Labour MP Alice Mahon told the Commons the other day that “A support group has grown up around the Prime Minister, and it has singled out trade unionists as victims, which does the anti-war movement no good.”
This follows on from the Chair of the Stop the War Coalition (STWC), Andrew Murray’s criticism of LFIQ that “This is a group established to campaign in support of Blair’s strategy and against the Stop the War Coalition.”
We are certainly a support group but we exist to support Grassroots Iraq and not any individual politician.
As a labour movement organisation we certainly single out Iraqi free unions for support and see no need to apologise for this. We have highlighted a wave of attacks by the “resistance” on trade unions because we think that this signals a concerted attempt to physically liquidate the leadership of the emerging Iraqi labour movement.
Alice added that [this] “does the anti-war movement no good at all.” The way it is phrased, or recorded, makes it unclear what she refers to but it is not our responsibility if the antics of the Stop the War leadership (detailed elsewhere on this web site) harm the anti-war movement.
Iraq is now the hinge of our time. A success for the current political process can see the withdrawal of foreign troops and a decent Arab democracy. This could then have enormous progressive benefits for the rest of the Middle East, contributing to a resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. This could, in turn, marginalise that extremist minority in Islam which opposes democratic reform.
Gary Kent