Baghdad - Abdel-Wahed Tohmeh - Al-Hayat, June 24, 2005
11 Student Unions approved the call made on al-Jaafari's Government to
set a timetable for the withdrawal of multinational forces and
considered that the request made [by the Government at the UN] for the
extension of their presence is "an infringement on Parliament's
prerogatives."
The 11 Unions issued yesterday a statement, of which Al-Hayat got a
copy, supporting the members of the Independent National Bloc and other
MPs [see the article by the same author dated June 20] and calling on
"al-Jaafari's Government, the United Nations and its Security Council to
adopt these demands." The statement also said: "We have taken part in
the election and voted, risking our lives going to the polling stations,
only for one essential issue that the electoral slates adopted and put
in their political programs, and that is the demand for the withdrawal
of occupation troops from Iraq."
The Unions called on the lists that won the election "to remain faithful
to their promise and put their political programs into practise so that
the people could respect them." Their statement also called on the
Government "not to adopt crucial decisions without referring to the
representatives of the people in the National Assembly." The statement
also expressed bewilderment at "al-Jaafari's and his Government's
support for maintaining occupation troops at a time when the US Congress
is asking for their withdrawal."
The statement was signed by the Student Unions at the Universities of
Baghdad, Mustansariyya, Kufa, Qadissiyya, Basra, Diali, Ramadi, Mosul,
the Technological University, the Islamic University and the Organism of
Technical Education.
The president of the Student Union of the University of Baghdad, Mustafa
Shabar, said that "the students of Iraq are resolute to get the
Government and the National Assembly to abide by anti-occupation
demands."
Moreover, 18 students representing Iraq's 18 governorates ended a sit-in
at al-Firdous Square in the center of Baghdad, meant as a protest
against the Government's decision to extend the presence of
multinational forces. Shabar said that "the choice of al-Firdous Square
for our sit-in came as a result of the refusal of the Government to let
the sit-in be held in front of the Parliament building." Member of
Parliament Falah Hassan Shneishel added that "a big rally will take
place today at Kadhimiyya with the participation of tribes which came to
Baghdad from all Iraqi governorates in support of the demand by the MPs
to the Government to put a timetable for the withdrawal of occupation
troops." '
Wednesday, June 29
Tuesday, June 28
Joint statement by Iraqi unions
Joint Statement by Leaders of Iraq’s Labor Movement and U.S. Labor Against the War. June 26, 2005. Washington DC, USA.
We, the representatives of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI), the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE), and U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) issue this statement at the conclusion of an historic 25-city tour by leaders of the three Iraqi labor organizations in the United States.
We speak in the spirit of international solidarity and respect for labor rights around the world. We speak in the spirit of opposition to war and occupation and for the right of self-determination of nations and peoples.
On behalf of the Iraqi labor movement, we met and spoke directly to thousands of Americans, including workers, union, religious and political leaders, anti-war activists and ordinary citizens. All of us, both Iraqi and American, were deeply heartened at the solidarity expressed throughout the tour. We have seen with our eyes and felt with our hearts that the people of the United States do not want the war and occupation of Iraq to continue. We are strengthened in our understanding of the deep commitment of organized labor and workers in Iraq to a unified democratic, independent Iraq, with full equality between women and men in terms of rights and duties, and based on full respect for the human identity without discrimination on any basis.
The tour was an expression of the following key principles:
The principal obstacle to peace, stability, and the reconstruction of Iraq is the occupation. The occupation is the problem, not the solution. Iraqi sovereignty and independence must be restored. The occupation must end in al its forms, including military bases and economic domination. The war was fought for oil and regional domination, in violation of international law, justified by lies and deception without consultation with the Iraqi people. The occupation has been a catastrophe for both our peoples.
In Iraq, it has destroyed homes and industry, national institutions and infrastructure – water, sanitation, electric power and health services. It has killed many thousands, and left millions homeless and unemployed. It has poisoned the people, their land and water with the toxic residue of the war.
In the United States, more than 1700 working families have suffered loss of loved ones and thousands more have been wounded, disabled or psychologically scarred in a war that serves no legitimate purpose. The cost of the war has led to slashing of social programs and public services. It has militarized our economy, undermined our own liberties and eroded our democratic rights.
We believe it is the best interest of both our peoples for the war and occupation to end and for the Iraqi people to determine for themselves their future and the kind and extent of international aid and cooperation that suits their needs and serves the interests of the Iraqi people.
We strongly and unambiguously condemn terrorist attacks on civilians and targeting of trade union and other civil society leaders for intimidation, kidnapping, torture and assassination. The occupation is fuel on the fire of terrorism.
The national wealth and resources of Iraq belong to the Iraqi people. We are united in our opposition to the imposition of privatization of the Iraqi economy by the occupation, the IMF, the World Bank, foreign powers and any force that takes away the right of the Iraqi people to determine their own economic future.
We call on nations across the globe to help Iraqis regain their economic capacity, including full reparations from the US and British governments to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
We call for the cancellation of Saddam’s massive foreign debt by the IMF and other international lenders without any conditions imposed upon the people of Iraq who suffered under the regime that was supported by these loans. The foreign debt of Iraq is the debt of a fallen dictatorship, not the debt incurred by the Iraqi people. Further, we call for the cancellation of reparations imposed as a result of wars waged by Saddam Hussein’s regime, and call for the return of all Iraqi property and antiquities taken during the war and occupation.”
The bedrock of any democracy is a strong, free, democratic labor movement. We are united in our commitment to build strong, independent, democratic unions and to fight to improve the wages, working and living conditions of workers everywhere. We confront the same economic and corporate interests that have mounted a global assault on workers and labor rights. We demand strong labor rights in Iraq at the same time that we strive to reverse the erosion of labor rights in the United States and elsewhere around the world where they are threatened. We call for free and independent labor unions in Iraq based on internationally recognized ILO conventions guaranteeing the right to organize free of all government interference and including full equality for women workers. We support the direct participation of labor and workers’ representatives in drafting the new labor code, in determining government policies affecting unions and workers’ interests, and in drafting the new constitution. We condemn the continued enforcement of Saddam’s decree number 150 issued in 1987 that abolished union rights for workers in the extensive Iraqi public sector and call for its immediate repeal.
We commit ourselves to strengthening the bonds of solidarity and friendship between working people of our two countries and to increase communication and cooperation between our two labor movements. We look forward to delegations of Iraqis and Americans visiting each other’s countries for mutual support, and to strengthen international understanding and solidarity in our common struggle for peace and establishment of a democratic civil society that respects human rights and freedom.
With the strength and solidarity of workers across the US, in Iraq and internationally, we are confident that we can build a just and democratic future for labor in Iraq, the US, and around the world.
We, the representatives of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI), the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE), and U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) issue this statement at the conclusion of an historic 25-city tour by leaders of the three Iraqi labor organizations in the United States.
We speak in the spirit of international solidarity and respect for labor rights around the world. We speak in the spirit of opposition to war and occupation and for the right of self-determination of nations and peoples.
On behalf of the Iraqi labor movement, we met and spoke directly to thousands of Americans, including workers, union, religious and political leaders, anti-war activists and ordinary citizens. All of us, both Iraqi and American, were deeply heartened at the solidarity expressed throughout the tour. We have seen with our eyes and felt with our hearts that the people of the United States do not want the war and occupation of Iraq to continue. We are strengthened in our understanding of the deep commitment of organized labor and workers in Iraq to a unified democratic, independent Iraq, with full equality between women and men in terms of rights and duties, and based on full respect for the human identity without discrimination on any basis.
The tour was an expression of the following key principles:
The principal obstacle to peace, stability, and the reconstruction of Iraq is the occupation. The occupation is the problem, not the solution. Iraqi sovereignty and independence must be restored. The occupation must end in al its forms, including military bases and economic domination. The war was fought for oil and regional domination, in violation of international law, justified by lies and deception without consultation with the Iraqi people. The occupation has been a catastrophe for both our peoples.
In Iraq, it has destroyed homes and industry, national institutions and infrastructure – water, sanitation, electric power and health services. It has killed many thousands, and left millions homeless and unemployed. It has poisoned the people, their land and water with the toxic residue of the war.
In the United States, more than 1700 working families have suffered loss of loved ones and thousands more have been wounded, disabled or psychologically scarred in a war that serves no legitimate purpose. The cost of the war has led to slashing of social programs and public services. It has militarized our economy, undermined our own liberties and eroded our democratic rights.
We believe it is the best interest of both our peoples for the war and occupation to end and for the Iraqi people to determine for themselves their future and the kind and extent of international aid and cooperation that suits their needs and serves the interests of the Iraqi people.
We strongly and unambiguously condemn terrorist attacks on civilians and targeting of trade union and other civil society leaders for intimidation, kidnapping, torture and assassination. The occupation is fuel on the fire of terrorism.
The national wealth and resources of Iraq belong to the Iraqi people. We are united in our opposition to the imposition of privatization of the Iraqi economy by the occupation, the IMF, the World Bank, foreign powers and any force that takes away the right of the Iraqi people to determine their own economic future.
We call on nations across the globe to help Iraqis regain their economic capacity, including full reparations from the US and British governments to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
We call for the cancellation of Saddam’s massive foreign debt by the IMF and other international lenders without any conditions imposed upon the people of Iraq who suffered under the regime that was supported by these loans. The foreign debt of Iraq is the debt of a fallen dictatorship, not the debt incurred by the Iraqi people. Further, we call for the cancellation of reparations imposed as a result of wars waged by Saddam Hussein’s regime, and call for the return of all Iraqi property and antiquities taken during the war and occupation.”
The bedrock of any democracy is a strong, free, democratic labor movement. We are united in our commitment to build strong, independent, democratic unions and to fight to improve the wages, working and living conditions of workers everywhere. We confront the same economic and corporate interests that have mounted a global assault on workers and labor rights. We demand strong labor rights in Iraq at the same time that we strive to reverse the erosion of labor rights in the United States and elsewhere around the world where they are threatened. We call for free and independent labor unions in Iraq based on internationally recognized ILO conventions guaranteeing the right to organize free of all government interference and including full equality for women workers. We support the direct participation of labor and workers’ representatives in drafting the new labor code, in determining government policies affecting unions and workers’ interests, and in drafting the new constitution. We condemn the continued enforcement of Saddam’s decree number 150 issued in 1987 that abolished union rights for workers in the extensive Iraqi public sector and call for its immediate repeal.
We commit ourselves to strengthening the bonds of solidarity and friendship between working people of our two countries and to increase communication and cooperation between our two labor movements. We look forward to delegations of Iraqis and Americans visiting each other’s countries for mutual support, and to strengthen international understanding and solidarity in our common struggle for peace and establishment of a democratic civil society that respects human rights and freedom.
With the strength and solidarity of workers across the US, in Iraq and internationally, we are confident that we can build a just and democratic future for labor in Iraq, the US, and around the world.
Tuesday, June 21
Wednesday 29 June: protest against privatisation
Wednesday 29th June
The Hilton, Paddington.
Meet 10.30am, Edgware Road tube, Edgware Road exit
A week before Blair hosts the G8, corporate executives from multinational oil companies will be meeting in London with representatives from the Iraqi government to discuss the future of Iraqi oil and gas reserves.
Join us for a pirate-themed protest on the 29th June against the corporate plunder of Iraq’s oil! Oppose the neo-liberal cronies pillaging Iraq and support the Iraqi people’s call for NO PRIVATISATION, NO ASSET STRIPPING, NO EXPATRIATION OF PROFITS.
This event is being in solidarity with the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in Iraq who are resisting attempted privatisation by the occupying forces. A statement from the GUOE will be read outside the conference.
Further info: 07931 337890 or stopthepillage@yahoo.co.uk or www.radicalactivist.net/corporateiraq.shtml.
The Hilton, Paddington.
Meet 10.30am, Edgware Road tube, Edgware Road exit
A week before Blair hosts the G8, corporate executives from multinational oil companies will be meeting in London with representatives from the Iraqi government to discuss the future of Iraqi oil and gas reserves.
Join us for a pirate-themed protest on the 29th June against the corporate plunder of Iraq’s oil! Oppose the neo-liberal cronies pillaging Iraq and support the Iraqi people’s call for NO PRIVATISATION, NO ASSET STRIPPING, NO EXPATRIATION OF PROFITS.
This event is being in solidarity with the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in Iraq who are resisting attempted privatisation by the occupying forces. A statement from the GUOE will be read outside the conference.
Further info: 07931 337890 or stopthepillage@yahoo.co.uk or www.radicalactivist.net/corporateiraq.shtml.
Financial Times on Iraqi privatisation
From the Financial Times, 2 June.
The US and other [foreign aid] donors have prescribed privatisation and direct investment. However, even investors willing to risk their lives in Iraq would be ill advised to risk their assets. Investment laws are a patchwork of Saddam-era ordinances, which are expected to be replaced, and US coalition decrees, which are also temporary and may be illegal under international law. But parliament is not expected to pass new investment legislation, particularly in the oil sector, until late next year.
The US and other [foreign aid] donors have prescribed privatisation and direct investment. However, even investors willing to risk their lives in Iraq would be ill advised to risk their assets. Investment laws are a patchwork of Saddam-era ordinances, which are expected to be replaced, and US coalition decrees, which are also temporary and may be illegal under international law. But parliament is not expected to pass new investment legislation, particularly in the oil sector, until late next year.
Friday, June 17
Iraqi trade unions tour the US
Iraqi trade union leaders from three union organizations will tour the U.S. from June 10-26 under the sponsorship of U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW), a group composed of state labor federations, central labor councils and local unions.
The tour features representatives the Iraqi Federation of Labor (IFTU), General Union of Oil Employees–Basra (GUOE), and the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI).
This will be the first opportunity to hear directly from Iraqis about the crisis conditions facing Iraq’s workers under the U.S. occupation. The trade unionists will speak about their struggles against the U.S.-corporate-inspired privatization drive and the occupation, and for a secular, democratic country that respects trade union rights.
The tour will begin with five days (June 10-15) in Washington, D.C., with a meeting with the national AFL-CIO leadership, a congressional briefing and a National Press Club event.
Tour events organized so far include meetings with labor bodies and public meetings. United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is helping to organize these events. Local peace groups, faith-based organizations and community groups are also participating.
A preliminary schedule of the tour follows:
East Coast tour featuring the IFTU: Baltimore, June 15; New York City, June 16-17; Vermont, June 18-19; Boston, June 20-21; Hartford, Conn., June 22; Stony Brook, N.Y., June 23; Philadelphia, June 24.
Midwest and South (FWCUI): St. Paul, Minn., June 16; Chicago, June 17-18; Atlanta, June 18-19; New Orleans, June 18; Detroit, June 19; Madison, Wis., & Milwaukee, June 20; Pittsburgh, June 21; Buffalo, N.Y., June 22-23; Cleveland, June 24.
West Coast (GUOE): Los Angeles, June 16-18; San Francisco Bay Area, June 16 and June 19-21; Portland, June 22; Seattle, June 23.
To get the most up-to-date information about the events, visit USLAW’s web site, www.uslaboragainstwar.org
The tour features representatives the Iraqi Federation of Labor (IFTU), General Union of Oil Employees–Basra (GUOE), and the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI).
This will be the first opportunity to hear directly from Iraqis about the crisis conditions facing Iraq’s workers under the U.S. occupation. The trade unionists will speak about their struggles against the U.S.-corporate-inspired privatization drive and the occupation, and for a secular, democratic country that respects trade union rights.
The tour will begin with five days (June 10-15) in Washington, D.C., with a meeting with the national AFL-CIO leadership, a congressional briefing and a National Press Club event.
Tour events organized so far include meetings with labor bodies and public meetings. United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is helping to organize these events. Local peace groups, faith-based organizations and community groups are also participating.
A preliminary schedule of the tour follows:
East Coast tour featuring the IFTU: Baltimore, June 15; New York City, June 16-17; Vermont, June 18-19; Boston, June 20-21; Hartford, Conn., June 22; Stony Brook, N.Y., June 23; Philadelphia, June 24.
Midwest and South (FWCUI): St. Paul, Minn., June 16; Chicago, June 17-18; Atlanta, June 18-19; New Orleans, June 18; Detroit, June 19; Madison, Wis., & Milwaukee, June 20; Pittsburgh, June 21; Buffalo, N.Y., June 22-23; Cleveland, June 24.
West Coast (GUOE): Los Angeles, June 16-18; San Francisco Bay Area, June 16 and June 19-21; Portland, June 22; Seattle, June 23.
To get the most up-to-date information about the events, visit USLAW’s web site, www.uslaboragainstwar.org
Reuters report on Iraqi trade unionists tour of US
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - Iraqi trade unionists called on Tuesday for a bigger voice in Iraq where they said they were targeted for attacks by insurgents and intimidated by the U.S and Iraqi military.
Six leaders of the Iraqi trade union movement, who said they represent hundreds of thousands of workers in Iraq, are on a two-week visit to the United States to raise the profile of their groups.
"We need to get our voices heard and by coming to the United States we hope this will happen," said Adnan Rashed, executive officer of the Union of Mechanics, Printing and Metal Workers.
"We are trying so hard to organize workers and make our lives better," he said, adding he hoped the new Iraqi constitution would take workers' rights into account.
Brought to the United States by a group called U.S. Labor Against the War, which opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the union leaders also called for foreign forces to leave.
Speaking at a news conference translated from Arabic, the unionists said their attempts to mobilize workers were being thwarted by all sides -- from foreign companies working in Iraq to insurgents and the U.S. and Iraqi military.
Rashed said at least 10 of their unionists had been killed and tortured by insurgents and others were constantly harassed and intimidated for trying to mobilize workers.
Union offices have been shut down and raided, and eight activists were arrested by U.S. forces in 2003 and held for seven months until they were released, said Rashed.
"We have a very difficult time," said Rashed.
Falah Alwan of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq, cited a case where a woman working at a grain silo was labeled mentally unstable for organizing protests.
Faleh Abbood Umara of the General Union of Oil Workers demanded that U.S. forces quit Iraq.
His union has actively opposed the use of U.S. companies in Iraq, such as Halliburton, which was once run by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. It also opposes plans to privatize the oil sector.
The unionists are visiting 20 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles, before returning to Iraq on June 26.
Six leaders of the Iraqi trade union movement, who said they represent hundreds of thousands of workers in Iraq, are on a two-week visit to the United States to raise the profile of their groups.
"We need to get our voices heard and by coming to the United States we hope this will happen," said Adnan Rashed, executive officer of the Union of Mechanics, Printing and Metal Workers.
"We are trying so hard to organize workers and make our lives better," he said, adding he hoped the new Iraqi constitution would take workers' rights into account.
Brought to the United States by a group called U.S. Labor Against the War, which opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the union leaders also called for foreign forces to leave.
Speaking at a news conference translated from Arabic, the unionists said their attempts to mobilize workers were being thwarted by all sides -- from foreign companies working in Iraq to insurgents and the U.S. and Iraqi military.
Rashed said at least 10 of their unionists had been killed and tortured by insurgents and others were constantly harassed and intimidated for trying to mobilize workers.
Union offices have been shut down and raided, and eight activists were arrested by U.S. forces in 2003 and held for seven months until they were released, said Rashed.
"We have a very difficult time," said Rashed.
Falah Alwan of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq, cited a case where a woman working at a grain silo was labeled mentally unstable for organizing protests.
Faleh Abbood Umara of the General Union of Oil Workers demanded that U.S. forces quit Iraq.
His union has actively opposed the use of U.S. companies in Iraq, such as Halliburton
The unionists are visiting 20 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles, before returning to Iraq on June 26.
Monday, June 13
Report from Basra conference
Tuesday 21st June, 7.30pm
Room 3C, University of London Union
Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY
(nearest tube: Goodge Street or Russell Square)
Last month in Iraq, the General Union of Oil Employees held a
historic conference in Basra against the privatisation of Iraq's
public sector. The conference resolved to continue the struggle to
resist any future privatisation of Iraq's oil resources and called
for the cancellation of Iraq's odious debts.
The conference gained support from a whole range of international
civil society groups from trade unionists in Venezuela, to radical
NGOs such as Focus on the Global South and academics such as Noam
Chomsky and shows that resistance to the neo-liberal occupation of
Iraq is growing and needs to be supported.
This meeting offers a unique opportunity to hear from members of the
UK delegation who attended the conference and to discuss how best the
anti-occupation movement in the UK can offer solidarity with Iraqi's
resisting privatisiation.
Speakers include:
Ewa Jasiewicz - Iraq Occupation Focus activist, freelance journalist
and UK representative of the General Union of Oil Employees. Ewa
spent nine months living in Iraq June 2003-February 2004 working with
trade unions, women's groups, Iraqi families, and human rights groups.
Greg Muttitt - a researcher at PLATFORM, a London-based organization
working on issues of environmental and social justice. Greg
specializes in the impacts of multinational oil corporations of human
rights, development and environment. Since 2003 he has monitored and
worked to expose the hidden plans to open Iraq's oil reserves to
western corporations for the first time since 1972.
Dr Martha Mundy - Reader in Anthropology at the London School of
Economics. As an academic she is a specialist in studies of kinship,
law in society, and the anthropology of the Arab world. Martha has
long worked with civil society associations working for social
justice in Iraq and Palestine.
Room 3C, University of London Union
Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY
(nearest tube: Goodge Street or Russell Square)
Last month in Iraq, the General Union of Oil Employees held a
historic conference in Basra against the privatisation of Iraq's
public sector. The conference resolved to continue the struggle to
resist any future privatisation of Iraq's oil resources and called
for the cancellation of Iraq's odious debts.
The conference gained support from a whole range of international
civil society groups from trade unionists in Venezuela, to radical
NGOs such as Focus on the Global South and academics such as Noam
Chomsky and shows that resistance to the neo-liberal occupation of
Iraq is growing and needs to be supported.
This meeting offers a unique opportunity to hear from members of the
UK delegation who attended the conference and to discuss how best the
anti-occupation movement in the UK can offer solidarity with Iraqi's
resisting privatisiation.
Speakers include:
Ewa Jasiewicz - Iraq Occupation Focus activist, freelance journalist
and UK representative of the General Union of Oil Employees. Ewa
spent nine months living in Iraq June 2003-February 2004 working with
trade unions, women's groups, Iraqi families, and human rights groups.
Greg Muttitt - a researcher at PLATFORM, a London-based organization
working on issues of environmental and social justice. Greg
specializes in the impacts of multinational oil corporations of human
rights, development and environment. Since 2003 he has monitored and
worked to expose the hidden plans to open Iraq's oil reserves to
western corporations for the first time since 1972.
Dr Martha Mundy - Reader in Anthropology at the London School of
Economics. As an academic she is a specialist in studies of kinship,
law in society, and the anthropology of the Arab world. Martha has
long worked with civil society associations working for social
justice in Iraq and Palestine.
Thursday, June 9
Press release from the Basra Workers' Conference
Iraqi Oil Union Rejects Privatisation; Calls for Cancellation of all
Odious Foreign Debts
** International conference delegates available for Interview**
Iraq, May 25-26 The General Union of Oil Employees, Basra held a
historical conference on the privatisation of Iraq's public sector.
The conference took place under the banner 'To revive the public sector
and to build an Iraq free of privatisation'.
150 trade union activists, mostly GUOE members and union council leaders
from Nassiriyah and Amara and Basra, plus Iraqi Federation of Trade
Unions reps and local party political party activists attended.
International delegates, organised by Iraq Occupation Focus, and
representing civil society organisations in the UK and USA also
participated and spent a further four days touring oil sector locations
and interviewing oil workers and trade unionists. They were:
Ewa Jasiewicz, Delegation co-ordinator, joint UK Representative for
General Union of Oil Employees and activist with Iraq Occupation Focus.
Topic: International Solidarity, lessons from 'Solidarnosc' in Poland
and plans to impose the Polish free-market model on Iraq.
Greg Muttitt, researcher from PLATFORM. Organisation campaigning for
social and environmental justice. Topic: Plans to open Iraq's oil
reserves to multinationals, and ways certain oil production contracts
deprive host governments of revenue and control over their industry;
Justin Alexander, coordinator of Jubilee Iraq, organisation focusing on
cancellation of Iraq's foreign, regime incurred debts. Topic: The IMF's
role in using Iraq's foreign debt as a lever to prise open the economy
to privatisation, and the moral and legal arguments for the
unconditional cancellation of the debt.
David Bacon, US photojournalist, representing the million-strong
anti-war trade union organisation US Labour Against the War. Topic:
experiences and effects of privatisation in Mexico and how Mexican
workers in the electrical power and oil sector successfully prevented
the sell-off of their industries.
Dr Martha Mundy, Reader in Anthropology at the London School of
Economics and co-convenor on British Committee for Universities of
Palestine (BRICUP). (Personal capacity).
Contributions from instructors and professors from Basra University
focused on different aspects of privatisation, including: Iraq's current
industrial capacity; the need for new technology, construction, and
capital; shareholder systems; efficiency building; social welfare;
Iraq's debt; competition from cheap imports; monopolies, and state and
private sector corruption risks.
GUOE organisers and leaders repeatedly voiced their experiences of
independent reconstruction efforts, affirming that Iraqi workers had
defended and rehabilitated their industry despite mass looting and
deliberate degradation under the eyes and de-facto permission of the
Occupying forces.
As yet, no democratic debate has taken place regarding privatisation
within parliament and no commission has been established to publicly
discuss the issue - in contrast to procedures in other countries in
the Middle East.
The Union states in its' final conference communiqué (attached with this
release): 'The present conjuncture of Iraq is one where the country
lacks a stable political infrastructure and a clearly defined economic
system on which the people can rely. This being so, the conference
participants believe that the privatisation of the oil and industrial
sectors, or of any part of them, will do great harm to the Iraqi people
and their economy'.
International Solidarity messages were sent from the following trade
unions and organisations: the South Africa Anti-Privatisation Forum,
Liga Manggawaga (Philippines), the Canadian Autoworkers Union, Fiom-Cgil
(Italy), Patagonia oil workers (Argentina), National Union of
Journalists (UK), UNISON (UK), the Iraqi Union Solidarity Group (UK),
the Offshore International Liaison Committee (Scotland), The Stop the
War Coalition (UK), No Sweat (UK), Nova Scotia Government and General
Employees Union (Canada), US Labor Against the War (USA), Bridges to
Baghdad (Italy), University Council American Federation of Teachers
Local 2199, Santa Cruz (USA), SEIU, Local 415, California (USA),
Groundwork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (South
Africa), Iraq Solidarity Campaign (Philippines), NATFHE (UK), TGWU (UK),
International Confederation of Energy and Mining (ICEM), Trade Union of
Chemical Workers for Solidarity, Unity and Democracy and it's unions
branches in TOTAL group (France), UNT (Venezuela), Peaceworks (Canada),
ZZG - National Union of Miners (Poland), Inicjatywa Pracownicza
(Poland), Canadian Peace Alliance, Corporate Watch (UK), Voices of
Conscience (Canada), Asian Peace Alliance (Japan), Collectif Echec a la
guerre (Montreal, Canada), Swedish Workers' Centralorganisation
(SAC-Syndikalisterna), Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des
enseignants du Québec (Canada), Sjukvården Inte Till Salu - Healthcare
Not For Sale (Sweden), Pan Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum
Products - Refineries & Chemical Industry (Greece).
Personal Greetings and solidarity: Prof Noam Chomsky (USA), Film Makers
and Writers Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, Writer and Author of 'It's the
Crude Dude' Linda McQuaig (Canada), Zbyszek Marcin Kowalewski, former
Solidarnosc leader in Lodz and editor of 'Rewolujca' (Poland).
Notes:
The GUOE grew out of the Southern Oil Company Union which was
established a month after the invasion of Iraq.
It has 23,000 members in Basra, Amara and Nassiriyah.
The Leadership has a history of opposition to and imprisonment by the
Baath regime.
The Union does not belong to any trade union federation in Iraq. It is
not organised through or controlled by any political party in Iraq. It
is an independent trade union.
Trade union members expelled Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and
Root from oil sector locations in June 2003. KBR are still banned from
worksites.
The Union carried out strike action which has shut down oil exports in
2003 and 2004.
The Union successfully raised workers' occupation-set wages from a
69,000 ID minimum to 102,000 ID minimum in 2004 through negotiations and
threats of industrial action.
The Union is working to establish homes for oil workers, return workers
sacked under the regime for belonging to banned political parties,
protect pipelines from sabotage, and find jobs for graduates from the
Petroleum Institute.
Contacts
Ewa Jasiewicz, Iraq Occupation Focus and UK Representative, GUOE 0044
7749 421 576 freelance@mailworks.org www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Munir Chalabi, Iraq Occupation Focus and UK Representative, GUOE 0044
7952 683 415 munir@chalabi.screaming.net
www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Farouk Muhammad Sadiq, Secretary for International Affairs (Mobile)
00964 7801 094 635 (Union Landline) 0096440 319 310 ext 45
farouk101small@yahoo.com
**Photographs available from David Bacon, dbacon@igc.org 001 510 851
1589**
**Footage also available from Ewa Jasiewicz freelance@mailworks.org 0044
7749 421 576**
A website for the GUOE with full conference feedback, papers, photos and
general union info will be up and running shortly.
Background on International Delegates:
Ewa Jasiewicz UK rep GUOE, Iraq Occupation Focus activist, freelance
journalist (Big Issue, Red Pepper, Pride Magazine, Voices in the
Wilderness), NUJ Freelance Branch member. Nine months experience living
in Iraq June 2003-February 2004 working with trade unions, Palestinian
refugees, women's groups, the Unemployed, Iraqi families, and human
rights groups. She has spent six months working as a human rights
activist in occupied Palestine. freelance@mailworks.org 0044 7749 421
576
David Bacon, a US photojournalist. Has written extensively on Iraqi
labor for US publications for the last two years, and has received
awards for his coverage
of the threats to Iraqi workers from privatization and continued
enforcement of Saddam Hussein-era anti-labor laws. Worked for more than
a decade covering Mexico's corrupt and disastrous experience with
privatization. Bacon travelled to Basra to document in photographs and
interviews the work and home
lives of Iraqi oil workers. dbacon@igc.org 001 510 851 1589
Greg Muttitt is a researcher at PLATFORM, a London-based organisation
working on issues of environmental and social justice. Greg specialises
in the impacts of multinational oil corporations of human rights,
development and environment. Since 2003 he has monitored and worked to
expose the hidden plans to open Iraq's oil reserves to western
corporations for the first time since 1972. Greg has also researched and
campaigned on BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, including
co-authoring the 2002 book 'Some Common Concerns', on Shell's Sakhalin
II oil and gas project in Russia's Far East, and on a number of other
oil industry activities around the world. greg.muttitt@pobox.com 0044
7970 589 611
Justin Alexander is Coordinator of Jubilee Iraq - a network of groups
and individuals (business people, lawyers, economists, politicians, aid
workers and others) working to ensure that the Iraqi people - emerging
from decades of war, oppression and sanctions - are not unjustly forced
to pay Saddam's bills. Justin has spent over six months living in
occupied Iraq and has participated in Christian Peacemaker Teams
projects in both Iraq and occupied Palestine. justinalexander@gmail.com
0044 7813 137171
Dr Martha Mundy is Reader in Anthropology at the London School of
Economics. As an academic she is a specialist in studies of kinship,
law in society, and the anthropology of the Arab world; she taught at
Yarmouk University, UCLA, Universite Lyon 2 Lumiere, and the American
University of Beirut before joining the LSE. As a UK and US citizen she
has long opposed her governments' policies with regard to Iraq and
Palestine, belonging to several civil society associations working for
social justice in Iraq and Palestine. Currently co-convenor on BRICUP
(www.bricup.org.uk). M.Mundy@lse.ac.uk 0044 207 955 6242
Translation of the Final Communiqué of the Basra Conference on
Privatisation of the Public Sector by Dr Martha Mundy
Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim
"Wa-inna li-`l-insan illa ma sa`a wa inna sa`i-hi saufa yura" Sadaq
allahu al-`ali al-`azim From the holy Koran: "Indeed man has only what
he works and his work will be seen." OR "Indeed man has only his
struggle and his effort will be seen"
To the Parliament, the Iraqi government, the Ministry of Oil, the
Ministry of Industry:
The General Union of Oil Employees in Basra held its first scientific
conference on the topic of privatisation of the public sector between
25-26th May 2005 in the auditorium of the Cultural Centre of the Oil
Sector under the banner: "To revive the public sector and to build an
Iraq free of privatisation". Sixteen studies were presented and debated
during the conference sessions, eight studies by professors of the
University of Basra, four studies by figures from the oil sector, and
four studies by representatives of civil society from the USA and
Britain.
The papers, debate, and opinions expressed in the course of the
conference led to the following conclusions and recommendations:
1. The public sector economy of Iraq is one of the symbols of the
achievement of Iraqis since the revolution of 4th July 1958. It
represents the common wealth of all Iraqis who built this sector. Hence
it is impermissible that a Ministry or other party effect any change in
this sector without consulting the people through the Parliament or a
general referendum.
As for the oil sector, it could be said that the Iraqi economy and
people breathe with two lungs, in the north the Northern Oil
Company - and it is scarcely functioning for known reasons - and
the Southern Oil Company. In short at present the economy and
people breathe with only one lung. Therefore the conference
participants judged it inconceivable that this structure, so
central to the life of all Iraqis, be tampered with.
2. If certain of the public industrial plants suffer from problems and
faults, there are a variety of possible solutions and means, notably
with regard to machines, technology, and human resources required to
renew these plants. Iraqis have the capacity to do the work if given
the chance.
3. The present conjuncture of Iraq is one where the country lacks a
stable political infrastructure and a clearly defined economic system on
which the people can rely. This being so, the conference participants
believe that the privatisation of the oil and industrial sectors, or of
any part of them, will do great harm to the Iraqi people and their
economy.
4. It is Parliament, as representative of the Iraqi people, that we hold
responsible for preserving the wealth and achievement of Iraqi people
gained through long struggle. The conference participants call upon the
members of Parliament as representatives of the people all to take a
firm stand against political currents and directives calling for the
privatisation of the public sector in Iraq. It is the view of the Iraqi
people which must decide this vital matter.
5. The conference participants call upon all States to remit the odious
debts undertaken by the previous regime, without condition and without
infringing the independence, sovereignty and economic self-governance of
Iraq.
Wa-allahu al-muwaffiq
Committee of Presidency of the Conference
The first conference on privatisation
Basra 26th May 2005
Ibrahim Muhammad Radiy Faruq Muhammad Sadiq Dr. `Abd al-Jabbar
al-Hilfi
Falih `Abbud `Amarah Hasan Jum`ah `Awwad
Odious Foreign Debts
** International conference delegates available for Interview**
Iraq, May 25-26 The General Union of Oil Employees, Basra held a
historical conference on the privatisation of Iraq's public sector.
The conference took place under the banner 'To revive the public sector
and to build an Iraq free of privatisation'.
150 trade union activists, mostly GUOE members and union council leaders
from Nassiriyah and Amara and Basra, plus Iraqi Federation of Trade
Unions reps and local party political party activists attended.
International delegates, organised by Iraq Occupation Focus, and
representing civil society organisations in the UK and USA also
participated and spent a further four days touring oil sector locations
and interviewing oil workers and trade unionists. They were:
Ewa Jasiewicz, Delegation co-ordinator, joint UK Representative for
General Union of Oil Employees and activist with Iraq Occupation Focus.
Topic: International Solidarity, lessons from 'Solidarnosc' in Poland
and plans to impose the Polish free-market model on Iraq.
Greg Muttitt, researcher from PLATFORM. Organisation campaigning for
social and environmental justice. Topic: Plans to open Iraq's oil
reserves to multinationals, and ways certain oil production contracts
deprive host governments of revenue and control over their industry;
Justin Alexander, coordinator of Jubilee Iraq, organisation focusing on
cancellation of Iraq's foreign, regime incurred debts. Topic: The IMF's
role in using Iraq's foreign debt as a lever to prise open the economy
to privatisation, and the moral and legal arguments for the
unconditional cancellation of the debt.
David Bacon, US photojournalist, representing the million-strong
anti-war trade union organisation US Labour Against the War. Topic:
experiences and effects of privatisation in Mexico and how Mexican
workers in the electrical power and oil sector successfully prevented
the sell-off of their industries.
Dr Martha Mundy, Reader in Anthropology at the London School of
Economics and co-convenor on British Committee for Universities of
Palestine (BRICUP). (Personal capacity).
Contributions from instructors and professors from Basra University
focused on different aspects of privatisation, including: Iraq's current
industrial capacity; the need for new technology, construction, and
capital; shareholder systems; efficiency building; social welfare;
Iraq's debt; competition from cheap imports; monopolies, and state and
private sector corruption risks.
GUOE organisers and leaders repeatedly voiced their experiences of
independent reconstruction efforts, affirming that Iraqi workers had
defended and rehabilitated their industry despite mass looting and
deliberate degradation under the eyes and de-facto permission of the
Occupying forces.
As yet, no democratic debate has taken place regarding privatisation
within parliament and no commission has been established to publicly
discuss the issue - in contrast to procedures in other countries in
the Middle East.
The Union states in its' final conference communiqué (attached with this
release): 'The present conjuncture of Iraq is one where the country
lacks a stable political infrastructure and a clearly defined economic
system on which the people can rely. This being so, the conference
participants believe that the privatisation of the oil and industrial
sectors, or of any part of them, will do great harm to the Iraqi people
and their economy'.
International Solidarity messages were sent from the following trade
unions and organisations: the South Africa Anti-Privatisation Forum,
Liga Manggawaga (Philippines), the Canadian Autoworkers Union, Fiom-Cgil
(Italy), Patagonia oil workers (Argentina), National Union of
Journalists (UK), UNISON (UK), the Iraqi Union Solidarity Group (UK),
the Offshore International Liaison Committee (Scotland), The Stop the
War Coalition (UK), No Sweat (UK), Nova Scotia Government and General
Employees Union (Canada), US Labor Against the War (USA), Bridges to
Baghdad (Italy), University Council American Federation of Teachers
Local 2199, Santa Cruz (USA), SEIU, Local 415, California (USA),
Groundwork and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (South
Africa), Iraq Solidarity Campaign (Philippines), NATFHE (UK), TGWU (UK),
International Confederation of Energy and Mining (ICEM), Trade Union of
Chemical Workers for Solidarity, Unity and Democracy and it's unions
branches in TOTAL group (France), UNT (Venezuela), Peaceworks (Canada),
ZZG - National Union of Miners (Poland), Inicjatywa Pracownicza
(Poland), Canadian Peace Alliance, Corporate Watch (UK), Voices of
Conscience (Canada), Asian Peace Alliance (Japan), Collectif Echec a la
guerre (Montreal, Canada), Swedish Workers' Centralorganisation
(SAC-Syndikalisterna), Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des
enseignants du Québec (Canada), Sjukvården Inte Till Salu - Healthcare
Not For Sale (Sweden), Pan Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum
Products - Refineries & Chemical Industry (Greece).
Personal Greetings and solidarity: Prof Noam Chomsky (USA), Film Makers
and Writers Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, Writer and Author of 'It's the
Crude Dude' Linda McQuaig (Canada), Zbyszek Marcin Kowalewski, former
Solidarnosc leader in Lodz and editor of 'Rewolujca' (Poland).
Notes:
The GUOE grew out of the Southern Oil Company Union which was
established a month after the invasion of Iraq.
It has 23,000 members in Basra, Amara and Nassiriyah.
The Leadership has a history of opposition to and imprisonment by the
Baath regime.
The Union does not belong to any trade union federation in Iraq. It is
not organised through or controlled by any political party in Iraq. It
is an independent trade union.
Trade union members expelled Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and
Root from oil sector locations in June 2003. KBR are still banned from
worksites.
The Union carried out strike action which has shut down oil exports in
2003 and 2004.
The Union successfully raised workers' occupation-set wages from a
69,000 ID minimum to 102,000 ID minimum in 2004 through negotiations and
threats of industrial action.
The Union is working to establish homes for oil workers, return workers
sacked under the regime for belonging to banned political parties,
protect pipelines from sabotage, and find jobs for graduates from the
Petroleum Institute.
Contacts
Ewa Jasiewicz, Iraq Occupation Focus and UK Representative, GUOE 0044
7749 421 576 freelance@mailworks.org www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Munir Chalabi, Iraq Occupation Focus and UK Representative, GUOE 0044
7952 683 415 munir@chalabi.screaming.net
www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Farouk Muhammad Sadiq, Secretary for International Affairs (Mobile)
00964 7801 094 635 (Union Landline) 0096440 319 310 ext 45
farouk101small@yahoo.com
**Photographs available from David Bacon, dbacon@igc.org 001 510 851
1589**
**Footage also available from Ewa Jasiewicz freelance@mailworks.org 0044
7749 421 576**
A website for the GUOE with full conference feedback, papers, photos and
general union info will be up and running shortly.
Background on International Delegates:
Ewa Jasiewicz UK rep GUOE, Iraq Occupation Focus activist, freelance
journalist (Big Issue, Red Pepper, Pride Magazine, Voices in the
Wilderness), NUJ Freelance Branch member. Nine months experience living
in Iraq June 2003-February 2004 working with trade unions, Palestinian
refugees, women's groups, the Unemployed, Iraqi families, and human
rights groups. She has spent six months working as a human rights
activist in occupied Palestine. freelance@mailworks.org 0044 7749 421
576
David Bacon, a US photojournalist. Has written extensively on Iraqi
labor for US publications for the last two years, and has received
awards for his coverage
of the threats to Iraqi workers from privatization and continued
enforcement of Saddam Hussein-era anti-labor laws. Worked for more than
a decade covering Mexico's corrupt and disastrous experience with
privatization. Bacon travelled to Basra to document in photographs and
interviews the work and home
lives of Iraqi oil workers. dbacon@igc.org 001 510 851 1589
Greg Muttitt is a researcher at PLATFORM, a London-based organisation
working on issues of environmental and social justice. Greg specialises
in the impacts of multinational oil corporations of human rights,
development and environment. Since 2003 he has monitored and worked to
expose the hidden plans to open Iraq's oil reserves to western
corporations for the first time since 1972. Greg has also researched and
campaigned on BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, including
co-authoring the 2002 book 'Some Common Concerns', on Shell's Sakhalin
II oil and gas project in Russia's Far East, and on a number of other
oil industry activities around the world. greg.muttitt@pobox.com 0044
7970 589 611
Justin Alexander is Coordinator of Jubilee Iraq - a network of groups
and individuals (business people, lawyers, economists, politicians, aid
workers and others) working to ensure that the Iraqi people - emerging
from decades of war, oppression and sanctions - are not unjustly forced
to pay Saddam's bills. Justin has spent over six months living in
occupied Iraq and has participated in Christian Peacemaker Teams
projects in both Iraq and occupied Palestine. justinalexander@gmail.com
0044 7813 137171
Dr Martha Mundy is Reader in Anthropology at the London School of
Economics. As an academic she is a specialist in studies of kinship,
law in society, and the anthropology of the Arab world; she taught at
Yarmouk University, UCLA, Universite Lyon 2 Lumiere, and the American
University of Beirut before joining the LSE. As a UK and US citizen she
has long opposed her governments' policies with regard to Iraq and
Palestine, belonging to several civil society associations working for
social justice in Iraq and Palestine. Currently co-convenor on BRICUP
(www.bricup.org.uk). M.Mundy@lse.ac.uk 0044 207 955 6242
Translation of the Final Communiqué of the Basra Conference on
Privatisation of the Public Sector by Dr Martha Mundy
Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim
"Wa-inna li-`l-insan illa ma sa`a wa inna sa`i-hi saufa yura" Sadaq
allahu al-`ali al-`azim From the holy Koran: "Indeed man has only what
he works and his work will be seen." OR "Indeed man has only his
struggle and his effort will be seen"
To the Parliament, the Iraqi government, the Ministry of Oil, the
Ministry of Industry:
The General Union of Oil Employees in Basra held its first scientific
conference on the topic of privatisation of the public sector between
25-26th May 2005 in the auditorium of the Cultural Centre of the Oil
Sector under the banner: "To revive the public sector and to build an
Iraq free of privatisation". Sixteen studies were presented and debated
during the conference sessions, eight studies by professors of the
University of Basra, four studies by figures from the oil sector, and
four studies by representatives of civil society from the USA and
Britain.
The papers, debate, and opinions expressed in the course of the
conference led to the following conclusions and recommendations:
1. The public sector economy of Iraq is one of the symbols of the
achievement of Iraqis since the revolution of 4th July 1958. It
represents the common wealth of all Iraqis who built this sector. Hence
it is impermissible that a Ministry or other party effect any change in
this sector without consulting the people through the Parliament or a
general referendum.
As for the oil sector, it could be said that the Iraqi economy and
people breathe with two lungs, in the north the Northern Oil
Company - and it is scarcely functioning for known reasons - and
the Southern Oil Company. In short at present the economy and
people breathe with only one lung. Therefore the conference
participants judged it inconceivable that this structure, so
central to the life of all Iraqis, be tampered with.
2. If certain of the public industrial plants suffer from problems and
faults, there are a variety of possible solutions and means, notably
with regard to machines, technology, and human resources required to
renew these plants. Iraqis have the capacity to do the work if given
the chance.
3. The present conjuncture of Iraq is one where the country lacks a
stable political infrastructure and a clearly defined economic system on
which the people can rely. This being so, the conference participants
believe that the privatisation of the oil and industrial sectors, or of
any part of them, will do great harm to the Iraqi people and their
economy.
4. It is Parliament, as representative of the Iraqi people, that we hold
responsible for preserving the wealth and achievement of Iraqi people
gained through long struggle. The conference participants call upon the
members of Parliament as representatives of the people all to take a
firm stand against political currents and directives calling for the
privatisation of the public sector in Iraq. It is the view of the Iraqi
people which must decide this vital matter.
5. The conference participants call upon all States to remit the odious
debts undertaken by the previous regime, without condition and without
infringing the independence, sovereignty and economic self-governance of
Iraq.
Wa-allahu al-muwaffiq
Committee of Presidency of the Conference
The first conference on privatisation
Basra 26th May 2005
Ibrahim Muhammad Radiy Faruq Muhammad Sadiq Dr. `Abd al-Jabbar
al-Hilfi
Falih `Abbud `Amarah Hasan Jum`ah `Awwad
Wednesday, June 8
Defending journalists in Iraq
Please support this initiative. Initial supporters include: Journalists Nick Cohen, John Lloyd, Johann Hari, Marc Cooper (of the Nation), Henry McDonald, Ireland Editor of The Observer and author, radical journalist David Osler, Abdullah Muhsin (International Representative of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions), journalist, John Gray, who is Joint Branch Health & Safety Officer, Labour Link Branch Officer and Assistant Branch Secretary (APT&C) of Unison in Tower Hamlets and Pauline Bradley of Iraq union solidarity (all in a personal capacity).
Please support this campaign by sending your name and organisation (if any) to LFIQ.
We express our solidarity with the International Federation of Journalists (which represents over 500,000 journalists in 110 countries) in condemning the cold-blooded murder of three Iraqi journalists on 22 May 2005.
The IFJ reports that the three “were among 13 passengers in a minibus that was stopped by an armed group who picked out the journalists when they showed their press cards. The other passengers were freed, but Najem Abd Khudair, the Kerbala correspondent for the newspaper Al Mada, Ahmad Adam, a freelance writer for Al Mada and trainee journalist and Ali Jassem Al Rumi, working for Al Safeer newspaper in Baghdad were then killed".
We endorse the views of Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “These colleagues were savagely murdered. They had their throats cut in cold-blooded and ruthless executions that are a cruel demonstration of the horrors of working in journalism in Iraq today”.
85 journalists and media staff have been killed in Iraq since March 2003 of which 62 are Iraqi. The number also includes 14 deaths at the hands of US troops.
We support the following demands of the IFJ:
• Independent reports into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these journalists.
• US and Iraq authorities should charge or release eight Iraqi journalists, most working for western media, who were arrested in March allegedly because “they pose a security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces.” Aidan White has said “These arrests, without formal charges, are nothing short of intimidation. Journalism in Iraq is in the deepest crisis and the authorities should bring forward clear charges or release these journalists immediately. The uncertainty and injustice of arrest and arbitrary detention is intolerable.”
• We also support the work of the IFJ’s safety office in Baghdad, opened last month with the support of Iraqi journalists who have created the Iraqi National Journalism Advisory Panel to improve levels of protection for journalists, to campaign for journalists’ rights and to encourage journalists to work together in the current crisis.
Please support this campaign by sending your name and organisation (if any) to LFIQ.
We express our solidarity with the International Federation of Journalists (which represents over 500,000 journalists in 110 countries) in condemning the cold-blooded murder of three Iraqi journalists on 22 May 2005.
The IFJ reports that the three “were among 13 passengers in a minibus that was stopped by an armed group who picked out the journalists when they showed their press cards. The other passengers were freed, but Najem Abd Khudair, the Kerbala correspondent for the newspaper Al Mada, Ahmad Adam, a freelance writer for Al Mada and trainee journalist and Ali Jassem Al Rumi, working for Al Safeer newspaper in Baghdad were then killed".
We endorse the views of Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “These colleagues were savagely murdered. They had their throats cut in cold-blooded and ruthless executions that are a cruel demonstration of the horrors of working in journalism in Iraq today”.
85 journalists and media staff have been killed in Iraq since March 2003 of which 62 are Iraqi. The number also includes 14 deaths at the hands of US troops.
We support the following demands of the IFJ:
• Independent reports into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these journalists.
• US and Iraq authorities should charge or release eight Iraqi journalists, most working for western media, who were arrested in March allegedly because “they pose a security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces.” Aidan White has said “These arrests, without formal charges, are nothing short of intimidation. Journalism in Iraq is in the deepest crisis and the authorities should bring forward clear charges or release these journalists immediately. The uncertainty and injustice of arrest and arbitrary detention is intolerable.”
• We also support the work of the IFJ’s safety office in Baghdad, opened last month with the support of Iraqi journalists who have created the Iraqi National Journalism Advisory Panel to improve levels of protection for journalists, to campaign for journalists’ rights and to encourage journalists to work together in the current crisis.
Monday, June 6
US Labor Against The War statement
USLAW Statement on the Iraqi Labor Solidarity Tour of U.S.
US Labor Against the War has organized an unprecedented national tour of Iraqi trade unionists from June 10-26, touring two dozen cities, and providing opportunities for thousands of US trade unionists to meet and talk with representatives of Iraq’s labor movement who are fighting for a progressive, secular and democratic future. At the same time the tour will build the USLAW network to oppose the war and occupation. The response to the upcoming tour has been dramatic and we are confident that this project will succeed in expanding our movement and our goals. This tour represents an important opportunity for Iraqi unions to be heard. All those trade union leaders invited have already undergone significant hardship in the complex, onerous and ultimately successful struggle, with USLAW backing, to obtain visas.
We have invited three of the most important trade union organizations in Iraq - the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE). These three organizations represent a wide range of workers and industries as well as a range of strategies to represent their members under occupation while fighting for a future free from occupation. All three of these organizations have made significant contributions on behalf of Iraqi workers and we decided to invite them after considerable discussion about how to best represent the complex and diverse workers’ struggle in Iraq to the US labor movement. Each organization decided who their own representatives will be.
Since a USLAW-supported delegation visited Iraq in October 2003 and met with Iraqi workers and unions, we have maintained relationships with most of the important labor groupings. We recognize that our labor movement has an unfortunate history of picking and choosing which unions it will grant legitimacy to in parts of the world where our government is interfering with national sovereignty. We refuse to act in that tradition.
U.S. Labor Against the War has from its inception called for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all occupation forces from Iraq, for the right of Iraqis to determine, free of foreign interference, the future of their country, and full respect for labor, human rights and the rights of women. Our policy has been to work with and offer solidarity to all genuine labor organizations in Iraq.
The role of US and international trade unionists is to oppose the occupation while supporting all forces genuinely representing workers and fighting to assure that Iraq implements full internationally recognized trade union rights. The workers of Iraq will decide who they want to represent them as this process unfolds.
We recognize there are differences between the various major labor organizations in Iraq, as well as different tendencies within them - just as there are in our own labor movement. Each of the labor federations reflects the complex ethnic, religious, regional and political diversity of the larger Iraqi society. Giving US trade unionists an opportunity to learn about this is an important goal of the tour. These Iraqi labor leaders’ voices will be the first to be widely heard in the U.S. Essential to building an antiwar majority is that they be heard by as many workers as possible.
All three federations are aware of USLAW’s opposition to the U.S. occupation. Their purpose in coming is not to debate their differences but to inform Americans about the daily reality working people confront in occupied Iraq and their resistance to it. In addition, by accepting our invitation to tour the U.S., starting with five days they will spend together in DC before splitting up to travel across the country, all three groups took an important unifying step.
The IFTU, FWCUI and GUOE all oppose the occupation and demand that all foreign forces leave their country and that their sovereignty be fully restored. Their stand on this issue has been well documented in the press, in speeches delivered at international meetings, and in discussions and interviews with representatives of USLAW. (See the background articles posted on the USLAW website at < http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/>www.uslaboragainstwar.org for more detail.)
One criticism of the IFTU is that they are dominated by the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), which chose to participate in the Interim Governing Council and in the elections. By extension, it has been charged that this means they favor the occupation and are thus collaborators with the U.S. and British occupation forces. The IFTU, a federation which reports a membership of 200,000 who hold a variety of viewpoints - just like members of our own unions - in a range of industries, is supported by multiple parties with a broad spectrum of often conflicting views. The IFTU is organizing strikes and other militant actions against U.S. plans to privatize the economy.
The FWCUI, itself supported by another Marxist political party, is opposed to the occupation but also strongly condemns the armed resistance, characterizing it as an instrument of ’political Islam’ (extreme religious fundamentalism) intent on imposing theocratic rule, and deposed Ba’athists seeking to recover power. It opposed participation in the elections and Interim Governing Council.
The General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) opposes the occupation and calls for immediate withdrawal but was neutral on participation in the election. Whereas the GUOE wants all foreign troops out immediately, both the IFTU and the Workers Councils call for replacement of US and British forces with neutral forces from the UN, the Arab League and other nations as a transition.
There are other trade union forces and civil society formations in Iraq which similarly differ on a range of issues confronting Iraq, including how to relate to elections and the ongoing political process. Iraq is a society which is easily as varied in its range of views and political allegiances as is our own.
All three of the union federations we invited have been targets of the occupation. The IFTU had its offices raided and trashed by occupation forces and its leaders have been arrested and harassed. Its leaders have been kidnapped, tortured and assassinated by elements of the insurgency that clearly do not support or care about the rights of workers. All three federations continue to be subject to the 1987 Hussein decree banning unions in the public sector and public enterprises, notwithstanding the fact that the IGC (though not the Provisional Governing Authority) granted the IFTU official recognition and that the transitional law states that unions have the right to organize. All three organizations continue to call for enforcement of the ILO standards that would allow workers to freely choose which organization should represent them and have struggled to create a labor law that provides genuine trade union rights for workers in Iraq in a pluralistic labor movement.
Most of us in the US know little about Iraqi history and the current situation on the ground and need to be careful in making judgements on selective news reports or internet postings that pick and choose quotes to attack one or another of the federations invited.
For example, some have portrayed the IFTU and the Iraqi Communist Party as pro-occupation. Here is a statement that was made by the ICP to an international meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in Athens, Greece on October 8-10, 2004. The ICP observed:
Resisting occupation is a right enshrined by the UN Charter. The Iraqi people, therefore, have a legitimate right to resort to various forms of struggle to end the occupation and restore national sovereignty. But resisting occupation is not limited to employing violent means in struggle, but rather includes various forms of political struggle. The lessons of history teach us that peoples only resort to armed struggle when they are forced to do so after exhausting political means’.
Conferring international legitimacy on occupation through UN Security Council Resolution 1484 in late May 2003, instead of handing over power to an Iraqi broad coalition government as all political forces including our Party had demanded, created further serious obstacles. The setting up of the Governing Council, with limited but important powers, and with the participation of all major political parties at the time, was therefore a compromise, reached with active mediation by the UN....
Our Party stressed that the Council was only one arena and one platform, among others, for our struggle to achieve national sovereignty and independence. We always emphasized the need to continuously combine between our work within the Council, and in the present interim government, and our efforts of a mass character, as well as strengthening relations with all forces that want to achieve the transition to end the occupation and build a united federal democratic Iraq. [< http://www.iraqcp.org/framse1/0041019icp.htm > http://www.iraqcp.org/framse1/0041019icp.htm]
USLAW representative David Bacon interviewed Ghasib Hassan, an IFTU railway workers leader and national executive board member, in London in February, 2005. Here is an excerpt:
Q: What is the attitude of the IFTU toward the occupation?
A: We oppose the occupation absolutely. We know they’ve said many things about it. One is that it’s for the liberation of Iraq. This is what the American politicians and media tell us - that they’ve come to liberate our country. This is not liberation. It is occupation. It’s led to the total destruction of the economic infrastructure of Iraq, with the aim of controlling its wealth and resources. Another disastrous policy was the dismantling of the Iraqi Army, which had a long nationalist tradition. There’s been a deliberate destruction of our national and cultural heritage, like the looting of the National Museum, and stationing occupation forces in historical places like Babel, Ur and Nineveh. That will lead to the destruction of these sites, and they can never be replaced. The Iraqi people are calling today, not tomorrow, for the removal of the occupation. US policy toward Iraq is not clear - it can change in a moment. The key political forces in Iraq are in discussion with the occupation forces in line with UN Resolution 1546, calling for the withdrawal of the troops and attaining the full sovereignty of Iraq.
’On a daily basis, at least 10-15 people die, and this can’t be good. This is a result of terrorism, but terrorism wasn’t present prior to the war. You can see that the US administration has imported terrorism into Iraq in order to fight it, but at the expense of the Iraqi people.
I want to talk about the brutality of the occupation. The war has resulted in extreme destruction of our country. Whole factories and workplaces have been destroyed. Some of those which survived were then destroyed later by the occupation forces. The occupation has increased unemployment, which has now become a major problem for Iraqi workers. It is very dangerous to have such high unemployment in a country with such wealth.
We call on your solidarity to end the brutal occupation of our country. At the beginning of the 21st century, we thought we’d seen the end of colonies, but now we’re entering a new era of colonialization. We are campaigning to end the occupation of Iraq, to build a democratic, federal Iraq which will guarantee the rights and jobs of its people.
’Workers should be free to join the union of their own choice. We campaign for social, economic and political advances in the interest of working people. We want a strong working class positioned to engage fully in building a federal, prosperous and democratic Iraq. [ http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/033105LA.shtml]
These quotes are provided not to advocate for the positions of the IFTU but to make clear that it is a legitimate force for a progressive democratic sovereign Iraq, as are all the federations invited to the US. Each deserves to be heard.
The objective of the tour is to build understanding and solidarity with Iraq's labor movement and working class among US trade unionists and the anti-war movement and we hope that everyone will seize upon this tour as an opportunity to learn and understand more about the Iraqi working class and labor movement. From each we can learn much about Iraq, Iraq’s labor movement, and the resistance to occupation. Across the country, we need to engage with all the Iraqis in a real discussion - including even critical questions for them - that will help us understand their thinking and vice versa.
Our responsibility to the workers and labor movement of Iraq is to get the U.S. and other foreign powers off their backs and out of their country, to let the Iraqi people determine for themselves what form of government, constitution, legislative structures, labor law, and labor movement they will have once their sovereignty has been restored.
If Iraq is to achieve a secular, democratic and pluralistic future, the labor movement and other civil society forces must play a central role. Iraqs unions need genuine working class solidarity, especially from those of us who oppose what our government has done and continues to do in our name. We look forward to working together to make this tour as successful as possible by enabling the largest audiences we can attract to hear the truth of what working people face in Iraq.
U.S. Labor Against War Co-Convenors
Gene Bruskin
Maria Guillen
Fred Mason
Bob Muehlenkamp
Nancy Wohlforth
US Labor Against the War has organized an unprecedented national tour of Iraqi trade unionists from June 10-26, touring two dozen cities, and providing opportunities for thousands of US trade unionists to meet and talk with representatives of Iraq’s labor movement who are fighting for a progressive, secular and democratic future. At the same time the tour will build the USLAW network to oppose the war and occupation. The response to the upcoming tour has been dramatic and we are confident that this project will succeed in expanding our movement and our goals. This tour represents an important opportunity for Iraqi unions to be heard. All those trade union leaders invited have already undergone significant hardship in the complex, onerous and ultimately successful struggle, with USLAW backing, to obtain visas.
We have invited three of the most important trade union organizations in Iraq - the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) and the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE). These three organizations represent a wide range of workers and industries as well as a range of strategies to represent their members under occupation while fighting for a future free from occupation. All three of these organizations have made significant contributions on behalf of Iraqi workers and we decided to invite them after considerable discussion about how to best represent the complex and diverse workers’ struggle in Iraq to the US labor movement. Each organization decided who their own representatives will be.
Since a USLAW-supported delegation visited Iraq in October 2003 and met with Iraqi workers and unions, we have maintained relationships with most of the important labor groupings. We recognize that our labor movement has an unfortunate history of picking and choosing which unions it will grant legitimacy to in parts of the world where our government is interfering with national sovereignty. We refuse to act in that tradition.
U.S. Labor Against the War has from its inception called for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all occupation forces from Iraq, for the right of Iraqis to determine, free of foreign interference, the future of their country, and full respect for labor, human rights and the rights of women. Our policy has been to work with and offer solidarity to all genuine labor organizations in Iraq.
The role of US and international trade unionists is to oppose the occupation while supporting all forces genuinely representing workers and fighting to assure that Iraq implements full internationally recognized trade union rights. The workers of Iraq will decide who they want to represent them as this process unfolds.
We recognize there are differences between the various major labor organizations in Iraq, as well as different tendencies within them - just as there are in our own labor movement. Each of the labor federations reflects the complex ethnic, religious, regional and political diversity of the larger Iraqi society. Giving US trade unionists an opportunity to learn about this is an important goal of the tour. These Iraqi labor leaders’ voices will be the first to be widely heard in the U.S. Essential to building an antiwar majority is that they be heard by as many workers as possible.
All three federations are aware of USLAW’s opposition to the U.S. occupation. Their purpose in coming is not to debate their differences but to inform Americans about the daily reality working people confront in occupied Iraq and their resistance to it. In addition, by accepting our invitation to tour the U.S., starting with five days they will spend together in DC before splitting up to travel across the country, all three groups took an important unifying step.
The IFTU, FWCUI and GUOE all oppose the occupation and demand that all foreign forces leave their country and that their sovereignty be fully restored. Their stand on this issue has been well documented in the press, in speeches delivered at international meetings, and in discussions and interviews with representatives of USLAW. (See the background articles posted on the USLAW website at < http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/>www.uslaboragainstwar.org for more detail.)
One criticism of the IFTU is that they are dominated by the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), which chose to participate in the Interim Governing Council and in the elections. By extension, it has been charged that this means they favor the occupation and are thus collaborators with the U.S. and British occupation forces. The IFTU, a federation which reports a membership of 200,000 who hold a variety of viewpoints - just like members of our own unions - in a range of industries, is supported by multiple parties with a broad spectrum of often conflicting views. The IFTU is organizing strikes and other militant actions against U.S. plans to privatize the economy.
The FWCUI, itself supported by another Marxist political party, is opposed to the occupation but also strongly condemns the armed resistance, characterizing it as an instrument of ’political Islam’ (extreme religious fundamentalism) intent on imposing theocratic rule, and deposed Ba’athists seeking to recover power. It opposed participation in the elections and Interim Governing Council.
The General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) opposes the occupation and calls for immediate withdrawal but was neutral on participation in the election. Whereas the GUOE wants all foreign troops out immediately, both the IFTU and the Workers Councils call for replacement of US and British forces with neutral forces from the UN, the Arab League and other nations as a transition.
There are other trade union forces and civil society formations in Iraq which similarly differ on a range of issues confronting Iraq, including how to relate to elections and the ongoing political process. Iraq is a society which is easily as varied in its range of views and political allegiances as is our own.
All three of the union federations we invited have been targets of the occupation. The IFTU had its offices raided and trashed by occupation forces and its leaders have been arrested and harassed. Its leaders have been kidnapped, tortured and assassinated by elements of the insurgency that clearly do not support or care about the rights of workers. All three federations continue to be subject to the 1987 Hussein decree banning unions in the public sector and public enterprises, notwithstanding the fact that the IGC (though not the Provisional Governing Authority) granted the IFTU official recognition and that the transitional law states that unions have the right to organize. All three organizations continue to call for enforcement of the ILO standards that would allow workers to freely choose which organization should represent them and have struggled to create a labor law that provides genuine trade union rights for workers in Iraq in a pluralistic labor movement.
Most of us in the US know little about Iraqi history and the current situation on the ground and need to be careful in making judgements on selective news reports or internet postings that pick and choose quotes to attack one or another of the federations invited.
For example, some have portrayed the IFTU and the Iraqi Communist Party as pro-occupation. Here is a statement that was made by the ICP to an international meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in Athens, Greece on October 8-10, 2004. The ICP observed:
Resisting occupation is a right enshrined by the UN Charter. The Iraqi people, therefore, have a legitimate right to resort to various forms of struggle to end the occupation and restore national sovereignty. But resisting occupation is not limited to employing violent means in struggle, but rather includes various forms of political struggle. The lessons of history teach us that peoples only resort to armed struggle when they are forced to do so after exhausting political means’.
Conferring international legitimacy on occupation through UN Security Council Resolution 1484 in late May 2003, instead of handing over power to an Iraqi broad coalition government as all political forces including our Party had demanded, created further serious obstacles. The setting up of the Governing Council, with limited but important powers, and with the participation of all major political parties at the time, was therefore a compromise, reached with active mediation by the UN....
Our Party stressed that the Council was only one arena and one platform, among others, for our struggle to achieve national sovereignty and independence. We always emphasized the need to continuously combine between our work within the Council, and in the present interim government, and our efforts of a mass character, as well as strengthening relations with all forces that want to achieve the transition to end the occupation and build a united federal democratic Iraq. [< http://www.iraqcp.org/framse1/0041019icp.htm > http://www.iraqcp.org/framse1/0041019icp.htm]
USLAW representative David Bacon interviewed Ghasib Hassan, an IFTU railway workers leader and national executive board member, in London in February, 2005. Here is an excerpt:
Q: What is the attitude of the IFTU toward the occupation?
A: We oppose the occupation absolutely. We know they’ve said many things about it. One is that it’s for the liberation of Iraq. This is what the American politicians and media tell us - that they’ve come to liberate our country. This is not liberation. It is occupation. It’s led to the total destruction of the economic infrastructure of Iraq, with the aim of controlling its wealth and resources. Another disastrous policy was the dismantling of the Iraqi Army, which had a long nationalist tradition. There’s been a deliberate destruction of our national and cultural heritage, like the looting of the National Museum, and stationing occupation forces in historical places like Babel, Ur and Nineveh. That will lead to the destruction of these sites, and they can never be replaced. The Iraqi people are calling today, not tomorrow, for the removal of the occupation. US policy toward Iraq is not clear - it can change in a moment. The key political forces in Iraq are in discussion with the occupation forces in line with UN Resolution 1546, calling for the withdrawal of the troops and attaining the full sovereignty of Iraq.
’On a daily basis, at least 10-15 people die, and this can’t be good. This is a result of terrorism, but terrorism wasn’t present prior to the war. You can see that the US administration has imported terrorism into Iraq in order to fight it, but at the expense of the Iraqi people.
I want to talk about the brutality of the occupation. The war has resulted in extreme destruction of our country. Whole factories and workplaces have been destroyed. Some of those which survived were then destroyed later by the occupation forces. The occupation has increased unemployment, which has now become a major problem for Iraqi workers. It is very dangerous to have such high unemployment in a country with such wealth.
We call on your solidarity to end the brutal occupation of our country. At the beginning of the 21st century, we thought we’d seen the end of colonies, but now we’re entering a new era of colonialization. We are campaigning to end the occupation of Iraq, to build a democratic, federal Iraq which will guarantee the rights and jobs of its people.
’Workers should be free to join the union of their own choice. We campaign for social, economic and political advances in the interest of working people. We want a strong working class positioned to engage fully in building a federal, prosperous and democratic Iraq. [ http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/033105LA.shtml]
These quotes are provided not to advocate for the positions of the IFTU but to make clear that it is a legitimate force for a progressive democratic sovereign Iraq, as are all the federations invited to the US. Each deserves to be heard.
The objective of the tour is to build understanding and solidarity with Iraq's labor movement and working class among US trade unionists and the anti-war movement and we hope that everyone will seize upon this tour as an opportunity to learn and understand more about the Iraqi working class and labor movement. From each we can learn much about Iraq, Iraq’s labor movement, and the resistance to occupation. Across the country, we need to engage with all the Iraqis in a real discussion - including even critical questions for them - that will help us understand their thinking and vice versa.
Our responsibility to the workers and labor movement of Iraq is to get the U.S. and other foreign powers off their backs and out of their country, to let the Iraqi people determine for themselves what form of government, constitution, legislative structures, labor law, and labor movement they will have once their sovereignty has been restored.
If Iraq is to achieve a secular, democratic and pluralistic future, the labor movement and other civil society forces must play a central role. Iraqs unions need genuine working class solidarity, especially from those of us who oppose what our government has done and continues to do in our name. We look forward to working together to make this tour as successful as possible by enabling the largest audiences we can attract to hear the truth of what working people face in Iraq.
U.S. Labor Against War Co-Convenors
Gene Bruskin
Maria Guillen
Fred Mason
Bob Muehlenkamp
Nancy Wohlforth
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