No Christmas tinsel in Iraq, in solidarity with protesters

The Christmas tree in the middle of a central Baghdad plaza occupied by anti-government protesters is bare, save for portraits of those killed under fire from security forces. A tribute, the demonstrators explained, to a recent decision by Iraq’s Christians to call off seasonal festivities to honor the losses.

Leaders of Iraq’s Christians unanimously cancelled Christmas-related celebrations in solidarity with the protest movement — but the aims of their stance go deeper than tinsel and fairy lights. Slogans of a united Iraq free of sectarianism resonate deeply within the community, which since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein has fearfully observed its diminishing influence amid growing Shiite-dominated politics shaping state affairs. The Christians have also left Iraq in huge numbers over the years, after being targeted by militant Sunni groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

On a recent visit to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest movement, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq, said he was moved.

“Now there you feel you are Iraqi,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “A new Iraq is being born.”

The protests erupted in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite southern provinces on Oct. 1, when thousands of Iraqis first took to the streets calling for sweeping political reforms and the end of Iran’s influence in Iraqi affairs. At least 400 have died at the hands of security forces and unidentified assailants firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the demonstrations.

“Morally and spiritually we cannot celebrate in such an atmosphere of tension … it’s not normal to celebrate our joy and happiness while others are dying. That doesn’t work,” said Sako. Chaldeans are the predominant Christian denomination in the country.

He called on the government and parliament to listen to the demands of the protesters and to find suitable solutions through dialogue. “The military solution is bad,” he said.

Hungarian actors protest plan to boost control over theaters

Hungarian actors and directors rallied this week to oppose government plans seen as boosting political control over theaters.

Legislation presented in parliament would give state authorities a bigger say in designating directors at municipal theaters that receive central state funding.

The bill is significantly shorter and narrower in scope than government plans for much of the culture sector leaked last week that drew condemnation from across the cultural landscape.

Speaking at the rally in downtown Budapest, Bela Pinter, director of a popular independent theater company, said that in light of the modified draft, he had rewritten his speech by replacing exclamation marks with question marks.

“The Hungarian government isn’t going to eliminate the annual financing of independent theaters after all?” Pinter said to the crowd of a few thousand people. “From the day the new law enters into force, we independents are still going to get a few pennies from taxpayers’ money?”

Renowned actor and director Tamas Jordan highlighted criticism of the government’s plans by the leadership of the Hungarian Academy Of Arts, which is close to the Orban government.

“In decisions about important professional questions, it’s possible to rise above political points of view,” Jordan said.

Still, critics view the bill as a new effort by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government to stifle independence in the arts.

The legislation says that the “basic expectation” of cultural activities covered by the law is that they “actively protect the interests of the nation’s survival, well being and growth.”

The government said the new rules would create transparency and predictability in theater financing, while creating a “totally clear situation” where the theater’s operation is the responsibility of the financial backer.

Culture in Hungary is heavily subsidized by the state, with museum, opera and theater tickets, for example, generally much cheaper than in Western Europe. At the same time, few municipalities have the means to finance their theaters and often rely on government funds for their upkeep.

Speakers at the rally also rejected as misleading and prejudicial one of the government’s belated arguments for a new law, a case of sexual harassment by a theater director that was revealed only two weeks ago, even though it happened last year.