Voices of Popular Struggle in Iraq

Ali Issa, author of “Against All Odds: Voices of Popular Struggle in Iraq”

Ecosocialist Horizons Hour returns with Daro Behroozi as host, interviewing writer and activist Ali Issa whose recent book “Against All Odds: Voices of Popular Struggle in Iraq” compiles interviews with, and reports from, Iraqi feminists, labor organizers, environmentalists, and protest movement leaders.

“Against All Odds” presents the unique voices of progressive Iraqis organizing on the ground. Dating back to 2003, with an emphasis on the 2011 upsurge in mobilization and hope as well as the subsequent embattled years, these voices belong to Iraqis asserting themselves as agents against multiple local, regional, and global forces of oppression.

Ali Issa speaks about the book and the work of organizers to consolidate sometimes the contradictory demands of a robust grassroots movement in Iraq, and what this means for an Ecosocialist future.

Ali Issa is the National Field Organizer with War Resisters League, where he is co-coordinator of a campaign to end police militarization. He is originally from Iowa and holds a Master’s in Arabic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. His literary translations have appeared in Banipal, the PEN World Atlas Blog, and Jadaliyya where he is a contributor on Iraqi social movements.

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