Wounded Tigris: Leon McCarron
One of those is it a bird, is it a plane, no..it’s all of those and more moments. The author, journalist and ‘explorer’ was speaking about their book, but this was more than a travelog. The main character in the talk was the River Tigris with a huge supporting cast of the nation, history and people of Iraq. Riveting and I’m now buzzing with fun facts about the river influenced nation.
Having been a journalist in Iraq and now living there, Leon McCarron has seen a lot — but most of all he has experienced travelling along the River Tigris with a group to document the history, people and especially the environment. This was done in leaky fishing boats as well as an attempt at recreating historic river craft, and sometimes driven around by military with impressive moustaches.
My main take-away is how easy it is to ignorant of anything happening in the world in the UK. I didn’t know that ISIS went into Iraq — I knew that they brutalised Syria and Palmyra, but not of the killing of atleast 1700 Iraqi young recruits in their base. We met the amazing lady who spotted survivors from this massacre trying to flee the massacre and with her son (and eventually her village), ferried them to safety; saving 70–80 lives.
Another encounter was the land itself — the amazing mountains, battered Mosul (which used to be Nineveh) and Venetian Basra; the snail shell minaret of Samarra which shows us how high a mud brick built ziggurat used to stand; the conundrum of the 100 decaying palaces of Saddam Hussein around equally battered Tikrit. Not to mention the terrifying Sad-dam dam, now Mosul Project Dam, which was built in the wrong location and has the potential to tsunami Mosul and Baghdad if sediment isn’t kept pumping into it’s base to fill the holes. And some of the land was Turkey with the entrancing Hasankeyf (a glorious mish-mash of histories and architectures including massive chunks of a Roman bridge) was buried beneath the Ilısu Dam, and yet how many people’s lives are made better by hydro-electric power?
At the same time, this was not a look how miserable they are and how terrible everything is talk. Yes, there is deep corruption, governmental incompetent and misrule, environmental pollution; nevertheless this was a celebration of people. Of the Iraqi’s who originally took McCarron to see the beauty of a nation at war — the mountains and the river. Of the people who sought peace by picnicking in green places and came to the edges around a bridge which used to have a river under it (no more) and was between Iraq and Turkey. Of the ancient Syriac monasteries using a specific type of Aramaic, churches and chapels still with their original plaster and synagogues. Of the creative people of Mosul seeking to rebuild homes, create gardens and beauty, of the hope of a return to holidays, well-being and spa’s by the river, of those seeking to make a difference — in their communities, to their environment, to leave a legacy and avert the River Tigris drying up by 2050 as predicted. Of the Marsh Arabs whose marshes were depleted by Saddam Hussein, but as soon as they could return sought to restore this eco-system and have done successfully, to an extent. Of young girls being free to pursue their education, live in peace, style each other’s hair and do their homework. Of a nation, which inspite of everything or perhaps because of everything, retains its sense of humour and loves a laugh. Of the hero archeologists who are fighting to preserve history and culture, knowing that 80% has yet to be revealed and analysed. Where are the other 117 kings tombs?
Most of all I came away from this glad to be a woman — in enjoying local hospitality, the women had the best organised facilities — with showers, food, naps and rest. The men, on the other hand, were super excited; talked into the night about everything! and ate super late, and did it all again the next day.
On the other hand I’m still thinking about Basra (perhaps Venice is Basran from another perspective) and how it used to produce 85% of all dates, prior to war between Iraq and Iran. Date palms are still blooming, but not as much and deforestation and desertification are huge issues. All the same the indomitable people keep going and the author has plans to develop trails encouraging sustainable tourism across this beautiful area.
More information about the book, the author and where you too can hear this talk can be found here: Wounded Tigris
@ Image from Wounded Tigris website and used purely to illustrate the author’s article reviewing the talk, October 2023.
