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Dear Comrade To all candidates in the Labour Party leadership campaign The campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party will involve discussion of Iraq. Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) was established by those who either opposed or supported the intervention. We put aside these deep differences to work together to provide moral and material support to the Iraqi labour movement and other parts of civil society as well as to help the democratic and federal political process in Iraq. In regular discussions in Iraq and in the UK with a wide range of Iraqi political and social forces, we … Continue reading LFIQ seeks to engage with Labour leadership candidates

See LabourStart for how to help stop this. After weeks of industrial action in the southern oil fields in Iraq, management are trying to prevent the Refinery Workers Union operating by sending four of its leaders to other workplaces. This is a standard management tactic in Iraq, and in the past has often meant sending union leaders to more hostile, violent areas of the country. But pressure from Iraqi trade unionists and trade unionists around the world has stopped this before, and we can do it again. Refinery workers held rolling sit-ins on 25-26 February, 2 and 18 March, followed … Continue reading Iraq: Stop harassment of oil union leaders

Labour Friends of Iraq gives its full support to this vital campaign in support of the rights and independence of the Iraqi labour movement. We have worked with our Iraqi brothers and sisters and many people in the UK for the last six years to do our bit to help the Iraqi trade unions stand on their own two feet, as they put it when a LFIQ delegation met 22 leaders of the movement in 2006 (see picture on the left). The work of the Iraqi trade unions in helping to build a vibrant civil society, encouraging the participation of … Continue reading LFIQ backing for Iraqi union rights campaign

Please support this new campaign Seven years after the fall of Saddam, Iraqi workers are long due their fundamental rights at work. Support them in their call on the government to put in place a fair and just labour law. Nearly seven years have passed since the fall of the Saddam’s regime, yet many of its laws continue to apply, making it impossible for Iraqi trade unions to organise and bargain on behalf of their members. Workers in the public sector can’t join unions, the Government has frozen trade union assets, and key parts of Government have attempted to take … Continue reading Iraqi workers standing up for their rights

Observer letter Henry Porter is entitled to reprise his arguments against the intervention in Iraq (“Those who say history will absolve the Iraq warmongers are deluded”, Comment). Those in favour could also argue that a genocidal and fascistic regime can no longer murder its own people or menace its neighbours. But those who took opposing views could unite to assist the actually existing Iraq to overcome the legacy of dictatorship, war, sanctions and occupation. It’s too soon to know whether their democratic experiment will succeed. In the meantime, surely it is important to support Iraqi trade unionists who remain saddled … Continue reading Whatever our views on the war, unite to help build the new Iraq

Ranj Alaaldin examines the post-election horse-trading in Iraq

This article by Dave Anderson, Meg Munn and Gary Kent at Progress online urges action to improve and increase links between Iraq and the UK.

Ranj Alaaldin takes a gander at the runners and riders in the crucial second set of parliamentary elections in Iraq, concluding that no single bloc is expected to get a majority, meaning the outcome of the elections and the post-election coalition-building process will be critical in determining the future shape of politics in Iraq.

LFIQ fully supports the TUC on this issue and LFIQ supporter Dave Anderson aims to raise this in the Commons. TUC statement The TUC, representing people at work in Britain, and comprising 59 unions with other 6 million members, calls on the Iraqi Government and Iraqi political parties to cease their interference in the free and independent Iraqi Teachers Union (ITU). In particular, the TUC calls on the Iraqi authorities to release Ibrahim al-Battat, the leader of the ITU in Basra, and withdraw the arrest warrant for Jasim Hussein Mohammed, the national leader of the ITU. The Iraqi Government and … Continue reading Hands off the Iraqi Teachers Union!

Ranj Alaaldin examines the latest in the Iraqi elections