Voicemails from History

Today's voicemail is taken from page 176 of "Pride and Power: A Modern History of Iraq" by Johan Franzén In 1963, 'Aref and the Ba'thists instigated the Ramadan Revolution which toppled Karim Qasim from power, a mere 5 years after the first revolution. What followed after was a brief period in which different factions across the Ba'athist and nationalist factions fought for control in Iraq. Eventually, the Ba'this secured their rise to power and would remain as Iraq's single party until Saddam Hussein's downfall in 2003. In this episode, I delve a bit deeper into the end of Qasim's rule by looking at competing Arab political groups and how eventually, the rise of the 'Aref brothers and then al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein, shifted Iraq's political history forever. I spend some time in the middle discussing tensions between defining Ba'thism and how it is different to earlier pan-Arab thinking. Episode cover: Soldier in the ruins of the Ministry of Defence, where Qasim made his last stand References: Johan Franzén's book "Pride and Power: A Modern History of Iraq".  Achim Rohde's "State-Society Relations in Ba'thist Iraq: Facing Dictatorship"  Ofra Bengio's "Kurds of Iraq: Building a State within a State" Ralph Coury's article titled "The demonisation of pan-Arab nationalism" Isaac, Steven. "The Ba ‘th of Syria and Iraq." The International Encyclopedia of Protest and Revolution 2009

Today's voicemail is taken from p.225 of Claire Hollingworth's article in 'World Today'.  The Iraqi and Kurdish saga continues! I begin with a quick recap of last episode's story and we get right into Barzani's return to Iraq, how the Kurdish Democratic Party and Iraqi Communist Party continued to affect Kurdish-Arab dynamics, and the different approaches Karim Qasim took to navigate the drama of Iraq's ever changing political scene. We end by talking about Qasim's depressing downfall, the tentative position the Kurds find themselves in when the 'Arif brothers carry out the Ramadan Revolution in 1963, ushering in a new phase of Iraqi politics. The Kurdish-Iraqi war continues... As ever, let me know what you think of the episode!  References: Rubin, Avshalom H. "Abd al-Karim Qasim and the kurds of Iraq: Centralization, resistance and revolt, 1958–63." Middle Eastern Studies 43.3 (2007): 353-382. Hollingworth, Clare. "The Ba'athist revolution in Iraq." The World Today 19.5 (1963): 225-230. Degli Esposti, Nicola. "Land reform and Kurdish nationalism in postcolonial Iraq." Middle East Critique (2022): 1-17.

Today's voicemail is taken from page 1-2 of Quil Lawrence's book, Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' quest for state-hood is shaping Iraq. In this episode, I turn to look at the Kurdish situation in Iraq, beginning in 1920 with its establishment under a British mandate and the new monarchy. I begin by recounting the Barzani rebellions from 1931-1945, which began primarily due to economic grievances and then evolved to take a more political outlook. There is also discussion on the broader political movements within the Kurds in Iraq as well as among the Arab Iraqis, who are getting to grips with ruling a new nation-state. A plethora of political parties and clubs emerged, aided by factors such as the printing press, communist ideas, anti-imperialism, the early Cold War and the rise of Gamal Abdel Nassir in Egypt, specifically his calls for pan-Arabism.  This episode ended up a lot longer than I had planned when I started recording! So, I ended this one by looking at the 1958 Iraqi Revolution, a military coup against the Hashemite monarchy. The result was the rise of the military and the politics of Abd al-Karim Qasim, who would go on to shape Kurdish political life when Barzani returned from exile in Iran. We will continue the Kurdish saga in Iraq in the next few episodes!  References: Lawrence, Quil. Invisible nation: how the Kurds' quest for statehood is shaping Iraq and the Middle East. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2009. Franzen, Johan. "The problem of Iraqi nationalism." National Identities 13.3 (2011): 217-234. Rubin, Avshalom H. "Abd al-Karim Qasim and the kurds of Iraq: Centralization, resistance and revolt, 1958–63." Middle Eastern Studies 43.3 (2007): 353-382. McDowall, David. A modern history of the Kurds. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.

Today's voicemail is taken from the poem "2+2=1" penned by Qazi Muhammad, 1946. During the wartime occupation of Iran, the Kurds of Iran led by the revolutionary figure of Qazi Muhammad, set up the Republic of Kurdistan, with its centre as Mahabad. For the Kurds, this was the first implemented Kurdish nationalist aspiration - they set up an autonomous zone with the aim to bring in the Kurds of Iran under a regional Kurdish government. It is both a remarkable and tragic chapter of 20th century Kurdistan, one that is retold to Kurdish children by their parents and suppressed from official narratives from the Iranian regime. In this episode, I've aimed to outline how the Republic formed, the particular type of nationalism by the early 40s, what the Republic achieved in 10 months, how it came to a terrible end and the general political consequences for the Kurds of Iran up until the present day.  Select audio at the beginning of episode: All credits go to the right owners, I own nothing. No copyright intended. References: https://kmmk-ge.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Executions.pdf Jwaideh, Wadie. The Kurdish national movement: Its origins and development. Syracuse University Press, 2006. McDowall, David. A modern history of the Kurds. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021. Vali, Abbas. Kurds and the state in Iran: The making of Kurdish identity. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Abdulaziz, Dr Omar, The Republic of Kurdistan and the leader Qazi Muhammed, 2016. (Kurdish original copy)

Today's voicemail is taken from the Kurdish epic, Mem û Zîn, written in 1692 by the Kurdish intellectual, author and poet, Ahmed Khani.  Persia was (and is) at the crossroads of Asia. From the 1850s, Persia became everything on the spectrum from a chessboard to a battlefield, fought mainly between the Brits and the Russians, vying for control of its strategic location and its famed oil wells. Caught in the maelstrom of Persian and global politics between 1850-1939, the Kurds instigated one of the 20th century's earliest examples of Kurdish resistance.  What do you think? How much did Simko Agha's actions show he was working for a Kurdish homeland, or to simply carve out a kingdom of his own?  References: Frankopan, Peter. The silk roads: A new history of the world. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. McDowall, David. A modern history of the Kurds. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021. Jwaideh, Wadie. The Kurdish national movement: its origins and development. Syracuse University Press, 2006. APAhttps://archive.org/details/kurdsconcisehan00izad/page/n1/mode/2up Leezenberg, M., 2015. "A People Forgotten by History": Soviet Studies of the Kurds. Iranian studies, 48(5), pp.747–767. Shareen Blair Brysac; A Very British Coup: How Reza Shah Won and Lost His Throne. World Policy Journal 1 June 2007; 24 (2): 90–103.