Cultural Responses to the Anfal and Halabja Massacres

Abstract

After the Anfal and Halabja massacres took place inside Kurdistan, Iraq, there was no place for immediate political reaction. For many years, culture took on the role of soothing the tremendous pain everybody was holding while hiding in fear of the Ba’ath regime. Songs were the first medium to represent the tragedy, as images were heavily controlled inside Iraq. Songs were distributed secretly at first, but later the government turned a blind eye to the distribution of many of the songs that were forbidden. After the Kurdish uprising of 1991, a political priority was the opening of the first Kurdish television station. From the very beginning, its programs featured images of both tragedies, which in turn became a permanent part of the station’s broadcasts. These images were so impactful that they were instrumental in the departure of the Saddam regime. Although these images shocked society, they lost their power and became routine from their constant repetition, enforcing public forgetfulness and deeply affecting the entire culture.