🇮🇶|Basra Just Erupted. The Oil Capital of Iraq Is Protesting the Blockade on Iranian Flights. The Government Is Losing Control of the Street.
Basra is not Baghdad. It is not Najaf. It is not Erbil. It is the south. It is the Shia heartland. It is the oil capital. It is where the money comes from. It is where the tribes are armed. It is where the militias are strong. It is where the people have been protesting for years against corruption, against unemployment, against the government that serves foreign masters.
And now Basra is protesting the blockade on Iranian flights.
This is not a small demonstration. This is a signal. Basra is the economic engine of Iraq. If Basra moves, the government feels it. If Basra protests, the government is in trouble.
The government thought it could close the airports and no one would notice. It thought the pilgrims would stay home. It thought the marja'iyya would stay silent. It thought the streets would stay quiet. It thought the US dollar would be enough.
It was wrong.
The rally in Basra is the street speaking. It is the people saying: we did not vote for a government that blockades our neighbors. We did not vote for a government that turns away pilgrims. We did not vote for a government that obeys Washington against our own faith, our own history, our own blood.
This is not a fringe protest. This is the south. This is the base. This is the people who fought ISIS. This is the people who defeated the Americans in 2011. This is the people who will not accept a blockade on Iran.
The government is already isolated. The parliament is threatening an extraordinary session. The Grand Ayatollah of Karbala has declared that blocking pilgrims is a confrontation with religion itself. The resistance factions are calling for a sit-in at the airports. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament has said the decision is unconstitutional.
And now Basra has taken to the streets.
The government cannot survive if Basra turns against it. Basra is not just a city. Basra is the source of the oil revenue that funds the entire state. Basra is the port that handles the imports that feed the country. Basra is the province that produces the wealth that keeps the government in power.
If Basra protests, the government shakes. If Basra strikes, the government falls.
The US told Iraq to block Iranian flights. Iraq complied. The Iraqi people are rejecting it. Not in secret. Not in whispered conversations. In the streets. In public. In Basra.
The blockade was supposed to isolate Iran. It is isolating the Iraqi government instead. The blockade was supposed to strangle Iran. It is strangling the Iraqi government's legitimacy. The blockade was supposed to show that Washington can force its will on the region. It is showing that Washington cannot force its will on the people.