
Haifa Zangana
Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi author and activist.
She was an advisor for the UNDP Report Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World (2005) and as a consultant for ESCWA (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) she contributed to “Arab Integration” report and “Towards Justice in the Arab world” report which was withdrawn by UN general secretary.
Her writings published regularly by Arab & western media and she is a weekly columnist for Al Quds Al Arabi.
She currently works with former women political prisoners in Tunisia to write their own experiences as part of transitional justice process.
Items by Haifa Zangana
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- May 26, 2021 Haifa Zangana
We can learn from Iraq when looking to the future in Palestine
Palestine, which lives in our hearts and souls, has within eleven days achieved a lot in the relentless struggle for freedom, albeit at a cost which we all know is extortionately high. In imposing such a cost, the Zionist enemy wanted the lives of children, women and the elderly...
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- March 31, 2021 Haifa Zangana
The Palestine Book Awards and resisting the falsification of history
The gap between the Arab people and their governments has never been greater and deeper than what we are currently experiencing regarding Palestine. At a time when some governments have rushed to declare their normalisation of relations with the racist colonial state of Israel, the Palestinian resistance is becoming...
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- January 27, 2021 Haifa Zangana
Iraq’s prime minister should be dismissed and prosecuted for his failures
Thirty-two dead and over 110 wounded people have been added to the list of bombing victims in Iraq. Two suicide bombers were responsible; strapped with explosives they blew themselves up, killing and maiming their innocent victims in a second-hand clothes market in Tayaran Square, central Baghdad last Thursday. What do...
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- December 23, 2020 Haifa Zangana
Having unemployed oil engineers in oil-rich Iraq is unacceptable
Engineering graduates gathered again on Sunday to protest in front of the headquarters of the Shuaiba Refinery near Basra in southern Iraq because of the government’s failure to respond to their demands to be hired by the oil companies. An earlier protest blocked the road leading to the refinery...
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- August 14, 2020 Haifa Zangana
From Fallujah and Aleppo to Beirut… We are the children of Hiroshima
On Thursday 6 August, we were preparing to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. But on Tuesday, we were shocked to see a similar event to that of Hiroshima take place in Beirut, mixing symbols of destruction between the...
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- March 10, 2020 Haifa Zangana
Let's celebrate International Women’s Day
For the first time since the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, women in the country are celebrating International Women’s Day, in a way that is reminiscent of the celebrations that their own mothers and grandmothers might have witnessed. Finally, after an absence that was intended to last,...
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- March 4, 2020 Haifa Zangana
The Iraqi uprising is a quantum leap in collective awareness
Muhammad Allawi has recently been appointed as Prime Minister of the Iraqi transitional government, since when the auction for government positions has quickened; in this it is no different to previous governments. They are the same governments that the youth rose up against in October last year and they...
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- January 15, 2020 Haifa Zangana
Iraq: Assassinating the press and the game of recycling politicians
Journalist Ahmed Abdel Samad and his colleague, photographer Ghali Al-Tamimi, were added to the list of Iraqi women and men martyrs after being assassinated three days ago by what has become officially known in Iraq as “gunfire of unknown gunmen” who fled to “unknown destinations.” This cliché, ready-made term confirms...
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- July 3, 2019 Haifa Zangana
The love-hate relationship between the US and Iran
As the American war drums against Iran grow louder, we are beginning to hear their joyous echoes in the hearts of Iraqi parties who view the war as “liberation” from the Iranian occupation. The enthusiasm and excitement have reached the point of some tweeting and congratulating each other for...
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- December 6, 2018 Haifa Zangana
The Palestine Book Awards 2018: refuting the Israeli narrative
How can we tackle the Israeli narrative about Palestine’s past and present, when the Palestinian people continue to struggle against Israel’s colonial occupation which bases its existence on a false narrative about Palestinian history? It is that narrative, after all, which is used to define the prevalent ideology in...
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- December 13, 2017 Haifa Zangana
Foolishness has its price, as the US administration and Arab rulers know
Was President Donald Trump aware of how foolish he looked when he sat in front of the cameras and proudly signed a document recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital? Was this a studied and deliberate strategic move made by the US administration in the context of its “paternal” relationship...
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- November 29, 2017 Haifa Zangana
Books on Palestine to combat stripping Palestinians of their humanity
Writing is the act of documentation and is one means of resisting apartheid and ethnic cleansing targeting any nation, let alone the Palestinian nation....
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- November 22, 2017 Haifa Zangana
Lest the blood of the Iraqis be shed in vain
During his meeting with the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions and her accompanying delegation on 15 November, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi stated that human rights violations in Iraq were “few” and condemned “exaggerations of human rights violations by some human rights organisations” under his rule. Such a statement...
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- November 16, 2017 Haifa Zangana
The secret public auction of the ‘reconstruction’ of Mosul
After the announcement of Mosul’s liberation, the spotlight was focused on rebuilding the city that everyone agreed had been 80 per cent ruined on the right side, including bridges, hospitals, water, electricity, schools, homes and government buildings. Meanwhile, its left side lacked the basic necessities of life. This turned...
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- November 8, 2017 Haifa Zangana
Iraq’s marriage and family rights are under threat
For the third time since the occupation of Iraq in 2003, the National Personal Status Law number 188 of 1959, which is still on the statute book, is at risk of being amended despite the fact that it is one of the best pieces of Arab legislation. The first...
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- October 3, 2017 Haifa Zangana
Post-referendum Iraq… is there enough space in the cemeteries for our victims?
The Iraqis are fearfully waiting for the beating of war drums after the referendum was held in Kurdistan, wondering if this is the post-Daesh phase. They know too well the exchange of accusations, the imposition of sanctions and the fighting that will follow as long as they live under...
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- September 19, 2017 Haifa Zangana
How can we psychologically and mentally remedy Iraq?
According to Dr Elham Al-Douri, “40 per cent of Iraqi children suffer from mental illnesses.” She continues to list harrowing facts about the mental and psychological illnesses in Iraq, saying: “The same can be said for 17 per cent of youth. This translates to 5.7 million young individuals who...
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- August 15, 2017 Haifa Zangana
American food aid: A meal for every child before being bombed
One of the changes US President Donald Trump has been working to make since his presidency is a change to the laws regarding humanitarian food aid to the world, including the direct form that is provided through the UN World Food Programme and the indirect form that is provided...
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- August 1, 2017 Haifa Zangana
100 security officers involved in tortures in Mosul
The United Nations has urged the Iraqi government to investigate abuse by its soldiers after a video, allegedly showing Iraqi soldiers torturing and killing individuals in Mosul suspected of affiliation with Daesh in recaptured areas of Mosul, was widely circulated in social networks on 23 January 2017...
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- June 20, 2017 Haifa Zangana
Silence and the children of the dirty war
There is complete political and media silence surrounding the US-led coalition’s use of deadly white phosphorus in Mosul and Raqqa. At the same time, there is a flood of statements by politicians and journalists condemning the weapons used by Daesh in the same two cities. The first victims in both...
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- April 27, 2017 Haifa Zangana
The map of a ‘new Iraq’: Hostages and displacement
The release of Qatari nationals held hostage in Iraq, which took place after long negotiations, has long captivated the Arab and international media’s attention. Various parties and news outlets all have their own interpretations of what took place. This calibre of attention has never been given to the abduction...
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- June 10, 2016 Haifa Zangana
Fallujah is the resistance city that cannot be destroyed
It is said that the siege of the city of Fallujah, which is situated nearly 60 kilometres from Baghdad, has been ongoing for the past two years. We are also being told that those who enter the city are allowed to do so for good reason as part of...
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- October 14, 2015 Haifa Zangana
Prosecuting Tony Blair and resisting oppression in the Arab world
We in the Arab world are accused of violence on one hand and a lack of preparedness for democracy on the other, or both at the same time. Those who make these claims — politicians and intellectuals — usually call on the West to teach us and rid us...
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- August 25, 2015 Haifa Zangana
Did Iraqi protestors receive a reforms package or a hollow promise?
The slogans of the demonstrators across 11 Iraqi provinces have developed over the past three weeks from demanding electricity to demanding the “thieving” officials be prosecuted, to demanding that the corrupt judiciary itself be prosecuted and purged of the corrupt, to accusing the ruling political party and religious figures...