Hoping to find a way to resolve the week-long protests in Iraq without resigning, Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi has announced a series of concessions, and endorsed the protesters’ demands as “righteous.”
The prime minister is ordering protesters released, the imminent firing of 1,000 state employees accused of corruption, and perhaps most substantially, a national minimum income guarantee for each Iraqi family.
That income guarantee, along with promises of a to-be-revealed employment scheme, are meant to address complaints that the post-ISIS war economic recovery never materialized. Economic woes were driving a lot of protesters, who believed they have little to lose.
A lot of the details are still to be revealed, including how big this minimum income will be. It’s not at all clear Iraq could afford for it to be very large. Moreover, the promise to release protesters not charged with a crime is vague, as it’s not clear how many have been charged yet.
Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi has seen what has happened in the past when he placated protesters with promises and didn’t make good on them though. It seems likely he’ll make some sort of move to satisfy them this time, as without that, he might not get another chance
Not a single Muslim country that is not thoroughly corrupt.
PS: that’s not to say that non-Muslims countries are any better.
I’m sick and tired of people using this word corruption when it usually means I support the coup de estat. If you cannot name the “corruption” then stop using the word. Although I have to say maybe I should try this tactic of just saying corrupt, corrupt, corrupt over and over again in reference to the US government without naming the corruption which is widely known by those of us who understand imperialism plutocracy animal mass torture and environmental destruction, electoral college, “campaign donations” in the USA.
Maybe I and we would be better off just repeating ad nauseam the word corruption. Then maybe we could make some serious change and get the people to change their habits in this “democratic republic”.
They keep pumping the oil out to Exxon and the people don’t get a penny, maybe they need to take more royalties on exports.
It’s fascinating how a nation in the shape Iraq is in can think about a basic living stipend, yet we can’t afford to fix a @#%$ing pothole…