Review The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq

Bashkin, Orit, The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq, Stanford University Press, 2009

 

The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq by Orit Bashkin is about the role of intellectuals during the monarchy which lasted from 1920-1958. The author emersed himself in Iraqi books, poems, journals and reports from this period. Many histories have claimed there was no national identity which led to many of the country’s problems up to the present day. The author disputes that claiming Iraqi nationalism was established amongst the urban middle class and intellectuals.

Bashkin deals with two main trains of thought beginning with the Arab nationalists. The Hashemite monarchy supported them because the ideology gave legitimacy to it since King Faisal and many of his followers took part in the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans during World War I. Many foreign Arabs who supported the idea were brought into the country especially Palestinians to work as teachers and bureaucrats because Iraq didn’t have enough professionals. School curriculum was based upon Pan-Arabism. This would cause problems as some officials were anti-Shiite and anti-Kurd who together were the majority of the population. This group also began talking about Iraq specific events such as the 1920 Revolt against the British and famous Iraqis contributing to a national identity and took part in discussing whether the monarchy could create a democratic Iraq.

 

The author sees two phases in the Pan-Arab movement in Iraq. In the 1930s Arab nationalists became radicalized with some turning against the monarchy and democracy. There were writers who accused the Hashemites of being tools of the British and supporting colonialism. Many supported the 1941 coup which led the Regent to flee the country. This led the monarchy to go from supporting pan-Arabists to cracking down on them. New groups like the Baathists joined the opposition. While they espoused freedom of expression they did not believe in those rights if they took power. The book argues the dominant ideology within the country went from supporting the regime to trying to overthrow it.

 

Most of the book however is focused upon the Left which was made up of social democrats and the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP). Both groups were in the forefront in advocating for a democratic Iraq and reforming the government. They also supported Iraqi nationalism with the Communists for instance appealing to a multicultural country of different ethnic and religious groups gaining a large following of Shiites, Kurds and Jews. They talked about the poor, the exploitation of the peasantry with the Communists involved in major strikes for workers’ rights and protests against the government. Like the radical Pan Arabists they saw the monarchy as a tool of British colonialism.

 

Bashkin points out that since the Left comprised the major opposition parties they were constantly suppressed by the government. The monarchy passed laws to limit the media, arrested writers and journalists, exiled others and executed several Communist leaders. The monarchy therefore was showing that it did not believe democracy.

 

Within these discussions the book talks about several subjects intellectuals dealt with such as sectarianism, tribes and education. The last is one of the least interesting chapters because instead of covering ideas it gets bogged down into details about how many schools were opened and what the curriculum was like. The first chapter is also like a thesis that goes over the literature about Iraq’s intellectuals.

 

Bashkin’s research into his topic is extensive and gives a real feel for what Iraqi intellectuals were discussing during the monarchy. Despite being a college professor his writing is easy to read and not academic. Most importantly he makes a convincing argument that the urban middle class and intellectuals developed a sense of Iraqi nationalism even though they disagreed about what it should mean. This is in stark contrast to most of the literature which largely believes in the opposite.

 

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