"The new wave of protests that erupted early this week in Baghdad, in which protesters are demanding dignity, jobs and services, has spread to other southern cities including Basra, Najaf, Karbala, Diwaniyah and Nasiriyah. It has escalated quickly and now includes calls for the 'fall of the regime'."
It is interesting to notice another counter-sectarianism evidence. The majority of Iraq's population is Shi'a and the protests are taking place in Shi'a-dominated cities, with anti-Iranian slogans raised and the Iranian flag burnt.
When the first Arab uprising erupted in Tunisia in December 2010, one the dominant slogans was: "Jobs are a right you band of thieves." Then came "the people want the overthrow of the regime."
The socio-economic revolution in the MENA region is yet to come. And in the absence of radicalism, leadership and strategy, it is going to a be a long and protracted process that the counter-revolutionary forces, internal and external, will continue to abort or slow it down.
And the fundamental problem is not really corruption as a Guardian artcile wants to highlight. Corrutpion exists in rich and advanced capitalist countries. It is the inablity of the rulers, despite the oil wealth, to carry out a developmental programme even within the existing capitalist relations i.e. to embark on investment projects and achieve sustainable productivity to improve the living conditions of the majority of the population.
The effects of corruption is mitigated when productivity is high and a resonable amout of wealth is enjoyed by the population and thus guaranteeing consent (major advanced capitalist countries, for example). Wars and occupations, high level of inequality, rendition and torture, support of authoritarian regimes, austerity, etc have been tolerated in "democracies".
There is a high level of corruption in China, and it is authoritarian and repressive like the overwhelming majority of the MENA regimes. Yet, because hundreds of millions of people have seen development and improvement in their living standard in the last 40 years, they can afford to turn a blind eye on corruption and repression.
Similarly, countries like Brazil and Venezuela that have relied on revenues from raw materials have not been able to achieve sustainable growth and improve the material life of their population. Corruption and mismanagment have only exacerbated the disaster.
If higher productivity and growth in the advanced capitalist countries do not resume, it means laying out the conditions for a powder-keg of more and bigger social conflicts that would make protests that took place in Europe and the US from 2011 onwards, look like a rehearsal.
It is interesting to notice another counter-sectarianism evidence. The majority of Iraq's population is Shi'a and the protests are taking place in Shi'a-dominated cities, with anti-Iranian slogans raised and the Iranian flag burnt.
When the first Arab uprising erupted in Tunisia in December 2010, one the dominant slogans was: "Jobs are a right you band of thieves." Then came "the people want the overthrow of the regime."
The socio-economic revolution in the MENA region is yet to come. And in the absence of radicalism, leadership and strategy, it is going to a be a long and protracted process that the counter-revolutionary forces, internal and external, will continue to abort or slow it down.
And the fundamental problem is not really corruption as a Guardian artcile wants to highlight. Corrutpion exists in rich and advanced capitalist countries. It is the inablity of the rulers, despite the oil wealth, to carry out a developmental programme even within the existing capitalist relations i.e. to embark on investment projects and achieve sustainable productivity to improve the living conditions of the majority of the population.
The effects of corruption is mitigated when productivity is high and a resonable amout of wealth is enjoyed by the population and thus guaranteeing consent (major advanced capitalist countries, for example). Wars and occupations, high level of inequality, rendition and torture, support of authoritarian regimes, austerity, etc have been tolerated in "democracies".
There is a high level of corruption in China, and it is authoritarian and repressive like the overwhelming majority of the MENA regimes. Yet, because hundreds of millions of people have seen development and improvement in their living standard in the last 40 years, they can afford to turn a blind eye on corruption and repression.
Similarly, countries like Brazil and Venezuela that have relied on revenues from raw materials have not been able to achieve sustainable growth and improve the material life of their population. Corruption and mismanagment have only exacerbated the disaster.
If higher productivity and growth in the advanced capitalist countries do not resume, it means laying out the conditions for a powder-keg of more and bigger social conflicts that would make protests that took place in Europe and the US from 2011 onwards, look like a rehearsal.