Life is not easy for Iraq’s youth, who grew up knowing nothing but war. Despite the efforts of young people and teenagers to achieve their ambitions, they face many challenges. On this subject, the British newspaper The Guardian published an extensive report, translated by Al-Hal Net.
The markets of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have come back to life once again. Its streets have become colorful and crowded, its cafés packed with throngs of young people, while the scent of fresh cardamom fills the air.
Baghdad is constantly changing: concrete walls are coming down, new co-working spaces are appearing, modernization is visible along the banks of the Tigris River, and construction activity is booming. Young people have also turned gray walls into colorful murals and empty buildings into restaurants. According to the report, this generation of youth, in their late teens and early twenties, is the one on which many hopes rest: students, ballet instructors, artists, some of whom lost limbs during the bloody years of conflict, and entrepreneurs.
Many of those born in war now find themselves torn between two choices. Anwar Ahmed, 23, an environmental advocate, explains: “The generation I belong to either wants to leave Iraq and start a new life somewhere else, or stay here, invest, rebuild, and move forward in our country.” She continues: “Personally, I believe Baghdad needs me, and even if it is not always easy, I think I need it too.”
More than half of Iraq’s 42 million people are under the age of 25. According to the World Bank, Iraq has one of the youngest populations in the world, and many young people are full of ambition and drive, yet they are equally burdened by despair. The unemployment rate in Iraq stands at around 14 percent, and corruption is rampant in the administration. Violence against women is also widespread, including killings, and the sectarian political system has not been reformed since the Iraq war in 2003.
For precisely these reasons, protests swept across the country in 2019, with young people at the forefront, but the brutal government crackdown resulted in the killing of more than 500 people and the injury of thousands.
Even so, the report believes that Baghdad’s younger generation may be more determined than ever. Ahmed, who takes percussion lessons in her spare time, says, “We are the ones who determine the future of Baghdad and Iraq; that cannot be denied.” She does a bit of everything. As she says, she is an artist and musician, but above all a full-time climate activist working with a local organization aimed at preserving the Tigris River, Iraq’s main source of water. “Our generation is highly aware when it comes to climate change, because we live in one of the most affected countries in the world. Recurrent drought, water shortages, and dust storms—this, unfortunately, is our future.”
Ahmed’s family has always supported their daughter’s ambitions, but that is not necessarily the case for all young Iraqi women. Lizan Salam, 26, Baghdad’s first licensed ballet instructor, says: “Many families, and society as a whole to some extent, have conservative norms, and that can create difficulties especially for young women.” Her family has always supported her, but she says she faced years of harassment and attacks on social media, where people considered her work dirty and forbidden.
Today, Salam oversees the training of 45 female students in Baghdad, but she admits things are not easy. She says: “I am torn. Part of me wants to stay in Baghdad and invest, and the other part wants to leave. I do not see myself as part of this society unless it changes, but at the same time, perhaps I need to be here to do what I must and help bring about that change.”
For Mustafa Rahman, also 26, that change came in an unexpected and unwanted way. He was barely 10 years old when he and his mother ventured out to the local market in his hometown, Abu Ghraib, half an hour’s drive from the capital, Baghdad. Rahman recalls that a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing dozens. His mother survived, but he lost his leg, followed by years of pain and depression, which lasted until last year when he joined an amputee football club and was able to begin a new life. He now trains three times a week, hoping eventually to make the Iraqi national team.
Rahman concluded his remarks in the report by saying: “The wounds of war are everywhere; we cannot ignore that. But we must live with them and make the best use of their lessons. We have to move forward!”
