Divide and Conquer

The sectarian fighting between Shia's and Sunnis in Iraq has spiralled unto a whole other bloody level. After last Wednesday's bombing of the al-Askari Shrine, the violence has intensified drastically. I can't help but wonder who the real "behind the scenes" people were. Then again, does it really matter? I don't think I need to get into the "deja vu" factor here. Sectarian fighting within colonized/occupied places is nothing new; and neither is the divide and conquer approach that underlies it.

For those that may not know, the al-Askari mosque is one (if not the most) sacred of places for Shia Muslims. Shia's travel to the city to worship at the sacred tombs of Ali al-Hadi and al-Hasan al-Askari (the 10th and 11th Shia Imams) and the site where the 12th Imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi (also known as the "hidden Imam") disappeared. Shia's pray at this mosque for the return of Imam al-Mahdi.

A day after the incident, I spoke with an Iraqi student of mine, who like me, had immigrated to Canada at a young age. I asked him about his feelings and thoughts on the bombing of the shrine. Even though he did not identify as a practicing Shia Muslim, he was devastated the same. For him, it wasn't so much about the shrine itself as it was about the destruction of his homeland and his people.

It was ironic, 18 years after the Iran and Iraq war, here I was talking to a student ten years younger than me, about the death of thousands and thousands of our people who, as "enemies" were killing one another. He wasn't even born yet during that era of war, but he got to experience the continuation of that hell through another war that immediately followed.

I didn't know what to say to this young man. I was out of words. We both just looked at each other with great saddness because we knew the deal. We knew our people were survivors and fighters, we knew they were resilient and strong, but we also knew the reality of what went on:
our people's lives were worth less than oil, money and power.

PQ