But how were Kurds pulled into a new pricey lifestyle? Kurdistan’s ruling class, as the newly returning revolutionaries from the mountains, were gradually advised by regional and international experts, who insisted that in order to establish a stable progressive region for all, they first needed to become more modern and developed—more “civilized”. The new capitalist-neoliberal enterprise required transformations. Marx and Engels further illustrate regarding capitalism,
“It compels all nations, on the pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeoisie mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst; i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image” (Marx and Engels, 1992: 7). The Kurdish leaders having “no other alternative,” jumped on the capitalist-neoliberal wagon, so they too could get ahead. The story of the “Other Iraq” was pitched in international and local media presenting Kurdistan and its ruling class as friends of Westerners and embracers of free market economy. On the ground, capitalist transformations has lead to a dependent socio-economic culture with growing gaps between the rich and poor. But unlike the dominant discourse which painted a rosy picture of …show more content…
But in Suleimani as elsewhere as Bookchin clarifies, “under capitalist circumstances, “bourgeois traits are the celebrated symbols of the “beautiful people” and the poor “…depending upon their own resources, view the fortunate with envy, even awe, and guilty target themselves for their own lack of privilege and status as ‘ne’er-do-wells’” (Bookchin, 2015: 166). The ruling class in Kurdistan, as well as the well off and the needy have all come to participate in different ways in the new game of “having” to become “beautiful
“It compels all nations, on the pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeoisie mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst; i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image” (Marx and Engels, 1992: 7). The Kurdish leaders having “no other alternative,” jumped on the capitalist-neoliberal wagon, so they too could get ahead. The story of the “Other Iraq” was pitched in international and local media presenting Kurdistan and its ruling class as friends of Westerners and embracers of free market economy. On the ground, capitalist transformations has lead to a dependent socio-economic culture with growing gaps between the rich and poor. But unlike the dominant discourse which painted a rosy picture of …show more content…
But in Suleimani as elsewhere as Bookchin clarifies, “under capitalist circumstances, “bourgeois traits are the celebrated symbols of the “beautiful people” and the poor “…depending upon their own resources, view the fortunate with envy, even awe, and guilty target themselves for their own lack of privilege and status as ‘ne’er-do-wells’” (Bookchin, 2015: 166). The ruling class in Kurdistan, as well as the well off and the needy have all come to participate in different ways in the new game of “having” to become “beautiful