{"id":4035,"date":"2020-02-14T16:32:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=4035"},"modified":"2020-02-14T16:32:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:32:05","slug":"ruined-baghdad-small-businesses-ravaged-by-months-of-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2020\/02\/14\/ruined-baghdad-small-businesses-ravaged-by-months-of-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruined: Baghdad small businesses ravaged by months of protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Baghdad, Iraq –<\/strong>\n By the time Mazen Mohammad woke to the news of a fire in his warehouse,\n the Iraqi businessman had lost an estimated $2m in merchandise. All \nthree floors and the basement of the warehouse had been engulfed in \nflames overnight, when violent clashes between anti-government protesters<\/a> and security forces sparked the fire in Baghdad’s commercial centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire began around 11pm on November 15th and continued to burn for\n weeks, say business owners. The pungent, toxic air forced some local \nfamilies to temporarily relocate to other parts of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driven by demands for more job opportunities and an end to government\n corruption and foreign interference, the four-month-old popular \nuprising in Baghdad has frequently spiralled into violent confrontations\n between demonstrators and anti-riot security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of the fall and winter months, deadly urban battles \nplayed out against the backdrop of the Iraqi capital’s historic centre. \nTear gas, live ammunition and petrol bombs made the once-bustling \nneighbourhood a no-go area for the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Losses stemming from the subsequent halt in commerce and outright \ndestruction of property dealt a devastating blow to small businesses \nthere, says Iraqi urban planner Taghlib AbdulHadi al-Waily, the author \nof the book Baghdad 21st: Revival of a Historical City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The money lost is in the hundreds of millions [of dollars] due to \nthe fact that the area is considered a huge warehouse and storage \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

,” al-Waily tells Al Jazeera, noting there is also “the loss of \ndaily revenue due to the shutdown of those businesses”.\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA stone’s throw from his charred \nwarehouse, Mazen Mohammad works inside his small shop, where he keeps \nwhat little remains of his merchandise [File: Sofia Barbarani\/Al \nJazeera]\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty years up in flames<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Between October and January, some 66 private properties were damaged \nin clashes, according to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights. \nForty-six-year-old Mohammad’s warehouse was among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massive storage rooms containing timing belts – black rubber \nrings used to power vehicle engines – are now dark and empty, filled \nonly with the acrid smell of burned rubber and layered with dirt, ash \nand remnants of damaged merchandise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohammad, whose family has been in the timing-belt business for over \n50 years, said he couldn’t recall the exact number of units inside the \nwarehouse, such was the quantity of merchandise that caught fire. But \nthe countrywide distributor said every single floor had been jam-packed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Mohammad, several other shopkeepers with storage rooms scattered\n across the narrow, 100 metre-long alleyway suffered the consequences as\n the fire spread. And while the business owners say they cannot point \nfingers at any single individual, they know that Iraq<\/a>‘s ongoing protests are to blame for their losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clashes between security forces and demonstrators have involved \nhighly flammable petrol bombs and stun grenades, which are known to \nignite flammable materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vacuum cleaner vendor Raed Turki Shami, 72, said he incurred about \n$20,000 in damages. He plans to take the matter to court and has \ndemanded an investigation into the incident. “We’ve had no compensation \nfrom the government,” he says, standing outside his charred storage \nroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMishmisha juice bar is empty on a \nSaturday afternoon. Eighteen of the shop’s 19 employees were laid off in\n the wake of violent clashes that kept customers away from the area \n[File: Sofia Barbarani\/Al Jazeera]\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasheed Street: From retail centre to front line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A stone’s throw away from the charred building, on historic Rasheed \nStreet, the once lively Mishmisha juice and ice-cream shop is empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasheed Street represents the very heart of Baghdad, urban planner \nal-Waily says. But what was once a prime business spot connecting the \neast and west gates of the city’s historic core is not the popular \ngathering place it used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The situation changed at the start of the demonstrations because the\n street closed, we were all affected, we all lost a lot of money,” said \nMishmisha shop manager Nassim al-Bahar, 36, who is using a pseudonym and\n asked Al Jazeera to withhold his real name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shop’s daily income took a serious nosedive, says al-Bahar, \nplummeting from $800 to $83 and forcing him to lay off 18 of his 19 \nemployees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the waning in violence and the road’s partial reopening to \ntraffic in January, the once-24-hour-shop was forced to reduce its \nworking business hours to eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Baghdad residents are still wary of visiting the city’s central \nareas, and Mishmisha has lost much of its usual clientele. “Life comes \nto a halt, no one comes through,” says al-Bahar, smoking s small, thin \ncigarette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October and November, when clashes were taking place on a daily \nbasis, al-Bahar and his employees camped out inside the shop to make \nsure it stayed safe. Outside, the once-cheerful street had morphed into \nan active front line, paved with trash and heavy with clouds of tear \ngas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The violent responses to the protesters by the anti-riot squads have\n made serious damages to the architectural heritage of the street and \nits surroundings,” explains al-Waily. “Many buildings were set on fire \nand businesses had major losses.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe narrow alleyway where Mazen Mohammad’s warehouse and others caught fire on November 15 [File: Sofia Barbarani\/Al Jazeera]\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built during the Ottoman rule of Iraq, Rasheed Street opened to the \npublic in the summer of 1916 and soon became the country’s watering \nhole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At these times if you were a Baghdadi, a visitor, tourist or a \nmerchant – if you ever wanted to eat, meet, drink, buy, enjoy, entertain\n or do anything or even do nothing in Baghdad – you would go to Al \nRasheed Street,” says al-Waily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the street’s arcaded walkway and diverse architecture mean it is considered a heritage site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And though demonstrations played a part in the road’s recent decline,\n the degradation of Rasheed Street began in the early 1990s during the \nGulf War, continued through subsequent United Nations sanctions, and \ngathered pace after the United States-led invasion of 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, government officials have paid little attention to the \nhistoric road, its architecture or its businesses. “This is in large \npart due to corruption and lack of long-term planning,” says al-Waily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down the road from Mishmisha, 34-year-old shop manager Ali inspects \ndamage to his shopfront. He works for a French company specialising in \noils and additives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Before the protests we used to get 25 visitors a day, [and] now it’s\n about 10 to 15 people,” says Ali, who asked that his real name be \nwithheld to protect his privacy. His shop closed down for 10 days, the \ndoor shuttered with an added iron sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There was gunfire and stun grenades,” he says, pointing out a bullet\n hole on the front door’s metal sheet, cracked windows, and the missing \nlights and security camera. Ali refused to disclose his overall losses, \nbut said the window replacement alone cost the business $2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Rasheed Street is one of the well-known commercially active streets \nin Baghdad and it connects different commercial neighbourhoods, too,” \nAli al-Bayati of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights tells Al \nJazeera. “So, of course, it [stopped] such activities because of the \nprotest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA shop on Rasheed Street that \ncaught fire when a protester accidentally dropped a Molotov cocktail at \nits doorstep [File: Sofia Barbarani\/Al Jazeera]\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week al-Bayati called on the Iraqi government to compensate \nthose whose properties had been damaged, while shopkeepers say they have\n unionised to push their demands to be made whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the weak, outgoing government cedes its place, the incoming \none is just as unlikely to prioritise small businesses over other myriad\n and pressing issues, including the ongoing protests and the resurgence \nof the ISIL (ISIS) group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I hope [the protests] will be worth something,” shop owner Hassan \nLatif says. “In my time, as a youth, the country was controlled by law, \nbut now it’s unsafe, lawless.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike his neighbours at the Mishmisha juice shop, Latif, who owns \nthe Baghdad branch of German oil and additive company Liqui Moly, has \nnot had to let go of any of his employees. “I pay their salary each \nmonth because they have families and they’re not responsible for what \nhappened. I’m responsible for paying them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not every business can afford to do this. “Employees depend on \ntheir daily pay,” says Mishmisha manager Nassim al-Bahar, as one lone \ncustomer walks into the shop to order an orange juice. “I want life to \nreturn to this street.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baghdad, Iraq – By the time Mazen Mohammad woke to the news of a fire in his warehouse, the Iraqi businessman had lost an estimated $2m in merchandise. All three floors and the basement of the warehouse had been engulfed in flames overnight, when violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces sparked the fire in Baghdad’s commercial centre. The… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4036,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions\/4036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}