Iraq's Protests Are about More Than Corrupt Elites

Aug 8, 2018 | New Arab
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Eleven people were killed during the protests that erupted in southern Iraq in early July, and over 800 others wounded. While corruption and the absence of basic services have been singled out as the main reason motivating demonstrations, this instability is also the byproduct of escalating global warming and drought in Iraq. Increasingly extreme weather conditions are likely to translate into more violence in Iraq in the medium term, leading to questions over whether Basra risks a situation akin to Deraa, the cradle of Syria's revolutionary protests in 2011.