The Malaysian Insider

BAGHDAD, Oct 13 — Afyaa Shaker has long dreamt of driving a car through the boulevards of the Iraqi capital.

Under Saddam Hussein’s isolated, repressive regime, there wasn’t enough money for a car. After Saddam was ousted in 2003, Shaker didn’t dare risk running into Islamist groups or Shi’ite militias who opposed the idea of a woman at the wheel.

Now, the 35-year-old is driving across Baghdad, reflecting the rapid change in social norms in a country just emerging from years of sectarian war and taking tentative steps to loosen the grip of dogmatic religious parties controlling it since 2003.

Known in the 1960s and 70s as one of the Middle East’s more permissive societies, Iraq grew slowly more conservative during years of war, sanctions and hardship, a trend accelerated after 2003 as deep divisions over identity bubbled to the surface.

In the dark days of sectarian carnage in 2006-07, women didn’t leave home without carrying a headscarf. Young men and women thought twice before being seen together outside.

“When the religious militias were active and the range of sectarian violence was top... most people suddenly adopted religious ideas, clothes, appearance and even behaviour,” said Jamal, a security guard who has been working close to a Baghdad park once famous as a spot for lovers’ trysts.

“When the security situation improved and militias disappeared, the people also responded to these changes.”

Since 2008, violence has fallen drastically, and Iraqi youths have celebrated by putting on tight jeans and shirts, removing headscarves and taking on new styles.

“We’ve witnessed the drastic change of young people abandoning (strict rules imposed by religious powers),” said Hanaa Idwar of the local Amel Organisation, a societal advocacy group.

Still, overwhelmingly Muslim Iraq is struggling to hammer out complex questions such as the proper role of religion in politics, the extent of personal liberties in a Muslim society and the place of women in a culture publically dominated by men.

National elections in January, in which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will face off against rivals from Shi’ite religious parties, could be a decisive moment in that process.

TRENDS

Running his fingers through his long hair, Hussain Mohammed, a university student studying economics, says that he doesn’t need to grow a beard or cut his hair. “There’s nothing wrong with my look. It is a trend, and I like it.”

Some people in a country still plagued by violence hope that greater freedom will keep youth out of the grip of insurgents.

Police say Baghdad has seen a rise in prostitution and public drunkenness. Nightclubs, many with booze and suggestive dancing, have popped up with vigour.

“We know that entertainment is one of the mechanisms we can use to attract the young away from the terrorists and armed groups,” one high-ranking police officer said.

Another senior police officer said: “The government has a new policy now ... whoever likes to go to the mosque, he can go, and whoever likes to go to the night club, he also can go.”

Despite a drop in violence, bloody attacks are still routine in a nation with the world’s third largest crude reserves, and analysts fear more carnage ahead of January’s elections.

Maliki, whose Dawa party was founded to promote the role of Islam in politics, is trying to rebrand himself as a non-sectarian nationalist who can satisfy Iraqis’ basic needs, like security and power. Many people here are sceptical.

Sociology professor Khalid al-Muhammedi sees the “religious bubbling” in the last few years as another phase of the constant social changes that characterise Iraq, just like the adoption of religious style beards and black clothes after 2003.

Under the martial former leader Saddam, he said, “people were imitating the military. These are trends.” — Reuters