Sectarian rhetoric

Ghazwan Hadi

The predominantly Sunni Al-Adhamiya district, the predominantly Shia Al-Sadr City, the predominantly Sunni Al-Anbar province, the predominantly-Shia Missan district... this is how Iraqi locales are depicted every day in the media. Whether discussing security or politics, economy or services, the labelling is there for all to see and hear. If anything, such rhetoric tells the Shias to leave cities in which they are not a majority, and the Sunnis to do the same. This message, hideous as it is, is latent in the language of the media. The media may seem objective, informative, even hi-tech, yet its message can be as crude as it is tendentious. Still it broadcasts this same message day in, day out. What next? What happens once demography catches up with prophecy? What happens once the districts of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities turn into ethnically pure zones? Once the factional lines are drawn, do we have much hope of avoiding a sectarian war? Invisible hands are at work, inspiring the media, dictating its message...

continua / continued