TUC publishes report of LFIQ delegation

Here is the report on the trade union and Labour Friends of Iraq delegation (31 March to 9 April 2006) by Sue Rogers, Chair of the TUC Iraq Solidarity Committee

Secularism on the increase in Iraq

An authoritative survey of Iraqi attitudes shows that over the last two years, Iraqi political values have become more secular and nationalistic, even though attitudes toward Americans have deteriorated, according to surveys of nationally representative samples of the population conducted in November 2004 and April 2006.

Mansoor Moaddel, a sociologist at Eastern Michigan University argues that Iraqis' increasing attachment to national identity and increasing support for secular discourse may support the formation of a modern and democratic political order. Moreover, since the support for secular attitudes has gained considerable ground among the Sunnis, al-Qaeda may find it more difficult to recruit among this group in Iraq.

Hat Tip: Harry’s Place

Iraq after 50 years

Harry Barnes reflects on his two visits to Iraq – in 1956 and 2006

Have speech, will travel

Harry Barnes outlines his experience on his blog of talking to Labour Party gatherings on Iraq in his capacity as Vice-President of LFIQ.

I have started addressing meetings about the role of LFIQ and its links with the Iraqi Trade Union Movement. To date, I have discussed the issues involved with the Derby Fabian Society and with the General Committees of the Constituency Labour Parties at Wyre Forest and Fylde. As an ex-student of Ruskin College, I am also due to address the Ruskin Fellowship next month.

If anyone represents a group in the Labour Movement that would like me to address them on the above topic, then please contact me using the comments section below.

I am grateful for the Wyre Forest Labour Party for letting me post the following extract from their Minutes and for their kind comments. The meeting took place on 22 June, 2006.

O606.3 Speaker : Harry Barnes, Joint President of Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) and former M.P. gave a stimulating and informative overview of the efforts being made to encourage trade unions in Iraq. Whatever our position on the war, Harry encouraged us to look forward and to support efforts to promote the Iraqi Labour movement.

Iraq is a country where there is much division along ethnic and religious lines - the Shia and Sunni Arabs in the south and central areas , with the Kurdish Sunnis in the north. Following the imposition of the no-fly zone in the north, the Kurds used their greater freedom, even in Saddam's era, to exercise a modicum of self-government. This has been developed further since the invasion and includes the recognition of trade unions and their positive role in the community. Elsewhere, the delay in forming a stable, effective government means that laws prohibiting trade unions in the public sector remain in force. Also, the Transitional Government had frozen and sequestrated the funds of the unions until the newly elected Government is in a position to legislate on the State/Union relationship. Trade unions have not had a positive image in the past as they were either banned or controlled by Saddam’s regime.

There are about 1 million union members across Iraq. Given that unemployment rates are up to 50% this constitutes a significant proportion of the working population. The General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) is part of the Arab Federation of Trade Unions and is in receipt of practical help from Britain, including the TUC, UNISON, FBU and the National Union of Journalists. What they require from trade unions here is help “to stand on their own feet and reconstruct Iraq.”

Given its recent history, it would be challenging enough to develop trade unionism if there was an effective government in place. But current efforts are being hampered by the lack of sympathy from the USA and the opposition of Islamic fundamentalism. About 2000 union members have been killed , such as workers on oil pipelines and civil servants, who are regarded as legitimate targets by terrorists. Not all trade union members in voting have supported non-theocratic politics but there are countervailing factors which may lead to changes in the long run.

Harry distributed copies of a report from LFIQ following a recent visit by them to Iraqi Kurdistan which included an appeal for old mobile phones and chargers to be sent to the ‘TUC Aid for Iraq Appeal’. The session concluded with questions and answers. Topics raised included whether it is right to try to impose a western-style democracy; the likelihood of independence for Kurdistan given the potential impact on surrounding countries upon this; the potential for a secular state emerging and the role of women.

Harry concluded with an appeal to delegates to find out what practical steps their unions are giving to the GFIW. Also, we were encouraged to have a balanced picture of what is happening in Iraq. In response to a question about corruption, Harry reminded us that the introduction of “ the principles of democracy is the way corruption and dictatorships are constrained.”

Having thanked Harry for his thought-provoking contribution. The Chair asked for a follow up item on next month’s agenda.

Brendan O Leary on Iraq

Normblog draws our attention to a BBC radio programme with a spirited debate on the future of Iraq.

Normblog says: In the first programme of the series Brendan O Leary, a professor of politics and a former constitutional adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government argues that Iraq is still on course for a future as a federal pluralist democracy. He takes on a panel of journalists and analysts at the international affairs think tank, Chatham House. BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson is in the chair. The programme was Hecklers, on BBC Radio 4, and you can listen again here (scroll down to H).

The sources of violence

Iraqi Prospect Organisation News Analysis

Ahmed Alaskary & Mohammed Baraka of the Iraqi Prospect Organisation, an Iraqi-based network of young men and women promoting democratic values, examine the sources of violence in Iraq.

Without a clear understanding of the factors which are causing the continuing instability in Iraq, especially in Baghdad, an effective solution cannot be formulated. There are two sources for the continued violence:

1. Terrorists/Insurgents

The insurgency is almost exclusively Sunni Arab-led and since Iraq's liberation they have targeted mostly civilians, but also troops and officials, through suicide bombings, car bombings and assassinations. Their goal is to destabilize the democratically elected government and alter the new democratic reality back to minority rule.

2. Militias

The militias, which are mainly Shi'i (although the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party has an unnamed militia), have been blamed for sectarian killings and death squads – contributing to the increased violence. However, unlike the terrorists, their aim is not to change the new political landscape. Instead, they conduct random revenge attacks against perceived Sunni insurgents and their supporters and fill in the security vacuum in their neighbourhoods.

While dealing with both the terrorists and militias is essential to improving the security situation, the former clearly represent a greater danger to Iraq's nascent democracy.

• The incident in Hay al-Jihad earlier in July, when a death squad sealed the area and killed 42 Iraqis identified as Sunnis, was significant not because it was an incident of random killing of innocent people based on their religious sect (hundreds have been killed in a similar fashion over the past 3 years, especially in the so-called 'Triangle of Death'), but because it was the first case of Shias employing such a method.

• Despite mass Sunni participation in the political process, represented by the high turnout in the December elections, and Maliki's National Reconciliation Initiative, which gives insurgents the opportunity to abandon violence in exchange for entering the political process, the Sunni-led insurgency continues unabated. Some experts have suggested that the Sunni community must be pushed into abandoning their passive support for the insurgency.

• The two Najaf incidences, when the US and Iraqi army directly engaged Moqtada's Mehdi Army, serves to highlight that confronting the militias militarily without providing an improvement in security and an alternative only widens their public support. To improve the security situation, particularly in Baghdad, first the insurgency needs to be dealt with effectively as this will take away the publics need for the militias, thus weakening them at which stage they can then be dealt with once and for all.

Shifting sands?

Al Sabah reports that thirteen conditions need to be met as the Sunni price for reconciliation. That they have been published may be indicative that some progress is being made. Iraqi Kurds fear that an alliance with Iran may begin military actions on both sides of the Iraqi border. Vali Nasr argues that the future of the Middle East ultimately lies with a resolution of the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, rather than a settlement imposed by the US.(David Spector)

Killing fields or playing fields?

Harry Barnes examines sport in the new Iraq.

The importance of history

Harry Barnes takes a personal view of the need for history and concludes that the problem with having no feel for history is that it leaves politicians with a fatal ignorance about what needs to change, when and how.

I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born
Thomas Hood (1799-1845)

Tony Blair was born in 1953, the year the CIA helped overthrow the Government of what was then often called Persia, which had been led by Muhammad Mussadiq. The Persian/Iranian Prime Minister was a huge figure in world politics and Britain was in a massive conflict with him over the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

Yet, as Johann Hari reminded us recently in his column in “The Independent”, Jon Snow once had a conversation with Blair where the Prime Minister revealed that he did not know who Mussadiq was.

Should Prime Ministers know what happened when they were babies? Well, I only ever made it to the backbenches of Parliament, but even as a youngster I had heard about the Spanish Civil War which broke out 5 days before I was born.

Hari also claims that in 1997, it was discovered that Blair knew nothing about the Kissinger-Nixon years. Yet Blair was 20 the year Nixon resigned from office and that partnership ended.

The Vietnam War was a massive Kissinger-Nixon concern and they developed what was called the “Nixon Doctrine” in a desperate attempt to reduce American involvement and losses in the war.

When I myself was 20 it was 1956 and I was undertaking my National Service in Iraq. When Geoff Hoon heard of this, he asked me “Harry, what were British Troops doing in Iraq at that time?”. He asked this although he was Secretary of State for Defence and had just sent our troops out to join in the 2003 invasion.

Hoon was born in the same year as Blair, so they were both young children in 1956, which was the year of the Suez invasion. Both should at least have been briefed that Iraq was then something of a client State of Britain’s, until its own revolution and regime change of 1958.

The lessons leading up to 1958 actually warned us against a modern invasion.

New Labour’s lack of interest in what (to some of us) seems to be just the recent past, fits in with their post-modern deconstruction of history. Only the present counts.

Yet as Mary Kaldor explained in her book “New and Old Wars” (1999), America and Britain (currently it is Israel) have a commitment to forms of warfare which are bang up-to-date technologically, but rest on the assumption that we are involved in hot fights with cold-war style adversaries.

The problem with having no feel for history is that it leaves politicians with a fatal ignorance about what needs to change, when and how.

Boost for Iraqi farming sector

Agriculture was always given a low priority under Saddam but this could lead to Iraq becoming a net exporter of food again. The sector will be the
second largest contributor to the economy after oil and has the greatest
potential to provide new jobs.

Barnes blogs between Arbil and Suaymaniyah

LFIQ stalwart Harry Barnes now has his own blog on which he reflects in detail on a recent trip from Arbil to Sulaymaniyah including signs of a great deal of individual and community effort in circumstances of a new found freedom.

Education International appeal for Lebanon

LabourStart carries details of the appeal. It says that Education International is deeply concerned about the current situation in Lebanon and the impact it is having on innocent civilians, including many children. EI has issued a statement on the situation which it has published on its website and brought to the attention of the international community. Both of EI’s members in Lebanon have requested EI solidarity assistance and any humanitarian aid possible.