Afro-Iraqis have been fighting for their rights for centuries – Ibrahim Al Marashi

In 869 AD, thousands of Abbasid slaves from East Africa rebelled against their masters, wealthy landowners in what is now the city of Basra in Iraq, sparking an uprising that raged for fourteen years.

Despite the centuries and the distance that separate it from the others, the revolt of the zanj continues to be part of a transnational history of African slavery, together with the Haitian revolution and the informal Afro-American anti-slavery network Underground railroad of which Harriet Tubman was activist and guide. Today’s Afro-Iraqis, descendants of the Zanj rebels, still feel a strong sense of solidarity with the descendants of other enslaved populations. In fact, this Iraqi community has forged an identity that transcends time and space. Inspiring their civil rights movement in Iraq today are Martin Luther King, Barack Obama and George Floyd.

Black History Month (which was celebrated from February 1 to March 1) offers an opportunity to turn the spotlight on Afro-Iraqis by analyzing their past, present and future. At a time when Iraq is suffering the brunt of climate change, becoming one of the hottest places in the world, the fate of this community remains precarious, because even climate apartheid threatens its survival.

The revolt of the zanj
The name given to this revolt comes from the Arabic word zanj, which means black. The etymology of the island of Zanzibar comes from zanj plus barr, which in Arabic means land or coast. Zanj therefore established itself as a word to refer to black slaves deported from this island and from East Africa, acquiring a derogatory meaning ever since. The slaves destined for Iraq most likely came from Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia, and their descendants continue to practice collective dance rituals typical of their place of origin to preserve and celebrate their identity. The geographical origins of the black Iraqi community are varied, but the shared history of deportation and enslavement by Arab slave traders, their journey from Africa to Iraq and their revolt serve today as a glue in their collective memory.

The slaves were embarked in the port city of Basra in present-day Iraq for the grueling work of draining the salt flats and cultivating sugar cane. In 869 AD they rebelled, inspired by the charismatic Ali ibn Muhammad who preached the doctrine of Kharijite Islam that anyone, even a black slave, could be chosen as a caliph.

As the cause gained ground, black soldiers in the military contingents of the Abbasid army deserted to join the movement, proclaiming their small state with its own capital, Al Mukhtara (the chosen one), which expanded into southwestern Iran. even coming to control a seaport on the Persian Gulf, and survived 15 years, until the caliph’s army counterattacked, conquering Al Mukhtara in 883.

According to historian Kent Krause, the value of the Zanj revolt goes far beyond the region, and the legacy of this rebellion has also inspired other African slave uprisings, such as the Haitian revolution and the Malê revolt in Brazil. “The forerunner of slave revolts in Latin America and the Caribbean centuries later, the Zanj revolt demonstrated the great potential of a captive population’s solidarity insurrection,” says Krause.

The movement of free Iraqis
There is no official figure on the population of the Afro-Iraqi community, and estimates range between 400,000 and about two million people, mostly in the province of Basra. As Iraqi civil society evolved after the 2003 invasion, in 2007 Jalal Diab Thijeel founded the Free Iraqi Movement to represent the Afro-Iraqi community, in an attempt to counter the humiliation and debasement that this community has suffered for centuries.

The movement claims civil rights, government recognition of the community and anti-discrimination laws. At the time of its founding, the community had no representation in the government and no Afro-Iraqi held the role of minister, deputy, or even municipal councilor. The organization continues to press for the state to recognize the community as a minority, which would guarantee it the same benefits as Iraqi Christians, including a share of reserved seats in parliament.

The movement calls for the amendment of the Iraqi constitution in an anti-racist sense, so as to prohibit discrimination against the black community and improve their job opportunities. Afro-Iraqis, in fact, cannot serve or make a career in the army, police or public administration. Most are forced into low-income jobs, such as cleaners, musicians, or dancers. On the level of social mobilization, the movement demands space in the national media to spread its complaints and calls for the reform of school curricula so that their history is included in the texts, presented in an undistorted way. Thijeel taught his courses on Afro-Iraqi history, including the Zanj revolt, and promoted the development of a local hip-hop scene. Amir Al Azraki, associate professor of cultural and linguistic studies at Renison University, Canada, and an expert on the Afro-Iraqi community, told The New Arab: “Unfortunately very few people in the Afro-Iraqi community are aware of the zanj uprising, perhaps in because of the high rate of illiteracy “. This lack of knowledge made Thijeel’s work even more valuable to the community.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, racism is rampant in both institutions and society, as evidenced by the experiences of black communities in Palestine, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and beyond. However, continues Al Azraki, “there is no organized network of communication, coordination or solidarity in the region. Some Afro-Iraqis have participated in ritual performances with Afro-Iranians in Iran, but these are individual experiences ”.

As these communities in the region continue to be marginalized and mostly invisible, African Iraqis have sought inspiration and solidarity outside the region, finding an affinity with African Americans. The election of Barack Obama in 2008 represented a milestone for this community, as a person of Kenyan origin had become the leader of the world superpower, a fact that must certainly have inspired the Iraqis of Kenyan origin. In his class, along with Martin Luther King Jr’s, Thijeel hung a picture of Obama.

On April 26, 2013, Thijeel was assassinated, most likely by political factions opposed to his attempt to run, tragically following the fate of his inspirer, Martin Luther King. In 2020, Afro-Iraqis found renewed inspiration in the Black Lives Matter movement, and George Floyd’s death in May 2020 represented a call for mobilization to protest their oppression and reclaim dignity.

The consequences of the climate crisis
The future of the Afro-Iraqi community looks even more precarious in light of one of Iraq’s greatest existential threats: climate change. The area around Basra has already proven to be particularly vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. During the summer 2019 heatwave for example, cities like Basra, particularly the inland district of Zubayr where most Afro-Iraqis live, were hit by some of the highest temperatures ever recorded in history. Rising sea levels in Basra could cause flooding to hit homes and has already caused salt water to enter the city’s canals and streams 300 kilometers upstream of the Shatt al Arab River, killing crops, livestock and fish. . While most of the inhabitants of Basra suffer from poverty, the Afro-Iraqi community, as an even more marginalized population, is facing difficulties accentuated by these environmental changes.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recently deceased, coined the expression “climate apartheid”, stating that this type of discrimination “arises from complex interweaving between racism and exploitation of the environment”. Iraq constitutes a model of climate apartheid, in which only the rich can afford food, water and electricity to run the air conditioners, particularly in Basra. In 2016, reporter Richard Hall wrote: “In the future, only the rich will be able to escape the unbearable heat resulting from climate change. In Iraq, this is already happening ”. Iraq is certainly not the only country to experience the emergence of a climate apartheid based on the intersection of different forms of marginalization. Once again a comparison between the Afro-Iraqi community and, for example, the Afro-Colombian one highlights the transnational connections shared by the descendants of the slave populations.

As in the case of the assassination of Thijeel, the paramilitaries are probably hiding behind the death in June 2019 of Maria Hurtado, an Afro-Colombian leader. Both communities live in areas vulnerable to rising sea levels and are subject to blatant state violence and repression as well as systematic denial of rights and marginalization.

The month of black history serves to reflect on the historical trajectories and injustices that have led to the marginalization of these communities from Iraq to the United States to Colombia. In the future, climate apartheid will manifest itself around the world, as people living in the same area experience extreme climatic conditions differently based on race, ethnicity and class.

In these dramatic circumstances, the fate of the Afro-Iraqi community remains uncertain.

(Translation by Francesco De Lellis)