Leaving Minorities Behind

Ministers of the new Iraqi government are sworn in during the parliamentary session to vote on the new government in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. Photo by AP / Iraqi Parliament Information Office.

Iraqi Supreme Federal Court upholds alcohol ban

By Cal Abbo

In the blistering heat of summer, Iraq’s infrastructure and institutions have managed to stay intact through another year. Its struggles with water, climate, electricity, and sectarianism preclude the country from making a significant economic recovery 20 years after the United States invaded its borders.

Christian minorities often bear the brunt of Iraq’s various crises, which seem to compound rather than resolve. In late August, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court heaved another hardship on its Christian communities by officially upholding a ban on the importation, manufacturing, and sale of alcoholic beverages.

When the law was first implemented earlier this year, Chaldeans made an uproar in protest, their echoes reaching all corners of the world where our people live. For many centuries, Christians have taken on the role of selling alcohol in Muslim-majority society, entrenching themselves and their families in the retail business. This fact will sound familiar to Chaldeans in Detroit, as we have carried in the tradition from the old country. The new ban will demolish stores’ legitimate sales and make the alcohol industry much more dangerous and unregulated.

While it’s impossible to tell the exact intention of the law, in practice, it severely handicaps the economic outlook for Iraq’s minorities. Christians are often outcast from good-paying government jobs, professional positions, or academia. If they do manage to get in, they are looked over for promotions and supervisor positions. Over the years, the community began to focus on where it could thrive and provide for its families. Owning your own small business, like a convenience store or grocery store, is a reliable and independent way to earn a living. With the alcohol ban, much of that revenue is now illegal or has been lost completely.

Iraq has not been kind to its Christian minorities in the 21st century. For decades, Chaldeans have dealt with land confiscations, both public and private, in their villages and fertile territories in the North. The land thieves forge documents that show false ownership and lay claim to the lands. Oftentimes, Iraqi courts side with the fake deeds, and land which Chaldeans have used for centuries is gone forever.

Of course, Christians have suffered serious tragedies and genocide under the rule of ISIS. Even now, after the terrorist organization is pretty much defunct, our villages have not been rebuilt or repaired. Mosul, on the other hand, which is a key city for the country, has seen hefty contributions to aid and repair it, which has brought signs of life and flourishing back to the city that was the site of all-out war just a few years ago.

Countries around the world have recognized the genocide and devastation against the Chaldean community, but Iraq has done little to aid the situation or repair the villages. Many of the houses and shops are unusable, which prevents displaced refugees from returning and increases the chance these villages will never recover and will fade from our collective memories.

Many Christians in Iraq feel targeted by the government on a regular basis. Cardinal Louis Sako, who serves as the Chaldean patriarch, recently moved out of Baghdad after a presidential decree revoked some of his ability to manage the church’s assets. After a feud with the Babylon Movement and Rayan al-Kildani escalated, the prime minister got involved and moved against Cardinal Sako with this decree.

For now, Christians are far from feeling safe and secure going about life in many areas of Iraq. But even this is a small thing to ask. Iraq’s minorities must be given space to prosper without overbearing religious laws restricting their business and hampering their welfare.