Author: garykent

“The terrible news that Hadi Salih, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), was murdered at his home in Baghdad last night is a tragedy for his family and friends. A great working class leader, who I was privileged to meet when I chaired a briefing at the Commons last year, has been murdered by fascist Saddam loyalists. The best tribute we can pay to this decent and honourable man is to redouble all efforts to support the IFTU and civil society in Iraq. His murder should force everyone to recognise that the so-called resistance is no … Continue reading Harry Barnes MP condemns murder of Iraqi trade union leader

5 January 2005 The TUC today (Wednesday) condemned the murder of Hadi Salih, the international secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), who was shot last night by assassins who broke into his Baghdad home. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Hadi was a very brave man, who with no thoughts for his own personal safety, returned home as soon as Saddam was gone to try to make Iraq a better place to live and work. “Like all trade unionists, Hadi believed in peaceful solutions to working people’s problems and his commitment to rebuilding the trade union movement … Continue reading TUC condemns the murder of top Iraqi trade unionist

According to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News, ‘Nearly three-quarters of Iraqis say they “strongly intend” to vote in next month’s pivotal elections, and a small majority believe the country is headed in the right direction, according to a major new poll of Iraqi attitudes.

Erik Eckholm reported in yesterday’s New York Times that ‘leaders of the country’s most powerful political coalition, which is led by Shiite parties, held a surprise news conference in Baghdad. They urged Sunni Arabs to take part in the elections and sought to dispel fears that they were under the sway of Iran or were trying to establish an Islamic theocracy. The leaders of the coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, said elections must proceed as scheduled despite widespread violence, which is concentrated in Sunni regions north and west of Baghdad.’ (AJ)

Janice MacDonald writes that “those who are against the war but show minimal interest in Iraqi human rights are no friends of the Iraqi people”. We back Iraqi unions and others who oppose occupation, neo-liberal economics and being saddled with Saddam’s debts. But the so-called resistance deliberately murders such people for daring to support the UN election process. Nozad Ismail, the president of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, in Kirkuk, has twice escaped assassination and receives daily threats. Solidarity with Nozad and others is the most urgent priority for friends of the Iraqi people. Gary Kent, Labour Friends of … Continue reading LFIQ stresses solidarity in Guardian

December 28 was another day of terrible violence perpetrated by the ‘resistance’. 17 Iraqi policemen were massacred north of Baghdad. Five people were killed and 22 wounded, mostly National Guards, by a homicide bomber in Baquba. Bin Laden and Al-Zarqawi have declared war on the elections. How should the left respond? Howar Ziad, the Kurdish representative to the United Nations from 1999 to 2004, and now Iraq’s new ambassador to Canada, argues that the fight against the ‘resistance’ is an anti-fascist fight. ‘They must not win!’ he cries. This is the fighting faith we need. Armed with this faith a … Continue reading They Shall Not Pass! The Democrats Answer to the Fascistic ‘Resistance’

The Labour Website of the Year, an annual competition sponsored by LabourStart, is a chance for trade union members to vote online for their favourite union websites. In last year’s competition, over 5,500 trade unionists voted for more than 460 sites. This year, one of the 100 officially nominated sites belongs to the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). A large number of votes for the IFTU site would significantly raise the profile of the organization and its online presence. Labour Friends of Iraq encourages its members and supporters to vote for the IFTU site today by clicking here

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad writes in the Guardian on the spirit at the Iraqi Communist Party election rally in Baghdad. “Hundreds of women, men and children, poured from all over Baghdad into a big indoor basketball court. All were waving little red flags, singing and chanting old communist slogans. But the funny thing was, they were happy. The whole atmosphere was entirely unlike any other rally, especially a march I had witnessed two days earlier to commemorate the father of Moqtada al-Sadr, at which thousands of men dressed in black happily whipped themselves with metal chains, while others bashed their skulls with … Continue reading ‘Maybe Now We Have a Future’

Its not just the brand-mangers at the Premiership who scream about the power of football. And football is not just a tool used by ruling elites to whip up nationalism or to bond to them an otherwise potentially rebellious working class. Football can be a negative political tool but it can also be a force for strengthening community networks and inter-communal ties.

(LFIQ found these documents posted on the website of the journal What Next? http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk and as such in the public domain) LFIQ invites readers to study these letters very carefully. We would draw our readers attention to just two points before encouraging them to read the entire exchange. First, Rix objects first to the StWC’s expressed support for ‘any means necessary’ used by the Resistance. Rix writes to Murray ‘If you think I am going to sit back and agree with beheadings, kidnappings, torture and brutality, and out right terrorization of ordinary Iraqi and others, then you can forget it’. … Continue reading A new exchange of letters between Mick Rix, ex-General Secretary of ASLEF and Andrew Murray, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition