It is most unfortunate that NYCLAW has once again chosen to circulate malicious, red-baiting characterizations about one of the Iraqi trade union leaders on the eve of the Iraqi Workers Voices Solidarity Tour. They did the same thing in 2005, prior to the last tour -- a tour in which our Iraqi guests addressed tens of thousands of trade unionists and other working people about the impact of the occupation and the imperative need to end it. That tour played an instrumental role in moving the AFL-CIO to adopt a "rapid withdrawal" resolution a month later.
To set the record straight: Both delegates from Iraq have endorsed USLAW's stand on withdrawal from Iraq, and have done so without reservation or condition. There was no ambiguity in 2005, nor is there now about their opposition to the occupation. In 2005, all the Iraqis (except one who was hospitalized during the tour) signed a joint declaration [
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/downloads/Iraqi%20USLAW%20Joint%20Statement.English.pdf ] with USLAW leaders affirming their commitment to this position.
None of the unions in Iraq are monolithic. The GFIW, like the other Iraqi labor Federations, includes members with a range of political and religious views and affiliations. The labor movement of Iraq has distinguished itself as a bastion of tolerance and non-sectarian inclusion - a model for a democratic future for Iraq. All five labor federations have acted jointly in issuing declarations against the oil law and against the IMF program of structural adjustment and neocon designs for privatization of the Iraqi economy. (Their statements are on the USLAW website at www.uslaboragainstwar.org.)
Iraqi workers are fully capable of deciding who will lead them without assistance from Americans who set themselves up to sit in judgment about who is or is not a legitimate opponent of the occupation. Our energy should and will be invested in building solidarity with the labor movement of Iraq and a movement in this country that is strong enough to end this criminal and immoral occupation so that the Iraqis can recover their sovereignty and determine their own destiny. NYCLAW's unprincipled attacks do neither.
A number of leaders of Iraq's unions, including leaders of the IFTU/GWIF, have been the victims of kidnapping, torture, and barbarous murder at the hands of death squads. Branding a labor leader in Iraq as an agent of the occupation amounts to an invitation to attack, kidnapping, torture or death. This does not build solidarity with the Iraqi people and labor movement. It puts courageous labor leaders in grave danger and breeds confusion and division in our movement that undermines solidarity at the very time when they need it now more than ever from the U.S. labor movement.
Our Iraqi guests can speak for themselves and will answer any questions those who come to hear them might have - just as they did last time.
Just as we did last time, we expect the labor and antiwar movements here will reject this destructive baiting and will instead redouble our commitment to solidarity with the courageous trade unions of Iraq.
To set the record straight: Both delegates from Iraq have endorsed USLAW's stand on withdrawal from Iraq, and have done so without reservation or condition. There was no ambiguity in 2005, nor is there now about their opposition to the occupation. In 2005, all the Iraqis (except one who was hospitalized during the tour) signed a joint declaration [
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/downloads/Iraqi%20USLAW%20Joint%20Statement.English.pdf ] with USLAW leaders affirming their commitment to this position. None of the unions in Iraq are monolithic. The GFIW, like the other Iraqi labor Federations, includes members with a range of political and religious views and affiliations. The labor movement of Iraq has distinguished itself as a bastion of tolerance and non-sectarian inclusion - a model for a democratic future for Iraq. All five labor federations have acted jointly in issuing declarations against the oil law and against the IMF program of structural adjustment and neocon designs for privatization of the Iraqi economy. (Their statements are on the USLAW website at www.uslaboragainstwar.org.)
Iraqi workers are fully capable of deciding who will lead them without assistance from Americans who set themselves up to sit in judgment about who is or is not a legitimate opponent of the occupation. Our energy should and will be invested in building solidarity with the labor movement of Iraq and a movement in this country that is strong enough to end this criminal and immoral occupation so that the Iraqis can recover their sovereignty and determine their own destiny. NYCLAW's unprincipled attacks do neither.
A number of leaders of Iraq's unions, including leaders of the IFTU/GWIF, have been the victims of kidnapping, torture, and barbarous murder at the hands of death squads. Branding a labor leader in Iraq as an agent of the occupation amounts to an invitation to attack, kidnapping, torture or death. This does not build solidarity with the Iraqi people and labor movement. It puts courageous labor leaders in grave danger and breeds confusion and division in our movement that undermines solidarity at the very time when they need it now more than ever from the U.S. labor movement.
Our Iraqi guests can speak for themselves and will answer any questions those who come to hear them might have - just as they did last time.
Just as we did last time, we expect the labor and antiwar movements here will reject this destructive baiting and will instead redouble our commitment to solidarity with the courageous trade unions of Iraq.
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