Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Najaf city employee Hiba Qader in Minneapolis, October, 2011

In 2009, Minneapolis residents worked with the city council to approve a “Sister City” relationship with Najaf, Iraq. A sister city relationship is about building peaceful relationships between the people of two cities. President Eisenhower launched the idea in 1956, when he called for exchanges between Americans and people of other nations.

Since 2009, Minneapolis residents have hosted seven delegations from Najaf for professional training and friendship-building, sent unarmed individuals (“citizen diplomats”) to Najaf, and helped provide clean water to tens of thousands of students and hospital patients in the Najaf area. Projects and partnerships have developed between academics, businesspeople, artists, and others in the two cities.

This February, six Iraq Ministry of Culture staff persons from Najaf will visit Minneapolis for training on event and festival management, coordinated by Meet Minneapolis: Official Convention + Visitors Bureau. Invited by the Governor of Najaf Province, a large delegation from Minneapolis plans to travel to Najaf in 2012.

As a staff member of the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP), the Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization that manages the sister city relationship, I had the opportunity to travel unarmed to Najaf last summer, carrying with me a letter of friendship from Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak to the people of Najaf and the governor of Najaf Province. Hosted by Sami Rasouli, the Iraqi-American director of IARP’s partner organization in Najaf, the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT), I helped teach English classes and visited local families for five weeks.

My thoughts after returning to Minneapolis were similar to those of a Najafi physician after he participated in a medical delegation to Minneapolis: “I am so honored to gain your friendship. Meeting with you made a great difference in my life and thoughts. Thanks for all that you did for me. Hope to see you soon.”

These are small-scale efforts, but they offer an alternative to the narrative of American domination and superiority often present in our country’s foreign policy. In fact, it is in part because they are small-scale that “city” and “citizen” diplomacy can see past the rhetoric and positioning of nation-based international relations. Our country and our foreign policy need the occasional, or frequent, reality check that we are dealing with people and not ambiguous entities called, “nations.”

The relationship between America and Iraq (and America and the world) depends not only on our nation’s actions, but also on the actions of our nation’s communities. The Minneapolis-Najaf sister city relationship is a model of alternative diplomacy–with a peace-building impact that would make President Eisenhower proud.

Luke Wilcox is a staffperson of the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project. He can be reached at luke (at) reconciliationproject.org.

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"Still/Chaos" by Sama Alshaibi and Dena Al-Adeeb is one of the defining images of NOT ABOUT BOMBS, a new exhibit presented by the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project. The exhibit features contemporary works from female Iraqi artists and runs February 3 - March 3.

“The Western media is rampant with preconceived notions about women in the Middle East. In an unfortunate display of ethnocentrism, it seems to have trouble getting past hijabs and veils. Women are depicted as subservient and oppressed, and the conversation doesn’t go much further. ‘Not About Bombs’ is challenging that notion in a major way. ‘I want to know what these women are feeling and thinking,’says curator Tricia Khutoretsky. ‘There’s so much going on in the Middle East right now and women are playing a really major role in change. There are a lot of other discussions that can happen.’”

- “What Lies Beneath,” Tony Wagner (MN Daily)

NOT ABOUT BOMBS is set to begin with an opening reception on February 3, 2012 at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis. However, we must raise at least $2,400 more to pull it off and avoid scaling back programming. Please consider a gift today to help amplify the voices of female Iraqi artists and make NOT ABOUT BOMBS possible.

By making a contribution, you’ll help present authentic female perspectives in place of stereotypes. NOT ABOUT BOMBS addresses how female voices can fit into the modern context of turmoil and conflict through art and avoid falling into the ways that women are represented… and misrepresented.  The women in NOT ABOUT BOMBS contribute art that is visually and conceptually accomplished, but unpredictable and emotionally engaging.

As curator Tricia Khutoretsky says, NOT ABOUT BOMBS is about the war in Iraq and its effects on women, but less about the practical effects of war and more about how women respond to it emotionally and how their identity is affected by it: “It’s about what women are dealing with or what their thought process is, having been part of a country that’s been at war for the past 10 years.”

By supporting this exhibit with at least a $25 donation, you’ll also get a 12×18 exhibit poster. Thank you for your support!

After the exhibit ends, we plan to build on this and our two previous exhibits, Navigating the Aftermath and The Art of Conflict, to support and strengthen communities of people affected by war and bring the discussion on the effects of war and the lives of those affected into a mainstream audience of Americans.

Here is what some attendees of Navigating the Aftermath said about the exhibit:

• “Beautiful, heartbreaking art work. A reminder that art of all kinds captures and expresses the human condition and experience like nothing else does.”
• “Deepened my awareness of the long-term personal devastation war causes on a society and its peoples”
• “It’s good to see how creative and resilient Iraq’s artists are”
• “I hadn’t seen the Iraqis in this light before.”
• “What a collection of tragic stories shared and based on “both sides” of the Iraq war. Powerful!”
• “The subject matter of both the exhibit and the film was relevant and had an immediacy that captured the audience.”
• “The interactive SPEAK table was extraordinary, giving people an opportunity to share their own comments & experiences.”
• “A 10!  I thought it was very thought provoking and engaging, and eye opening! In a very un-shaded way – the truth was shared by way of interviews and artwork.”

From Dr. Abdulkareem  A. Mahmood, Najaf, Iraq:

Members of the Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT) in Najaf reported that the incidence of cancer is increasing in the governorate, from 40 cases per 100,000 people in 2009 to 70 cases per 100,000 people at the end of 2011 .

Environmental pollution is still the main threat, including polluted drinking water. The shallow level of water in Euphrates increases the maximum allowable levels of hazardous chemicals in this major source of water supply.

So, we support the program of IARP to supply safe drinking water to the schools and hospitals in Najaf governorate and  other areas of Iraq.

Sincerely yours,

By Sami Rasouli

The US troops officially pulled out by the end of 2011, but left behind a crippled country called Iraq. Iraq will never be the same after 2003. According to international law, the US is legally and morally responsible to pay Iraqis reparations and to rebuild the country. But today, after almost nine years of American occupation and “nation-building,” Iraq is left with destruction. Education and health levels are far below what they were before the invasion. Electricity and clean water are not available for millions of Iraqis. Tragically, the most affected segments of the population are women and children. Trafficking of Iraqi women for prostitution continues through neighboring countries, and an estimated 3 million Iraqi widows and 5 million orphans (one fifth of the country’s children) are struggling to survive, according to a 2009 Iraqi Government report.

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