Minorities

22 years ago today, the former Iraqi regime ordered its air force to bombard the Kurdish town of Halabja with chemical weapons, instantly poisoning to death 5000 men, women and children. I went to Halabja for the first time in the spring of 2006 to pay my respects to the dead. I [...]

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the Halabja poison gas attack which was carried out as part of the Al-Anfal genocide campaign to terrorize the Kurdish population and peshmerga rebels in northern Iraq. The attack, which was executed by airplanes on March 16th and 17th in a heavily populated area, away from the area of [...]

On March 16th, supporters of Kurdish and human rights will come together to commemorate the anniversary of the Halabja poison gas attack, which was carried out by Iraqi forces against Kurdish civilians in the Iraqi town of Halabja in March 16-17, 1988. This act of genocide ended the lives of up to 15,000 innocent men, [...]

Salahadin, Erbil – Reports from Mosul indicate that hundreds of Christian families are fleeing the city after a series of terrorist attacks directed at them. The local government of Mosul has never, not even once, not even for a little bit failed to disappoint their constituents.
One of my earliest memories of interacting with [...]

The Bahá’ís have been in the news out of Iran and neighboring regions.
I could go on about the governmental angle but my real focus is the experience and attitudes of people. This isn’t just about government oppressions and fanatical theologies to hold onto power. This is really about bias and oppression of a minority that [...]

Beyond our culture of contest lies a different kind of democracy: gentle, just and… inevitable.
“Beyond King of the Mountain” is a documentary short about democratic governance outside of the “Western Liberal” model. Particularly poignant for those who are thinking of what democracy would mean in the Middle East, it features interviews with: Iraj Abedian, Nick [...]

This is the first podcast in a long series on homosexuality in Sudan. Mideast Youth talks to Ali, a single gay Sudanese man living and working in the Gulf. When Ali started his blog, black-gay-Arab, he was only trying to find himself. Three years later, Ali has a lot of followers and writes about his identity [...]

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Prof. Galtung is one of the most important dissident intellectuals of our time; distinguished professor of Sociology, Peace and conflict research and world renowned founder of the academic discipline of peace research and founder of PRIO, is currently director of TRANSCEND, a global peace and development network. He has served at so many universities that [...]

According to the Baha’i leadership studies, Iraq is home to less than 2,000 Baha’is, spread all across the country. In 1970, Iraq banned the Baha’i Faith, and in 1975 there was a subsequent decision of prohibiting the issuance of identification documents to Baha’is. In 2007 the government abolished the Ministry of Interior’s [...]

It was another bad year for Iraq’s Christian minority. this is how Sam Dagher
from New York Times describes the conditions of Iraqi Christians

Although they were granted more representation in Parliament under the new election law that was finally approved in early December, they continued to be besieged on many fronts, especially [...]