IRAQ UNION SOLIDARITY SCOTLAND: 2007

Monday, 17 December 2007

Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq

Dear Friends,

1. If you have not so already could you please sign up to the group below to be sure of getting updates from the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq (CSDIraq).

yahoo groups :
http://uk.groups. yahoo.com/ group/nodeportat ionstoiraq/

a. please protest to Home Office at forcible deportation of Arian Kamal Aziz

Regards
Administrator
Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq

Monday, 26 November 2007

Interview with Mansour Osanloo

Interview with Mansour Osanloo
Iranian trade union leader Mansour Osanloo has been relentlessly persecuted for his efforts to secure an independent trade union and living wages for bus workers. Yet, as he explained in an interview with Transport International shortly before his latest arrest, he does not see himself as anti-government, and believes there are signs of hope for workers’ rights and freedoms in Iran.

http://www.itfglobal.org/transport-international/ti29-osanloo.cfm

Updates

18 November
Reza Dehghan, Union of the Painters (Sandicika Nagash) was arrested. He was summoned by court and then taken to Evin prison.

15 November
Mansour Osanloo was moved from Ward 209 to Ward 7 in Evin prison. On the same day, he was taken briefly to Basir Hospital for his eye checkup.

Gorban Alipour, the Haftapeh Sugar Factory spokesperson was released on $US10,000 bail.

http://www.iranlabourwatch.net

16 November
ITF Dockers' Section Steering Committee resolves to support to the Free Osanloo Campaign.

10 November
General Union of Transport Workers of Palestine sends its message of solidarity to the Tehran Bus Workers Union (texts attached).

I'm wearing the badge!

Trade unionists to the recent meetings, including the ITUC meeting on Middle East and North Africa, ITF Dockers' Section as well as the ILO Governing Body meeting, have worn the Free Osanloo badge to express their solidarity to the Iranian workers' movement.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/itf/sets/72157602429966468/

Thursday, 22 November 2007

Anti- Racist Rally 11am Glasgow Sat 24th Nov

Dear IUSS Supporters,

Come and join IUSS at the annual STUC Anti Racist March and Rally at 11am, Blythwood Square, ending at Glasgow Film Theatre, Rose Street 12noon.

Chair: Georgia Cruickshank, STUC Black Workers’ Committee
Speakers: Kainde Manji, Glasgow Anti Racist Alliance
Phil McGarry, STUC President
Aamer Anwar
Anas Sarwar
Humza Yousaf

Monday, 12 November 2007

HOPI Conference

http://www.hopoi.org/conference.html

Next IUSS Meeting Nov 19th

The next IUSS meeting will be on Monday November 19th, 7pm at 80 Oakfied Avenue, Glasgow.

Please see these websites and attachment below for information regarding the huge scale of the refugee crisis caused by the war in Iraq, and the lack of responsibility being taken for it by the US and UK governments:-
http://tinyurl.com/32rvce for informative Voices UK Newsletter
http://tinyurl.com/24g3ny for UNHCR statistics
http://tinyurl.com/24hfrg for an article about the host countries who receive refugees having been left in the lurch
http://tinyurl.com/ytjqx6 for an article from Amnesty International about millions of Iraqi refugees in flight.

Iraqi comrades from the ICP have sent this link which confirms our view about the war being in order for the US administration to gain control over Iraqs oil, its at www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/holto1_.html

Postings about Iran include the tragic news that Mansour Ossanlou of the Teheran busworkers union has received a 5 year jail sentence for his trade union activity. See
http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/1650 .

Also please see and sign the attached petition to release women prisoners who are sentenced to jail and flogging for their stance in upholding womens rights and for criticising the Islamic regime, the petiton is at www.petitiononline.com/maryam20/petition.htlm. Also see attachments from Iran about the seemingly imminent US war against the people of Iran and Womens Liberation.

If you have not already signed the letter to stop Aamer Anwar, the soliciter who defended Mohammed Siddique from being charged with contempot of court, please do so by going to www.sacc.org.uk/defendaamer

Aamer Anwar will be speaking at a meeting on Defending Civil Liberties on November 13th, 7.30pm at the Mitchell Theatre, Granville Street, Glasgow (doors open 7pm) organised by Scotland Against Criminalising Communities and Glasgow Stop the War Coalition.

Tuesday, 6 November 2007

Discussion Forum

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iuss

Group email:iuss@yahoogroups.com

Saturday, 3 November 2007

Friday, 2 November 2007

Iran Act Now

http://iranlabourwatch.net/DisplayArticle.aspx?ID=547

Osanloo sentence ‘appals world opinion’

Press area

Osanloo sentence ‘appals world opinion’

30 October 2007

Commenting on news that Iranian trade union leader Mansour Osanloo has been sentenced to five years imprisonment ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “We have just heard that an injured, victimised trade unionist has been condemned to jail on charges that would be laughable if they weren’t so serious.”

“For two years Mansour Osanloo has fought back against the Iranian regime’s brutality. Now they are trying to crush him with spurious accusations of endangering national security and criticising the regime. We know – the world knows – that Mansour’s only crime in their eyes is to have asserted his right to belong to a trade union.”

He continued: “This sentence appals world opinion. Mansour has been an example to us all and to see him treated this way – beaten, arrested, rearrested, intimidated and nearly blinded – brings shame on the government of Iran. We have tried to reason with them and detected at least some sympathy for what he stands for, but that has now clearly been overruled by the hardliners.”

“The international trade union movement, including across the Islamic world, has fought all the way for Mansour and his colleagues and we will continue to do so. We will be alerting them now, along with the International Labour Organization, before planning a new wave of protests.”

He concluded: “If the government get away with this then they will hand out the same treatment to Mansour’s deputy, Ebrahim Madadi, and all of the 17,000 members of the union will be at risk.”

Mansour Osanloo, 47, is the President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed) trade union, which has been violently repressed by the Iranian authorities. Osanloo has been made a particular target for imprisonment and brutal attacks. He is currently being held in Evin prison in Tehran. See www.freeosanloo.org for further information. A short film on the Osanloo case can be seen at www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/osanloo-film.cfm ENDS

Rank and File Postie site

http://cwurankandfile.wordpress.com/

Sunday, 28 October 2007

LabourStart

http://www.labourstart.org/

Mansour Osanloo receives emergency eye treatment

Press area
Mansour Osanloo receives emergency eye treatment

22 October 2007

Following major protests last week the ITF is delighted to have learned that on Saturday Mansour Osanloo received the emergency eye treatment that it, Amnesty International and trade unions worldwide demanded. The ITF says that it hopes that this may be a first step towards more humane and just treatment of the prisoners. The campaign for their release continues.

ENDS
http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/1640

Teach in - Glasgow 3rd Nov

Iran and the Threat of war
Teach in - Glasgow
3rd Nov 2007- 12.00- 4.00pm

Yassmine Mather: Imperialist aggression and how to confront it

Bridget Fowler: Sociology, Science and Nuclear Weapons

David Mather: Making cars in Iran- Exploitation and Conflict

Terry Brotherstone: Anti Imperialism and solidarity in our time
learning from the mistakes of the past

Christine Cooper: US imperialism in action, Iraqi oil and the
rule of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq

Hamish Wood Building - Room W502
Glasgow Caledonian University

Sunday, 21 October 2007

Iran: Urgent medical treatment required for jailed trade unionist

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_details.asp?ActionID=334

Prisoner of conscience Mansour Ossanlu, leader of the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed), was arrested on 10 July 2007. He was previously detained for eight months, from December 2005 to August 2006, and again for a month from November to December 2006 in connection with his trade union activities. He had reportedly been sentenced to five years' imprisonment in May 2007, but was believed to be free on bail at the time of his arrest.

When a delegation of visiting Indonesian trade unionists, and later his wife, tried to visit Mansour Ossanlu at Evin prison on 9 October, the prison authorities claimed that he had been taken to hospital for urgent medical treatment for injuries he had sustained at the hands of the security forces in May 2005. His wife was eventually able to see him on 15 October, when he told her he had received no medical treatment at all.

Friday, 12 October 2007

Your tax dollars at work

Independent on Sunday -Sept 30th

Corporate Social Responsibility
Black gold turns grey as Western giants prepare to draw from the wells

http://www.nosweat.org.uk/node/613

Monday, 8 October 2007

Burmalink campaign

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php

Iraq Union Solidarity Scotland Meeting

Iraq Union Solidarity Scotland Meeting

Monday October 15th
7pm
Boyd Orr Building,
Glasgow University,
University Avenue,
Glasgow

Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Disaster Capitalism

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/search?search=naomi%20klein

Serialisation of Naomi Kleins' book in Guardian and reviews.

T-Shirts

IUSS T-shirts are £10 and are in red, green and blue, small, medium, large and extra large. Cheques should be made out to "Iraq Union Solidarity Scotland" and sent to IUSS c/o Unison West Dunbartonshire, Council Offices, Garshake Road, Dumbarton, G82 3PU.

GFIW

http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/

Friday, 21 September 2007

Workers' Control site

http://workerscontrol.blogspot.com

Monday, 17 September 2007

Meeting on Iraq

Iraqi Communists Views On The Situation In Iraq
Thu 11 Oct 2007 7:30 PM Iraqi Communists present their views on how events are unfolding in Iraq.

Open meeting, all welcome. Unity Office,72 Waterloo Street,Glasgow

Campaigning against executions in Iran

More information regarding campaigning against executions in Iran is at http://noexecution. wordpress. com/

Wednesday, 29 August 2007

IRAQI OIL-WORKERS HAVE A RIGHT TO REPRESENTATION, SAYS MSP

27 August 2007

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Use
IRAQI OIL-WORKERS HAVE A RIGHT TO REPRESENTATION, SAYS MSP

Bill Wilson, MSP for the West of Scotland region, today lodged a Parliamentary Motion condemning the recent banning of oil trade unions in Iraq.

Speaking after lodging it, Dr Wilson said that he had been following developments in Iraq with great concern for some time. “An apparently logical explanation for what has happened and is happening in Iraq would be that the UK and US governments’ main preoccupation is the profits of multinational companies. With Iraq full of foreign troops the Iraqi government’s policies are almost certainly approved by — if not directly dictated by — Washington and Westminster, so the recent directive, banning oil companies from dealing with trade unions, is likely to be their policy. This appears aimed at silencing legitimate opposition to the proposed oil law, a law which would effectively sign away the control of Iraq’s oil industry to foreign interests for the next 30 years.

“The UK government claims to believe in the rule of law but the directive violates Iraq’s own constitution and ILO Convention 98 (on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining), which Iraq has ratified. To avoid accusations of hypocrisy and complicity our government should, at the very least, express strong disapproval of the Iraqi oil minister’s actions. Iraqis not only have the right to control their country’s resources but they also need a decent share of the oil revenue in order to reconstruct their shattered country. Iraq oil-workers must be allowed to say as much through their legitimate representative bodies, the oil trade unions.”

Dr Wilson concluded his remarks by saying, “If anyone doubts the anti-democratic regressive nature of recent developments in the Iraq I would point out that the most recent directive banning oil companies from dealing with trade unions is a repeat of the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Decree 8750, issued by the occupational forces in 2003 to prevent public-sector oil workers from forming trade unions. This, in turn, can be genealogically traced to Saddam’s Decree 150, which banned all public-sector unions. The Iraqi government, with the apparent tacit support of the UK and the USA, is effectively employing the tools of suppression used by Saddam Hussein.”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1. Full text of current motion

Date of Lodging: 27 August 2007
Short Title: Iraq: Banning of Oil Unions
S3M-00388 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with alarm the recent directive issued by the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein Shahrastani, banning oil companies in that country from dealing with trade unions and ordering them to exclude trade unionists from work committees; notes that, under a democratic system of government, workers have the inalienable right to organise; further notes that the affected trade unions were objecting to the oil law currently being proposed which would effectively transfer control of Iraq’s oil reserves to multinational companies for the next 30 years, and further notes that the citizens of democratic nations have the right to protest against the usurpation of vital national resources regardless of inconvenience to the plans of governments or multinational companies.

2. ITUC Letter to Iraqi Prime Minister on Violation of Oil Workers Union Labor Rights
by Guy Rider, General Secretary, International Trade Union Congress

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=14353

3. Previous Iraq-related motions lodged by Bill Wilson

Date of Lodging: 2 July 2007
Short Title: Hassan Jumaa: Visa Application
Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with grave concern the UK's government's rejection of a visa application by the President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Hassan Jumaa Awad al Assadi; notes that this is happening at a time when that country and its oil sector workers are under pressure to accede to the private development agendas of multinational companies through exclusive contracts lasting up to 30 years; notes that these corporate interests have been represented by the governments of the UK and the USA and through the current Iraqi Hydrocarbon Law which they have been party to since July 2006; notes specifically in this regard that Admiral William Fallon (Commander of US Central Command) insisted to Prime Minister Maliki that a new Oil Law be signed by the end of July; further notes that this proposed Oil Law effectively cedes the state's sovereignty and control over the development of the majority of Iraq's oil reserves to multinational companies and so contends that denying Hassan Jumaa's visa application at this time amounts to denying the people of Iraq a fair opportunity to present their objections to an international audience and to denying the UK electorate balanced information on developments in Iraq.

Date of Lodging: 18 June 2007
Short Title: Iraq: Right to Strike
S3M-00194 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with grave concern the death threats against members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) who were recently protesting against the proposed oil law which would effectively cede control of Iraq’s oilfields to multinational companies; further notes that the right to strike is protected by the core conventions of the International Labour Organisation, to which the Iraq Government is a signatory, and accordingly expresses its support for calls for the threat of violence against the oil workers to be withdrawn and for their legitimate right to strike to be recognised should they choose to exercise it.

Date of Lodging: 18 June 2007
Short Title: Iraq: Privatisation of Oil
S3M-00195 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with concern proposals to pass laws allowing the privatisation of Iraq’s oil industry; notes that both the Blair and Bush administrations stated that their declared major purpose for invading Iraq was to remove weapons of mass destruction and that the invasion was not motivated by that country’s oil reserves; notes that both administrations have stated their support for the introduction of democracy in Iraq, and accordingly is confident that the UK and US administrations will demonstrate their good intentions by encouraging the Iraq Government not to privatise that country’s oil but to maintain it as a source of income to help Iraq’s reconstruction and recovery.

-ends-

Saturday, 25 August 2007

US Unionists Protest Iraq Union Ban

PRESS RELEASE

US Unionists Protest Iraq Union Ban

Press Associates Sunday 19 August 2007
Washington - Showing solidarity with unionists in Iraq, several dozen U.S. unionists marched on August 16 outside the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, protesting the Iraqi Oil Minister's ban on unions for oil workers.

The protesters, including Machinists, the Office and Professional Employees, the Teachers and the Air Line Pilots, demanded Iraq recognize and bargain with its oil workers' unions - who, like the AFL-CIO, oppose the Iraq War. They presented a letter from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to embassy officials, with the demands, addressed to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.

The oil minister claimed the oil unions are illegal because they are not recognized as a legitimate union of government workers, as required by the Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi labor law. Neither the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority, when it ran Iraq for a year, nor the present shaky faction-ridden Iraqi government bothered to change that highly restrictive law, which covers 70 percent of Iraqi workers.

The Iraqi government has also denied the oil workers their internationally recognized rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, protesters said. But the Iraqi government is considering a U.S.-drafted oil law to yield control Iraq oilfields to multi-national corporations. That law was another target of the D.C. protest, organized by both the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center and U.S. Labor Against The War.

"The reality of the obstacles that oil workers face in Iraq is a major issue for us, just as the issue of ending the war is," said AFL-CIO International Affairs Director Barbara Shailor, the protest co-leader. Added Denice Lombard of USLAW: "It's no coincidence the Iraqi oil union has been fighting to keep the oil in Iraqi hands," while the law U.S. congressional "benchmarks" would force on Iraq would put the oil in corporate hands "for many years." A new Iraqi labor law should be our benchmark, she added.

Dear IUSS Supporters,

At our last meeting we learned from our Iraqi comrades that the oil union the IFOU has been banned by the Iraqi oil minister (heavily pressurised by the USA) as it is "political". We know this is becuase the oil unions are a threat to the hated oil law which the US is trying to get railroaded through the Iraqi parliament, and which would cream off oil profits to private oil companies outside of Iraq.

This needs to be publiced and opposed as widely as possible. In Scotland please get your MSPs to support Bill Wilsons members motions below, in particular SM3-194 and SM3-195 which are due to be heard in the next parliament. In England Dave Anderson MP has proposed and Early Day motion on the oil law. One way to conact your MSP, MP or MEP is via the website www.writetothem.com so please do this.

Please will you get this matter discussed at your anti war or pro union group. Please get back to me about your discussions especially if you would support a demonstration against the banning of the IFOU.

Comradley,
Pauline Bradley
Convenor IUSS
http://iraqunionsolidarityscotland.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 22 August 2007

TUC Iraq Bulletin

Teachers' union delegation

As reported in the fifth bulletin, a delegation of Iraqi teachers from the teachers' union in Baghdad visited the UK in February. The visit, organised by TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee Chair and NASUWT Treasurer Sue Rogers, allowed eleven Iraqi trade unionists a fortnight's respite, the chance to meet British teacher trade unionists, and some training.

The delegation spent some time with the ATL and NUT, but most of their time was at the NASUWT residential training centre in Birmingham. They received a training course developed by NASUWT on the basis of existing Unison materials, and prepared a pamphlet aimed at potential members, explaining what their union does for teachers.

The group also got to see the one night of Shakespeare's Richard III that was spoken in Arabic at Stratford, and saw a Kidderminster Harriers home game - especially interesting for the delegation member who was a former Iraqi international!
Friendships were forged, fun was had, but the serious purpose of the visit was clear to all involved - building the Iraqi teacher union.

FBU delegation to Iraq

Six people, two fire appliances, three thousand miles in ten days. That's the start of a fantastic report of the latest Fire Brigades Union (FBU) visit to Iraqi Kurdistan.
Building on previous FBU visits, which delivered fire fighting equipment and protective clothing, Brian Joyce and his colleagues this time took two red fire engines across Europe and through a virtual civil war in Turkey to help their colleagues fight fires safely.

'The Road 2 Iraq', the report of their incredible journey, told by Duncan Milligan, is on the FBU website at www.fbu.org.uk/newspress/ffmag/2007/0607/ff_jun_07_iraq.pdf and it is well worth reading.

Oil unions and the oil law

The TUC helped organise an international solidarity campaign for the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) in June, when they too k strike action, and in July when they were joined by the GFIW to protest against the Iraqi oil law in demonstrations across southern Iraq.

Sue Rogers and TUC International Secretary Owen Tudor travelled to Amman in May to meet IFOU leader Hassan Juma'a, along with Jim Catterson from the global union federation covering oil workers, ICEM. The discussions led to much closer relations between ICEM and the IFOU, and the TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee has agreed that the IFOU is a bona fide sectoral union.
The solidarity campaign in June with the IFOU strike saw the TUC condemning Iraqi government military intervention, and support for the demands of the IFOU, which ranged from calls for a restoration of bonus payments to oil workers and the granting of permanent employment to temporary workers through to demands for consultation over the Iraqi oil law.

Further attacks on trade unions

In March, the TUC condemned the abduction, torture and murder of Iraqi trade unionist Najim Abd-Jasem, General Secretary of the Mechanic Workers' Union.
Sue Rogers had met Najim, and said: 'Najim was one of the most positive influences in the Iraqi trade union movement. He was very progressive, and very clear about where the movement needed to go'

The Iraqi trade union movement, the GFIW, has issued the following statement: 'Najim A Jasem was kidnapped by militias on 27 March. His body was found on 30 March 2007. His body bears huge signs of torture. He was member of the underground Workers' Trade Union Movement (WDTUM) and fought against the regime of Saddam. He was dismissed from his job because of his trade union activities. He was reinstated after the fall of Saddam. He was one of the key founder of the new democratic IFTU, now the GFIW, and was elected the General Secretary of the Mechanics Workers' Union.'

Then in April, the TUC expressed its sympathy and solidarity with the family and colleagues of Moaaid Hamid, Vice President of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers in the province of Nineveh, and his wife, both murdered on 9 April 2007, following clashes between forces of the Iraqi army and terrorist elements in the province.

The deceased was one of the first trade union leaders who contributed to the creation of the IFTU after the fall of the former dictator in 2003 and has played an active role in building a genuine democratic trade union movement despite all the difficult circumstances.

Transport workers are coming

Later this year, in November, a delegation of four Iraqi and two Kurdish transport union representatives will be visiting the UK to tell us about transport trade unionism in the ports, railways, haulage and aviation industries; to build links with similar unions in Britain; and to learn about how transport trade unionism works in our country.

Organised by the TUC and the GFIW's international representative Abdullah Muhsin, the visit will involve the International Transport Workers' Federation, ASLEF, RMT, the T&G section of Unite the Union and the TSSA. We hope to arrange visits to airports, railway depots and bus garages, and hold meetings for trade unionists in Yorkshire and the Humber and in the North West.

The visit will be funded by the TUC and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with unions providing incidental assistance.

TUC Aid for Iraq Appeal

The TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee, chaired by Sue Rogers from the General Council, works in solidarity with the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), the trade union movement in Iraqi Kurdistan and other sectoral trade union organisations in Iraq. Members are drawn from seventeen TUC affiliated unions. The TUC continues to raise money for Iraqi trade unionists. This has been used for bringing Iraqi trade unionists to Britain and to the ITUC World Congress, supporting global union training projects and more.

Click to give money online or find out more.
Solidarity leaflet
A striking leaflet is available for bulk purchase by unions for inclusion in journals, bulletins and mailings to members - see it at www.tuc.org.uk/extras/iraqleaflet.pdf
Contact Owen at otudor@tuc.org.uk for copies.
Briefing document (1,000 words) issued 29 Jul 2007

Saturday, 18 August 2007

Next Meeting Monday 20th Aug

Dear IUSS Supporters,

Our next meeting will be on Monday August 20th at 7pm at 80 Oakfield Avenue, off University Avenue, Glasgow. I hope you can come along.

If you are in Unison or know people in Unison, the International seminar on September 1st entiltled "Trade Unionists Under Threat Throughout The World" will have an Iraqi trade unionist speaking, so it is of interest to IUSS supporters and is open to all Unison members. Please email me for more information.

Please see attachements which we have received about the grave situation for trade unionists in Iran. Please follow the links and addresses to give these comrades as much support as you can.

Comradley
Pauline Bradley
Convenor IUSS
http://iraqunionsolidarityscotland.blogspot.com

Wednesday, 8 August 2007

Banned Broadcast from Iraq and Report

Dear IUS Scotland Supporters,

Please see the two attachments which have been sent from our Iraqi comrades in different Iraqi trade union federations. One is an MTV broadcast which was banned in the USA, the other is from the Iraqi Federation of Refugees for their forthcoming conference.

The sixth TUC Iraq Bulletin includes a report of the Iraqi teacher delegation earlier this year, the FBU's delegation to Iraq, and a future Iraqi transport workers' delegation to the UK, as well as developments in the oil sector, and further attacks on Iraqi trade unionists.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-13572-f0.cfm

Pauline

Tuesday, 7 August 2007

IRAQ

IRAQ

A Classical Hollywood narrative of hope and redemption
Pentagon Disneyland for free market experimentation
falsely benign Fox misrepresentation

The birthplace of civilisation run by Haliburton and Bechtel
and their creative accounting fraudster friends

Criminals as Kings , theft, gang rape, kidnapping ,honour killings
all carried out in the name of Freedom

The Geometry of bad water, no power, mounting waste
correlates neatly with rising violence , despair and irredentist fundamentalism

Stereotypical Rae burn wearing GI’s with
their guns and pills and pop culture
seek “ Bad Guys” in an apocalyptic Pentagon theme park

as misogynist misery gangs resist the Occupodians
creating chaos to win

Disgruntled cynical working-class grunts and
Mercenary security firms guard
the boys in the bubble in the Green Zone
with their post-modern colonial Gap Gear wraparound shades and Heckler and Kock MP 5 s

While crazy people roam amongst trash fires and diseased feral dogs
In Sadr City
Vietnam Street ,
Death to Spies and Collaborator conclusions on walls
Sedans full of men and eyes on each corner

Military technology again substitutes poorly for an absence of hearts and minds
In an awkwardly urban apocalyptic clash of cultures

Self-confident Ivy league Green Zone post-colonialists construct fantasies
in an air-conditioned oasis of beautiful palm trees and manicured lawns
as carpet bagging “reconstruction” fraudsters drain Iraq of its life blood natural resource .

Joes and Hagis
Saws and MRES
A Two Tier army

Tag teaming, $ 15 ficky fick, digital photo trades
Juicing on steroids, sleeping on valium, eating coffee granules
in a floating , escapist diazepam hazed rabbit hole

High noon patrols prowl the streets
in a Heart of Darkness wild west called Fallujah
as Apache Helicopter gunships circle and strafe
in this Iraqi Alabama at the end of the river
creating chaotic visual loops of orange

Parachuted incandescent flares descend
on night time blockades , house raids ,Bound and hooded Iraqis ,
a dead child "mistake "

Panther Penis victims
Cancerous depleted Uranium victims
Lack of Medical supply victims
Sharia Lawlessness victims
Pray and spray shooting victims

Pre-Medieval self-referential autonomous cells of women-hating men
Parasitic voyeurs
War Tourists
Cynical Grunts
Careerist freelancers
Nut jobs
Pilgrims
Neo-con fantasists and
In Denial Zealots

Neither Political Islam nor US Imperialism
cries the Left while young men rapped in Green and Black flags
fire AK-47s in the air drawn to the lure of violence

While 13,000 souls anguish in a ritualised nightshift humiliation
inside an Iraqi Andersonville with its towers and razor wire
Incessant sobbing, child shrieks and swaggering GI’S

NGO Groupies
Useless CMOCS
SUV Flames
IEDS and RPGS
Dawn to Dusk Curfews

All paths in the neo- con bloody circus leading nowhere
signifying the end of Planet America.

Peter Burton August 2007

Monday, 6 August 2007

Free Mansour Ossanlou !

Demonstrate to free Mansour Ossanlou, Mahmoud Salehi and all class-war prisoners in Iran!

As part of the week of action in support of Iranian workers supported by international unions including the International Transport Workers' Federation, activists in Britain will be demonstrating outside the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Thursday 9 August.
Location:Outside Iranian Embassy, 16 Prince's Gate, London SW7 (nearest Tube: High St Kensington)

Sunday, 29 July 2007

International Campaign Against Islamic Republic Atrocities

International Campaign Against Islamic Republic Atrocities

To: All Labour and Human Rights Organizations
International Campaign Against Islamic Republic Atrocities Islamic republic intends to execute tens of prisoners Join the international campaign to save life of political prisoners, those condemned to be stoned, to free imprisoned labour activists, students and women

Sign the petition and ask others to sign

The Islamic republic of Iran has embarked on a new wave of suppression. In the recent days it has executed a number of prisoners, stoned some to death and arrested a number of labour, student and activist of women?s movement in Iran. This is part of its assault to intimidate the rising protest movement in Iran.

Number of arrest and summarily executions has risen dramatically. Last week, the Islamic regime stoned Jafa Kiyani to death in Takistan. ? On Saturday 14 July, in northern city of Tabriz, Horiyeh, was executed in public for having sex out of wedlock. On the same day 3 others were hanged in the same city. It was announced that in a few days time, Mokarameh Ebrahimi, mother of 5 children would be stoned to death. The Leaders of the Islamic Republic have announced last week that they have verified the execution of 20 young people.

Mansour Osdanloo, leader of the Tehran Bus drivers Union has been kidnapped and imprisoned. Furthermore they have announced that religious police would be doubled in city parks and streets to prevent teenage boys and girls mixing and floating religious ethics?

While Mahmoud Salehi, a leading labour activist, is still in prison, they have continued to put on trial two other labour activists, Shieth Amani and Sadeeg Karimi, from the city of Sanandaj for organizing celebrations of May 1st international workers day . The Islamic republic has turned to violent aggression at the very time when it is in deep crisis and protest movement in Iran is escalating. The so called petrol protest in opposition to hike in petrol prices in Iran is an example. The increase in religious police to impose hejab is an attempt by the Islamic republic to confront this movement which really indicates that Iranian society is rejecting the Islamic imposition and its policies.

We will confront this assault and will defeat it! We have announce an international campaign against atrocities of the Islamic Republic and call on every to join this campaign. Sign this petition and ask others to take part. We ask all labour and human rights organizations to put pressure on, by writing to the leaders of the Islamic regime, in protest to stop their atrocities. We the undersigned demand that:

Unconditional Freedom for all political prisoners and recent detainees Abolition of cruel and inhumane stoning laws and immediate release of the 13 waiting stoning. Repeal the sentences of execution for 20 children and young adults including Shahla Jahed and Kobra Rahmanpour

Free Mahmoud salehi, Mansour osdanloo and all labour activist who have been arrested for organizing protest and strike. End persecution of May 1st activist including leaders of unemployed union Sheith Amani and Sadeeg Karimi . Free detained students and end to harassment of student in the university; Close security and religious police in universities. End harassment of teenage boys and girls and free imprisoned youth. Free all those arrested following the recent petrol protests Mina Ahadi Spokesperson for the international campaign against atrocities in Iran July 14th 2007 Signed by:

International labour solidarity
International Committee against executions
International Committee against stoning
Committee for freedom of political prisoners in Iran
Hambastegi international federation of refugees
International Campaign in defence of womens right in Iran( Germany, England, Malmo and Stockholm in Sweden)
Children First now!
Society against religion
Friends of women in the middle east association

Student news Iran

Student news

Fear from expansion of students' protests has made universities officials decide to close down all the dorms to prevent students from gathering

Art faculty of Tehran University
On the evening of Sunday July the 15th few students of the Art faculty of Tehran University referred to the student central office to clarify the situation with their dorm and their summer semester. Instead they found themselves brutally attacked and beaten by the security guards and police forces. A number of students were injured; the condition of some of them has been reported as critical and one of the students is admitted to the ICU of one of the nearby hospitals. From Monday and in continuation with these protests, art students went into a strike and started a mass protest refusing to show up at the exam sessions and announcing that final exams will be cancelled. During their gathering they protested against the attack on students, against the atmosphere of repression in the university. They asked the Dean of university to resign and the head of security to step down, and asked that their problems regarding the dorm and summer semester be solved. After these protests, 22 students of the art faculty of Tehran University have been called in by the disciplinary committee. Eight of these are members of the student union.

Tehran Polytechnic University
Nine students of Tehran Polytechnic University are detained at Evin prison. It is now 2 months that these students are under the most severe tortures. The Islamic government is trying to make them confess to false allegations and charges made by the government.

Ninth of July anniversary
Eight years ago, when Tehran University students started large protests against governmental terror and censorship, many ordinary people joined the protests which continued for 6 days. The government repressed the protests brutally by arresting many students and individuals, some of which are still in prison. In that day the governmental forces threw a student from a third floor window and killed him.
This year on the anniversary of the Ninth of July, students and ordinary people of Tehran gathered around Tehran Polytechnic University and Tehran University to hold a large protest. Police and anti-protest forces savagely attacked people, preventing the gathering from starting and arresting 16 students.

Tehran Allameh-Tabatabyee University
According to the news received by the CYO's news headquarter, on Saturday July 14th, students of Allameh University gathered to protest against the closure of the dorms during summer. Through one of the security guards, the Dean of the university, Mr. Shariati, asked the police forces to attack the students. Many students were injured. Some were arrested but subsequently released, except one student whose location is unknown. Students continued their protests on Sunday morning and stressing on their demands but thus far no positive response has been heard from the University Dean.
http://cyoiran.wordpress.com/

Saturday, 28 July 2007

Basra Workers

Basra workers of the Gas sector: update

While working in their night shift, two workers of the South Gas Company, Khor Al Zubair area, were stung by poisonous scorpions in June 2007. Both workers had to wait overnight and endure the poison effects because of the lack of a night-time clinic, an ambulance, and an telephone operator which can call the general hospital. Another worker, Gtafeh Nissan Telfah, had died two years ago from a heart attack for the same reason, i.e. the non-availability of an ambulance.

Two Gas workers from Khor Al Zubair were poisoned by gases of propane and butane. As a result, they suffocated and fainted because of the failure of the workplace to provide sufficient precautions.
In the fluid isolation/ Natural Gas Liquids site (NGL) in the North Rumaila field, the workers are assigned to hazardous tasks without adequate precaution for workplace safety; they clean the "Vessels" in ways which cause burns and injuries to them.

The South Gas Company workers demand to be paid the remaining annual benefits (20% of the total amount), similar to the other oil sectors' workers.
Firemen of the oil sector do not receive danger benefits although they frequently put out fires of the oil and the non-oil sectors. The Old Factory does not have a fire-fighting vehicle or any fire extinguishing equipment in Khor Al Zubair although the reservoirs of the factory are full of gas. Consequently, any accident of fire will put the lives of the employees under danger and will destroy the factory.

The gas sector workers are subject to inhaling Ethylene, a hazardous gas which results in many ailments if inhaled for long periods. Many were harmed as a result of inhaling this gas during the fire accident of the operating units in the petrochemicals last February.

Report was prepared by: Faisal Kassim and Sabah Dnaiyef Shahan.

Gas Workers' Union Committee – Basrah
Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq

Motion Regarding Iraqi Oil Law

Motion Regarding Iraqi Oil Law

This branch/union notes
The US/UK occupation of Iraq, which began in March 2003.

That Iraq is an oil rich country.

Trade unions in many sectors of industry in Iraq, including the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions.

That US companies have been researched and named by US Labour Against the War to have interests in taking over Iraqi assets including its oil.

That US government and troops have put pressure on the Iraqi government to sign a law, which effectively privatises Iraq’s oil. Unions in the oil sector have been on strike several times to try to resist such moves. They also have demands related to wages and working conditions, including a demand for wage increases; the payment of a previously agreed bonus that is based on the distribution to workers of a proportion of oil revenues achieved by the company; no salary deductions to be made for granted vacation days; and the delivery of land parcels for housing to workers. The IFOU wrote to the Minister of Oil in June 2007, outlining their demands.

In June 2007, the army surrounded oil workers while US helicopters were above them, trying to intimidate the IFOU.

This Branch/Union Condemns
The sending in of troops to crush a legitimate strike by the IFOU

This Branch/Union believes
The US has put such pressure on the Iraqi government to sign the oil law quickly, so oil profits go to US companies rather than to the Iraqi people.

That the US/UK occupation has been a disaster and the US is keen to gain “something for its investment” of troops in Iraq.

That the Iraqi people should be allowed to decide the future of their oil and its revenue.

That the strike should be settled by negotiation with the IFOU and the Iraqi government. The US should leave the oil fields and the whole country of Iraq.

That the trade unions in Iraq are its best hope for a stable and secular future.

This Branch/Union resolves
To lobby our MPs, MSPs to use their influence to tell the US to leave the Iraqi people to decide the destiny of their oil.

To send a message of solidarity to the IFOU and support their demands a settlement should be reached by negotiation without pressure from the US.

To circulate information from Iraqi trades unions in relation to the strikes and struggles of Iraqi unions to keep control of their oil, petrol, gas and other strategic resources.

To make a donation to the TUC Iraq appeal and affiliate to Iraq Union Solidarity or Iraq Union Solidarity Scotland.

Monday, 23 July 2007

GWIF

http://www.iraqtradeunions.org/

http://www.petitiononline.com/iq2007/petition.html

Stop the killing, Kidnapping and Intimidation of Journalists in Iraq

Sunday, 22 July 2007

Iranian trade union leader speaks to Labour Research

Interview of Mansour Ossanlou in UK recently

http://www.lrd.org.uk/issue.php?pagid=1&issueid=1164

Saturday, 21 July 2007

Iranian Labour News

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Iran

Free Mansour Ossanloo !

Mansour Ossanloo, the president of the Iranian independent bus workers’ union was kidnapped by plain clothes police on Tuesday 10 July and taken to the notorious Evin prison.

Ossanloo was stopped while he was returning home by a public transit bus in Tehran. According to Iranian workers’ sources, a Peugeot car stopped the bus and unidentified plain clothes agents attacked him - beating him severely while telling people that he was a thief! Ossanloo tried to identify himself as the president of the union for the witnesses in order to get help but the agents stopped him.

Security forces tried to arrest Ossanlou in similar circumstances in May. Then, Ossanloo freed himself because people rushed to help. But this time the agents did not give him any chance.
Last November Ossanloo kidnapped and incarcerated in Evin prison. After enduring a month of detention, he was released. Before that, Ossanloo was imprisoned from December 2005 for eight months. Earlier this year a Tehran revolutionary Court issued a prison sentence of five years against Ossanloo, but his lawyer had filed an appeal and his case was in process.

A few days before Ossanlou’s kidnapping, Ebrahim Madadi, the union’s vice president, was arrested by uniformed police officers but freed a day after without charges following union protest.

This is part of a new wave of suppression in Iran against labour activists as well as women’s rights activists and students. At thee time armed security forces attacked protesting students at Amir Kabir University in Tehran and arrested six students. Worker activist Mahmoud Salehi has been jailed since April this year and has been deliberately denied life-saving medical treatment by the authorities.

Messages of protest can be sent via Labour Start

Wednesday, 18 July 2007

Sean Smiths' Photos of Iraq

http://www.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/page/0,,1891982,00.html

Iraq Commission Video

Iraq Commission hearings on Video including Houzan Mahmood interview

http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/I/the_iraq_commission/video.html

Glasgow Meeting

Dear IUSS Supporters,

The next IUSS meeting will be next Monday, July 23rd at 7pm,
Partick Burgh Hall, Burgh Hall Road, Partick. Please make every effort to attend, we have a lot to organise including action to protest against the oil law, a demonstration and public meeting in Edinburgh, feedback from our meeting with Bill Wilson MSP among other things!

Please see and sign the petiton below from Houzan.

Comradely,
Pauline Bradley
http://iraqunionsolidarityscotland.blogspot.com

Dear Pauline and all
Here is the link of our petition in English:

http://www.petitiononline.com/iraqoil/petition.html

PLease sign it, and send it to as many people as possible

Many thanks
Houzan Mahmoud

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

MSP Welcomes visit

Please address all correspondence to:

Dr Bill Wilson MSP
Scottish Parliament
EH99 1SP

Tel. 0131 3486805
Fax. 0131 3486806

e-mail:
Bill.Wilson.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

10 July 2007

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Use
MSP WELCOMES VISIT OF IRAQ OIL UNION LEADER TO UK: “NOW LISTEN TO WHAT HE HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE OIL LAW!”
Dr Bill Wilson, MSP for the West of Scotland, today welcomed the announcement that the leader of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) had been granted a visa to visit the UK and would be in the country from Tuesday July 10th until Thursday July 19th.

Dr Wilson’s comments followed his press release of 23 June and his Parliamentary motions of 18 June in which attacked the proposed Oil Law in Iraq and accused multinational corporations and the US and UK governments of effectively usurping control of Iraq’s oil resources [see bottom of this document for full details].

Dr Wilson said, “I was disturbed to learn earlier that Hassan Jumaa Awad al Assadi, President of the 26,000-strong IFOU, was unable to visit the UK and present the objections of union members to the Oil Law to the authorities and public in the UK, as he could not get a visa. I wrote to both David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and to Dominic Asquith, the British Ambassador to Iraq, to urge them to ensure that Hassan Jumaa be issued with a visa as soon as possible.

“I am delighted that the leader of the Iraq oil union will now be allowed to make his argument within the UK. To deny the Iraq people the right to put their argument to the people of the UK would have been nothing less than dishonest. There is strong opposition in Iraq to passing a law which takes control of Iraqi oil from the people of Iraq and hands it to the multi-nationals — it is right that the voice of that opposition should be heard in the UK.

“Both Blair and Bush assured us that this war was not about oil but about democracy. If this assurance is to be even vaguely believable then both the UK and US governments must end all pressure on the Iraqi government to pass this law. Admiral Fallon must withdraw his deadline (for the Oil Law to be adopted by the end of this month), and the UK, the USA and the IMF must accept that Iraq’s oil belongs to the Iraqi people.”

Background Information

1. Text of letter sent to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, on 3 July

The Right Honourable David Miliband
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

Dear Mr Miliband

Granting the President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions a visa to visit the UK

Congratulations on your recent appointment. I wish you well in what will undoubtedly be a challenging position, not least because of the situation in Iraq, an aspect of which I wish to direct your attention to in this communication.

The UK Ambassador to Iraq, the Hon. Dominic Asquith, stated last August: “Our objective is a shared one: to build a strong, united, democratic, and stable Iraq, with a government that exercises full sovereignty and authority through effective institutions trusted by its citizens.”

He also said: “The Iraqi people need to have confidence in their government and all its institutions to improve their lives. […] The future of Iraq lies firmly in Iraqi hands. As the British people see Iraqis themselves – ordinary people, business people, officials and politicians alike – take control of their lives, so our determination to help you succeed strengthens.”

His statements seem at odds with the current situation. Iraqi politicians and oil workers find themselves under pressure to accede to the private development agendas of multinational companies through exclusive contracts lasting up to 30 years, the effect of signing up to the currently proposed Oil Law. The corporate interests of multinationals have been represented thus far by the governments of the UK and the USA through the current Iraqi Hydrocarbon Law, which they have been party to since July 2006. You will know that Admiral William Fallon (Commander of US Central Command) insisted to Prime Minister Maliki that the new Oil Law be signed by the end of July. This law effectively cedes the state's sovereignty and control over the development of the majority of Iraq's oil reserves to multinational companies. Denying a visa to Hassan Jumaa Awad al Assadi (President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions) at this time amounts to denying the people of Iraq a fair opportunity to present their objections to an international audience and to denying the UK electorate balanced information on developments in Iraq. It also flatly contradicts the spirit and letter of the statements made by the UK’s ambassador to Iraq. I trust you will arrange for a visa for Hassan Jumaa immediately, with the deadline for the signing of the anti-democratic and rapacious Oil Law so near.

I look forward to receiving reassurance on this matter.

2. Website of the General Union of Oil Employees in Basra

http://www.basraoilunion.org/

3. Previous Press Release (dated 23 June 2007)

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Use
IRAQI OIL FOR THE IRAQIS, MSP DEMANDS: SCOTTISH SOLDIERS DYING TO LINE POCKETS OF MULTINATIONALS?
Dr Bill Wilson, MSP for the West of Scotland, yesterday made an outspoken plea for Iraqi Oil to remain in the hands of Iraqis. He was speaking after meeting Ewa Jasiewicz, researcher/campaigner with Platform, a group concerned about the currently proposed Iraqi Oil Law, legislation that would effectively sign over the exploitation of that nation’s oil reserves, and most oil-related profits, to multinational companies.

Dr Wilson’s impassioned comments came only five days after he lodged two parliamentary motions expressing concern about the Oil Law and the circumstances surrounding it. He explained that he had been deeply disturbed for many years by the situation in Iraq and found the ongoing hypocrisy of the UK and US governments and their flagrant disregard for the welfare of Iraqis shameful and repugnant. “When Ewa Jasiewicz contacted me after hearing of my Scottish Parliamentary motions on the issue, and told me she would be talking on the issue at the University of Strathclyde, I was keen to meet her. We discussed how we could best raise awareness of the blatant extortion that the Oil Law amounts to. I told her that if I could do anything to help restore justice and democracy in that abused nation I would be delighted to help.”

Dr Wilson likened what happened with Scottish oil in 1979 to what is currently happening in Iraq, but implied that if Scots had been upset by the usurpation of their natural resources then they should be even more disturbed by the Iraqi situation: “The USA is pushing the Oil Law so hard that the Iraqi government believes it will be brought down if it does not pass it. The US military — Admiral Fallon — has given the Iraq government a deadline of the end of July. The UK government admits to supplying the Iraqi government with advice, advice provided over the barrel of a rifle.”

He said that it was totally inappropriate to push for the Oil Law to be signed when Iraq was an occupied country torn by civil war: “As I understand it the proposed legislation will dictate the way Iraq’s oil is exploited for the next thirty years. This is akin to what happened with the carving up of Africa when indigenous peoples were tricked into signing their land and resources away for a pittance. Here the Iraqi trade unions, and people as a whole, are firmly against it, but they are being forced into it — sometimes at gunpoint. Protesting oil workers have been threatened with death. Scottish soldiers are dying there too —is it to line the pockets of the multinationals rather than to promote democracy? The facts suggest their blood is being spilled primarily to buy cheap oil for the likes of BP — one of the “advisers” provided by the UK was the former head of BP Azerbaijan. You’d have to be very naïve not to believe that expropriating the oil wasn’t a major reason for invasion.”

Dr Wilson attacked not only the roles of the US and UK governments and the large oil companies but also that of the International Monetary Fund, pointing out that the IMF had made financial support for Iraq conditional upon acceptance of the Oil Law.

Speaking of Scotland’s attitude to developments in Iraq, Dr Wilson said that he understood the ministers in the Scottish government did not sign Scottish Parliamentary Motions but he was pleased to note that First Minister Alex Salmond had already given a lead to the way the SNP-led government should view the matter — by signing Katy Clark’s Early Day Motion 1180 in London in his capacity as Westminster MP. Dr Wilson said he also wished to congratulate Ms Clark, Labour MP for Ayrshire North and Arran, for her integrity in making a stand against the UK government’s position, and similarly congratulate John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, for his EDMs, “…And, of course, my congratulations to Platform, for their outstanding campaigning on this issue. It was a privilege to meet Ewa Jasiewicz and I wish her, Platform, and the Hands Off Iraqi Oil campaign every success.”

He concluded with the remark: “The attitudes taken by the UK and Scottish governments could speak volumes. I trust the nation of Scotland will not want the blood and oil of Iraqis on its conscience, not to mention the blood of our own soldiers. Iraqi oil for the Iraqis. No more blood for oil. I shall be making these points to all those I meet at tomorrow's SNP National Council meeting.”

[The National Council Meeting is taking place today at the Dynamic Earth centre.]

Background Information to press release dated 23 June 2007

a) SCOTTISH PARLIAMENTARY MOTIONS

Date of Lodging: 18 June 2007
Short Title: Iraq: Right to Strike
S3M-00194 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with grave concern the death threats against members of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) who were recently protesting against the proposed oil law which would effectively cede control of Iraq’s oilfields to multinational companies; further notes that the right to strike is protected by the core conventions of the International Labour Organisation, to which the Iraq Government is a signatory, and accordingly expresses its support for calls for the threat of violence against the oil workers to be withdrawn and for their legitimate right to strike to be recognised should they choose to exercise it.

Date of Lodging: 18 June 2007
Short Title: Iraq: Privatisation of Oil
S3M-00195 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with concern proposals to pass laws allowing the privatisation of Iraq’s oil industry; notes that both the Blair and Bush administrations stated that their declared major purpose for invading Iraq was to remove weapons of mass destruction and that the invasion was not motivated by that country’s oil reserves; notes that both administrations have stated their support for the introduction of democracy in Iraq, and accordingly is confident that the UK and US administrations will demonstrate their good intentions by encouraging the Iraq Government not to privatise that country’s oil but to maintain it as a source of income to help Iraq’s reconstruction and recovery.

b) WESTMINISTER EARLY DAY MOTIONS

Date of Lodging: 20 March 2007
Short Title: Iraqi Oil Law
EDM-1180 Katy Clark (Ayrshire North and Arran) (Labour): That this House notes that Iraq's economy is heavily dependent on oil and that decisions about the future of Iraq's oil industry will have a major bearing on that country; further notes that the constitution of Iraq states that oil and gas are owned by all the people of Iraq; expresses concern that the British Government, in its involvement in the drafting of Iraq's new oil laws, has sought the views of international oil companies regarding the possible types of contracts that the Iraqi government should offer; believes that decisions on the Iraqi oil industry should be made by the Iraqi people without outside interference; and calls on the Government to disclose to the House all representations it has made in relation to the oil law.

See also John McDonnell’s EDMs:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33467&SESSION=885
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33468&SESSION=885

c) EWA JASIEWICZ/PLATFORM/HANDS OFF IRAQI OIL

Ewa Jasiewicz
Researcher/Campaigner
PLATFORM
http://www.carbonweb.org/iraq
020 7403 3738
0044 7749 421 576

Hands Off Iraqi Oil: http://www.carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=256&parent=39
Useful links and quotes: http://www.carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=56&parent=4

-ends-

Press Release

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

http://blog.frombaghdadtonewyork.com/BaghdadNY/Blog/

Welcome here. Our goal is to provide the world with facts about Iraq and Iraqi people. We want to show the world the truth about how Iraqi people really feel.

Iraqi Union Leaders Call for an End to the Occupation By David Bacon

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?

TAP talks to Faleh Abood Umara, general secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, and Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, president of the Electrical Workers Union of Iraq.The American Prospect online, July 6, 2007 see also: Article: Iraqi Oil: A Benchmark or a Giveaway? Why Iraqi oil workers oppose the much-vaunted oil law.http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles? Photoessay: Unions Struggle to Protect Iraqi

Oilhttp://www.prospect.org/cs/articles/feature_unions_struggle_to_protect_iraqi_oil

David Bacon: Recently the oil workers union went on strike for two days. What was the strike about?

Faleh Abood Umara: We have many problems in the oil industry. Some time ago we met with the Prime Minister of Iraq, discussed them, and reached an agreement. We asked the minister of oil to implement that agreement, and he refused. He was supposed to organize a special congress with oil workers in the south, to provide land for building workers' homes, to raise our pay, to implement profit sharing, and to suspend the implementation of the new oil law. Our discussions with the oil minister didn't change the situation, so we announced we would go on strike.

Bacon: What objection does the union have to the proposed oil law?

Umara: The new law will give the control of all oil royalties and production to foreign oil companies. It will allow them to do whatever they want in our oil fields, and we won't have the ability to intervene, or even to observe. The oil law doesn't envision the existence of our oil union, nor will in include us as a member of the so-called Oil Congress. The most dangerous part of the law is the production-sharing agreement. We reject this kind of agreement absolutely. The law will rob Iraq of its main resource -- its oil. It will undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and our people.

Bacon: What would be the impact of the oil law on the ability of Iraq to rebuild after the war and occupation?

Umara: If the law is ratified, there will be no reconstruction. The U.S. will keep its hegemony over Iraq.

Bacon: Hashmeya, when I saw you in Basra in 2005, your union was fighting the management of the electric power stations over working conditions and subcontracting of the work of your members. What is their situation today?

Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein: Iraqi power stations and other facilities suffered a lot of damage during the war, going back to the time of Saddam Hussein. He didn't give contracts to foreign corporations, and depended on the indigenous resources in the country. After the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, we saw something new. Even the simplest job was given to a contractor.As a result, the buildings of the electrical authority were filled with unemployed workers. We protested against this, and for a time, our industry's management would not accept the workers' demands. We demonstrated in front of the Basra mayor's office and submitted our demands to the governor. Of our seven demands, the two most important were first, stopping unnecessary contracting, and second, stopping the corruption throughout the management. Finally, we agreed with the managers that contracts would only be given out for jobs that were beyond the ability of Iraqi workers.

Bacon: What do the members of your union earn?

Muhsin: At the beginning of the occupation, the administration of L. Paul Bremer decreed wage grades for workers that were very oppressive. His system had 11 grades. The eleventh grade starts at $50 a month, and the first grade maxes out at $1,300 a month. You can see the disparity. No one can survive on $50 a month, while a tiny group receives much more. The maximum that a laborer in our industry can earn is grade 5 -- about $250, or hardly enough to survive. We have demanded that the ministry change this law, but even if they do, compensation will still be very low.

Bacon: Faleh, the oil union challenged the Bremer pay grades in 2004. What do oil workers make now?

Umara: The grades imposed by Bremer applied to workers all over Iraq. We objected to them at that time, and threatened to strike. After we met with the first Oil Minister, we were able to adjust the schedule. Compensation in oil is now completely different from that in other fields. We have eliminated the eleventh and tenth grades, for instance. There's a small improvement, but the prices in the market are going up all the time.

Bacon: I've visited the homes of oil workers, and many people still sleep in the same room, and while families have enough to eat, they live in very basic conditions.

Umara: Conditions are very tough. An oil worker in the fourth grade gets about 600,000 dinars, or about $400 a month. A small refrigerator for your house costs $200. That's half your salary. Could you survive on $200 for a month? The working conditions are also very difficult. But to be fair, it's better than it was during the time of Saddam Hussein. In the oil and electricity industries we asked for a special bonus of 30 percent, and managed to get it because of the strength of our two unions. God willing, we are going to continue improving the wages.

Bacon: Hashmeya, how was your union organized and how were you chosen to head it?

Muhsin: After the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, in September 2003, we organized labor committees in many workplaces. I was elected head of the committee where I work. Then, at the first conference for all workers in our industry, in May, 2004, I was elected head of the union. All our union's officers are volunteers. We have a democratic process with internal bylaws, and all the different kinds of work in the industry have to be represented. We have a convention every two years, and at our second convention in June, 2006, I was re-elected unanimously. But because of the government decree which seized all union funds in Iraq, we have no money or any way to collect dues. The activists in all our unions, even in the electricity and oil industries, contribute as much as we can from our own wages, and that's what we use for all our union's activities.

Bacon: What is the attitude of the men in the union towards you as a woman?

Muhsin: At the beginning there was some difficulty, but now it's much easier. The workers elected me. They come to me with their problems, and we do our best to solve them. We have five sub-unions in our industry, and many women have union membership cards. We put their pictures on our posters to show them off.

Bacon: When I was in Baghdad in October, 2003, Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority published lists of state-owned enterprises that they intended to sell to private owners. Were there electrical enterprises on those lists? Are there plans to privatize electric power generation?

Muhsin: The power situation in Iraq is deteriorating very fast. We cannot get spare parts to replace ones that break or wear out. The terrorists sabotage the transmission lines and generating stations. Management corruption is very widespread. There has been no improvement in this situation at all, and people suffer from constant blackouts. In the labor movement, we think this situation has been deliberately created so that people will conclude that something must be done, and that the only alternative is the privatization of electric power generation.On May 23 of this year we protested this situation. We asked the Electricity Ministry to improve the transmission system. We threatened to strike the transmission lines and substations, and cut power to the oil pumping stations.

This would just have been a first step. When the electricity minister understood what we were planning, he agreed to discussions and we postponed the strike. But three days ago my union told me that they were again starting plans for a strike because those discussions were going nowhere. The government announced a crash program to improve the transmission lines and the entire system, but the money for it disappeared. Our objective is to force immediate improvements in the system, and we've given the minister plans and alternatives showing how this can be done. We are the experts in our own industry.

Bacon: Last month, the president of the oil union wrote to the U.S. Congress saying it wanted the occupation to end, and the troops to leave, but that it didn't want the oil law imposed as a condition for this. How does the oil union propose that the occupation should end?

Umara: All the problems in Iraq come from the occupation. Our oil union and all the other unions in Iraq believe we can't rebuild our country so long as the occupation is going on. The occupation fosters the enormous corruption. We ask people in the U.S. to tell their government to leave as soon as possible. The troops should be evacuated, without making the implementation of the oil law a condition.The U.S. administration wants to control our oil resources of our country, so our letter to the U.S. Congress asked your leaders to stop making proposals that violate the will of the vast majority of our people. We have plenty of oil experts in Iraq, who are perfectly capable of managing the oil industry. The Southern Oil Company, where our union is based, is the only enterprise in Iraq currently producing oil. We're exporting 2,250,000 barrels a day, all managed by Iraqi experts, and produced by Iraqi hands.Bacon: Many people say that if the troops leave, there is no civil society capable of governing the country. Do you agree with this?

Umara: There are many cities in Iraq controlled by the Iraqi administration. These cities are quite secure, while the cities controlled by the occupation troops see continuous killing and carnage. As long as we have an occupation, we'll have more sabotage and killing.But when people from the local tribes control the security, they have expelled the al-Qaeda forces and those others who are terrorizing people. This means we can protect ourselves and bring security to our nation, with no need of the U.S. forces. To those who believe that if the U.S. troops leave there will be chaos, I say, let them go, and if we fight each other afterwards, let us do that. We are being killed by the thousands already. If the occupation continues, there will only be more blood shed by the U.S. forces and the Iraqi people.

Bacon: Hashmeya, your union belongs to another union federation. What does your federation think should happen with the occupation?

Muhsin: The electrical workers union belongs to the General Union of Iraqi Workers, and we want the occupation to end as soon as possible. All Iraqi unions want this.After the collapse of the regime all the borders were open. Many people, intruders, came to Iraq. Many were al-Qaeda and others, who brought weapons and explosives. There was no inspection at the border at all. As an occupied nation under UN Resolution 1483, the United States was obligated to protect and guarantee our security. But the very first thing [they] did was throw the borders open. Given this experience, we're not expecting to have much security in Iraq so long as the United States is there.Some towns are secure, but wherever you see the U.S. forces, you see a lot of terror and sabotage. We want the United States to leave. Of course, it takes time and it's not an easy operation. The logistics are tough. But our first and last demand is that the occupation end as soon as possible.

Bacon: The Bush administration says it envisions the presence of an occupation force for many years, comparing the situation to the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea. What do you think of that possibility?

Muhsin: If it was up to Bush, he'd occupy the world. But that's not what the nations of the world want. Would they accept occupation, as we have had to do? Our nation does not want to be occupied, and we'll do our best to end it.

For more articles and images on Iraq's unions, see http://dbacon.igc.org/Iraq/iraq.htm

US Site on Iraq

http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iraq/index.asp

Saturday, 30 June 2007

Iraq's Women under pressure

Le Monde diplomatique ~~ May 2007

Iraq's women under pressure

The lives of many Iraqi women have become appreciably harsher following international sanctions and the US-led invasion. Although pleased to see Saddam toppled, some look back on the prosperity and social liberation of the Ba'athist years with nostalgia By Nadje Sadig Al-Ali.

Iraqi women sometimes remember that they have lived in a multi-ethnic,multicultural national entity with a prospering economy and rapid modernisation; at other times they recall repression, discrimination,declining living conditions and sectarian tensions.I have tried to document the diversity of experiences during themonarchy, the years after the revolution of 1958, the economic boom (and the expansion of the middle class) in the 1970s, the Iran-Iraq war from 1980-88, the first Gulf war of 1991 and the economicsanctions of 1990-2003.

Since the United States invasion many under-represented sections of society fail to acknowledge these experiences as different. I feeluneasy when people say "Iraqi women think…" or "Iraqi women want…"because how can that represent such a wide variety of views? The difference in perspectives is historically based and cannot simply be reduced to ethnicity and religion.The period after the first Ba'athist coup of 1963 is associated with increased political violence, greater sectarianism and a reversal ofprogressive laws and reforms. Yet many women remember relative social freedom and cultural vibrancy during the rule of the Arif brothers,1963-68, and the early Ba'ath period, 1968-78.

Many secular, apolitical middle-class Shia, Sunni, Kurdish andChristian women appreciated the achievements of the early Ba'ath period in education, modernisation of infrastructures and welfareprovisions. While those who actively opposed the regime rememberpolitical repression, mass arrests, torture and executions, even somewho had first hand experiences of the regime's repressive practices retrospectively appreciated its developmental policies.

Cosmopolitan Baghdad Women's memories show that an urban middle-class identity, especially the cosmopolitan Baghdadi identity, subsumed ethnic and religious differences even throughout sanctions. A middle-class Shia family inBaghdad had more in common with its Sunni Arab and Kurdishmiddle-class neighbours in mixed neighbourhoods than they did with theimpoverished Shia living in Madina al-Thawra (renamed Saddam city, now Sadr city) or with Shia in the south. Baghdadi families were oftenmulti-religious and multi-ethnic, and mixed marriages were commonamong the urban Baghdadi middle classes.Zeynab, a sympathiser of the Islamist Shia Da'wa party who now lives in Dearborn in the US, said: "We were all friends. We celebrated holidays together. When we had the [Shia] celebration in commemorationof Imam Husein, even Jews and Christians joined us. We never thoughtabout race or religion. Schools were open to everybody. In schools, we had Jewish, Christian, Sunni and Kurdish classmates. There were no badfeelings towards anyone.">From the late 1970s differences between secular and Islamist political positions started to matter more, influencing experiences of the regime. Members or sympathisers of the Da'wa party were targeted not so much for their religious affiliation but because of their opposition to the regime and their aim to establish an Islamic state.No one wants to diminish the suffering that members of the Shia Islamist opposition parties endured, but they were not the onlytargets of state repression; Kurds and others, including Sunni Arabs who actively resisted the regime, all suffered.The Shia Islamists' claim to having been singled out because of religious affiliation rather than political conviction contributes to the current atmosphere in which rights, privileges and power are linked to sectarian divisions and arguments over who suffered most.

Of course, specific atrocities committed by the previous regime should not be swept under the carpet for the sake of national unity. The trial of Saddam Hussein was a missed opportunity to initiate a credible truth and reconciliation process.Many Iraqi women gained socially and economically during the 1970s despite political repression. Living conditions improved for most ofthe population as the state relied not only on force and its power tocontrol, but also devised generous welfare programmes and opened opportunities for investment and capital accumulation that helped many in the expanding middle classes.

Yet, from the 1980s on, political repression, the Iran-Iraq war, thenthe first Gulf war and the militarisation of society began to affectwomen, through the loss of family and economic decline. Under sanctions there was a radical shift; women had less work or access toeducation, and health care and social services declined. Asunemployment worsened and infrastructure collapsed, women were pushedback to their homes. 'All this was cut'Sawsan, an Assyrian woman from the north, worked as a teacher in ahigh school until 1995. She said: "We did not feel it so much duringthe first years of sanctions, but by 1994 it really hit us. Social conditions had deteriorated. The currency had been devalued while salaries were fixed. Many women started to quit work. Some of my friends could not even afford transport to the school. Before sanctions, the school made sure that we were picked up by a bus, but all this was cut.

For me, the most important thing was my children. I did not want them to come home and be alone in the house. It becametoo unsafe. And I know from my own work that schools deterioratedbadly; teachers had to quit work and there was no money for anything. So I felt that I had to teach them at home."Since the 2003 invasion, survival is a priority as lack of security isaccompanied by difficult living conditions. The infrastructure hasfurther deteriorated; lack of electricity, clean water, sanitation and a proper health system are part of everyday life. Intisar, who is adoctor in a teaching hospital in Baghdad, says: "We only haveelectricity for three to five hours a day. There isn't enough cleandrinking water. Lack of sanitation is a big problem, one of the main causes of malnutrition, dysentery and death among young children."

According to recent reports published by Unicef and the British-basedcharity Medact, the occupation has led to a deterioration in health,malnutrition, a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases and increasingmortality rates for children under five (from 5% in 1990 to 12.5% in 2004 according to Unicef). As during the sanctions, women suffer often the last to eat after feeding children and husbands. They have to stand and watch while their sick, malnourished children fail to getthe care they need.Even so, women have been trying to improve conditions. Locally-basedwomen's initiatives and groups flourish, answering practical needs related to poverty and the lack of health care, housing and socialservices. Women have pooled resources to address the need foreducation and training (such as computer classes) as well as income generation. Many initiatives filling the gap in state welfare and health are associated with political and religious bodies, butindependent, non-partisan professional women have also mobilised.Leila, a woman's rights activists still living in Iraq, said:'Initially many of us were very hopeful. We did not like foreign soldiers on our streets, but we were happy Saddam was gone. Once thegeneral chaos and the looting settled down a bit, women were the firstto get organised. Women doctors and lawyers started to offer freeservices to women. We started to discuss political issues and tried to lobby the American and British forces. But the Americans sent peopleto Iraq whose attitude was: 'We don't deal with women.' [Presidentialenvoy Paul] Bremer was one. Iraqi women managed to get a woman's quota despite the Americans who opposed it.

Their idea of women's issues wasto organise big meetings and conferences and build modern women's centres. Do you think anyone went to visit these centres?"Threats to women Although bombings of residential areas caused many deaths, Iraqis havealso been shot by US or British troops. Whole families have beenkilled approaching a checkpoint or through failing to recogniseprohibited areas. There are many documented accounts of physical assaults on women at checkpoints and during house searches.

Several women I talked to said they had been verbally or physicallythreatened, and assaulted by soldiers as they were searched at checkpoints. US forces have also arrested wives, sisters and daughters of suspected insurgents to pressure them to surrender (1); in effect taken hostage by US forces and used as bargaining chips. Such arrests cause a sense of shame associated with detention. There is mountingevidence of torture and rape; women identified become potential victims of honour crimes.Women's organisations have also documented Islamist violence to women,including acid thrown into faces, even targeted killings. In 2003 manywomen in Basra reported that they were forced to wear a headscarf or restrict their movements because men began to harass or shout at them.Women of all ages are now forced to comply with dress codes and becareful when they go out. Suad, a former accountant and mother offour, lives in a neighbourhood of Baghdad that used to be mixed beforesectarian killings in 2005 and 2006. She told me: "I resisted for along time, but last year I started wearing the hijab, after I was threatened by several Islamist militants in front of my house. They are terrorising the whole neighbourhood, behaving as if they were incharge. And they are actually controlling the area. No one dares to challenge them. A few months ago they distributed leaflets around thearea warning people to obey them and demanding that women should stay at home."

The threat of Islamist militias now goes beyond dress codes and callsfor gender segregation at university. Despite, indeed partly becauseof the US and British rhetoric about liberation and rights, women have been pushed into the background and into their homes. Women with apublic profile (doctors, academics, lawyers, NGO activists,politicians) are threatened and targeted for assassination. There arealso criminal gangs who worsen the climate of fear by kidnapping women for ransom, sexual abuse or sale into prostitution outside Iraq.It isn't a surprise that many of the women I interviewed remember thepast nostalgically.Original text in English* Nadje Sadig Al-Ali is senior lecturer in social anthropology at the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter and authorof Gender, Secularism & the State in the Middle East: The EgyptianWomen's Movements (Cambridge University Press, 2000). Her latest book is Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (Zed Books,March 2007).(1) Those suspected of being involved in both the resistance as wellas in terrorist activities are regularly detained without informing their families about their whereabouts and their well being.Disappearances, random arrests, torture and abuse in prisons are common phenomena in post-Saddam Iraq

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