WAS community

Our monthly meeting in the “__@##__,,,” neighborhood was interesting. We discussed together a historical problem that we have lived with since we were children, which is the gradual transformation of our neighborhood from an agricultural neighborhood to a residential neighborhood.

The developments in this regard occurred during “sectarian political chaos,” but the problem began directly after the 2003 war and has not ended yet, unfortunately.

How did our neighborhood transform from agricultural to residential?:

We discussed this issue collectively. We also notice in the first photo, which was taken in the year 2000 and the second, which was taken in the year 2010, that is, within 10 years, a major catastrophe occurred in the shrinkage of the agricultural area of our residential neighborhood.

This happened as a result of many general political reasons in Iraq, such as the decline in water levels, the phenomenon of desertification, and the cessation of government funding as a result of the neoliberal approach of the new regime.

There are other political reasons specific to our neighborhood, which are: the policy pursued by the Islamic parties that control the neighborhood.

This particular policy contributed to the destruction of local agriculture in our neighborhood and contributed to the loss of the agricultural identity of the neighborhood. This caused the farmer to lose his job and the consumer to lose access to healthy food and the chemical-free Iraqi product, Organic.

Losing the agricultural identity does not only mean losing the job, but rather directly means losing the human value of the farmer / losing the natural agricultural knowledge that has been inherited for hundreds of years / losing the stable social and political structure of the neighborhood / high unemployment / depression / increasing theft due to the absence of an alternative to agricultural work.

These parties contributed to granting licenses to convert agricultural lands into residential ones, which distorted the beautiful nature of the neighborhood and made it merely concrete, devoid of birds and natural animals.

There has become a contradiction between the farmer and the new reality, because the farmer no longer knows how to deal with the new professions that he resorted to to protect himself from poverty, such as blacksmithing and carpentry.

This led to a major distortion in these professions practiced by the farmer at the level of products and the work environment. It is not possible to switch quickly and spontaneously directly from agriculture to blacksmithing, for example.

Iraq has opened voraciously to “sectarian importation,” and here we mean the importation of foodstuffs (vegetables and fruits) from a specific country that has a direct interest in supporting sectarian parties inside Iraq, so we call it sectarian importation.

This led to a direct blow to the farmer, who does not have the capabilities to help him compete with the major companies that supply fruits and vegetables to Iraq.

Loss of sovereignty to the farmer and increased dependence on Islamic parties:

The more the farmer grows and produces on his own and has independence in doing so, the more this contributes to his ability to practice politics in terms of political decision-making and the ability to control the political fate of his residential neighborhood.

This is due to the fact that he possesses the political will resulting from his sovereignty over the land that he owns, cultivates and produces on.

In general, here, to varying degrees, the farmer in our neighborhood had political and economic value, as he not only farmed, but was the main reason for people from outside our neighborhood to visit our neighborhood, where they came to buy goods and agricultural products. This contributes to the city’s greater openness.

From here we understand the valuable position of the farmer over time in our neighborhood. The new Islamic regime could not have spread and flourished except by destroying the farmer and contributing to the loss of the agricultural identity of our neighborhood.

  In order to make it easier for these parties to control and control the political fate of the neighborhood and their access to economic projects.

Note*

Our community is a safe and inclusive space – we do not tolerate racist and sectarian incitement, discrimination based on gender, or discrimination between people with disabilities.

Everyone is welcome in our meetings, regardless of their gender, religion, sect, educational attainment, sexual orientation, or nationality.

We do not tolerate political comments and responses that are uncomfortable for people, in addition to bullying regarding appearance, clothing, and appearance.

If you unintentionally offend someone, be open to criticism, respect the offended person’s perspective, and learn from the mistake.

Repeated violations may result in your expulsion from the group following a group decision.

We always focus on the needs and feelings of the person affected by the event.

However, we recognize that people may still make mistakes, even if they do not mean to, and that we all come from different religious, sectarian and political backgrounds and have different levels of awareness, education and cultural exposure.

But we are open to teaching each other and learning from each other, to supporting each other in overcoming our own biases and prejudices.

We don’t deal with hierarchies like leader and follower – everyone brings the right experience and knowledge and everyone is equal to leadership.

It doesn’t matter if you have a doctorate or postgraduate degree. We are open to communicate, explain and learn from everyone, regardless of your academic achievement.

If during the explanation, a term or idea is not clear or incomprehensible to you, even if it seems ordinary, we ask you to ask. Speakers will be happy to explain in detail to get the point across.

We try to have fun meetings and learn from the different backgrounds and cultures that different members bring and we want to be different from the complex meetings that usually take place in Iraq. If this is your first activity experience, that’s okay! Don’t be afraid to speak up, share and contribute. We are happy to hear what you have to say, no matter how simple or big it may seem.

Remember, we are here to have a good time and not to showcase ourselves and our cultural abilities or pass judgment on others. Our community is a safe space for everyone.