Assault on Iraqi parliament

[Jim Eshelman]

In a populist assault (gunless, or at least without guns fired), hundreds of Iraqi citizens stormed the government sector of Baghdad on Saturday, April 30, occupying the Parliament building and demanding what they broadly painted as an end of corruption in the Iraqi government.

Most of the protestors are believed to be followers of Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr who, right before the first wave surged toward the Green Zone, made a public speech that included the statement, "I’m waiting for the great popular uprising and the great revolution to stop the march of corrupted officials."

The breech of security may have been accomplished by al-Sadr's own troops replacing the Iraqi security officers guarding that area. Protestors withdrew by nightfall, and camped nearby.

A time for the start of the first wave would be valuable, but I haven't been able to find one. One CNN article said, "The chaos erupted hours before Iraqi party leaders were due to arrive for meetings in the Presidential Palace within the Green Zone," but I don't know when they were expected to arrive.

Jupiter Sets at Dawn collated a number of reports that give us some clues.

1. Reports just after 1 PM GMT (4:00 PM BAT) show the protest already occurring. These seems quite late since they withdrew before sunset, a couple of hours later.

2. A state of emergency was declared in Baghdad (and the city gates closed) in a report many hours earlier, 10:39 AM GMT (1:39 PM BAT).

3. Of related interested (connected? not?), an ISIL suicide bomb killed 19 Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad three hours before that, before 10:30 BAT.

Based on all of this, and hoping later to get a time for the end of al-Sadr's speech, it appears the protect was underway in advance of 1:00 PM, so I'll use the convenient time of noon to study the event.

[Jim Eshelman]

Year: Capsolar (Dormant.)

Year: Cansolar
Uranus sq. MC (1°07')
Mercury on IC (2°15')
Mars on IC (6°39')
Pluto on MC (9°31')
-- Mars-Uranus sq. (1°04' in mundo)
-- Mars-Pluto op. (1°32')
-- Mercury-Uranus sq. (2°30')

Bridge
t. Pluto conj. Cansolar MC 3/28-7/16
t. Uranus conj. Cansolar EP 4/13-7/16
CanQ Moon-Jupiter conj. 3/14-5/13
EVENT WINDOW: Apr 13 to May 13

Quarter: Arisolar
Mars on IC (0°39')
Neptune on Dsc (0°46')
-- Mars-Neptune sq. (0°07' in mundo)
Jupiter on Asc (3°45')
-- Jupiter-Neptune op. (2°59' in mundo)
Saturn on IC (8°09')
-- Jupiter-Saturn sq. (1°53')

Month: Caplunar
Neptune on EP (0°05')
Saturn on MC (1°47')
-- Saturn-Neptune sq. (2°34' in mundo; 1°12' in RA)
Jupiter sq. MC (1°11')
-- Jupiter-Neptune op. (1°35' in mundo)
Moon-Mercury sq. (1°24' in mundo)

Day: Capsolar Quotidian & Transits
p. EP conj. t. Mars (1°30')
-- t. Mars sq. s. Neptune (0°05')
---------------------------------
t. Mercury conj. s. MC (0°56')

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits
p. Moon-Jupiter conj. (0°23')
p. Asc conj. t. Pluto (0°34'), op. p. Mars (1°57'), op. p. Mercury (1°38'), op. s. Mercury (0°02')
---------------------------------------
t. Venus conj. s. Asc (0°35')
t. Uranus conj. s. EP (0°45')
t. Pluto conj. s. MC (1°55')


SUMMARY

[Jim Eshelman]

In summary, the Cansolar was the real pivot chart (innately and for timing) of the event. It has Uranus and Mercury closely angular, Mars and Pluto more widely angular, and Mars-Uranus, Mars-Pluto, and Mercury-Uranus aspects. It's representative of the quite explosive year in question.

The Cansolar also narrowed the timing of a likely event to within a one-month time. Uranus and Pluto both transited Cansolar angles as of April 13 (continuing to the end of the Cansolar year mid-July). For a populist, people's rights movement, the ongoing Moon-Jupiter progression in the Cansolar is quite on target, and it moves out of orb May 13. This gives us a window of April 13 to May 13 for a radical, "tear down the system" explosive event that is civil rights event, for example.

Next, the Arisolar is quite the chart, with Mars and Neptune partile conjunct angles and a 0°07' Mars-Neptune mundane square. Add some supportive Jupiter and Saturn for various political, economic, and good-stuff vs. bad-stuff themes.

Then the month opened an equally unhappy theme. Neptune is 0°05' from EP, Saturn is < 2° from MC, and the Saturn-Neptune square dominates the chart. Jupiter is just over 1° from square MC, so it was political, economic, nobody died or even really got hurt, and all sorts of other themes, reinforced by the close Jupiter-Neptune mundane opposition (inspirational religions leader's speech), among other details.

Then, having narrowed it to the week, we bring it to the day with transiting Mars on a CapQ angle. (It even squares Capsolar Neptune within a few minutes.) With everything else going on in the Cansolar, it even offers up Mercury, Mars, and Pluto to the CanQ horizon.

So, in a tough year, under a quarter when people reached volatile emotional extremes, the Bridge gave us a "tear down the system and look out for the people theme." The month and week were shown by a "we're really upset and life is ugly" mood, and then, with all this psychological gasoline in the tub, the daily angles of two systems threw matches into it simultaneously.

I wonder what the tag line of this event is going to become? It's hardly "fall of the Iraqi government" (as a military friend quipped, that happened in 2003). Maybe "Occupy: Green Zone"?

[Jim Eshelman]

Today's news is that, on orders from al-Sadr, the occupiers have left the Green Zone.

By openly demonstrating this control, he has established himself as a direct force the government needs to deal with, and wants to leverage that to effect reforms. The implication, of course, is that if he can successfully tell everybody to leave, he can certainly succeed in getting them to come back.