Psychoanalytic Concepts and Technique in Development: Psychoanalysis, Neuroscience and Physics by Florence Guignard

Author:Florence Guignard [Guignard, Florence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology, Movements, Psychoanalysis, Mental Health
ISBN: 9780429589645
Google: 7k6eDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 49358960
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-20T10:35:59+00:00

Chapter Eight

The Intellectual Origins and Ideas of the Ahali Group

MUDHAFAR AMIN and EDMUND GHAREEB

Introduction

It can be argued that, to a significant degree, Iraq’s modern political era opened with the foundation of the Jama‘at al-Ahali (the People’s Group). In January 1932, when this organization burst on the scene with its newpaper, Iraq was still under British mandate; the bulk of the Iraqi population lived in miserable social and economic conditions. Illiteracy was widespread and ethnic and sectarian conflicts commonplace. Political consciousness was minimal and notions of civil rights or liberties confined to the educated few.

Iraq’s declaration of independence and entry into the League of Nations in October 1932 did not free the country from the legacy of the Ottoman regime: rising nationalist sentiment among Arabs and Kurds, intensified by centuries of economic and political neglect. British influence over the monarchy continued while Iraq’s rulers took little account of the pressing needs and concerns of society at large. Political activity remained generally the preserve of a privileged minority. Even the tiny opposition groups and parties in the late 1920s and early 1930s concentrated on demanding independence from Britain and showed little or no interest in social and economic problems.1

In this environment, the Jama‘at al-Ahali emerged as the first Iraqi group to articulate a well-developed ideology linked to a strong social conscience and a concept of economic progress. Indeed, the founders of the Ahali group showed a remarkable dedication to raising levels of political and social consciousness—above and beyond any sectarian or ethnic division—rather than seeking to advance their own careers or self-interest in the fashion of many of their contemporaries. Although from relatively well-to-do and educated backgrounds, they preferred, in the face of fierce opposition from entrenched vested interests, to devote themselves to espousing the cause of the deprived majority.2

In the beginning, Jama‘at al-Ahali consisted of hardly more than four young college graduates—Husayn Jamil, ‘Abd al-Qadir Isma’il, ‘Abd al-Fattah Ibrahim, and Muhammad Hadid.3 They were imbued with ideas of political and social reform as well as a profound desire to cure the ills of their society. Their studies at home and abroad and their personal experiences had led them to a keen realization of Iraq’s backwardness and to the belief that formal political education could play a vital role in transforming the country into a modern democratic state. Then, hoping to create a movement which might eventually be transformed into a mass political party, they decided to establish a newspaper. The publication of their newspaper ushered in a new leftist political trend advocating what was, for most Iraqis, new political, social, and economic concepts.4 Some observers saw in the group and its newspaper the first step toward the foundation of leftist thought in Iraq,5 and one of the major contributions to leftist movements in the Arab world during the 1930s.6 And while socialist ideas were not unknown to Iraqi intellectuals, the Ahali was the first group to advocate liberal socialist ideas in a coherent and systematic way.7

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