Wednesday, March 07, 2012

At least 56 Iraqi Emo youths have been killed

The outlook for many Iraqis remains bleak following the final withdrawal of U.S. troops last December. Widespread joblessness and weak infrastructure are fueling public discontent, even as Iraqi leaders engage in sectarian political power struggles.
Political crises, along with a wave of recent bombings attributed to the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, are raising concerns about a possible return to full-scale sectarian violence. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-controlled government arrested in October 2011 more than 600 former members of the Sunni-dominated Baath Party after a receiving a tip that some former Baathists were plotting a coup. The government also ordered the arrest of the country's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, accusing him of organizing a death squad targeting government officials.

The above is from Gallup's Steve Crabtree who reports on Gallup's polling of Iraqis which has found that only 32% of Iraqis (excluding KRG residents) are "satisfied" -- a number that is half what it was over a year ago. Only 8% of Iraqis outside the KRG state there are good job opportunities. In related news, Al Mada notes the Ministry of Human Rights announced yesterday that there are a large number of Christians who are no longer able to afford basic living expenses as a result of having to (a) flee their homes and (b) relocate for safety reasons. One Baghdad Christian family has a member who had a stroke and is no longer able to work as a cook and the family has had to sell off furniture and other goods to try to meet the bills. The article notes that the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Ammar al-Hakim, conveyed to the Vatican Ambaasador [Giorgio Lingwa] that Iraqi Christians are part of the vibrant fabric of Iraq.

Meanwhile Nayla Razzouk and Khalid al-Ansary (Bloomberg News) report, "Iraqi Construction and Housing Minister Mohammad Saheb al-Darraji escaped unharmed when a car bomb exploded near his convoy in Baghdad today, injuring six of his bodyguards, the ministry said." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) reports 1 person was killed and four were left injured and that al-Darraji "was not part of the motorcade."

Iraq's LGBT community is being targeted. The Emo community is as well and that's related. There's something very sad and very backward about Iraq's 'leaders.' Don't give me the crap that they don't know any better. Iraq was an educated society. That's true even of the thugs -- possibly more so since so many are exiles who went elsewhere while Saddam Hussein was in power and only returned to Iraq when they could hide behind US soldiers. Al Mada reports that Parliament is offended by the attacks on Iraq's Emo youth while at the same time they note that Emo is criminal behavior and goes against human rights.

The stupidity hurts. They're like Pat Boone's fan club in the fifties raging against Chuck Berry and Little Richard. They need to grow the hell up and grasp that they don't like the lifestyle of today's youth? That's part of life. Each generation has to decide what their totems will be, what arts speak to them, etc. Emo is, first and foremost, music. Like most vibrant music scenes, a subculture springs up around it. Iraq's Parliament -- which is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much older than the median age of Iraq -- should be on their knees thanking Whomever that their country's youth is contributing and embracing something. Instead, it's tsk-tsk, we don't like it and we are so really scared by the way you look. Get over your damn selves. You can't outlaw Emo or anything else that the youth attaches itself too. It's been demonstrated for centuries that your reactionary poses and response only fuel whatever you rally against. That's at true in the MidEast as it is around the world, it's part of the fabric of the human condition.

Again, the stupidity hurts. But around the world, we're supposed to see it as 'progress' that the Parliament at least recognizes that the "dozens" of Emo Iraqi youth who have been assassinated in the last weeks shouldn't have been killed?

Iraqi MPs need to get their act together and start realizing how they're seen around the world. If you're trying to build a travel industry -- and Iraq desperately wants visitors -- here's the first thing you don't ever do: Attacks LGBTs. Nobody wants to travel to some backwoods hellhole where people are attacked for whom they love. The smartest thing Iraq's government could do is go on a retreat with someone who could convey to them how all this bulls**t looks to the outside world. They better learn some tolerance pretty damn quick or better accept that the only ones making a point to travel to Iraq will be oil industry types.

Ahmed Hussein (Al Mada) reports that Emo youth are considered aliens, other-worldly, are targeted for "liquidation" the same as Iraq's LGBT community. And they're confused with Satanists, vampires and more. It sort of reminds you of when the Twilight crowd comes to Southpark Elementary and the Emo kids are outraged to be considered Twighlight wannabes by the uninformed.

Dar Addustour reports that 56 of Iraqi's Emo Youth have been killed.

Clearly, they not only do not want to be a travel destination, they also don't want any western musicians performing in their country because that's what these attacks on Emo youth guarantee. And you better grasp that a cultural boycott is damn hard to reverse and that it quickly spreads to people demanding that corporations not do business with the country.


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