Benjamin Isakhan

Targeting the Symbolic Dimension of Baathist Iraq: Cultural Destruction, Historical Memory, and National Identity

This article examines the systematic efforts to dismantle or destroy the symbolic dimension of the Baathist regime in Iraq since 2003. It argues that while the Baath were undeniably cruel and oppressive, they did undertake one of the twentieth centurys most robust attempts to utilize the political power of historical memory to create a unified Iraqi national identity. However, while many have examined the militaristic or bureaucratic dimensions of de-Baathification, no such attempts have been made to examine the destruction of the symbols and monuments of the Baathist state and the consequences this has had for Iraqi national identity. This article addresses this paucity and concludes that with the symbolic destruction of the Baathist state has come a near complete erosion of the Iraqi brand of nationalism that the Baath had managed to promulgate to varying degrees of success since the late 1960s.

Creating the Iraq cultural property destruction database: calculating a heritage destruction index.

Over the past decade there have been constant reports of damage to significant cultural property in several complex (post-)conflict and (post-)revolutionary states. Recent events in Syria, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Afghanistan and Iraq – as devastating as they have been for people – have also had dramatic consequences for a number of important cultural heritage sites. Despite the severity of these events and global concern, the field of heritage studies has not developed a methodology for cataloguing such heritage destruction in a database. Addressing this paucity in the literature, this article details the methodology developed to produce the Iraq Cultural Property Destruction database, the world’s first database to document the destruction of cultural property in Iraq. This article also documents the calculation of the Heritage Destruction Index – a scale for measuring both the heritage ‘significance’ of a site and the overall level of destruction. Finally, this article also demonstrates the manifold uses of such a database in measuring and monitoring heritage destruction in Iraq. This study therefore sets a significant precedent in heritage studies by providing methods that can be applied to other contexts (past, present and future) to document the destruction of cultural property in complex contexts.

Layers of religious and political iconoclasm under the Islamic State: symbolic sectarianism and pre-monotheistic iconoclasm

Abstract This article examines the heritage destruction undertaken by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. To date, their iconoclasm has been mostly characterised either as acts of wanton barbarism devoid of religious or political justification, or as a cynical performance designed as a mass media spectacle. Drawing on a systematic analysis of two key IS propaganda outlets – their on-line magazine, Dabiq, and the various slick films released by Al-Hayat – this article argues that the heritage destruction perpetrated by the IS are not only situated within a carefully articulated theological framework and key to the creation of a new and ideologically pure ‘Islamic State’, but that they are also constituted by several complex layers of religious and political iconoclasm. To demonstrate, this article documents the iconoclasm undertaken by the IS along two key axes: Symbolic Sectarianism (Shia and Sufi mosques and shrines); and Pre-Monotheistic Iconoclasm (ancient polytheistic sites). Attacks on key sites within these categories, such as the Sayyida Zaynab shrine in Damascus or the Mosul Museum, not only adhere to their religious and political framework but also serve broader geo-political agendas and are attacked as proxy targets for their physical and ideological opponents.

Heritage Destruction and Spikes in Violence: The Case of Iraq

This chapter uses Iraq as a case study to investigate the complex inter-relationships between cultural and historical destruction on the one hand, and identity politics and sectarian violence on the other. It begins by briefly detailing the role that Iraqs cultural heritage has played in building national identity and social cohesion since 1968. It then catalogues some of the more significant cultural and historical destruction that has occurred in Iraq since 2003. Finally, the chapter tentatively examines the extent to which this destruction has had implications for the rise of ethno-religious sectarianism and violence. The destruction of Iraqs cultural heritage has provided fertile ground for exclusive models of identity to be promulgated, creating a rise in ethno-religious sectarianism and violence. Keywords:cultural heritage; ethno-religious sectarianism; heritage destruction; Iraq; violence

The ritualization of heritage destruction under the Islamic State

This article develops the conceptual framework of the ritualization of heritage destruction to analyse and interpret the targeting of pre-monotheistic heritage sites and artefacts by the Islamic State. It draws upon anthropological studies of initiation rituals in violent male cults alongside literature on heritage destruction to conduct a systematic analysis of key Islamic State propaganda outlets. The analysis reveals that the heritage destruction wrought by the Islamic State functions as part of a broader process of ritualization that is instrumental in forming bonds between members and ensuring their allegiance. Such rituals serve multiple purposes: they physically and ideologically separate new recruits from existing social norms and laws; they breed a deference to leadership and create a unified identity towards the potentiality of violence; and they situate heritage destruction itself within a complex symbolic kaleidoscope of prescribed actions and specific attire, invoking connections to an imagined past and repeating the actions of their forbearers. The article concludes by noting that such analysis of the ritualization of heritage destruction is not only vital to understanding how groups such as the Islamic State successfully transform ordinary young men into a violent jihadist communitas, but also in further understanding, and responding to, such attacks on heritage sites.

The politics of Australia's withdrawal from Iraq

This article examines the complex matrix of public, political and policy debates that were brought to bear on Australias decision to withdraw from Iraq. In analysing the ‘politics of withdrawal’ in Australia, this article identifies four dominant frames that served to polarise the issue along party-political lines and reduce the complexities of Australias withdrawal to a set of simple polarities (such as ‘stay the course’ versus ‘responsible withdrawal’). Specifically, these frames obfuscated an assessment of the myriad challenges facing post-Saddam Iraq and the prospects for peace, security and development beyond Australias withdrawal. Understanding the ways in which Australia framed its decision to disengage from Iraq is critical to further analysis of Australias approach to current (or future) military draw-downs (such as in Afghanistan), as well as those conducted by other liberal democracies, such as the US and the UK. 澳大利亚从伊拉克撤军的决定引起了公共、政治、政策上的舌剑唇枪，本文探讨了这些辩论的复杂背景。本文分析了澳大利亚的“脱身政治”，发现有四个框框依政党—政治思路将话题两极化，将澳大利亚脱身的复杂性简化成一套极端性（如“坚定不移”对“负责任地脱身”）。特别是这些框框妨碍了对后萨达姆伊拉克所面临的无数挑战的认识，对澳大利亚撤军后的和平、安全、发展前景的认识。理解澳大利亚形成其退出伊拉克决定的方式，对于分析澳大利亚最近的军事低介入（例如在阿富汗），以及其他自由民主国家如美英的同类选择，都至关紧要。

The Islamic State attacks on Shia holy sites and the “shrine protection narrative”: threats to sacred space as a mobilization frame

ABSTRACT After conquering large swaths of Syria and Iraq, the IS undertook an aggressive sectarian campaign in which they not only enacted horrific violence against the Shia people, but also damaged or destroyed several key Shia mosques and shrines. Drawing on Social Movement Theory (SMT), this article analyzes the response by various Shia non-state actors—militia leaders, religious clergymen, populist preachers, and seminal poets. It argues that they used the IS threat to Shia holy sites to develop and deploy a mobilization frame that has come to be referred to as the “shrine protection narrative.” The article also documents the manifold consequences of the shrine protection narrative: it underpinned a mass recruitment drive that saw tens of thousands enlist; it legitimized foreign Shia militias to enter the conflicts in both Syria and Iraq; it justified the formation of entirely new militias who declared the centrality of shrine protection to their mandate; and it mobilized them to enact political violence. In doing so, this article extends existing studies of SMT to demonstrate that “sacred spaces”—and particularly the need to protect religious sites from specific threats—can serve as a powerful mobilization frame towards political violence.

Digitally Mediated Iconoclasm: the Islamic State and the war on cultural heritage

Abstract This paper puts forward the new analytical framework of ‘Digitally Mediated Iconoclasm’ (DMI) to analyse and interpret iconoclastic acts that are experienced through the propaganda (videos, social media, photographs, and other media) that the actor perpetrating the destruction makes available in global information networks for its consumption, duplication, and distribution. DMI captures three stages of the destruction (before, during and after the event) as both evidence of that destruction and as a perdurable digital archive. To demonstrate the relevance of DMI, we focus on an analysis of the videos and photographs depicting heritage destruction at pre-monotheistic sites targeted by the Islamic State (IS), such as Palmyra in Syria, the Mosul Cultural Museum, Nineveh and Nimrud in Iraq. The analysis focuses on the three stages that DMI comprises, showing the different photographic and audio-visual production techniques that the IS uses to enhance the tension that is built up leading to the destruction of cultural heritage while allocating material and human resources to produce digital propaganda. This analysis demonstrates how the analytical framework of DMI can be used to advance important work in heritage and media studies.

Introduction: Crisis and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century

Recent years have seen near constant reports on the failures of governance and the crisis of democracy. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) from 2008 onwards saw many of the world’s strongest economies and most robust democracies teeter on the edge of collapse. This crisis led to other financial crises such as the European sovereign debt crisis which emerged in late 2009. As governments took unprecedented steps to bail out the financial sector, many began to question the relationship between representative democracy and the global capitalist free market system along with the forms of national and global governance which support this economic model. In response to these crises, a series of popular grassroots movements and protests emerged across both sides of the Atlantic. In the US, the Occupy Wall Street movement attempted to challenge the power of the financial system and levels of economic inequality in advanced democracies, while across Europe anti-austerity protests indicated, among other things, a wide dissatisfaction with EU interference in domestic politics, especially in Greece and Portugal where EU and IMF bailouts were imposed without clear public mandates. These crises and the public responses they produced have forced many scholars, leaders and policymakers to ask difficult questions about the power of governance to trump democracy during times of crisis.

Introduction: democracy and history

The notion that democracy could have a ‘secret’ history might at first seem strange to many readers. Indeed, the history of democracy has become so standardized, is so familiar and appears to be so complete that it is hard to believe that it could hold any secrets whatsoever. The ancient Greek practice of demokratia and the functions of the Roman Republic are foundational to Western1 understanding of politics; school textbooks introduce the Magna Carta and the rise of the English Parliament; Hollywood blockbusters recount the events surrounding the American Declaration of Independence; many best-selling novels have been written about the French Revolution; and the gradual global spread of the Western model of democracy has been a recurrent news story since the end of the Cold War. So pervasive is this traditional story of democracy that it has achieved the status of received wisdom: endlessly recycled without criticism by policy-makers, academics, in the popular media and in classrooms across the world.