Iraqis adapt well to their political, ethnic and sectarian rifts. Journalists, on the other hand, have given rise to another kind of division. Hundreds of Iraqi journalists deny the legitimacy of their syndicate and have accused it of adopting the mechanisms of the former regime and consequently constraining the abilities of journalists in favor of the government. They have gone to even greater lengths — forming an alternative syndicate.

The Iraqi law that regulates the framework of syndicates dates back to the 1970s, prohibiting the formation of more than one syndicate per profession. In this regard, the parliament is striving to amend the law, yet faces obstacles from the parliamentary Culture Committee.

The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate was established in the middle of the last century, however Moayad al-Lami, president of the syndicate, objected to the formation of a new syndicate under the name of the National Syndicate for Journalists. Furthermore, Lami questions the legality of the new syndicate, which violates the existing law, and accuses the journalists who formed it of creating divisions in favor of “foreign agendas.”

In response, the president of the National Syndicate, Adnan Hussein, stresses that the absence of a law does not imply that the law passed during the reign of the former totalitarian regime is still in force.