New student group seeks political role

Like many college students around the world, Rana Kamil likes nice clothes, listens to popular music and uses the Internet. But unlike a lot of other young people of her age, Kamil and her friends feel a growing sense of responsibility to change the chaotic political situation in their country. She feels unhappy that the current political parties don't seem to be able to change the problems, big and small, facing Iraq. Ongoing violence and the kidnapping of Iraqis and foreigners forces many people to remain indoors these days, she told IRIN. Continued power and water outages make them feel as if nothing has changed since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last year. Rana and her friends have decided to create "Rouy'ia", or "The Vision", a small student group with big ideas. "Rouy'ia" wants to network with other nascent student groups around the country to start playing a role in social and political life. "We want to make a difference. People will not ignore us if we join together," Kamil said. "We should have our own power, not just watch the political parties." First on the political agenda is monitoring the elections scheduled for January, Dhafer Massen, co-organiser of the group, told IRIN. The students want to hold talk shows through live video links with students in other countries to discuss political issues. They want to create an agenda, then put up posters and hold meetings to get others to join them, Massen said. "We want to do something, but we have to establish ourselves first to do it," Massen said. "At first, we thought we could make a difference by joining an established political party, but it seems they are collecting money, not actually doing anything for people." "Rouy'ia" wants to work with the Ministry of Human Rights on the election monitoring project. Members will also get training in Amman, Jordan, from a human rights institute on how to start human rights-related projects in Iraq, Massen said. "We want to be heard, as we belong to this country, too," Mussab al-Jarrah, another group member, told IRIN. "Youth plays no role today. But we want to increase people's awareness of the issues." Iraq's recently formed independent election commission is the only authority on how an election is run, Hussein Hindawi, chairman of the group, told IRIN. But it is possible that the student group could play a monitoring role if they come forward with their plans, he said. Under the former regime, students were not allowed to form groups or join any organisations other than the official student wing of the Arab Baath Socialist Party. Now, they're starting to flex their muscles on campuses and around the country. It is unclear how many new student groups exist, although several met at Baghdad University earlier this week to discuss how to proceed. "Rouy'ia" and other groups have a place to meet and some organisational help from the Iraqi Al Amal Association, if they want it, Jamal al-Jawahiri, a spokesman for the Iraqi aid agency, told IRIN. Al Amal is also teaching local aid agencies how to network with other groups and fundraisers in a democratic society, al-Jawahiri said. The training follows Al Amal's previous work with local agencies on how to look for funding, how to present themselves as aid organisations, write mission statements and so on, al-Jawahiri explained. After the election, "Rouy'ia" wants to start its own magazine and website to spread the word about the group and branch out into cultural events, fine arts projects, perhaps even humanitarian projects, Kamil said. "Rouy'ia" also wants to draw attention to student social issues - how female students are treated in Iraq's conservative Muslim society, for example, and how much it costs to attend college, Kamil said. "Each one of us can influence a lot of people. We can each get 10 friends, and they can get 10 friends, until we have thousands of people together," al-Jarrah said. "We want to be heard."