Indiferença

شارع الشروق،

Samarra, Iraque.

Uma viagem no tempo, entre momentos de paz, ao fundo o minarete em espiral secular, que conta a história que remonta ao século IX; e as roupas coloridas combinam com o divertimento latente nas crianças, que viviam despreocupadas, sem temerem o futuro, imposto pela ganância dos adultos. 

Um parque infantil diverte as famílias que visitam a Grande Mesquita de Samarra, no Iraque, vista ao fundo. O minarete em espiral, fotografado no final dos anos 90, remonta ao ano de 851. Sofreu danos de bombardeios em 2005.*

Uma crítica a um discurso proferido pelo presidente do EUA, num dia da mulher, que nos relata a vida das mulheres antes da invasão americana: 

"Contrary to popular imagination, Iraqi women enjoyed far more freedom under Saddam Hussein's secular Ba'athist government than women in other Middle Eastern countries. In fact, equal rights for women were enshrined in Iraq's Constitution in 1970, including the right to vote, run for political office, access education and own property. Today, these rights are all but absent under the U.S.-backed government of Nouri al-Maliki.

Prior to the devastating economic sanctions of the 1990s, Iraq's education system was top notch and female literacy rates were the highest in the region, reaching 87 percent in 1985. Education was a major priority for Saddam Hussein's regime, so much so that in 1982 Iraq received the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) award for eradicating illiteracy. But the education system crumbled from financial decay under the weight of the sanctions pushing over 20 percent of Iraqi children out of school by 2000 and reversing decades of literacy gains. Today, a quarter of Iraqi women are illiterate, more than double the rate for Iraqi men (11 percent). Female illiteracy in rural areas alone is as high as 50 percent.

Women were integral to Iraq's economy and held high positions in both the private and public sectors, thanks in large part to labor and employment laws that guaranteed equal pay, six months fully paid maternity leave and protection from sexual harassment. In fact, it can be argued that some of the conditions enjoyed by working women in Iraq before the war rivaled those of working women in the United States.

It wasn't until the 1991 Gulf War and U.S.-led economic sanctions against the regime that women's rights in Iraq began to deteriorate. The sanctions in particular had devastating consequences for the one million Iraqi civilians who slowly starved to death, over half of them children.

[...]

«[Bush] empowered the extreme religious parties to turn women into second-class citizens. Women are living in extreme poverty and are subject to Sharia law. The same powers that started 9/11 in the U.S., the same Islamists are now ruling in Iraq,» she said."**

Fotografia de MICHAEL S. YAMASHITA, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Fontes:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-21752819

https://www.natgeo.pt/fotografia-do-dia/2020/junho?image=pod-02-06-2020-nationalgeographic_51971*

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-life-in-iraq-was-like-under-saddam-hussein-2014-7

https://www.quora.com/Iraq/Did-the-west-encourage-Saddam-Hussein-to-attack-and-invade-Iran-in-1980-If-so-how-did-they-do-it

https://www.peacewomen.org/content/iraq-was-life-iraqi-women-better-under-saddam**