As Death Stalks Iraq, Middle-Class Exodus Grows
In the last 10 months, as the violence has continued unabated, Iraq has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7% of the population and a quarter of the country's middle class.
In the last 10 months, as the violence has continued unabated, Iraq has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7% of the population and a quarter of the country’s middle class.
Rock Solid JournalismN.Y. Times:
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 18 ? Deaths run like water through the life of the Bahjat family. Four neighbors. A barber. Three grocers. Two men who ran a currency exchange shop.
But when six armed men stormed into their sons’ primary school this month, shot a guard dead, and left fliers ordering it to close, Assad Bahjat knew it was time to leave.
“The main thing now is to just get out of Iraq,” said Mr. Bahjat, standing in a room heaped with suitcases and bedroom furniture in eastern Baghdad.
In the latest indication of the crushing hardships weighing on the lives of Iraqis, increasing portions of the middle class seem to be doing everything they can to leave the country. In the last 10 months, the state has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7 percent of the population and a quarter of the country’s estimated middle class.
In 2026, amid chaos and the nonstop flurry of headlines, Truthdig remains independent, fact-based and focused on exposing what power tries to hide.
Support Independent Journalism.
Politics
Americans across the spectrum voted to raise wages, expand health care, and protect abortion rights.
For service workers, there’s no such thing as paid sick leave or working from home, two measures that could slow the spread of the disease.
Our oligarchic rulers are determined to ban all discussion of class warfare, which is why they are trying to block the nomination of Sanders.
Class- and race-conscious and uncomfortably relevant, the politically charged horror franchise doesn’t just amount to a big-screen nightmare.
The teacher strikes, rallies and walkouts in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and elsewhere are a stunning reminder that socioeconomic class has always mattered in our public and private lives.
Our society descended from colonial Virginia's sinister caste system, in which race, class, labor and slavery were inextricably linked.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.