Houzan Mahmoud speaks out:Life in war-torn Iraq

From Public Employee Press:


Iraqi feminist and labor leader Houzan Mahmoud spoke March 5 on life during the war, which can lead to unjustified jailing, kidnapping and rape. She lives under an open-ended death sentence from a religious court.

By GARY GOFF, 2nd Vice President, Local 2627 --- “There are no rights in Iraq for working people today,” said Houzan Mahmoud, speaking at the Manhattan campus of SUNY Stony Brook on March 5.Mahmoud represents both the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions, Iraq’s second largest union group.She is currently living in London and was in New York to testify about gender-based violence in Iraq before the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Mahmoud spoke at great personal risk, because she is under a fatwa, an open-ended death sentence issued by an Islamist group from Iraqi Kurdistan, where she was born.“Women are the uncounted victims of this occupation.”“Women are the uncounted victims of this occupation,” Mahmoud said. They cannot safely go out on the streets alone to buy food for their families, she said. Daily life is very difficult. There is no security. There are no basic services — drinkable water, electricity, health care or schools.

Millions of people are out of work or have been forced to flee the Islamist militias to refugee camps in neighboring countries.More and more women are now in Iraqi prisons, with no legal protection or representation. “They can just come and take you out of your home,” said Mahmoud.Civil society has broken down. “The government is dysfunctional,” says Mahmoud, with no real existence outside the U.S.-run Green Zone.

The politicians are heavily corrupt, stealing public money and spying on each other. Elsewhere, she said, there is “a never-ending battle” among the occupying forces, the terrorist networks and the Islamist militias and gangsters.It was not always like this. “Secularism is deeply rooted in Iraqi society,” she said. “The people don’t want a theocratic regime.”And, according to Mahmoud, that is the strength of the secular Federation of Workers Councils and Unions, which includes men and women of all faiths, ethnicities, and nationalities.

“We’re anti-occupation, therefore we’re illegal, but we still organize.”Unlike the legal unions supported by the Iraqi government and the U.S.-occupation forces (“We call them ‘yellow unions,’ ”), the Federation organizes protests, conferences and strikes — “at least two a month,” says Mahmoud with pride.“ We’re anti-occupation, therefore we’re illegal, but we still organize. We’re gaining popularity among the working people of Iraq.”In Iraq, the war “has created a breeding ground for the terrorists.”

They “carry out all kinds of suicide bombings and attacks, all in the name of fighting the occupation,” she said. The terror groups use the American presence “as a cover to kill.”Mahmoud sees women, youth, and labor unions as the keys to restoring a dynamic secular society in Iraq.

But before that can happen, she said, the war has to end. “This war is not in the interests of the working-class in Iraq or in America.”Mahmoud’s presentation was sponsored by Stony Brook’s Center for Study of Working Class Life and U.S. Labor Against the War, the organization that led the labor section of the recent anti-war marches in which many DC 37 members participated.This article is based on Mahmoud’s March 5 talk and an interview she gave Goff, which is available on line at www.local2627.org.

Mechanics' union leader murdered

The GFIW mourns the death of martyr Najim Abd-Jasem the General
Secretary of the Mechanic Workers Union.

Brother Najim was abducted by criminal militias in Baghdad on the
afternoon of the 27th March 2007 . His body was found three day
later on 30 March 2007. Signs of torture were evident all over his
body.

Brother Najim was one of the key leading trade unionists who helped
to establish the IFTU now the GFIW after the fall of Saddam's
dictatorship and was elected as the General Secretary of the
Mechanics Workers Union in late 2003.

Under the former dictatorship of Saddam, brother Najim worked for
the Health Ministry as a mechanic before he was dismissed because of
his opposition to Saddam's yellow unions.

He joined the underground trade union movement (WDTUM) and fought
against the former dictatorial regime.

His murder is a sign of a systematic campaign to eliminate the
leadership of the newly formed independent and democratic unions
that strongly oppose sectarianism.

Najim A- Jasem leaves a widow and four children.

Glory to the martyr of Iraqi working class brother Najim A Jasem
Long live the Iraqi labour movement


Najim was kidnapped on 27 March 2007
His Body was found on 30 March
Signs of torture was visible on his body
Najim Joined the under ground trade union movement (WDTUM) in the
1980s
He was dismissed from his job as a mechanic where he worked for the
Iraqi health Ministry
He was reinstated to his job after the fall of Saddam's dictatorship.
He was a key founder the of the IFTU now the GFIW
He was elected to the position of the General Secretary of the
Mechanics Workers Union 2003
He attended many national and international seminars and traning

The executive committee
GFIW
Baghdad
31 March 2007