Our latest Chevening Conversations blog is by Iraqi scholar Seja Majeed. Seja studied law at Brunel University in 2009/10.
Iraq, my homeland, or is it? Yes my parents are Iraqi, thus by default I am also Iraqi. But isn’t there more to one’s identity then simply deriving your parents genes. Just like ‘relationships,’ is it not right to expect a person to have a form of attachment to a country, one which goes beyond genes? Or am I complicating matters?
To be honest, I don’t know where to start with Iraq, I really feel lost, bewildered and rather furious at the complexity of our situation. I love Iraq. I have spent my entire life dreaming about it; hoping and wishing that someday I would be a part of its reconstruction and development. I want Iraq to be the greatest Arab Country within the Middle East; if Baghdad was once the capital of intellect, then surely it can rise from the ashes and become the great civilisation it formerly was. Yes, I was a visionary dreaming of something that is now so farfetched and distorted. I no longer dare to dream of Iraq because of my own well being and sanity.
I first travelled to Iraq during the time of Saddam Hussein, when uttering his name even in the confines of your own home was a terrifying thing to do, no doubt a deadly mistake for someone who didn’t wish to get hanged. I also came in 2007 when terrorism was at its peak, with beheadings, kidnapping, gunfire and explosion being the main discussions around the dinner table. And now, I return again, to my homeland, or whatever is left of it.
Since I’ve been here, there have been between six to eight suicide bombings so far and I am not even midway through my journey. The precise number I cannot say as I have not had the energy to switch on the TV and watch the Iraqi news, after all I must keep my sanity if I am to survive such an ordeal and believe me I have little of it left. I initially came to Iraq for several reasons. The paramount one was because I wanted to set up a recycling initiative to clean up the streets of Basra. As soon as I entered the borders of Kuwait, I was shocked by the appalling state of the roads, with dirty ditches everywhere, scrap metal lying in the middle of the streets, plastic bottles along the Shatt al Arab river bank, including unwanted refrigerators, exploded cars, everything that anyone can imagine is there.
My first reaction was quite frankly an energetic ‘where do I start?’ It felt as if I had entered a rubbish tip one which I happily wanted to polish until it shone like silver. I was so eager to get on with my cleaning project, so much so that I wanted to jump into the river myself, use my own plastic gloves and one-by-one collect all the bottles for recycling. But I am a ‘’woman’’ and an ‘’outsider’’ according to ‘native Iraqi eyes’, and apparently, a woman cleaning up the streets would be frowned upon; a truly undignified thing to do, in every sense of the word.
If I chose to ignore such cultural philosophies, I would attract attention to myself thus putting me at risk of kidnapping. I, however, am an independent thinker who does not take much notice of cultural taboos, I would happily jump into the Shatt al Arab River but I need a team and I need funding. I have neither, which leads me onto my second point, one which I am extremely passionate about (but shall discuss in a little while). To be blunt and to the point, there is no community spirit here in Iraq, quite frankly, it is a dog eat dog world out here. The individual and his family is the ‘’nucleus in the atom,’’ and that’s about it. So you see there is a vicious circle, the Iraqi people (not all, but most) do not feel a sense of duty to help themselves by improving their own environment.
It is a deep contrast from the United Kingdom, when London was gripped by the riots, community spirit was key to overcoming the ‘destructive yobbish’ behaviour of those who tried to breakdown society. Everyone felt the necessity to pull their weight, report those who they believed had participated in such hideous acts, and clean up their streets. I remember watching strangers sweeping the road without urging payment. I imagine you are thinking, ‘But there is a great deal of poverty in Iraq, it is only right that they are paid for their services.’
Well that’s not entirely true. Yes, there is poverty, but if you come to Basra, you’ll see most people driving brand new cars and range rovers. The Iraqi people are being paid well, the average man and woman earns about 1200 dollars a month. That’s not a hefty sum but take into account the fact that they do not pay income tax, tv licenses, extortionate electric and gas bills and so on. It is a decent wage for those living here, coupled by that the Government offers free sugar and petrol to families. So you see the problem is not finances, it is mentality, and an enshrined laziness to just accept the things the way they are. Not to tell off a child who throws his chocolate wrapper in the floor, after all, he saw his parents do exactly the same. Iraq has many financial resources, what is lacking goes beyond that.
So let me go onto my second point which relates to the question of ‘Funding.’ Even though I have lobbied hard, wanting desperately to talk to Iraqi politicians, they are having none of it. Why? Because they want to keep their ‘oil funding’ for themselves, it is not in their interests to have real development. Corruption is a better kept secret when there is anarchy. It seems the doll is being spent on ‘fat cats’ that fall within the mentioned ‘nucleus’ of family members. Like I said, Iraq is not poor, those who think it is, are certainly misinformed. The Iraqi Parliament has plenty of money, and quite frankly, I hope they feel ashamed of themselves for wasting it on silly adventures.
I also hope the British and American Government feels ashamed of itself for believing in Iraqi politicians who have done nothing for our country apart from bickering among themselves, sipping tea on grand golden chairs, and hiding themselves away in the Greenzone which is guarded by endless tanks. So furious am I with the Iraqi Government, and their partners in crime, for supporting those who are doing nothing to get this country moving. How are you supposed to develop a country when most of these politicians have no background in economics or international relations?
Let me give you an example of an absolute waste of money endorsed by the Iraqi Financial Ministry, and all the bureaucrats who have done little or nothing. In the outskirts of Basra, they are building a Football Stadium, so that the Gulf Football games can be held there in 2013. It’s Iraq’s version of the Olympic games or so they say? Now should this really be a priority of a country which has no proper roads, electricity, sewage system, internet connection, educational schools and so on?
How can you invite international tourists to come and stay in Iraq when Basra does not even have an airport to allow flights to land? Scrap that, what about a decent road to walk on or a shopping mall to entertain its visitors. My goodness, what on earth is going on? How many millions are being spent on these silly incentives that are pocketed by bureaucrats? This is just one small example of money wasted and there are plenty of others which I will explore in my next article, which will also touch upon international relations and why we are doom to failure. So will Iraq get better? I do not know, what I do know, is that the fictional story of Ali Baba and his 40 thieves is in fact based on a true one, most likely the life of our politicians.
If you are a Chevening scholar or alumnus and you would like to submit a blog entry, please get in touch. You can get in touch with me, Declan Byrne, via the Chevening Community website, the official Chevening groups on Facebook or Linkedin or you can contact your local British Embassy/High Commission. Entries should be 700 to 1000 words please. Remember that you can link to your own blog page if you have more to say. We would be particularly interested to hear about the experiences of the UK from our 2011/12 scholars.
Ms.Seja Majeed
AOA
I am a FCO Scholarship for the year 1989-90 who studied in Manchester University during this period in pursuit of a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. I am Pakistani. Thinking back in time, I feel exactly the same as you expressed. Things in Pakistan are not very much different. During all these years, I got opportunity to visit Japan, Spain and Germany and everywhere else in sharp contrast with our society and behavior, I found people of developed world law observing, helpful and humane.
This I attribute not to our inherent characteristic, but as I think the main cause of apathy is the environment and circumstances in which we live. Surely there is no dearth of nobleness and desire for good, but sadly, our people are in a way helpless before the mighty forces of corruption, prejudice and regional linguistic and sectarian biases. Plundering by corrupt rulers/politicians and joining hands by civil and military bureaucracy coupled with vested interests of richer segments of society have brought us to this stage.This stems from non-enlightenment which education eventually brings. The root cause of all ills is non-appreciation of rights of common people and their ability to wield influence on important decisions of land.
Although this is true for many underdeveloped lands of the world, it is particularly glaring when religion is used as an instrument for bringing complacency and inaction to serve the interests of privileged ones and at the same time intolerance and atrocities for some others.
Comments and suggestions are invited.
First of impressed with your achievement.
I am also chevening aspirant and i would appreciate your support and guideline in application submission
Dear Ms. Seja,
I’m writing this email from Malaysia – a land with full of laugh, peace and harmony.
I am very impressed with your efforts to fight for the people of Iraq on the capacity of a volunteer.
I am pretty sure that not many young people out there have the commitment and courage as you do.
Therefore, I intend to invite you to a seminar on volunteerism to be hosted by my university in December this year.
he seminar will bring together more than 500 students from over 30 institutions of higher learning in Malaysia to discuss various issues related to volunteering activities.
I would be happy if you can accept the invitation as you will appear as a keynote speaker during the seminar.
If you have any inquiries regarding the seminar, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Nizam
Dear Nazim,
Thank you for your response and kind words. Please send me your email address and I would gladly get back to you.
Many thanks
Seja
Hi Seja,
Sorry for the very very late reply.
This is my email, nizamyusuff@yahoo.com
For your information, the seminar has been postponed.
At the moment, my team and I are working very hard to identify potential sponsors and partners who can help us to bring you to Malaysia.
Feel free to email me if you want to know more about the event.
Sincerely yours,
Nizam
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Interesting comments here about yourself and your country. I believe your comments somewhat reveal your ideals, your potentials and how patriotic you are.
Wisan says “… you are a product of your environment” and I think it’s a fact worthy of note. A baby has no control over where or how he/she is born but as we grow up we learn to make choice and take proactive steps while being ‘fed’ by the happenings in our environment.
People differ in capabilities and interests and as such become relevant by the particular kind of problems they are able to solve in a given environment. Moreso, when you are in an environment where you are incapable of solving problems, you are rather irrelevant in there except for learning from the problems others are solving.
I believe that the problem that infuriates you the most is the one you are naturally designed to solve… your fulfillment and greater reward will come as proffer solutions to such.
So I think our time should be invested in places where we can deliver our bests… where positive individual uniqueness is most valued.
N U Lewis.
Dear N U Lewis,
Thank you so much for your understanding and support. I completely agree with you and Wisan. I have learnt overtime that if you want things to be done, you better rely on yourself to achieve the results. I shall continue to endeavour in making Iraq become the best it can be. All I want is the best for my country, and it’s people, if one cannot see the failures which exist then no doubt they will never appreciate what improvements can be made. Thanks again for your support and well wishes.
Unfortunately, the question of identity has been reduced to a question of blood and where you grow up. In my humble opinion, this is a little primitive. We are a product of our environment which includes, at the local level, the family, and also your community. That being said, we are what we say we are and by extension, only we can define ourselves. So this talk of “not being Iraqi” is really an inward battle that we ex-pats must reconcile. I think that we can see this through Ms. Majeed’s article. It’s understandable that our experience growing up in other countries (never really feeling “at home”) is different from the average youth growing up in Baghdad. However, neither experience cannot be discounted. Iraq being a prime example, the concept of ethnicity is changing with such a large number of Iraqi’s having fled the country for one reason or another since the 1980s.
Ms. Majeed: you are whatever you say you are. I really enjoyed reading your article and I think you painted a very vivid picture of one perspective of post-war Iraq. I can’t tell you how comforting and refreshing it is to hear that there are other Iraqi expats sharing similar experiences vis-a-vis growing up in West. I hope to send you some of my own writings in the future.
Salaam.
Wisam.
Thank you for your support Wisam, I hope one day the rest of us Iraqi expats can get together and really be the change our country needs.
Thanks again.
Thank you for your support Wisam, I hope one day the rest of us Iraqi expats can get together and really be the change our country needs.
Dear Seja, Dear Mohanned,
Your choice to leave Iraq and stay in any other country, has, regrettably, reflected the reality and answered my question “on how can any educated Iraqi underestimate Iraq and Iraqi people?”. The answer is “you gave up very quickly” and you have no real intention to act towards building Iraq and put your hands with other Iraqis who are working now and by all possible ways with the cooperation of great countries like Great Britain to create a new rigid base for the future developments in all fields in Iraq to get it back to its natural position in the Middle East as the leader of civilization. I have respected Great Britain and the United States of America for all efforts that have been exerted to increase the base of the highly skilled workers in Iraq by offering and funding such programs like (Chevening, Fullbright, …etc) and doing their best to make sure that those scholars will go back to Iraq to speed up the development measures and enhance the growth rate in our country.
Based on your agreement on the advice quoted from Mohanned comment which says “stay wherever you think you’re happy and safe.and that’s what you should call a Homeland”, I found myself in front of a fact which is you are not willing to do anything not only to your country “Iraq” but also to any other country that may give you “safe” if that country will suffer in a certain period of his life from bad situations, and you will reflect its bad picture again publicly without being up to, at least, do your best to try solving some issues as “challenge” and the “Altruism” have no meaning or place in your thinking. However, I believe that your intention to use the Chevening opportunity to build your skills for your personal benefits and not for Iraq has clearly come in contrary with the FCO, the British council and the Great Britain government intention through the said scholarship program to do whatever possible to re-build Iraq by enhancing Iraqis skills who will go back for that purpose.
Eventually, I would express my gratitude again to the FCO and the British council for giving us this opportunity as a vital step to participate in developing Iraq and would like to mention here that all other Iraqi cheveners are committed to go back to their country to participate in rebuilding it holding highly appreciation to the Great Britain for this chance.
Dear Seja and Mohanned, thank you for accepting my comment as an Iraqi loves his country. Please accept my best wishes to you hoping you will find a country which will give you all what you want.
Best regards.
Dear Seja
i was passing by through articles and i saw what you’ve written and all i can say is that Iraq is not like yesterday people have changed to be brutal and violent most of the time i don’t say all of them but unfortunately a lot’s of them in a scale of 2 out of 10.
maybe i am overreacting but i honestly can’t deal with those people anymore when you buy from them they are cheating on you,in the street you feel like you’re in car race/fight no one will ever give you a chance to even think to take his side or ELSE,in work place there’s people you don’t know and even see are trying to hurt or blame you in a lot of stuff.people are zombies in here and honestly i have enough already.
Sorry Iraq I’m reconsidering my Iraqi Nationality cause from what i heard from my parents who live in London early 80’s in which i was born there and from a lot’s of other people there is a human beings in London who would cherish humanity unlike Iraqi,this is where am planning to go hoping to have someone waiting me there.
i am sorry Dear Seja but the words drift me away from what i was going to say about your article.and my advice to you
stay wherever you think you’re happy and safe.and that’s what you should call a “Homeland”.
Best Regards.
Mohannad
I agree with you Mohanned.
I must add that at 2007, when the security breach was at maximum, youngsters of every neighborhood started to make local commities in order to provide protection to each and every street. This was a “non-paid” job with a person’s life at stake, and this in deed shows the ‘spirit’of Iraqis when put in danger.
best regards,
Hello,
It is nice to see people interested in improving the society, however, I think some points must be taken into consideration. Dear Seja, you mentioned that there is no community spirit in Iraq because people are not running around cleaning street, yet we can not ignore heroic acts such as the courageous person who held the suicide bomber in Nseriyah few weeks ago, to face death happily saving lives of tens or hundreds of people. I doubt you can find such ‘spirit’ anywhere !! It is contradictory to underestimate building an Olympic stadium and asking for improving society at the same time. you can not do everything at once, but any development should be a start. Even though I think Iraqi government still has so much to achieve, one should not neglect what has been done so far. Increasing the average income of people from 2 pounds per month to 500 pounds, as you said, is not a minor thing. I need to point to a vital subject as well, which is free education until even postgraduate studies with free up to date books, equipment and expert professional staff is provided to every citizen. There has been great improvement in Iraq and we need further. Clean streets are important but not more essential than free medical care, free education, and highly paid jobs!!
Hello Seja. I’m an Iraqi scholar as well (2011/2012)..your article has some realistic aspects speaking about the bad political choices happening there and “laziness” even if I wouldn’t call it as such…I would say Iraqi people are just tired!Handling the stress on a daily basis, at the end of the day you won’t be thinking about that bottle would you?
I found this very pessimistic and degrading really.You, as an Iraqi chevener, although it shocks me that you’re saying “or so I’m told”!, should be the one to make the changes and not expect them to just randomly happen. You, me and all other Iraqi young brains, we are the future of our country, we are what we wish Iraq will be and it will insh’allah regain its glory.
Ps: “Be the change you want to see in the world”, so you judging “laziness” of Iraqis should start by yourself who gave up already
Hi Seja, I am impressed with your impassioned outpouring. You obviously feel strongly about doing something for your country. I second Daouaa’s words…’be the change you want to see’. If you feel you are Iraqi, I don’t think you need to have anyone’s reassurance for that. This is the test of love, like any other test (for another person, for your vocation, or as in this case, for your country), it is a test of being true, of persevering, of simply lasting. I hope you will do something for your country, however small it may seem. I hope you will continue to do it over the years and if something fails, you will pick up another task and try that and persevere…whatever the odds and never lose heart and never give up. I am a past Chevening scholar and I have left my country Nepal. And though Nepal frustrates me at times, I will always love this country of my origin and I will continue to do what I can for her.
First of all, I would like to say thank you to Ms. Seja Majeed for spotting the light on the Iraqi situation. However, I’m afraid that she has been affected, without noticing, by the same dark powers that affecting the Iraqi politician who came to Iraq after 2003 trying to apply fantasy plans on Iraq in order for their dreams to come true.
Dear Ms. Seja, a simple analysis to your article, would give me the confidence to say that you did not live in Iraq for a long time or as most of Iraqi people, the whole life, to take into consideration various shapes of the Iraqi community starting from thoughts and beliefs of his individuals passing through tens of years of witnessing death of dearest ones because of thinking loudly, or even sometimes just because of a dream they had during their sleeping times.
What you saw during your “visits” to Iraq would not be enough to put great names like “Iraq & Iraqi people” in a one sided article to say that “there is no community spirit here in Iraq, quite frankly, it is a dog eat dog world out here”. While I do respect your intention to have a clean Iraq, which is something each Iraqi would like to see and work on achieving it, but the fact is much far than your vision about Iraqi people “most of them” as you mentioned.
It s not a matter of poverty as you well stated, but, in the meantime, it is not because of Iraqis only. For your information, Iraqi people have started to clean streets in Baghdad, for example, just after finishing Saddam’s bad regime and heavy efforts have exerted by all Iraqis including kids and disable people to start building our new Iraq. Your number of visits to Iraq could not tell you what in Iraqi people hearts and how they love their country.
Kids were keeping the system in many streets when we had no government to do that and all people were respecting their signs in the traffic with a beautiful smile. Your short sited view could not capture what most of Iraqis doing on daily basis to keep life going on and continuing with their unbelievable strength to absorb all bombs, death, and everyday bad news.
From the examples you mentioned to make a comparison between what the Iraqis sense of community and other people in other countries in the world, I would say that your understanding to what Iraqis suffered from is barely passing the zero level. How can you compare an event here and their in the world with a history of death in Iraq? How can you neglect all what most of Iraqis are doing to build their country? How come that your eyes couldn’t recognize all Iraqi sacrifices to challenge the daily huge terrorists activities with great strength to go every day to work taking care of their duties and in the meantime having “fun” with their families to tell the terrorists that we are the life and you are nothing.
Please think for a second, if one of the deadly Iraqi days would be witnessed in a major country, what may happen? I bet that no one will show himself in the street and the whole life will be shocked and even suspended.
When American army entered Baghdad, they named the Iraqis by Ali Baba which means “Thieves”, and now you are following the same way neglecting the origin of Ali Baba story “as an obvious indication of your poor knowledge about Iraq history” and closing your eyes to all other examples that happened in some major countries when the electricity dropped for less than an hour, what happened? may be you don’t know as you were very busy with evaluating thieves in Iraq only.
I’m not in a position now to go further to tell you the story of Iraq and the Iraqi people and what are the major differences that you regrettably missed or don’t know about it as your knowledge about Iraq and Iraqi people is much behind and need more than a comment to be well fixed.
Our country Ms. Seja is not only destroyed by bad behaviors, I can assure you that it has been destroyed by short sited thoughts as well and fighting between the Iraqi politician is a practical example that may lead you to review your thoughts and try to explore the Iraqi culture from its origin after taking the decision to be fair in reflecting the fact of your country and people instead of reflecting your own ideas which mainly affected by your bad feelings.
Eventually, I would like to say that Iraq and Iraqi people is greater than being reviewed by you as a visitor to Iraq or by any other one sided reviewers that may not be able to see and reflect the full picture of the Iraqi situation.
Please show some respect to your people and country by searching well first and then try to let facts to express herself through your typing machine as it is not similar to any other legal cases that you may dealt with.
Dear Ali.
Thanks for your response, albeit one that I do not agree with at all. I am an Iraqi, as much as you are. In fact I am a product of war, having had my family exiled, members killed, land taken and the sorts from ‘Saddam Hussein’ so there is no need to educate me on war or on the situation. I am both aware of it from an educational perspective as well as a personal one. As I mentioned in my article, i am deemed a ‘visitor’ by Iraqi people, and you yourself even stated that in your response. It saddens me to think that I am not even entitled to an opinion about my homeland purely because I have lived outside, though having suffered as much hardship, I like others, are already considered as outsiders, not only by the country we have lived in, but by our own Iraqi counterparts. Let me jog your memory, and relay your quote:
“Eventually, I would like to say that Iraq and Iraqi people is greater than being reviewed by you as a visitor to Iraq or by any other one sided reviewers that may not be able to see and reflect the full picture of the Iraqi situation.”
Thanks for that.
As for Iraqi politics, I am shocked that you are not embarrassed by it. I have visited Basra, Baghdad, Najaf, Karballa, Diwaniya, Musal, and other parts, and I have seen little progress. Everyone I speak to is unhappy with their politicians, ashamed of what’s going on and the absolute corruption that is taking place. It is an embarrassment and I am shocked that you cannot see that.
As for Iraqi spirit, I was talking about with respect to the environment, though I do extend it further. I agree with your point about the wonderful bravery of courageous fellows who stopped the suicide attack, but having said that, there have been great examples of Iraqi’s themselves aiding terrorism, bringing in outsiders and showing them the places where they should kill innocent people. I have seen their accounts myself, having watched it on arabic tv and they themselves are Iraqis. So let us not assume that Iraqi’s are completely innocent from what is taking place. There is good and bad in every country. But in my opinion development in Iraq is being stunted because I see no community spirit, the idea that we are one and the same, and have a duty not only to this land but to ourselves to openly do something more then cater for our own needs.