TADHAMUN تـضـامـن

Tadhamun (solidarity) is an Iraqi women organization, standing by Iraqi women's struggle against sectarian politics in Iraq. Fighting for equal citizenship across ethnicities and religions, for human rights, and gender equality.

جمعية تضامن تدعم المساواة في المواطنة بغض النظر عن الأنتماء الأثني أو الديني وتسعى من أجل العدالة الأجتماعية و حماية حقوق الأنسان في العراق

Friday, March 5, 2010

Poll: Majority of Iraqis think security has gotten worse; only 22 percent in Baghdad say they will vote; no love for Iran


Michael Hastings

February 23, 2010

A friend in Baghdad sent me results of a poll conducted on behalf of one of the major political candidates running in Iraq’s election. 1,000 Iraqis across the country were polled over the past week by the firm Crosby Textor in conjunction with the independent polling firm ORB. According to the poll, the overwhelming consensus: "
Iraq is heading in the wrong direction." Some preliminary findings:
  • In Baghdad 65% of people want someone other than Maliki as Prime Minister and fewer people say they are very likely to vote than elsewhere – just 22% compared with 64% across Iraq as a whole.
  • When asked whether conditions for peace and security have improved in the past 3 months 57% of Baghdad voters say things have worsened and across all of Iraq more than half (54%) think things have gotten worse or not improved.
  • 96% of voters want change in the country – with most wanting significant change. Maliki’s status quo is not enough.
  • An average of 64% of voters have an unfavourable view of Iran – only 18% have a favourable view and 68% of all voters think that Iran is a bad influence in Iraq.
A few thoughts. It’s troubling that the poll found only 22 percent of Baghdadis said they were going to vote. Not surprising, as most of the violence over the past six months –and 7 years, actually– has been in Baghdad. Assuming that in Baghdad you’ll find your more secular, less sectarian, less religious-politico electorate, that means apathy in Baghdad could translate into ceding the vote to folks in more rural areas or more religious cities. Which would mean a government that keeps its strong Shiite Islamist, sectarian character.
It’s also interesting that folks in Baghdad don’t like Maliki–I’d be curious to know how he fared in southern Iraq(anecdote-wise, he seems to have a lot of street cred in the south still.)
Over the past three months, a majority thinks security has not improved or gotten worse. This is because over the past three months security has gotten worse. It also confirms the sense of unease in Baghdad–a prominent Arabic newspaper described Baghdad last week as "not look[ing] much different from when it was on the brink of civil war in 2006."
Change! We can thank Obama for this question–change, every politician on Earth seems to believe, is in the air. But 96 percent! I wonder what result we’d get if we asked the question in this country, or say in a European country, or maybe even in a place like Iran. I would assume it wouldn’t be close to that high.
Speaking of Iran: 68 percent of all voters think Iran is a bad influence on Iraq. This number gets at the weird and complicated relationship between Iraq and Iran. In Washington, we often view it in black and white terms–Iran has a proxy government in Baghdad, Iran are the real winners in Iraq, etc. There is a good deal of truth in this viewpoint, don’t get me wrong. But there’s also a lot of anti-Iran sentiment in Iraq, and it’s a potent force to tap into(the recent dispute over the Fakka Oilfield was a perfect example.) Part of the problem is that the three political parties with the closest ties to Iran–ISCI, the Sadrists, and Maliki’s Dawa(though I think Maliki isn’t as close to Iran as we assume, though others in the Dawa party certainly are)–are overrepresented in the Iraqi government, ISCI in particular. ISCI has to be one of the most unpopular political parties in Iraq, a fact that was reflected when they got trounced last year in the provincial elections. But that’s the main issue behind the recent ban of 400 or so candidates–by taking out the secular Shiite and Sunni opposition, it helps ISCI and the Iranian backed parties keep their grip on power in Baghdad, despite their unpopularity.

Petition sign and circulate:

Release Iraqi women hostages, victims of terrorism themselves

بعيدا عن الوطن؛ حراك التضامن مع الوطن فنا، شعرا وكتابةً
Away from Home; Memory, Art and women solidarity: you are invited to an evening of poetry and music 22/3/2017 18:30 at P21 Gallery London click here for more details
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Public meeting at The Bolivar Hall, London Sat.14/5/2016 at 15:00 IDPs : Fragmentation of Cultural and National Identity



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Protest the suffering of Iraqi Christians: No to terrorism No to state terrorism.Hands off our minorities. Hands off our people. Shame on the human rights violators on all sides. Assemble 11:30 on 28/7/14 near Parliament Square, near Westminister tube station London. For more past events click here

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Useful links






Halt All Executions! Abolish The Death Penalty!

We women of Tadhamun condemn the persisting practice of arbitrary arrests by the Iraqi security forces. We condemn their arrests of women in lieu of their men folk. These are 'inherited' practices. We are alarmed by credible media reports of the Green Zone government’s intentions of executing hundreds of Iraqi men and women.


For more info click here
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Professor Zaineb Al Bahrani of Columbia University NY speaking at a our meeting on the destruction/damage to historical sites in Iraq

On youtube: Part1
Part 3
Part4
One more video:



Human Rights Watch: No woman is Safe

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المقالات المنشورة على هذا الموقع لا تعكس بالضرورة آراء منظمتنا أو أعضاء منظمتنا


Samarra Minrate built in 852 AD

Samarra Minrate built in 852 AD
Building of 1 500 massive police station !
From the angle of the photo, it is possible to calculate that the complex is being built at E 396388 N 3785995 (UTM Zone 38 North) or Lat. 34.209760° Long. 43.875325°, to the west of the Malwiya (Spiral Minaret), and behind the Spiral Cafe.
While the point itself may not have more than Abbasid houses under the ground, it is adjacent to the palace of Sur Isa, the remains of which can be seen in the photo. While the initial construction might or might not touch the palace, accompanying activities will certainly spread over it.Sur Isa can be identified with the palace of al-Burj, built by the
Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil, probably in 852-3 (Northedge, Historical Topography of Samarra, pp 125-127, 240). The palace is said to have cost 33 million dirhams, and was luxurious. Details are given by al-Shabushti, Kitab al-Diyarat.
Samarra was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO at the end of June. The barracks could easily have been built elsewhere, off the archaeological site.--
Alastair Northedge Professeur d'Art et d'Archeologie Islamiques UFR d'Art et d'Archeologie
Universite de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) 3, rue Michelet, 75006 Paris
tel. 01 53 73 71 08 telecopie : 01 53 73 71 13 Email :
Alastair.Northedge@univ-paris1.fr ou anorthedge@wanadoo.fr