Document Type : .

Authors

• Shayan Karami ¹
• Siavash Yari ²

¹ PhD student of history and Guest lecturer of Ilam University, Ilam, Iran

² Associated professor of History,, Ilam University.Ilam . Iran.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explain the labor phenomenon of Iranians in Iraq based on lived experience. The main issue is to achieve the laboring reality of Iranian nomads in Iraq based on their lived experience. The current research seeks to answer the question that the collective labor phenomenon was based on what rules and methods? Most of the research data were collected using semi-structured interviews and partly from the National Archives of Documents. The method of data analysis is phenomenology. The findings of the research show that during the Pahlavi period, about 10,000 Iranian workers - a majority of the Kurdish tribes of Ilam - were continuously engaged in labor and porters in Iraq (Basra and Baghdad). The most important factors of workers' migration were poverty, unemployment and World War II. Laboring was a cooperative work based on an organization called "Jokeh". Each Jokeh consisted of one headman, two loaders, two rowers, 8 to 16 porters, and 3 to 5 substitute members. Also, the entry of workers into political-social movements was one of the consequences of the labor phenomenon in Iraq. In the documentary narrative, the phenomenon of Iranian laboring and porters in Iraq is considered a source of shame for the Pahlavi government. In the narration of the lived experience of laboring and porting, based on the requirements of that time, it evoked zeal and physical strength.

Keywords

• Iraq
• laboring history
• Ilam
• Kurds of Faili

Expended Abstract:

 The lived experience of working in Iraq (1979-1940)

Until now, the political relations between Iran and Iraq have been examined in various studies. But the representation of Iran's social and cultural relations with the neighboring country based on the data of several decades of "dense lived experience of Iranian immigrant workers" can be a new and attractive narrative. From 1920 and the beginning of the British government's guardianship over Iraq until 1979 and the domination of the Baath Party over Iraq, a large population of Iranian workers, especially immigrants from the west of Iran, spent many years in Iraq and traveled to and from Iraq based on long-standing ethnic relations, continued until the Iran-Iraq imposed war. This project wants to examine the lived experience of workers, labor organizations, income, traffic routes, and the narrative of the workers from the host society, the cultural, and linguistic and identity effects of migration to Iraq from the perspective of the social narrative of lower classes. The main purpose of this research is to understand the reality of the labor and porter phenomenon in Iraq and to explain its different dimensions and angles based on the lived experience of Iranian labor migrants in Iraq. The main issue of the Project is to explain the lived experience of Iranian workers as a social minority in Iraqi society. This research seeks to answer these questions: What rules and methods was the shared labor phenomenon based on? What causes and factors have caused the migration of Iranian workers to Iraq? What were the Iraqi government's strategic policies towards Iranian immigrants? And what was Iranian workers' understanding of the political and social changes between the two countries? So far, no research has been done on this issue and the sources of this research are: interview data with survivors, relatives living in Ilam and documentary data.

Most of the research data were collected using semi-structured interviews and partly from the National Archives of Documents. The data were analyzed using Van Manen's interpretative phenomenological method. First, a questionnaire was prepared with 26 questions from different angles of the phenomenon. Then, inquiries and research were carried out to identify and communicate with the interviewees - people who had work experience in Iraq. The collected data were analyzed by phenomenological method in several stages. Documentary data were used to complete the outline and clarify some ambiguities, and some of the interviewees were referred again.

The findings of the research show that during the Pahlavi period, about 10,000 Iranian workers - a majority of the Kurdish tribes of Ilam - were continuously engaged in labor and porters in Iraq (Basra and Baghdad). Most of the workers who migrated to Iraq were from the nomadic community of western Iran - especially the region of Pushtkoh (Ilam). The main causes and factors of the seasonal migration of the nomadic workforces to Iraq were the collapse of the nomadic society in Iran, World War II, unemployment, poverty, living in border areas and the existence of kinship ties in Iraq. In addition to these general factors, some of the interviewees had other reasons for going to Iraq - including escaping from the military and shepherding.

Laboring was a cooperative worker based on an organization called "Juke". In other words, Juke was the core of the collective work organization of Iranian nomads in Iraq. Each Jokeh consisted of one headman, two loaders, two load arrangers, 8 to 16 porters, and 3 to 5 substitute members. Due to seasonal migration and smuggling to the neighboring country, workers were dangerous. Therefore, it was necessary for some of the men of the tribe to stay in the hometown and take care of their family and the families of other members of the Jokeh. According to this interpretation, 3 to 5 members of Juke in Iran were responsible for taking care of the family and managing affairs -harvesting and nomadic migration. The conditions of division of labor in Iraq were such that one person was a headman, two people were loaders, two people were load arrangers or Queue arranger   and the rest of the members were burdens or porters. The head of Juke was literate and was responsible for concluding labor contracts and distributing wages. The employer had nothing to do with Jokeh's members and his His audience was the head of Jokeh. The income of each Jokeh was divided equally among the active members in Iraq, the members who were in Iran received one third. In the absence of insurance and social services, Jokeh members supported each other during illness and accidents. Barani (daily wage labor) and Hamal Saghiri (child labor) were other forms of work in the Baghdad market. Although Iranian Shia porters for Iraqi Sunni employers are critically reflected in the documents and poems of that period - the poems of Aki, one of the famous Malekshahi poets - But the narrative of the lived experience of the workers, based on the conditions and the economic hardship of the region, explains laboring(Hamali) in connection with zeal and physical strength. Also, the entry of workers into political-social movements was one of the consequences of the labor phenomenon in Iraq. Iranian workers played a role in the political developments in Iraq. They were one of the main allies of the Iraqi socialist movement led by Abdul Karim Qasim. During the government of Abdul Karim Qasim, the situation of Iranian workers became very prosperous and strict regulations on Iranian workers were dismantled. Apart from being a worker, many Iranians became business owners in Iraq, and the prosperity of Iranians continued until the Baath Party came to power.

Key words: Iraq, laboring history, Ilam, Kurds of Faili,