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Following Obama, black Iraqis run for office
Tue Dec 9, 2008 8:18pm EST
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By Mohammed Abbas
BASRA (Reuters) - Barack Obama's election in the United States has already had an impact in Iraq, inspiring some black Iraqis to run in a forthcoming election in the hope of ending what they call centuries of discrimination.
"Obama's win gave us moral strength," said Jalal Chijeel, secretary of the Free Iraqi Movement.
He said the group would be the first to field black candidates in any Iraqi poll when it joins provincial elections scheduled for January 31.
President-elect Obama's ascendancy in the United States has coincided with increased public support for their cause: "When he became a candidate, so did we," Chijeel told Reuters.
He argues Iraqis of African origin are not represented in top office, suffer disproportionately from poverty and illiteracy and are commonly referred to in derisive terms.
Other Iraqis see no discrimination against Iraqis of African-origin, whose number is unclear given a lack of statistics. Chijeel said there were some 300,000 in the southern city of Basra alone.
This January's provincial election will be the first to be organized by Iraq and held under Iraqi laws since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 overthrew Saddam Hussein, and will be followed by national elections later in 2009.
As such it could be a crucial step to reconciling the country's sectarian and ethnic groups after years of bloodshed.
Black people in Iraq suffer discrimination partly because of their color, and also partly because they do not belong to a tribe, Chijeel said. Tribal family networks and ancestry are important in Iraq and much of the Middle East.
The movement's eight candidates could suffer a backlash from their lighter-skinned countrymen, who respond with indignation to charges of racism and say blacks are treated with respect. They argue electioneering based on race is divisive.
Even fellow blacks in Basra's largely black district of Zubayr, where young men stood chatting and a boy herded sheep across the road, voiced reservations.
"There's no discrimination," said black shop worker Mohammed Nezal, sharing a view echoed mostly by older men, as they sat fingering worry-beads. "There's so many blacks that have done well in Iraq. There's respect."
THE "A" WORD
Chijeel argues that blacks in Iraq are subordinated, partly by a history of slavery.
"To this day blacks are not given their rights," he said. "We don't see blacks in local councils, in parliament or cabinet or as ambassadors ... We have educated people, doctors, graduates, but to our great regret we still have no importance." Continued...
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