#marsh arabs

[ofruinsandmyth]

Traditional Reed House Settlement in the Iraq Marshes of Al-Chibayish, Dhi Qar

[noosphe-re]

From the gasab reed, which is bundled and flexed to form sturdy arches, the Midan build their ingenious dwellings. (via The Marsh Arabs Revisited / Stories of the Marsh Arabs / Written and photographed by Michael Spencer, AramcoWorld)

[acepumpkinpatrick]

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

[casimir0]

Marsh Arabs - Carolyn Drake

The southern part of Iraq was once made up of 12,000 square miles of marshland formed from the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It’s the area mythically known as the Garden of Eden.

The people who live there now are called Madan and are linguistically and culturally tied to the ancient Sumerians, whose lives were intertwined with the reeds, water, and wildlife in the marshes. The Madan are Shia muslims, and during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980-1988, many of them deserted Saddam’s army, using the marshes as a hideout. In 1991, Saddam sent his army into the marshes and killed tens of thousands of Madan, bombing their villages and burning them to the ground. That same year, he executed a plan he had been sitting on for years, draining the marshes. Embankments were built on the edges of the Tigris and Euphrates to prevent water from flowing into the marshes, and an enormous drainage canal called “Glory River” was built to funnel the water directly to the sea. The UN declared it the biggest environmental catastrophe of the 20th century. The Madan people scattered to other parts of Iraq, often moving to city slums to work as day laborers. When Saddam was captured in 2003, Madan people flooded back from all over Iraq and began to dig holes in Saddam’s embankments to let the water back into the marshes. Today the wetlands are 40-50% refilled, and many have tried to return to their old way of living, building reed houses, raising buffalo, fishing, and hunting in the marshes.

[menalovers]

[menalovers]

Amazing.

[naonicblog2]

Ordering Off a 5,000-Year-Old Mesopotamian Menu

A community effort brings ancient flavors to modern Texas.

[mayandtea]