Johann Hari on the left and solidarity

The Independent columnist Johann Hari devotes his column today to the aftermath of the tragic murder of Hadi Salih. The article deserves widespread attention.

The article describes Hadi’s brave fight against Saddam, the war and his continuing fight for labour rights as well as his hope that trade unions could play the same role in regenerating Iraq that they played in post-war Japan. "The labour movement in Japan has been fighting for their country and for social justice for 50 years. If they can do it, we can too. That is why, despite everything, I am enthusiastic."

It quotes his friend Abdullah Muhsin, the international representative of the IFTU, on Hadi’s murder, "He was an ordinary but a very decent man. He worked in the print industry in Iraq and in exile, and the passion of his life was Iraqi workers and their desire to live as free people. And now I hear people describe his murderers as 'the resistance'. Resistance to what? To trade unions? To a decent man who loved his family and loved Iraq and wanted his country to be free? They cannot silence Salih. They cannot silence the Iraqi trade unions. Not again."

LFIQ Joint President Harry Barnes says: "This brutal murder is a wake-up call for any on the left who still have illusions about the 'resistance'. It was one thing to oppose the war, as I did on every occasion in the Commons - but we have moved beyond that debate. We may not like how we have got here but those on the left who do not give urgent and increased solidarity to the Iraqi trade unions will be damned by history."

Johann concludes that “there is something practical that everybody who cares about Iraqis can do about it. The TUC has set up an online donation service for the Iraqi Trade Unions here.

If just 5 per cent of the people who marched against the war supported the Iraqi labour movement now with their wallets, we could strengthen the hands of Iraqi democrats at a turning point in their country's history.

This isn't about supporting the occupying forces. It's about supporting ordinary Iraqis trying to get beyond Saddam and beyond the occupation. Do it for the Iraqi people. Do it for Hadi Salih.”