Mereja.Forum

BAGHDAD — The police killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests in the United States are being used by Iraqi activists to raise awareness about the rights of African-Iraqis. At the same time, many Iraqi protesters have drawn parallels to the US movement, criticizing the way the Iraqi authorities have been dealing with Iraqi protests since they began in October 2019.

Online debate has recently focused on the fate of the African-Iraqi minority, which has been deprived of official recognition and political representation in government. The debate has evoked the 2013 assassination in Basra of the most prominent African-Iraqi figure, Jalal Diab. Diab was an African-Iraqi leader who founded the Movement of Free Iraqis (Ansar al-Huriya) in 2007 to protect Iraq's black community, which is estimated at about 400,000.

Iraqi activist Ammar Jassem, who served as vice president of the Movement of Free Iraqis, said he was determined to organize a demonstration to give voice to African-Iraqi rights on the occasion of Floyd's death. But the event was canceled due to the fear of the African-Iraqi community. Since the assassination of Diab, he told Al-Monitor, things are no longer the same. "The bullet that penetrated [Diab's] body assassinated all our dreams as a minority seeking equality," said Jassem.

African-Iraqis are of several ethnicities. Some are Nubians from Egypt; others are from Zanzibar, Ethiopia and Ghana. They are mostly located in Basra province, particularly in Az Zubayr and Abu al-Khaseeb. African-Iraqi heritage expert Sawra Yusuf told Al-Monitor, “Each group has different rites. The Nubians from south Egypt in Africa, al-Habash from Ethiopia and the Kenyans from the coast share Bambassa tribal roots. They all were transferred during slavery time in the Abbasid caliphate between 750 and 785."

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origin ... z6PvQvf0qK

UN seeks to raise awareness of bias against African-Iraqis


Iraqis of African descent seem to be making progress, albeit slowly, against discrimination, with the UN's help





BAGHDAD — A recently convened UN committee addressed discrimination against many minorities in many countries, including Iraqis of African descent. Its conclusions shed light on the marginalization of this almost forgotten minority — forgotten especially years after the 2013 assassination of one of its main leaders, Jalal Diab, in Basra.

Diab had posters of Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama on the walls of his school dedicated to teaching poor African-Iraqis in


Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origin ... z6PvX39ZUT

Revelations,

You should also talk about the indiginous Egyptians that are being persecuted by Arab and Muslim Brother Hood who don't have water and food. These are ancient Egyptians