Terrorists kill 50 workers in Baghdad and injure many other workers - some critically
On 23 May 2005 a suicide car bomb exploded amidst construction, plastic and painters workers who were waiting in the centre of the district town of Al Talibia in Baghdad to be picked up for work.
50 workers were killed instantly and many other workers were injured. Some have life-threatening injuries
The IFTU strongly condemns these vile atrocities against our brave workers calls upon the state relevant authorities to put an end to such vile acts and further calls upon the transitional government to take urgent steps to protect the lives of innocent working people who are working day and night to rebuild Iraq and to bring those criminals and terrorists who have killed and terrorized others to justice so that they can receive their just punishment.
Glory and honour to the martyrs of the Iraqi working class
Long live the Iraqi working class
IFTU
Information Office
25 May 2005
IFJ Baghdad Centre Focus on Safety as Three More Journalists Die in Iraq’s Media Nightmare
20/05/2005
Three Iraqi journalists have been assassinated in “cold-blooded and ruthless executions” on the roadside south of Baghdad reports the safety office of the International Federation of Journalists in Iraq.
The attack took place on Sunday when the journalists were travelling to Kerbala from Baghdad. They were among 13 passengers in a minibus that was stopped by an armed group who picked out the journalists when they showed their press cards. The rest of the passengers were freed, but Najem Abd Khudair, the Kerbala correspondent for the newspaper Al Mada, Ahmad Adam, a freelance writer for Al Mada and trainee journalist, Ali Jassem Al Rumi, working for Al Safeer newspaper in Baghdad were then killed.
“These colleagues were savagely murdered,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “They had their throats cut in cold-blooded and ruthless executions that are a cruel demonstration of the horrors of working in journalism in Iraq today.”
These latest killings bring to 85 the number of journalists and media staff killed in Iraq since the US and British invasion in March 2003. Of this number some 62, almost 80 per cent, are Iraqi. The number also includes 14 deaths at the hands of US troops, which have prompted the IFJ and others to demand independent reports on the circumstances.
The IFJ is also demanding that US and Iraq authorities free eight Iraqi journalists, most working for western media, who were arrested in March allegedly because “they pose a security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces.”
“These arrests, without formal charges, are nothing short of intimidation,” said White. “Journalism in Iraq is in the deepest crisis and the authorities should bring forward clear charges or release these journalists immediately. The uncertainty and injustice of arrest and arbitrary detention is intolerable.”
The IFJ opened its safety office in Baghdad last month with the support of Iraqi journalists who have created the Iraqi National Journalism Advisory Panel to improve levels of protection for journalists, to campaign for journalists’ rights and to encourage journalists to work together in the current crisis.
“Iraqi journalists get no training, they have no safety equipment, they have no insurance or social protection,” said White. “The Baghdad centre, which is drafting guidelines on safety precautions for journalists in Iraq, provides much-needed support.”
The centre has produced and issued media and journalists in Iraq with a special safety package -- an Iraqi edition of the safety manual Live News in Arabic, first aid kits, and a CD-Rom guide to security and protection for media staff.
For further information please contact +32 2 235 22 07
The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries
The Public Service Workers' Union, an IFTU affiliate, has issued a statement condemning terrorist attacks against hairdressers.
A wave of terrorist attacks carried out against workers in beauty saloons in Baghdad and across many other cities in the middle and south of Iraq has resulted in the brutal murders of many workers in this field who are struggling in the most difficult circumstance to earn a living so as to feed their families and children. These innocent workers have been subjected to the most barbaric and violent murders at the hands of backward terrorists who have no regards to human rights and who are killing them because they claim hairdressing is an 'un-Islamic' practice which must be stopped.
These extremists who are killing hairdressers without mercy are murdering them in the same way they assassinated prominent Iraqi patriots such as engineers, businessmen and doctors and bombed worship places such as churches and mosques.
These barbarians are killing in the name of Islam, but Islam is a peaceful religion and forbids such act of violence.
The Public Service Workers Union strongly condemns these vile acts and calls upon the new transitional government to take urgent steps to protect the lives of innocent hairdressers who are doing a public service to Iraqis and to bring those criminals and terrorists who have killed and terrorized others to justice so that they can receive their just punishment.
May God bless the souls of our murdered brothers and may they rest in heaven.
Condolences and deepest sympathy are with the bereaved families
Glory to the martyrs of Iraqi democracy.
The Public Service Workers Union
The Executive Committee
Baghdad, 22 May 2005
A suicide car bomb exploded amidst workers who were waiting in the centre of the town of Tikrit to be picked up for work.
33 workers were killed instantly and 88 workers were injured. Some have life-threatening injuries.
And in separate act of terrorism, two cleaning workers were killed in Baghdad by a roadside bomb.
On May 14 2005, in the Al-Dorah district of Baghdad, two roadsweepers were killed by a roadside bomb planted by terrorists.
The IFTU strongly condemns these atrocities against innocent workers and calls upon the Iraqi authorities to take urgent measures to protect the life of workers while carrying out their duties and further calls on it to bring to justice the killers, perpetrators of these heinous crime against defenceless people.
Our deepest sympathy and condolences are with the bereaved families
Glory to the martyrs of the Iraqi working class.
IFTU Information Office
22 May 2005
At the May Day celebrations in Baghdad this year, the President of the IFTU Mr Rasem Al Awadi honoured 20 trade unionists for their services to working people and patriotic sacrifices for Iraq and the trade union movement.
The IFTU President Mr Rasem Al Awadi honoured the 20 veterans of the Iraqi Trade Union movement, including Hadi Saleh our murdered comrade.
These comrades fought for democracy, jobs and above all the right of Iraqi working people to form and join independent, free and democratic trade unions, for the right to strike and the right to trade union representation.
Fuad Al Alaskary,
Satar Areaby,
Ibrahim al Bana,
Farage Eaalewi,
Ali Al Ghazaly,
Hashim Hamdan,
Abass Hussein.
Sadeq Jaffer,
Hatab Juna,
Shaee Khassem,
Mohammed Khthban,
Askar Ileaby,
Jassem Mashkur,
Abdel Razaq Mazed,
Hashim Mufti,
Basheer Naama,
Salam Daud Narjes,
Jabar Nasah,
Hadi Saleh,
Shaker Salman.
IFTU
20 May 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 14 - Iraq is awash in carnage and politics, and Muayad Naama is on hand to help people laugh at it.
Using jagged lines and potato-shaped figures, Mr. Naama, a 53-year-old cartoonist, tells the story of Iraq today. It is a place where people have become inured to street violence; state corruption exists on a giant scale; politicians argue endlessly.
A dealer points out which vehicles are best for car bombs in a cartoon by Muayad Naama.
As violence has surged throughout Iraq, and in Baghdad in particular, over the last few weeks, Mr. Naama has sketched images that make light of the very dark situation, in which car bombings and killings tear through Iraqis' schools, and follow them to the market, to work and home. His cartoons appear in several daily newspapers.
In one recent cartoon, a sneaky-looking character in a dishdasha, the traditional men's gown, looks around a used car lot while a salesman points out which brands are best for car bombings. In another, a man drinking tea watches as an exploding car bomb sends heads, hands and steering wheels sailing in all directions. "Don't worry," he reassures his friend. "It's not our car."
Perhaps five other professional cartoonists of such note work in Iraq today, using wit to give Iraqis exhausted by war and dread an honest, if dark, moment of humor. One, Abdel Rakhim Yassir, showed the Iraqi under Saddam Hussein as a painter at an easel, surrounded by brick walls - and painting those walls on canvas after canvas. In another cartoon, two modern Iraqis, surrounded by the same brick walls, squabble and hit each other at the base of a single escape ladder. The next frame has each man standing alone, with the ladder sawed in half. Neither piece is tall enough to reach the top of the wall.
"Some people think the cartoon is only for fun," said Mr. Naama, sipping spicy Arabic coffee at a hotel cafe in central Baghdad, his cartoons spread before him. "But here we have the black joke. You may laugh at it, but it's painful."
Corruption crops up frequently in Mr. Naama's cartoons. Iraqis complain bitterly about theft by government officials, which they say has ballooned since the fall of Mr. Hussein. In a drawing published in March, a doctor operates on an obese patient labeled "Government Ministries." His arm deep inside the man's belly, the doctor declares the diagnosis: an enlarged pancreas from "too much public money."
Mr. Naama works in a small room in an apartment in western Baghdad. His paintings decorate the purple walls, and his tools - pencils, pens, erasers and a small desk - fit neatly into a corner of the tidy room. He prefers to work at night, when there are no distractions, he said. Mr. Naama is far more unassuming than his cartoons.
"They say that when he talks, you don't hear his voice," said Athir Haddad, a professor of finance at a private university and a fan. "But when you see his drawings, you feel he is boiling up inside. That he is someone who feels the people's pain."
Mr. Naama's fortunes have risen and fallen with Iraq's own painful history. He was born in 1951, almost two decades before Mr. Hussein's Baath Party took control of the country. At the time, Baghdad was a bustling, cosmopolitan city with lively cafes and bars.
But when Mr. Hussein began in the late 1970's to clamp down on political opposition, including by the Communist Party, of which Mr. Naama was a member, his life quickly changed. In 1979, he was arrested and beaten. He still barely hears out of one ear as a result of the beatings.
Now, after decades of dictatorship, a chaotic political scene has burst forth. And unlike Mr. Hussein's government, under which open criticism brought dire, often fatal, consequences, the new Iraqi government appears to be fair game.
For that, and many other reasons, Mr. Naama said, life is better now. People can speak freely and practice their religion as they like, he said. The chaos and lack of rules, he said, must eventually improve.
But democracy is slow going. Iraqis voted in nationwide elections more than three months ago, and it was not until May 7 that the government was fully formed. In a recent Naama cartoon, an Iraqi family huddles hungrily around a caldron, labeled "Iraqi Constitution." It is cooking over a pitifully small candle.
"People are hungry," he said. "They want rules. They want a government."
Zaineb Obeid contributed reporting for this article
Kurdish women make a stand
By John Lloyd
Financial Times: May 15 2005
Dr Ariana Alazajani, an obstetrician and professor of medicine at Arbil University in Iraqi Kurdistan, has a number of reasons to be cautious about her future in post-war Iraq. One reason is because she is a Kurd, another is because she is a woman.
“When I studied in Baghdad, it was the same for all of us women,” she said, “none wanted a religion that held them down. But we Kurds had developed a different culture which is free of fundamentalism; men and women treat each other with respect.”
After 14 years of de facto independence, the status of women in Kurdistan is noticeably better than in the rest of Iraq, they say. They fear reintegration with the Arab-dominated south, and a government dominated by Shia fundamentalists.
The Kurds have constructed the outline of a democratic and secular society which they now see as threatened.
Dr Alazajani says all Iraqi women, not only Kurds, fear a shift to fundamentalism of the kind that happened in neighbouring Iran 25 years ago.
Though still largely absent from the senior ranks of power, whether political or economic, Kurdish women say that both their influence and liberties have flourished after Kurdistan was declared a safe haven by the US and the UK following the Gulf war.
Professor Vian Suleiman, one of 25 women in the 111-seat Kurdish parliament, still sees her identity as a Kurd rather than a woman. “There are lots of problems for the parliament, and some concern women. But I don't see myself being there as a woman, but as a Kurd. Iraqis regarded us as second class citizens not because we were women, but because we were Kurds.”
In truth, most meetings and public occasions are still run and attended largely by men. A gathering of political figures in Duhok, at which Professor Suleiman and other female MPs were speaking, had a slightly forced air, with the leading politician in the city yawning elaborately throughout the women's presentations. But if the progress is relative, it is felt as real and valuable, and to be quite distinct from the surrounding Arab societies.
In a meeting in Sulaimaniya of officials of the fledgling trade unions, a group of female officials, elected in the main from mixed-sex workforces, claimed that pay and conditions are equal, no jobs are barred to them and that women can organise successfully a claim echoed loudly by their male colleagues.
Baher Osman, a beautician, said she had organised hundreds of men and women in the city's beauty parlours and hairdressing salons. “Men and women can work together there,” she says, “It's unheard of anywhere else”.
The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions celebrated May Day in Baghdad with a mass rally at the Iraqi National Theatre in Baghdad. The May Day rally was reported in 'Tareek al-Shaab', the weekly newspaper of the Iraqi Communist Party. The report (in Arabic) is here.
Iraqi praises solidarity of firefighters
(Friday 13 May 2005)
by LOUISE NASTRATPOUR in Southport
IRAQI Federation of Trade Unions spokesman Abdullah Muhsin praised Britain's firefighters yesterday for their "magnificent show of solidarity" with the Iraqi people in their struggle against war and occupation.
The trade unions' international representative told conference of the "brutal and systematic" torture and murder of his comrades at the hands of Saddam Hussein. But he stressed that Iraqi people never wanted the US-led war and occupation.
"The principled position that the FBU took against the war and occupation of Iraq and your call for the return of the full sovereignty of that country is highly appreciated by the people," he said.
"The IFTU was against the war from the outset because we knew that the victims would be innocent civilians, not the regime.
"We knew that Saddam had no support among the masses and could be overthrown by the Iraqis. But our cry for genuine international help was ignored."
Mr Muhsin called for Iraq's "crippling" debt to be cancelled and condemned the US-led occupation's "squandering" of the country's oil wealth.
"The country's oil wells were looted by the regime for arms, wars and personal enrichment. And today, that wealth is squandered to pay for the occupation," he noted.
He explained that the Iraqi trade unionists' priorities are now to "keep Iraq intact" - as the risk of Iraq decending into a civil war is still very real - and to include free and democratic trade union laws in the new constitution.
"We accept nothing less than a strong and democratic trade union movement and a fully sovereign Iraq," the speaker declared.
Mr Muhsin gave a dark and horrific account of the fate of Iraqi trade unionists under Saddam's regime, noting that, like many others, he was forced to flee the country in 1978, as the regime launched a merciless campaign against the progressive elements in the country - in particular, trade unionists, communists, students and women's organisations.
"Saddam's regime initiated a campaign of terror, where most of the union activists were imprisoned, tortured, executed or disappeared," he said.
"For many Iraqi people, the term union became associated with oppression and terror. Their response to joining a union was 'keep away from us. We want to live in peace.'."
As a result, an underground movement was established in 1980 and this helped to organise strikes around the country. Many of those strikes were "brutally crushed."
Mr Muhsin blamed the high unemployment for the recent explosion of violent attacks in the country and condemned the insurgents as "a sinister and reactionary coalition" of religious fundamentalist who exploit the popular anti-US sentiment in the country.
"The foreign troops must leave in order to isolate the cynical and the anti-social forces that indiscriminately bomb and kill innocent people," he insisted.
Mr Muhsin went on to highlight the Iraq election in January, branding it a "historic breakthrough." He said that 60 per cent - 8.5 million - Iraqis had gone to the polls, despite the constant bomb attacks on voters.
"As lines of voters were being blown up by suicide bombers, they cast their ballots. These are the martyrs of the new Iraqi democracy," he added.
An historic victory for the British Labour Party.
The British Labour Party has, for the first time in its history, secured an unprecedented third term victory in the May 5th 2005 general election with about 360 seats compared with just under 200 seats for the Conservatives and just over 60 seats for the Liberal Democrats.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has matched Mrs Thatcher’s triple election record. But Mr Blair’s overall parliamentary majority, over all other parties, fell to 70-80 seats in comparison to 179 and 165 seats in the previous two parliaments.
Labour’s share of the popular vote was 37% against 33% for the Conservatives and 22% for the Liberal Democrats. In the 2001 general election, Labour secured 42% against 33% for the Conservatives and 19% for the Liberal Democrats.
Labour’s parliamentary majority and share of seats in the House of Commons has fallen, in large part, because of the unpopularity of the invasion of Iraq and the UK Government’s close working relations with the US Administration although Mr Blair has said that it is now time for Britain and Iraq to move on.
Mr Blair has today received the consent of the Queen to form a fresh Government and will complete the ministerial reshuffle this weekend.
02-05-2005
Campaign for solidarity with Iraqi human rights activist, Dr. Shakir Al-Dujaily
The Amman Center for Human Rights Studies has received an appeal from the National Society for Human Rights Advocacy in Iraq giving news of the disappearance of an Iraqi citizen, Dr. Shakir Hassoun Al-Dujaily who holds dual Swedish/Iraqi citizenship follwing his arrival at Damascus Airport on Thursday 31 March on Swedish Airlines, flight number (SAS 79025).
News of him was cut off after calling his wife in Iraq on Thursday 31 March at 10:20 pm when he informed her of his arrival at Damascus Airport.
In light of the above, the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies is calling upon all International and Arab organizations to question the Syrian Authorities and put all their efforts into uncovering the fate of Dr. Shakir Hassoun Al-Dujaily.
Please click on the following link to add your signature for solidarity with Dr. Shakir Al Dujaily
Please pass this on to your friends and colleagues.
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Amman Center for Human Rights Studies
Amman - Jordan
Telefax: 00962-6-4655043
www.achrs.org
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions - ICEM recently held a very successful Conference and series of workshops for trade unions from Arabic-speaking countries in Amman, Jordan.
Two Iraqi unions affiliated to the IFTU, from the all-important energy sector participated in the ICEM conference from 16-20 April 2005.
Jim Catterson from ICEM and general secretary, Fred Higgs welcomed the IFTU delegation to the Amman Conference
ICEM in coordination with the German Social Democrat Foundation, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Amman and the Jordanian General Trade Union for workers in the Mining and Metal Industries organised workshops for oil, energy and mining unions across the middle east.
The two IFTU-affiliated unions (the Oil and Gas Workers’ Union & the Electricity Workers’ Union) took part alongside 40 participants representing Oil, Mine and Energy unions from countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Jordan, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya to debate the impact of globalisation on workers and how best to face its challenges.
Conference was opened by speeches from the Jordanian Deputy Minister of Labour, the Chairman of the Arab Mining Workers Federation, Mr Fuzi Abd Bary, the President of the Jordanian General Trade Union for Workers in the Mining and Metal Industries and Hanz Remer the FES representative in Jordan. ICEM General Secretary, brother Fred Higgs concluded the morning session.
In his address to the workshop Fred Higgs said: "ICEM opposed the US and UK unilateral military intervention in Iraq in 2003. ICEM fought for a greater role for the UN in dealing with Iraq’s issue."
Mr Higgs also supported the Palestinian struggle for the creation of a two-state solution and said his global federation will continue to support the Palestine for just demand for sovereign state alongside the Israeli state.
During the second morning session various trade unions presented reports from their countries. Mr Abdel-Latef Jamal of the Iraqi Oil and Gas Workers’ Union gave a report of the developments and activities of his union. He said that his union now has 16 Branches in Baghdad alone and has set up more than 120 workplace committees with each committee consisting of 5 to 7 elected worker representatives.
Jalal Ali Zubown of the Electricity Workers Union also gave a report on behalf of his union.
During the afternoon session Jim Catterson, head of ICEM’s International Department presented a paper on the impact of globalisation on the Chemical, Energy and Mining Sector.
Conference then divided into groups during which the IFTU was elected to chair the meeting and the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions to present the findings.
Solidarity Works: participants split up into working groups at the ICEM Conference
Jim Catterson also gave a paper on ICEM’s international solidarity work, which received great appreciation from participants and was used as a clear basis for discussion, analysis and developing suggestions on how best to tackle the challenges of privatisation and globalisation in the region.
The ICEM Workshop concluded on 19 April 2005 by agreeing a number of priorities, including:
1. support of Iraqi and Palestinian trade unionists as they strive to build genuine unions in the most difficult circumstances typified by aggression, occupation and threats of extremism.
2. To organise workshops on privatisation for trade unions in the region, including the subject of social dialogue, the exploitation of sub-contracted agency workers and on international labour legal standards.
3. to hold another regional meeting in 2006 for the Arabic speaking countries before the next ICEM congress in 2007.
4. to build the ICEM in the region.
On the fringe of the Conference the IFTU delegation (Oil and Gas Workers Union, The Electricity Workers Union and the IFTU International Representative) held a number of highly informative and positive solidarity meetings with various union representatives, including: Mr Mohammed Mussa, President of the Petrochemical Workers Union (affiliated to the Palestine General Federation of Trade Union - PGFTU); Mr Hussain Al-Foqahaa, a member of the National Secretariat of the PGFTU and the General Secretary of Public Service Union.
The IFTU delegation also met with representatives of three Turkish trade unions: Mr Nihat Yurdakul, President of the Municipal and General Workers Union as well as the General Secretary of Petroleum, Chemical & Rubber Workers’ Trade Union and International officer of the Turkis Trade Union Federation and Mr Kemal Ozkan of the DISK federation.
At all its meetings the IFTU explained its position on the US/UK-led war in Iraq, the occupation and the current political process. The IFTU sought international solidarity and greater unity between workers of the region as they face the onslaught of neo-liberal policies of privatisation and the economic occupation of their countries.
MAY DAY GREETINGS TO THE LABOR MOVEMENT AND WORKING PEOPLE OF IRAQ
FROM U.S. LABOR AGAINST THE WAR AND ITS 110 AFFILIATED LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
In the name of peace, freedom and social justice, US Labor Against the War sends our greetings to the labor movement and workers of Iraq on May Day. With great courage, you have begun to reorganize your country's unions, and reclaim the historic traditions of Iraq's labor movement.
You are organizing in the face of very difficult economic conditions, including massive unemployment and extremely low wages, which have been imposed on you by the US/British occupation. In spite of these difficulties, workers throughout Iraq have organized strikes and demonstrations, and have successfully begun to raise the living standards of working families.
You have opposed the Bush administration plan for the privatization of Iraq's workplaces and resources. You have called for an end to the US occupation, and for a democratic political process to ensure that Iraq has a government that represents the needs and aspirations of Iraqi workers. We share these goals.
You have faced extreme violence, and the assassination of your leaders, without succumbing to fear, terror and intimidation. In the face of all these challenges you have remained courageously resolute in your commitment to a peaceful, democratic and just multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Iraq. You deserve the congratulations and support of unions and workers throughout the world for your efforts.
We are very proud that May Day, the international workers' holiday, was born in the United States in struggle for the 8-hour day. Our own country contributed martyrs like Albert Parsons and the murdered labor heroes of Chicago, who died for the same ideals for which you fight today. We are your brothers and sisters in this struggle We will redouble our efforts to end the occupation of your country, to achieve full respect for the sovereignty and independence of Iraq, and to support you in your struggle to establish a democratic state with full respect for workers' rights. We will march beside you, and support your movement, in any way we can.
Long live May Day! Long live the solidarity between the workers of Iraq and the United States!