In October 2019, my homeland had witnessed nationwide anti-corruption protests, where peaceful protesters took to the streets to demand a new government free of corruption. They were only calling for their basic human rights, rights which they’d been denied for most of their lives. These efforts were met with horrifying violence, with hundreds killed and thousands wounded due to the use of war-grade weapons and live rounds.
On the 29th of October, I marched to Al-tahrir Square in Baghdad with my friends, wearing a gas mask and holding the Iraqi flag. Honestly, I was only going to supply people with gas masks while staying out of the action. I was still unsure what the uprising’s true allegiance was because I wasn’t following the news. I was shocked when I saw the frightening smoky cloud engulfing the square. We left after a few hours. As I was lying in my bed, all the events flashed in my mind. I saw people covering themselves with flags and injured people all over the place. I couldn’t really sleep that night.
Once I went back to the square, I saw students volunteering to serve the protesters and medical students treating the wounded. I even saw the elderly protesting just like the youth. In our community, every individual can voluntarily participate in the protests, no matter age or gender, and support the revolution bringing societal change through their voices and actions. I shall not talk about that revolution in the past tense, for it’s eternal. It taught me to love my people, seek a peaceful life, and a lot more. Maybe it didn’t change the corrupt system, but it managed to change thousands of youths.
I was fascinated by the picture of youth leading the change in society, with their voices being the driving force. As a medical student and team leader at the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA-Iraq), I had been doing voluntary and humanitarian work for more than a year before the revolution, but the incident was totally different from what I had experienced and pushed me to do more. The fact that we have the largest youth generation of all time makes me believe that a better world is waiting for us, a peaceful world led by young people. I dream of living to see that day. Thus, I will work harder on empowering the youth to make that day come as soon as possible. We are 1.8 billion people, ideas, dreams, and actions.
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