Al-Thawra Untha: the power of Iraqi women 

Since the 1990s, Un Ponte Per has sown the first seeds of support and shown its solidarity towards the developing Iraqi civil society, promoting the defence of human rights and equality in order to create an environment free from violence and extremism in the country: a place to cultivate happiness and equality, human security, peace, diversity.

We are well aware of how many upheavals have occurred in the following years, which have had long lasting impacts on Iraqi society and in particular the condition of women.

In the two decades since the United Nations Security Council determined that women have a crucial role to play in “maintaining and promoting international peace and security,” through Resolution 1325 “Women, Peace and Security,” a large and growing amount of research has shown that strengthening women’s political and social participation reduces the likelihood of a country returning to conflict. It is now widely accepted that women’s civil and political participation can have a positive impact at all stages, from the start of negotiations during a war to the implementation of post-war governance. It was clear to us from the start: women are key to peace, there can be no peace without them.

Where political theories seemed doomed to failure, real practices once again became a revolution: only the strength and power of women’s bodies in the public space can unravel patriarchal normativism. Women who smile, who hold their hands up to the sky, who demand the freedom for which hundreds have paid a price in blood. Women who sing and shout, who paint and dance, who work and create, who lead a revolution to change their country. Women who oppose ignorance and corruption, bloodshed and war, and patriarchal violence on their bodies. Women who promote an image of themselves that is finally different, in those societies that marginalize them.

These are the women we have chosen to support. It is Iraqi women who took part en masse in the October 2019 revolution, when protesters poured into the streets across Iraq for over five months, fighting for their rights as human beings. Despite the violent repressions and the words of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, according to whom women should “stay at home”, because the protests were not something for them.

A year earlier, a huge wave of humanity had filled the streets of Sudan, demanding greater political rights and decent access to education and health care for all. The Sudanese protests eventually led to the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir after 30 years of dictatorship,.

Iraqi and Sudanese women played a key role in these revolutions, as militants, organizers, fundraisers and strategists. Their participation was as different as it was precious: young and old, more or less affluent, and from different religions and ethnicities. Their efforts have led to social changes no less important than political ones.

Despite the facts, women continue to be systematically excluded from peace mechanisms and processes, in particular those concerning democratic transition. This shows that even though they play a major role in driving the demand for change, they are still kept out of the next steps: the creation of new dynamics in government. The revolutionary experiences of women in Sudan and Iraq are no exception to this sad reality.

In both countries, women took to the streets, challenging traditional patriarchal norms to demand political change and recognition of their social and economic rights. However, in both cases, they were not allowed to participate in what would come next.

With the aim of preventing the loss of the enormous heritage of feminist ideas and practices which were spread in the great mobilizations, our project “Al-Thawra Untha” (Revolution is a woman) was put into action in the two countries.

The five-year project is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and includes activities in 7 Iraqi governorates (Basra, Salah Al-Din, Baghdad, Nineveh, Anbar, Najaf and Dhi Qar) as well as in different areas of Sudan, in collaboration with local partner organizations: Information Center for Research and Development (ICRD), Tammuz Organization for Social Development and SIHA Network. We all work together towards one goal: the political emancipation of women and the strengthening of their fundamental role in the political field.

The project in Iraq helps support the feminist group “She Revolution”, a highly relevant  independent platform that is managing to consolidate the political heritage of the protests.

The platform organizes initiatives and activities that encourage girls and women to engage in activism, political participation and social demands, and is constantly working to defend women’s rights.

Since the launch of the “Al-Thawra Untha” project, we have seen many women from different backgrounds join it, working on political emancipation, diversity, peace and the elimination of all types of violence, which are unfortunately still widely tolerated.

The road is still long and probably uphill, but we will not take a single step backwards as we walk by the side of our Iraqi sisters. A different Iraq is still possible, thanks above all to the strength of women.

   Download the booklet “Iraq.  The Voice of the Revolution”