This Iraqi Resistance To Occupation Progressives Can Support!

[Itsthetruth]

electroniciraq.net
June 20, 2005

Fueling Resistance
by Ewa Jasiewicz

'What Bleeds Leads' has been the mass media's narrow angle when it comes to stories on Iraq. Soaring death-tolls, explosions, wailing mourners, harried police, - these are the bloody images of a typical Iraq news story. The story that didn't make the news last month though was that of one of Iraq's most powerful unions - the 23,000 strong General Union of Oil Employees - holding a historic conference on 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, local party political party activists and an international delegates from Britain and the USA gathered under the banner 'To revive the public sector and to build an Iraq free of privatisation',

Established just a month after the end of the war, first in the Southern Oil Company, the union has since led reconstruction efforts which have seen refineries, drilling rigs, pipelines and port equipment rehabilitated, as well as strike action against low wages which halted exports. The union has also lead wildcat strike action over the attack on Najaf last year; blockaded access to tankers serving British troops; expelled Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root from all oil sector worksites; negotiated returns of workers sacked under the former regime; and forced the exchange of 1000 imported Pakistani labourers brought over by Kuwaiti giant 'Al Khourafi Company' for Iraqi workers needing work. The GUOE also confronted Bremer's humiliating Order 30 wage table with its own collectively crafted table and succeeded in raising the minimum wage for oil workers from 69,000 Iraqi Dinar (then $35) to 102,000 ($50) plus risk and location payments. The Union has also secured land and building rights for homes for oil workers, protects pipelines from sabotage and is active in finding work for graduates from Basra's Petroleum Institute.

Iraqi oil workers are fighting back, in a struggle which may see the fruits of the war and occupation soured, and the prize which Washington's oil hawks have set their sights on, defended and held out of reach. This is a resistance we can practically support and engage with. A resistance we can communicate with; an open resistance demanding international solidarity. We couldn't stop the war, we can't stop the ongoing military operations, massacres and bombings carried out by occupation forces in Iraq, but we can work to stop the corporate occupation agenda, which depends on and is fuelled by war and massacre from being realised. An agenda which is being pushed from the centres of the global North - London, Washington, Warsaw and beyond and which has met its match in the form of thousands of workers in the oilfields of southern Iraq, refusing, rejecting and vowing to hold out against the corporate invasion and occupation Iraq. We have a responsibility to join them.


http://electroniciraq.net/news/2014.shtml


Extracts of the GUOE final conference communiqué:

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.

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.

Committee of Presidency of the Conference
The first conference on privatisation Basra, 26th May 2005

[Itsthetruth]

1. Please Read The Entire Article

Please read the entire informative article at the link in the lead post. This is the most detailed information I have read anywhere about what is actually happening among Iraqi oil workers, the key to Iraq's future. Thank you.

[manic expression]

2. That is encouraging

it would be so sweet to see the neo-cons invade Iraq just to get oil, only to see the unions deny them their greedy ambitions. These people need support, as they are fighting for something that is unmistakably good for Iraq. We need to have solidarity with this movement (among others).

:kick:

(thanks for posting)

[Disturbed]

5. Will the Bush Regime care about what Iraqis want?

Iraqi lawmakers from across the political spectrum called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from their country in a letter released to the media June 19.

The move comes as U.S. President George W. Bush is under increasing domestic pressure to set a timetable for the pullout of American forces in the face of an increasing death toll at the hands of insurgents.

Eighty-two Shiite, Kurdish, Sunni Arab, Christian and communist deputies made the call in a letter sent by Falah Hassan Shanshal of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), the largest group in parliament, to speaker Hajem al-Hassani.

Some of those who signed urged that a detailed timetable be established for the withdrawal.

There are currently about 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq, including a 138,000-strong U.S. force, which has borne the brunt of attacks against coalition forces.

In the letter, Shanshal said the 275-member parliament was the Iraqi people’s legitimate representative and guardian of their interests.
<snip>
more...

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=925971&C=mideast

[manic expression]

8. Of course not, the US will give Iraqis no power

The "elections" are simply meaningless, as there has been no change since the elections due to the fact that the US does not care about Iraqi representation, and will not lessen its grip on the country. However, if Iraqis in the "government" refuse to be a puppet, the US may have no choice but to listen to their demands.

Even if the US ignores the Iraqis completely (which they will do), they need to continue to speak out, as it will have an effect on the situation, whether or not the US takes notice.

If nothing else, this is an example of Iraqis expressing their demands and grievances through non-violent means.

[eridani]

3. Kick

:kick:

[geek tragedy]

4. Iraqi workers, through their organizational efforts, offer the best hope

for civil society and social justice in Iraq. Fuck the armed resistance and fuck the Bush administration. These guys are the true freedom fighters.

[bpilgrim]

6. UNIONS are so quaint to the neoCONs these days

but looks like they're still effective when they join the workers together... since, to rummy's everlasting chagrin, you still need people to do somethings ;->

this will be the only EFFECTIVE WAY to resist in the long term... the VIOLENCE only plays into the neoCONs hands tragically.

they have my support, thanks for sharing this important story :toast:

peace

[Itsthetruth]

7. kick

eom

[Disturbed]

9. Something that many people don't know or have..

forgotten: Most Iraqis know what being a Colony is. They were a British Colony for 30 years and finally managed to throw off that Occupation. I believe that they can throw off the U.S. Occupation, as well. Iraqis are tough and they have been through HELL and are still going through horrific times. Iraqis are not by and large backward or naive. The might of the U.S. and the UK may not cow them as Amerikans are cowed by the Bush Regime.