Women in the Tishreen demonstrations were pushed into secondary roles, in keeping with the roles that women and men were brought up on in Iraq. They postponed their agendas and issues. This was a mistake which we must now review.

The microphone is in front of me, and women are to my side and back. The tent is above me. Cameras are around me. The sun strikes our heads with its strong rays. A strong, angry, hoarse voice comes out of my throat. We used to take pity on those killed in the Tishreen protests. We demanded accountability for their murderers, for corruption, and called for the enactment of a domestic violence law, in the hope that we would protect our women from the torment that comes with being woman.

That was on October 1, 2020, in the middle of the protest square in the city of Kut. That moment has been welded on my chest. It is also a stain that has never left my forehead.

I returned home. My statement in the square had resonated widely, causing outrage in Wasit, my city. Prior to this, no other statement had received this level of attack. We, the women demonstrators, were called prostitutes, tent-girls, bastards…and other descriptions that I had never heard before. The attack extended to my family and reached their ears.

I had to confront my brother, who was watching my reputation as a woman crumble before him. He said, “Although you have the right, you are a woman in this society.” He then continued, “Women do not have the authority to give their political opinions, let alone express them in public.”

Because I am a woman who is talking about politics, I am seen as a “tomboy” or someone who wants to be famous, or who wants to make herself appear smart.

Now, with the third anniversary of October, I want to relive all that march. I want to desanctify it, put it on the autopsy table and criticize it. I also want to go back and point out that we have been deluded by so-called achievements that do not exist. I would like to return to my brother, the community, and the people who accompanied me throughout the protests, to stand before them all and say: We remained silent on issues that should not have been silenced!

Tishreen ^[1]on its third anniversary

The Tishreen protests called for freedoms, secularism, and for the overthrow of the regime and its replacement with a system based on human rights and equality. The movement has been praised for its feminist attendance and appearance.

After two and a half years, comparisons were made between the Tishreen demonstrations and demonstrations that followed which were led by the political Islamic forces. The absence of a feminist voice amongst all the parties to the protests was considered flawed.

Actually, it’s true.

Our presence as women, in the demonstration squares during the days of the October protests, also had many flaws and failures. We were seen through a patriarchal lens, the naughty ones who came to the squares to demand our rights and the rights of society. This opinion will infuriate many. But not saying it and continuing to ignore it means for us, as women, that we are postponing our lives, our demands, our futures.

The Iraqi woman participated in the demonstrations starting on October 25, 2019. She attended as a protester demanding her rights as a citizen. But after a time, and the squares became shelters and miniature homes, and the role of women was more as paramedic, assistant, cook. Her opinion and demands were not at the top of the list.

There were rare moments in which women participated at the turning points of the demonstrations, in issuing statements, or defining withdrawal and progress. Let us remember now, that almost no statement issued by Tishreen squares was written by women. If they participated, their voice was low.

Women were automatically pushed into secondary roles, in line with the roles that women and men were brought up on which see men as strong while women have no say in politics. New to protests, women’s rights became less significant than the large citizenship demands that were written on banners and broadcast through the loudspeakers of the sit-in tents.

This view was common among many of our friends and those who accompanied us on the demonstrations. To our opponents, we were just “whores”.

The men protesting were called “sons of embassies”, “jokers”, or “employees” of the United States of America. Women are nothing but the daughters of a hidden place in which sex is believed to be the overriding factor: the tents that sheltered us in the protest squares.

They were not seen as subordinate to a country that had agendas that wanted to destroy Iraq – as the men were – but they were viewed as sexual objects occupying tents. It is a view that has existed forever, and it is also a view from within the depths of our traditions. Women expected to be stigmatized using these kinds of accusations by their opponents, who are those in power and their allies. We know these people and have been fighting against them for over two decades. But what about those who claim to be our allies? Those whose voices mixed with our voices, our demands with their demands, our dreams with theirs?

In the past few months, it emerged that secret conversations were taking place from within a group of activists from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square in which each person boasted about how many women they were able to “hunt” in the demonstrations. Conversations appeared and disappeared and were not discussed, even though some of those involved were well-known activists. They should have been held accountable for their actions, publicly condemned, and even removed from the front.

But talking about women, their rights and freedoms has always been postponed. Women’s rights are secondary, and many feel that they should not be addressed until an honest political system and just authority are in place. As if the feminist issue is a trivial issue that does not deserve to be considered in light of the much greater problems of the state, citizenship, and men.

Women and the Tishreen parties

As women, we also participated in the postponement of our issues and our lives. Immediately after the outbreak of the Tishreen demonstrations, discussions took place in a feminist group on WhatsApp about what was happening inside the protest squares and ways to help. As the days progressed, unacceptable behaviors were witnessed, and their victims were women. Strangely, women agreed among themselves not to show any of the adverse actions from the protests out of respect for those that had lost their lives. I was one of those women.

This postponement has turned into a given. As the demonstrations moved to the next stage of political organization, it was expected that women should occupy the political place they deserved. This did not happen. What happened in the squares of demonstrations and sit-ins also manifested in the political meetings which were then held. In an interview with representatives from the parties which emerged from the protest movement that I was conducting for research on behalf of an international organization, one of the women members who had withdrawn from a Tishreen party told me how she felt persecuted. She had been reminded by colleagues that she was only a “woman”, belittling her and her political views. This despite her having widespread support from the residents of her governorate.

This woman was not an exception. Oher women have withdrawn from the Tishreen parties because of the immoral behavior of men from within the parties. Men whose demands for freedom and equality have played a role in their winning elections.

I want to mention here that the head of the Imtidad movement, Alaa Al-Rikabi,  said, on entering the parliament with the “tuk-tuk”, apparently reassuring his audience, “Even our women are men”. This is nothing less than an insult, a lack of understanding, and shows a lack of progress in political action and in understanding Tishreen and its purpose.

Similarly, the representative and lawyer, Basem Khashan, who also portrays himself as a civic and a secularist, responded to one of his critics by saying, “If your woman has something to offer, I’m at your service.” This is a direct sexual gesture against the man’s wife who was not in any way involved in the dialogue.

These incidents demonstrate that abuses caused by some party members, parliamentarians, and some young people reveal an important fact. That, even in her political participation, the Iraqi woman was not radical enough to impose her opinion, discourse and demands. Postponing feminist issues until reaching the wider goal only means postponing our lives or putting them indefinitely on hold.

As I look back at those stormy days, I say: We had to impose our agenda and our voices and make them present in statements and squares. We should not accept the hierarchy created by historical and social norms and values that put men first. The issues of women and their rights, the demands for equality and the imposition of feminist agendas, must go hand in hand with the issues of citizenship, the confiscation of arms in the hands of the state and the adoption of just laws.

Feminist issues are no less important than any other issue. In fact, I go so far as to say, if they are not resolved, other solutions with a national dimension cannot be found.

The progress of women has become dependent on the extent to which they are able to stand up to those who try to marginalize their political and revolutionary roles. Especially those with whom they share a common ground. Moreover, the rights that women deserve should not be seen as an honour. They are the product of the work and toil of women before them. In addition, the entry of a woman into the world of politics as a woman, not just there meet quotas or as one who needs to think like a man, is the first step towards achieving a world in which the concept of equality is on solid ground.

Most importantly, Tishreen should not be owned by a certain social type. It should be a turning point where we can correct our mistakes, stand up for our rights and criticize anyone who tries to strip us of our demands.

^[1] Tishreen is the month of October in Arabic. Used here, it refers to the month during which the Iraqi protests began. Those who participated in these demonstrations are usually referred to as Tishreenists or Tishreeni.