi-state: Development and Dependency in Post-Gulf War Iraq. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
New York Times (1930). ‘Thirteen killed, 35 wounded in Iraq clash as troops fire on Kurds protesting election’. 12 September.Google Scholar
NRT (2014). ‘Women organizations, MPs, civil society activists launch demonstration before US consulate in Arbil’. 24 September. Iraq: Programme summary of Kurdish NRT satellite TV news, BBC Worldwide Monitoring (25 September 2014).Google Scholar
Ofteringer, R. and Bäcker, R. (1994). A republic of statelessness: Three years of humanitarian intervention in Iraqi Kurdistan. Middle East Report, 187/188, 40–5.Google Scholar
Othman, S. (2017). ‘Kurds protest Iraqi bill legalizing child marriages’. Rudaw, 12 November. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/121120177.Google Scholar
Reporters Without Borders (2010). ‘Between freedom and abuses: The media paradox in Iraqi Kurdistan’. http://en.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rsf_rapport_kurdistan_irakien_nov_2010_gb.pdf.Google Scholar
Ridolfo, K. (2006). ‘Iraq: Kurds call for more government accountability’. Radio Free Europe, 9 August. www.rferl.org/content/article/1070439.html.Google Scholar
Robinson, A. C. (2013). ‘Film tells the untold story of one Halabja rebellion – and the women who marched’. Rudaw, 15 October. www.rudaw.net/english/culture/15102018.Google Scholar
Roj TV (2011). ‘Programme summary of Brussels-based Kurdish Roj TV news 1600 GMT’. 29 December. BBC Monitoring Europe (9 January 2012).Google Scholar
Rudaw (2014). ‘Second day of protests in Said Sadiq following one dead, many injured’. 3 January. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/030120141.Google Scholar
Rudaw (2017a). ‘Nine arrested protesting Shingal clashes remain in detention in Erbil’. 6 March. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/060320176.Google Scholar
Rudaw (2017b). ‘Anti-government protests continue for third day in some Kurdish cities’. 20 December. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/20122017.Google Scholar
Rudaw (2017c). ‘DPM Talabani is in Sulaimani to restore situation to “normal” following protests’. 22 December. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/221220174.Google Scholar
Rudaw (2018). ‘LIVE: Fed up with austerity, civil servants protest across Kurdistan’. 25 March. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/250320181.Google Scholar
Sadiq, B. H. (2016). Interview with the author. Halabja, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 5 March.Google Scholar
Salih, M. A. (2011a). ‘Iraq: Protests spread to Kurdistan’. Inter Press Service News Agency, 17 February. www.ipsnews.net/2011/02/iraq-protests-spread-to-kurdistan/.Google Scholar
Salih, M. A. (2011b). ‘Iraqi Kurdistan’s liberation square. Hundreds of people have been gathering in Sulaimaniya’s central square to demand an end to corruption’. Al Jazeera, 8 March. www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/03/201137131012153528.html.Google Scholar
Salih, M. A. (2015). ‘Political turmoil grips Iraqi Kurdistan’. Al Jazeera, 13 October. www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/iraqi-kurds-deteriorating-quickly-151013080729534.html.Google Scholar
Sharp, G. (2010). From Dictatorship to Democracy. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Albert Einstein Institution.Google Scholar
Stansfield, G. (2003). Iraqi Kurdistan: Political Development and Emergent Democracy. London: Routledge Curzon.Google Scholar
Tarrow, S. G. (2011). Power in Movement. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tilly, C. (2006). Regimes and Repertoires. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tilly, C. (2008). Contentious Performances. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
van Wilgenburg, W. (2011). Failed (or aborted) Arab Spring in Iraq: A study of the political mobilization of Sunni Arabs in Kirkuk. Unpublished MA thesis, Utrecht University.Google Scholar
Watts, N. F. (2012). The role of symbolic capital in protest: State–society relations and the destruction of the Halabja Martyrs Monument in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Comparative Studies on South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, 32 (1), 7085.Google Scholar
Watts, N. F. (2014). Democracy and self-determination in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In Romano, D. and Gurses, M. (eds), Conflict, Democratization, and the Kurds in the Middle East (pp. 141–70). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Watts, N. F. (2016). The spring in Sulaimani: Kurdish protest and political identities. In Holliday, S. and Leech, P. (eds), Political Identities and Popular Uprisings in the Middle East (pp. 3757). London: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.Google Scholar
Watts, N. F. (2017). Re-claiming Halabja. In Stansfield, G. and Shareef, M. (eds), The Kurdish Question Revisited (pp. 481–96). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank (2016). ‘The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Reforming the economy for shared prosperity and protecting the vulnerable’. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/24706.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×