Iraq's protests in Iraq are not new, but these are different. Deutsche Welle

[bronxiteforever]

July 22, 2018 DW

July has witnessed soaring temperatures in southern Iraq that have boiled over into popular mass mobilization against corruption, wretched services and unemployment. Mass protests that started in Basra two weeks ago have since spread to nine predominately Shiite southern provinces and the capital, Baghdad.

However, this summer's protests in southern Iraq are distinct from previous ones. They are organic and leaderless; larger in scale and scope; and pivotally, constitute Shiites of the south rising up against the Shiite political class and militias that claim to represent them....Ominously, the militias have threatened protesters, dubbing them Zionist-American and Saudi "infiltrators."

First there was a Sunni insurgency during the US occupation and an initial wariness by Sunni regional powers to accept Shiite control in Baghdad. Then there was the defeat of IS and the squashing of a Kurdish bid for independence last year. Having waited 15 years and sacrificed so much, the Shiites of the south are no longer willing to hear arguments that they must buckle down because of "the enemy," Haddad said. Instead, they want a peace dividend and good governance.

https://www.dw.com/en/iraqs-protests-what-you-need-to-know/a-44779555

[elleng]

1. 'Shiites of the south rising up against the Shiite political class and militias

that claim to represent them...

They want a peace dividend and good governance.'