Today, April 21st, marks the 32nd anniversary of the Ahwari Genocide
Ahwaris (more commonly known as Marsh Arabs) are the indigenous peoples of the marshlands. Their lineage goes back to the Sumerians (the world's earliest known civilization).
In 1992 the Ba'ath party in Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, initiated a series of attacks and aggressions against the Ahwari people to quench the 1991 uprising that started in southern city against Saddam Hussein and his party.
Drainage, desiccation and destruction of the marshlands. Murdering & kidnapping 50 thousand people. Exclusion of Ahwari people from society and branding them as 'savages' that know nothing.
All that is not to say it started with Saddam, it began at least a century before that, wthen the marshes were divided into two parts by the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
The genocide of the Ahwari people is still ongoing till this day by the current government, with severe drainage and desiccation that Al-Hawizeh Marshes (Iraq's 2nd largest Marshelands) are facing since 2021.
Please also check these sources:
The Ahwari network
Mesopotamian Delta , Ahwari Voice , Ahwari Archive , Ahwar Collective on Instagram
Mustafa Hashim & Murtada Al-Janobi Ahwari citizens and activists