Community Introduction: Villagers of Halabja, Iraq

Group Members: Raymon C., Rebecca L., Sam H.

* Note: This assignment was completed as part of PLSI 250, San Francisco State University, Fall 2004, and does not necessary reflect the views of the authors.

            Halabja is located in Iraqi Kurdistan in the mountainous region bordering Iran.  The village is located within the province of Sulaymaniya, approximately 260 km. from Baghdad.  Our village gained notoreity for reasons that defy rational human behavior and epitomize the lethal combination of power, greed, and brutality.  Saddam Hussein always associated us with having aided and collaborated with Iran during the Iran/Iraq War, which lasted from 1980-88. Halabja remained a stronghold for Iranian troops and Kurdish guerrillas throughout the length of the war and the Ba’ath regime retaliated with harsh ruthlessness; making Halabja infamous as “the largest case of targeting civilian populations with chemical weapons in the world”^[1]

It has been estimated that around five thousand villagers were executed on March 16 & 17, 1988 as the Iraqi Air Force bombarded our village with a toxic shower of chemicals^[2]. We as a Kurdish majority refer to this as our own Hiroshima^[3]. This savage attack prompted many of our neighbors and families to hid in their basements, not knowing that the attack was chemical.  Sitting in the basements, they were subjected to horrific, violent deaths by suffocation and asphyxiation.  The long-term effects of this chemical onslaught have devastated the ecosystem and created lingering health problems for the residents of Halabja who choose to stay or were unable to leave for lack of money.  The village was, by and large, abandoned after the al-Anfal campaign and, certainly, everyone can recall the refugee crisis created by our forced exodus.  The ethnic obliteration suffered by the Jews during WW2 in Nazi Germany is one historical occurrence so cruelly inhumane that it compares in magnitude to the tragedy of Halabja.  Sadly, the world has been plagued by such brutality, as witnessed by the world in both Bosnia, where the “ethnic cleansing actions of the Bosnian Serbs are unrivaled in scale and intensity^[4]“, and Burma, where the military regime continues to commit atrocities against minority tribes and Muslims alike.  It is important to note that the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds was not isolated to this one incident in 1988.  With the relentless aid of “Chemical Ali” and other demonic cohorts, Saddam is rumored to have “used chemical weapons in attacking up to 24 villages in Kurdish areas in April 1987^[5]” and “the survivors of some of these atrocities who went for treatment in government hospitals were executed in military camps at Arbil^[6]“.

            The community itself has a population of approximately 80,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom survive as farmers and cattle breeders.  Dedication to community and society is an essential part of our lives.  The chemical attack bore witness to our selfless nature, for example, one resident chose to inject his neighbor with a antidote for the chemical attack rather than injecting himself or his wife , simply because the neighbor was in more pain.  Those of us inhabiting Halabja  represent a small group of all the Kurds, considering that twenty-five million exist on the borders of Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.  As Iraqi Kurds, we have struggled for autonomy and self-determination to the chagrin and displeasure of the recognized nations surrounding our quasi-autonomous region.  Our society is democratic in nature, as demonstrated by the free press and separation of mosque and state.  Unlike a society such as Iran, wherein shari’a law, “based on the principle of inequality, especially between men and women“^[7] is the ultimate authority, we believe that a voice for all is fundamental to our well-being and conducive to our success as a democracy.  The right of each individual to live without oppression and violence, free to choose their religion and to practice the customs of their respective culture, is paramount to us, having experienced, firsthand, daily life without basic human rights at the hand of a dictator hell-bent on our demise.

             To this day, we have consistently witnessed our hopes dashed by the international community.  In 1867, all “autonomous Kurdish principalities were systematically eradicated by the Ottoman and Persian governments^[8]” and, thereafter, a trend of breaking promises ensued.  After WW1, to our distaste and sorrow, Kurdistan was supposed to be created^[9] but instead it was partitioned off with “no regard to the demands of the Kurdish people for self-determination^[10]“ We speak a language with Indo-European origins and our culture is distinctly different from the dominant Arab culture.  Fighting amongst our various factions and varying cultural differences has historically prevented the Kurds from making advances toward autonomy, as seen in the Treaty of Sevres (1920) fiasco when internal rifts and disagreements “prevented us from forming a cohesive political system^[11]“.  Problems between various factions linger, but we have firsthand experience with the perils of internal feuding and the crises they create. 

            Mustafa Barzani is to many Kurds the father of Kurdish self-determination and the desire to unify its people.  In the 1940’s, Barzani founded the KDP (Kurdish Democratic Party),  the largest and strongest political entity in the region, and led the September Revolution in 1961.  In many ways, Barzani is similar to Turkey’s “Father Turk”, Mustafa Kemal insofar as his vision created a platform for Kurds to unite upon and speak from. The motto of the current KDP, that “full rights of the Kurds for self-determination can only be achieved through peaceful means in

a democratic, pluralist, and federal Iraq^[12]”, is representative of the willingness of us to ease the transition from the Hussein regime to Post-Hussein Iraq.  Initially, the KDP was “the only voice of the Kurdish people” (ibid), however, with the democratization of the region, directly related to freedom from an oppressive Ba’athist Baghdad, scores of competing political parties, representing a plethora of ideologies and visions, have entered the political arena.  The PUK, a rival party with whom the KDP has experienced a multitude of “internal disputes” (ibid), has also gained tremendous support, culminating in its legitimacy within the region’s political arena.

Halabja is a rather conservative, rural village and more women wear the traditional veil here than in the more cosmopolitan Kurdish cities to the northwest and the Arab cities to the south^[13].  Women continue to be the objects of arranged marriages within what Westerners will surely interpret as the traditional patriarchal mainframe of our simple society.  Exposure to the rights of women elsewhere creates a paradox for many women within a patriarchal society:  a conflict arises that forces tension between tradition and emancipation from a silenced existence.  Women’s rights and civil status were written into legislation in the early years of secular Ba’athist socialism and early in Saddam Hussein’s rule^[14]”.  Permitting women to participate in the public realm was beneficial to the vitality of the state itself simply due to the fact that women, typically representing 50%+ of the overall population, doubled the capacity to which the state could function.  Under Saddam’s rule, women’s education and literacy improved, the right to suffrage was recognized, running for public office was permitted, and women were able to leave the house without a male escort.  Within his cabinet, Saddam himself employed two women, infamously nicknamed Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax.  By 1991, Iraq “had achieved nearly universal primary education for girls and boys” (ibid).  Similar to women in the U.S. during WW2, many Iraqi women experienced a promotion of their rights due to the pressures and circumstances created by a war economy.  This all has a utopian ring to it, but the fact remains that women are hardly treated as equals.  While the men were fighting, the responsibility of supporting the family and filling vacant jobs fell at the feet of women.  Women in Kurdish society, and particularly in a small, rural village like our own, are the actresses in the public/private dichotomy when it comes to recognition and value within society.  This split stifles the quest for equality because it “obscures intrahousehold inequalities of resources and power…and it also results in the failure to count a great deal of the work done by women as work^[15]”.  Women raise children, care for their families, and many also work the land, but the work at home is rarely seen as valuable because they are not paid for it. 

            Post-U.S.-invasion, the presence of women in the public sphere has declined.  The perceived dangers of sexual violence terrify many women and acts as a deterrent from political participation.  Many women are justifiably fearful of the consequences if Shia clerics and fundamentalists are popularly elected to office.  If this occurs, the rights of women in Iraq are certain to fall under vicious attack, perpetuated by religious fervor and archaic models of authority/domination.  Fortunately, women have not been completely silenced thus far.  The Kurdistan Women’s Union (KWU), founded in 1952, “has attempted to end discrimination and prejudice within the male dominated Kurdish society^[16]”, hoping to educate society.  Kurdish women have suffered a dual oppression; in the public sphere as Kurds under a regime openly pursuing our demise, and within a society that relegates women as second class citizens, subservient to men.  Politically active women succeeded in overturning the Iraqi Governing Council’s controversial Resolution 137, which would have expanded the reach of Shari’a law to judge family issues previously under the jurisdiction of civil law.  In June 2004, “6 women were named to the 30-member transitional cabinet and 2 to the 9-member Electoral Commission” (ibid).  Within Iraq, Kurdish governorates offer the only shelters and centers for victims of sexual violence.  Although our rights are constantly threatened, we have managed to remain cohesive and vigilant.

            Iraqi Kurdistan, and Halabja, in particular, was a frequent target of Saddam Hussein’s institutionalized brutality.  Baghdad employed a systematic ethnic cleansing against the Kurds in retaliation for both aiding Iranian troops and being the stage for frequent anti-Ba’athist uprisings.  After the Persian Gulf War, Hussein aligned himself with “religious fundamentalists and other conservatives, bringing in anti-woman legislation^[17]” and effectively eradicating the advancement of women’s rights.  Hussein signed a 1990 presidential decree “granting immunity to men who commit honour crimes” (ibid), permitting the murderers of thousands of Iraqi women to be unaffected by justice and prosecution.  The aftermath of the savage al-Anfal campaign has contributed to further marginalizing women because so many are infertile, permanently reminded of the chemical bombardment.  Unable to bear children, many women are ashamed and devoid of self-worth.  Our greatest desire is to play host to Saddam’s trial, although, according to us, no punishment will be too severe.  We would love to give him a taste of what we endured and there’s no question that “a swift execution is too small a price for Saddam to pay^[18]”.

            Kurdistan remains an invisible country.  We are governed by a popularly elected parliament and we are working to increase cooperation between post-Saddam Iraq and Kurdistan.  Although we hold periodic elections and suffrage is universal, we are not entirely Free.  Kurds as a people are the single most largest ethnic population in the world without a recognized homeland^[19]. Nor does the international community recognize the Kurdish right to a homeland, nor does the community acknowledge that we have been swindled, via treaties and broken accords, out of the oil-rich land we claim as our home. Our people have been silenced and targeted for too long and we advocate for a seat at the table.  We need our voices to be heard and acknowledged, as we believe wholeheartedly, “if all individuals have intrinsic and ultimate value, then our (their) dignity must be reflected in politics^[20]”. 

REFERENCES

1.      Carpenter, Ted Galen. America Entangled: The Persian Gulf Crisis & It’s Consequences. Cat Institute,1991 P. 110.

2.      Jaggar, Alison M. Feminist Politics & Human Nature. New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, Inc.,1988.  P. 41.

3.      Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph eds. Introduction to Comparative Politics. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.,2004.  P. 585.

4.      Chaliand, Gerard. The Kurdish Tragedy. London and New Jersey: Zed Books LTD.,1994.  P. 71-73

5.      Ciment, James. The Kurds; State and minority in Turkey, Iraq and Iran. New York: Facts On File,Inc., 1996. Pg.53-54; 127-128

6.      Wong, Edward. “In a Devastated Village, Hopes of Facing Saddam.” .  The New York Times. 29 Dec. 2003., P. 4A.

7.      Good Kurds; Bad Kurds. Dir. McKiernan, Kevin. 2000. Videocassette. Access Productions

8.      Rapid Intelligence Pty.Ltd . Online. Internet. Accessed: 30 September 2004. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Halabja-poison-gas-attack

9.      Federation of American Scientists. Online. Internet. Accessed: 30 September 2004. http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/bosnia_handout.html

10.   Cultural Orientation Research Center. Online. Internet. Accessed: 30 September 2004. http://www.culturalorientation.net/kurds/khist.html

11.   Kurdistan Democratic Party. “Halabja: Bloody Sunday.” Online. Internet. Accessed: 30 September 2004. http://www.kdp.pp.se/chemical.html

12.  United Nations Development Fund. Online. Internet. Accessed: 30 September 2004. http://www.womenwarpeace.org/iraq/iraq.htm.

13.  PRIMEDIA INC; About.com. Online. Internet. Available 1 October 2004. historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtiraq9.htm