British Iraqis: A view which is hardly heard

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the US led invasion of Iraq. Supported by the UK, the invasion, war and occupation of Iraq cost the US government nearly a trillion dollars and the British Government spent over £9 billion pounds on the occupation with over a million Iraqi lives lost.

Very little is known or written about the Iraqi community in Britain which has been settled in the UK for 40 years. The Office of National Statics calculates the number of Iraqis at around 65,000, whereas the Iraqi Embassy in London estimates 350,000-450,000 Iraqis call Britain their home. On the anniversary of the invasion, OBV’s Usman Butt conducted interviews with two young British Iraqis about their lives, politics, the war and their identities.

Maryam Ali

Maryam Ali is a recent graduated from the University of Oxford with a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies. She was brought up in the UK.  Ali told OBV, about how proud she is to be British.

On life in Britain: “In Britain, if you don’t like something you get up and change it, you join political movements or campaigns. I am quite pro-active in political causes and am a member of a political party because I believe passionately in being active. It is different for our parent’s generation who came over from Iraq. They still have the mentality of nothing we do will change things.“

On identity: “I don’t feel very Iraqi and the same is true of most of the generation that grew up here. Britain allows you to integrate into its society, unlike some other European countries. I have cousins in Denmark and they are not integrated at all. The society there doesn’t allow you to; my cousins only have Iraqi Shia friends even though they grew up there. They are shocked when they come to the UK and see how open it is. There is a conflict for young British Iraqis and that conflict is a generational one. Our families at times would insist on Iraqi cultural norms, I remember once I was told that I couldn’t do something as it wasn’t respectable for a girl to do. I challenged my family and wrote to the Grand Ayatollah Sistani (the religious leader of the Iraqi Shia) and he responded that there was no religious objection to what I wanted to do. I showed the religious edict to my family, who then had to let me do it. Whilst many of us don’t feel Iraqi, we do emphasis our religious identity and challenge the older generation with it.”

On the invasion: “When the Americans were about to invade Iraq in 2003, like many Iraqis, I supported the war. We did everything to get rid of Saddam, but failed. We hoped the Americans would be like the British when they occupied Iraq after the First World War until the late 1950’s. The British were always very clever and moderate. They understood the country, but when the Americans came, they did the opposite of what we hoped for. They had a very ‘Rambo’ mentality and made the place really bad. They did it for their own interests.”

Ahmed Al-Samarrai

Ahmed Al- Samarrai is a post-doctoral researcher in engineering at the University of Cardiff. He was born and raised in the UK.

On his identity and politics: “Despite the fact that Britain was at war with Iraq, I didn’t feel any personal conflicts of identity because of it. I didn’t believe in the reasons for war and opposed it, like many other British people. You have to differentiate between government policy and the values of its society. I am British because I identify with the universal values of its society, despite its government’s policies. British people are generally very sceptical about their government and cynical of authority, which makes opposing governmental policies easier, than it would be in other countries.

I didn’t feel the society around me becoming hostile towards me, because I am of Iraqi descent. Britain is very multicultural and accepting of difference and so I experienced no conflict here. The society is advanced, but its politicians are 30 years behind. When they talk of integration it feels like the 1970’s. Integration is a natural process. British culture is not fixed but undergoes continual change. British culture 50 years ago is not the same as it is today, our politicians should try and understand this”.

On Iraq: “Many of the older generation left Iraq with bad memories and experiences. Their idea of Iraq is as the country was 40years ago. They do not understand what Iraq is today or how the society now operates. These two factors have made the generation that grew up here reluctant to associate themselves too closely with it - many of us don’t feel Iraqi.

Our parents would openly, try and be more British than the British, although privately they maintained a nostalgia for Iraqi culture as it was when they left. Many young British Iraqis do not follow Iraqi politics and so tensions within Iraq itself; don’t often translate into tensions with the different sects of the Iraqi community in Britain."

In conducting the interviews there were three overarching issues which it raised. Both interviewees were unquestionably very successful in their lives and have achieved a lot. But within their story reflects the wider tragedy of Iraq and what the country has lost. They are educated professionals, as many British Iraqis are, but Iraq itself will never be able to benefit from their talent.

Although unquestionably British, their presence reflects the conflicts and experiences of many other second and third generation Diaspora communities. As for Iraq itself, the UN estimates that 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the country since 2003.

The anniversary remind us of what happened here ten years ago, but it does not remind us of what happened since. Iraq has already been forgotten by the British media, it is not featured anymore and the dangers of this are that by forgetting, they may someday repeat the mistake. We should use this week’s anniversary to remember the Iraqis in Iraq and abroad.

Picture caption: Maryam Ali

Usman Butt