Author: ericlee

Goal.com examines how football brings people together and inspires hope with the beautiful game in Iraq slowly returning to normal.

Here the Education Guardian examines the growing number of Iraqi students coming here on scholarship programmes and quotes Iraqi PM Maliki in saying that education and culture are the tool and the key that build bridges between nations, and it is on these that the true value of nations is built.

May Day Greetings from Labour Friends of Iraq And from the Iraqi Communist Party Hundreds of millions of workers and people around the world and also in Iraq will celebrate International Workers Day, the1st of May, which has been associated with the revolutionary and democratic movement and the struggle to end all forms of exploitation and subjugation by the classes that control wealth and dominate political power and society. It is an occasion to highlight the pioneering role played the workers, since the dawn of history, as the main force in building human civilization and as the real creators of … Continue reading May Day

LFIQ continues to develop links with the trade union movement in the UK with a view to building solidarity between British and Iraqi trade unions. Chair of LFIQ, Clive Furness attended the conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in April 2009 to build on links with activists and officials in the ATL. Discussions ranged around how the ATL might offer practical support in the form of training and equipment for the teaching unions in Iraq to how they might engage in solidarity activities over issues of concern where unions in Iraq find their freedom of action under threat.

See this report for photos Thousands of Iraqi Communist Party members and supporters celebrated the 75th anniversary of the party at a mass rally held in the Peoples Stadium in central Baghdad on Friday 3rd April 2009. The main sports hall was packed with jubilant people, waving red flags, chanting and singing. The event opened with the national anthem which was recited by the Friendship Group. Comrade Hamid Majeed Mousa, the Secretary of the Central Committee, delivered a speech that saluted the party’s heroic history of struggle and sacrifices for the cause of the people and the homeland. The speech … Continue reading Iraqi CP celebrates 75th anniversary at mass rally in Baghdad

See LabourStart and support the campaign. The Iraqi Teachers Union is under attack from the Iraqi Government. The government has authorized an official body to take over the union under the pretext of forcing the union to hold elections. It is worth noting that the ITU has already held several national conferences since 2003 and had elected an ITU leadership openly and democratically. The government attempts are illegitimate, unacceptable and a blatant violation and interference in the internal democratic affairs of the union. They also violate the Iraqi constitution which guarantees workers the right to organize. The ITU leadership has … Continue reading Teachers union faces threat of government takeover

Chnar Saad, the Minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government for Anfal and Martyrs met MPs and myself today to discuss how best to mark the Anfal of the late 1980s – Saddams genocidal attack on Iraqi Kurds in which 182,000 men, women and children were murdered and most villages in Iraqi Kurdistan were razed to the ground, to the last brick. The Iraqi Parliament has recognised Anfal as genocide and this should be taken up by the international community. The Anfal is a living reality in Iraqi Kurdistan which still suffers the continuing effects of chemical attacks. Gary Kent Director, … Continue reading Marking Anfal

The Guardian reports on British tourists in Iraq

Please support TUC initiative 28 March 2009 March and rally ahead of the G20 summit in London. Sign the petition and send your message to the G20 http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk

Detailed opinion polls show that Iraqis are much more hopeful about the future and are increasingly pre-occupied with more conventional worries like the economy and jobs.