[quote=Al Jazeera]
Hundreds of Iraqis have converged on Baghdad's Liberation Square, as part of an anti-government rally named the "Day of Rage" organised mainly through social networking site Facebook.
About 600 protesters are said to have already gathered on Friday, which comes after weeks of scattered protests around the country calling for an end to corruption, shortages of jobs, food, power and water.
More people are expected to join the demonstrations after Friday prayers.
But turnout may be affected by a speech by prime minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday, warning warning of possible violence by al-Qaeda and members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party.
The country's Shia leaders have also discouraged people from taking part.
The Iraqi military barred vehicles from moving around the city and were keeping people from crossing one of the main bridges accessing the square.
Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, Sulaimaniya and other cities and towns have been hit by protests in recent weeks, some leading to clashes between protesters and security forces. Several people have been killed and scores wounded.
Popular uprisings mobilised by youths using social media, which unseated Tunisia and Egypt's long-ruling leaders, have motivated young Iraqis.
"Let the voice of freedom be heard in all of Baghdad's streets and let's take a lesson from Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
Long live Iraq," wrote one supporter of Facebook group 'February revolution against corruption'.
Other groups encouraged Iraqis living abroad to support the demonstration by protesting outside Iraqi embassies.
Al-Maliki warning
Al-Maliki, whose government has been in place for only two months in his second term, affirmed the right of Iraqis to protest peacefully but said he had evidence that insurgents and Baathists planned to take advantage of the demonstrations for their own purposes.
He also said that he did not want to deprive Iraqis of their right to protest legitimate demands, but wanted it to happen with someone other than "Saddamists, terrorists and al-Qaida'' standing behind the march.
"Frankly speaking, they are planning to take advantage of tomorrow's demonstration for their own benefit,'' he said.
Iraqis planning to take part in the protest march scoffed at the warning.
"Although there are security and religious pressures on us to not participate in the demonstrations tomorrow, we will,'' Omar al-Mashhadani, an activist with the al-Nahrian relief organisation, said.
"Our aim is not to topple the regime but to make reforms and fight corruption."
Unlike recent uprisings across the Arab world, Iraqi protesters have not called for the ouster of al-Maliki's
Shia-led coalition government, instead they have demanded an end to corruption, replacement of local officials and an end to shortages of food, electricity, and other basic amenities in a country still trying to get back on its feet eight years after the US-led invasion.
[/quote]
Source:
[url]http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011224192028229471.html[/url]
Yup, even Iraq is doing it.
The history books will read about the worldwide revolution of 2011.
Will rival that of the 1840s.
And when my grandson asks what it was like, I can proudly declare:
"How the hell should I know, I was on the computer all day."
I can't keep up with all these revolutions :psyduck:
[QUOTE=Loriborn;28274145]The history books will read about the worldwide revolution of 2011.
Will rival that of the 1840s.
And when my grandson asks what it was like, I can proudly declare:
"How the hell should I know, I was on the computer all day."[/QUOTE]
But the computer is where we learned about it, and kept ourselves updated.
Future history text books will be interesting.
You mean future history .txt books.
[QUOTE=Loriborn;28274145]The history books will read about the worldwide revolution of 2011.
Will rival that of the 1840s.
And when my grandson asks what it was like, I can proudly declare:
"How the hell should I know, I was on the computer all day."[/QUOTE]
Maybe not, some parts of Europe may be next. Iraq wasn't that much unstable. There are countries in much worse situations in Europe.
So much for what america did for iraq :downs:
They start a war, kill a fuck ton of innocent civilians, put in their own version of "democracy" only for this to happen :v:
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