The work of Culture for All in Iraq

See this report of the valuable work of Culture for All in Iraq.

Culture for All distributes non-food packages to over 12,000 internally displaced and extremely vulnerable individuals in Baghdad.

27 July 2009

Culture for All (CfA) completed a large non-food distribution initiative to support 2,000 severely impoverished families living in Sadr City, al Baweya, al Rashad and hay al Nasir neighborhoods in Baghdad.

Supporting 12,000 internally displaced and extremely vulnerable individuals across the 2,000 families targeted, CfA spent several weeks preparing and organizing the distribution program at three primary and secondary schools - Khawarnak primary school in Sadr City, al Fada'il secondary school in al Rashad and al Istiqlal primary school in al Baweya.

Distribution packages included health and hygiene items, household utensils, mats, toiletries, kitchenware and water purification units. Some 80% of recipients were made up of both women and children.

At the distribution sites, CfA utilized the support of a large number of volunteers, tribal and community leaders, ensuring that only extremely vulnerable families were targeted.

Beneficiaries were extremely thankful for the non-food items, informing CfA staff and volunteers that this had been the first major humanitarian distribution program for a number of years. Beneficiaries reminded staff that CfA had built community trust across a large number of stakeholders.

The initiative was covered by Iraq's main newspaper, al Sabah and by several TV stations - see attached article in al Sabah newspaper dated 21st July 2009.

Other CfA projects in Iraq include:

-Ongoing support to over 10,000 Baghdad residents through a Citizens Advice Network - 5 citizens advice centers providing case-work and legal advice, vocational training, including back-to-school, health and rights-based lectures and seminars, computer training, first-aid training, adult literacy, a monthly newsletter publication, outreach support and sewing workshops.

CfA Citizens Advice Centers are located in Sadr City (Fallah Street), Naariya and Gayara (Baghdad Jadida, 9 Nissan district), al Zaafarniya, Abu Dsheer (al Dora district) and al Rusafa (Kifah street) in central Baghdad.

CfA is currently working with over 30 primary and secondary schools in Baghdad as part of the Citizens Advice Network and other programs.

-Publication of a monthly civil society magazine, al Sual (The Question).

-Teacher training - building the capacity of 100 Sadr City based teachers in classroom best practices and modern teaching methodologies - completed in May 2009.

-Completion of a conference and workshop on the topic of building partnerships between citizens and local district councils - completed in May 2009 (attended by over 300 delegates and participants)

-Female Adult literacy classes to 2,000 women in Sadr City and 9 Nissan districts.

Culture for All team
Baghdad, Iraq

Whither the PUK?

Ranj Alaaldin examines the position of the PUK in the elections this weekend in the Kurdistan Region.

Iraqi Communist Party mass march in central Baghdad

See this video clip of the celebrations of the 51st anniversary of the 14th July 1958 National Democratic Revolution.

New report on the UK and the Kurdistan Region

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region has launched a report of its second fact-finding delegation, called Achievements and Challenges in the Kurdistan Region and the need for increased British engagement.

The APPG seeks to promote friendship and understanding between the people of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and Great Britain and to encourage the development of democratic institutions in the Kurdistan Region as part of the democratic and federal process in the wider Iraq.

The delegation, which was in the Region for a week and met many ministers and civil society leaders, found evidence of continuing and considerable economic and social progress combined with growing political problems.

Its report says that there is a clear determination to drive regeneration by creating a vibrant market system with social protections and by creating a transparent model of governance.

It also heard of notable deterioration in relations between the Region and Baghdad, as well as a major improvement in relations with its neighbour and increasingly important trading partner, Turkey.

Its central conclusion is that the UK, and wider the international community, should play a bigger role in assisting the Region, along with the rest of Iraq, to tap its potential in all these areas. The Kurdistan Region is vital to the success of Iraq and to British foreign policy objectives.

The group also met the leaders of the now unified Kurdistan TUC in both Erbil and Sulymaniya. They are social partners with the KRG but have their own concerns. Many women activists were present and vocal at one meeting which indicates the priority given by the trade unions in the Region and in the rest of Iraq to encourage women’s participation. This is a beacon of hope in the Middle East.

One of their major concerns is the need for Iraq as a whole to scrap Ba’athist laws, ignored in the Region, that ban public sector trade unions and to introduce a more liberal Labour code in line with International Labour Organisation standards.

The report details 38 recommendations across a wide range of policy areas.

Iraqi Association condemns attacks on Iraqi Churches

A series of bombings hit five Christian churches in Baghdad yesterday, killing four and injuring many people. Iraqi Christians have routinely faced sectarian attacks, forcing many to flee the country. The attacks on Sunday appeared to be one of the largest single coordinated assaults against churches and Christians in Baghdad.

“Christians are an integral part of the Iraqi society, they are not newcomers, and they are not there for any superficial reason, Iraq is their country. Middle-East Christians are the people of the land where Christ was born." Said Jabbar Hasan of Iraqi Association in Hammersmith & Fulham.

We call upon the Iraqi authorities to protect them and ease the pressure on the nearly 1 million Iraqi Christians.

The Christian community in Iraq is one of the oldest in the world, and always had good relations with other communities in Iraq without any incidents of violence or discrimination.

It is particularly reprehensible when terrorists attack religious gathering at times of worships. We are greatly saddened by the deaths and injuries of the innocent victims of these heinous acts.

We call upon the Iraqi authorities to prosecute the culprits and those who are behind these evil acts.

Meeting on the Awakening

LFIQ Joint President Dave Anderson MP will be chairing a meeting with Sheikh Tarik Al Abdullah on the Anbar Awakening: Lessons for fighting insurgency and winning the peace on 15th July 2009 with the Henry Jackson Society

Iraq - once the staple piece of foreign policy news in every media outlet - has now largely disappeared from regular discussion. And with good reason seeing as, somewhat belatedly and admittedly after much travail, a functioning democracy has emerged. One of the main reasons for this was of course a change in Coalition strategy, partly reflected in the implementation of the military Surge that turned the tables on the insurgency.

However, an equally important part of the new dynamic centred on the cooperation of local communities and the crucial support of leading public figures. Awakening Councils played a central role in maintaining stability and neutralising insurgent fighters. Most prominently the movement started in the Sunni province of Al-Anbar in Iraq, where Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi started the Anbar Awakening Council to counter growing Al-Qaeda influence, leading to tribespeople joining forces with the Coalition to restore stability.

Iraq has made considerable progress towards democracy and stability. Foreign investors have already committed to long-term contractual agreements to extract oil, and Iraqi security forces are now in control of all major towns and cities. Nevertheless, there are still several obstacles ahead, notably the question of Kurdish autonomy, growing Iranian influence and the preservation and maintenance of domestic peace and security.

By kind invitation of David Anderson MP, who is also the Joint President of Labour Friends of Iraq, the Henry Jackson Society is pleased to be able to welcome you to a discussion on: "Iraq's Anbar 'Awakening': Lessons for fighting insurgency and winning the peace" by Sheikh Tarik Al Abdullah, Chairman of the Al-Anbar Central Council and Sheikh of Al Halabsa Tribes in Iraq. As a leading businessman, politician and public figure, Sheikh Al Abdullah played a central role in national reconstruction and development, and his unique experiences with the Awakening Councils, business and government, offer valuable insights into the future of Iraq.

His talk in London comes at a particularly relevant time as US troops continue to withdraw from towns and cities across the country and security is handed over to Iraqi forces, many of whom were trained and equipped by the US in the 'Awakening' movement. The Sheikh's comments have a further relevance to the situation in Afghanistan, as the focus of international military strategy has shifted towards counter-insurgency warfare and the utilisation of local communities and fighting forces. How can we do better in this regard and crush insurgencies using local forces?

TIME: 7-8pm, 15th July

VENUE: Committee Room 8, House of Commons

To attend, please RSVP to denesha.brar@henryjacksonsociety.org

Sheikh Tarik Al Abdullah is the chairman of WATANEE (Unification OF National Iraqi Efforts Council), Political party and the chairman of Al-Anbar Central Council. He is a member of the High Council of Al Anbar and the Sheikh of Al Halabsa Tribes in Iraq. In addition, he is a member and founder of Iraqi tribe Leaders and a member and founder of Al Anbar tribe Leaders. Last year Sheikh Tarik Al Abdullah flew to North Carolina on a self-funded goodwill visit to the United States, where he met with officers from the II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) and briefed them on his insights to the current situation in the Al Anbar province.

Departing Responsibly

In the left-wing American magazine, Dissent Brendan O Leary examines American options and argues the need to support a successful federation rather than a failed transfer of power, one in which the United States, with bungled intentions, assists divided Arab centralists in Baghdad to go to war with Kurdistan and with each other.

The author examines fraught relations between Baghdad and the Kurds. He advised the Iraqi Kurds before they and the rest of Iraq agreed the new Iraqi constitution in 2005 of which he says - The Constitution of 2005, ratified by four out of five voters in a UN-validated referendum, re-structured British-made Iraq as a voluntary union of its constituent peoples. It proclaims, on paper, a pluralist federation, maps the path toward different and flexible forms of decentralization, and creates multiple incentives for power sharing within a deliberately weak federal government. It remade Iraq as a parliamentary democracy—enabling its Shiite Arab majority to express itself as such, though subject to constitutional restraints, the most important of which lie in the formal strengthening of regions or provinces (governorates) at the expense of what until 2003 had been a series of despotisms in Baghdad.