[PAA-Discuss] FW: [iac-discussion] [Fwd: [eb-cossi] Leave our country now]

[Lee Loe]

-------- Original Message -------- 
Subject: 	[eb-cossi] Leave our country now	
Date: 	Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:51:20 -0700	
From: 	"Justice Freedom"  <mailto:justice_freedom at earthlink.net>
<justice_freedom at earthlink.net>	
Reply-To: 	justice_freedom at earthlink.net	



[Thanks to Ben Terrall]
 
Leave our country now
by Hassan Juma'a Awad 
The Guardian, February 18, 2005
http://www.guardian
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1417222,00.html>
.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1417222,00.html
 
>From the first days of the US-British invasion of Iraq, oil workers have
resisted foreign occupation 

We lived through dark days under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. When the
regime fell, people wanted a new life: a life without shackles and terror; a
life where we could rebuild our country and enjoy its natural wealth.
Instead, our communities have been attacked with chemicals and cluster
bombs, and our people tortured, raped and killed in our homes. 

Saddam's secret police used to creep over the roofs into our homes at night;
occupation troops now break down our doors in broad daylight. The media do
not show even a fraction of the devastation that has engulfed Iraq.
Journalists who dare to report the truth of what is happening have been
kidnapped by terrorists. This serves the agenda of the occupation, which
aims to eliminate witnesses to its crimes. 

Workers in Iraq's southern oilfields began organising soon after British
occupying forces invaded Basra. We founded our union, the Southern Oil
Company Union, just 11 days after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. When
the occupation troops stood back and allowed Basra's hospitals, universities
and public services to be burned and looted, while they defended only the
oil ministry and oilfields, we knew we were dealing with a brutal force
prepared to impose its will without regard for human suffering. From the
beginning, we were left in no doubt that the US and its allies had come to
take control of our oil resources. 

The occupation authorities have maintained many of Saddam's repressive laws,
including the 1987 order which robbed us of basic union rights, including
the right to strike. Today, we still have no official recognition as a trade
union, despite having 23,000 members in 10 oil and gas companies in Basra,
Amara, Nassiriya, and up to Anbar province. However, we draw our legitimacy
from the workers, not the government. We believe unions should operate
regardless of the government's wishes, until the people are able finally to
elect a genuinely accountable and independent Iraqi government, which
represents our interests and not those of American imperialism. 

Our union is independent of any political party. Most trade unions in
Britain only seem to be aware of one union federation in Iraq, the
regime-authorised Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, whose president, Rassim
Awadi, is deputy leader of the US-imposed prime minister Ayad Allawi's
party. The IFTU's leadership is carved up between the pro-government
Communist party, Allawi's Iraqi National Accord, and their satellites. In
fact, there are two other union federations, which are linked to political
parties, as well as our own organisation. 

Our union has already shown it is able to stand its ground against one of
the most powerful US companies, Dick Cheney's KBR, which tried to take over
our workplaces with the protection of occupation forces. 

We forced them out and compelled their Kuwaiti subcontractor, Al Khourafi,
to replace 1,000 of the 1,200 employees it brought with it with Iraqi
workers, 70% of whom are unemployed today. We also fought US viceroy Paul
Bremer's wage schedule, which dictated that Iraqi public sector workers must
earn ID 69,000 ($35) per month, while paying up to $1,000 a day to thousands
of foreign mercenaries. In August 2003 we took strike action and shut down
all oil production for three days. As a result, the occupation authorities
had to raise wages to a minimum of ID 150,000. 

We see it as our duty to defend the country's resources. We reject and will
oppose all moves to privatise our oil industry and national resources. We
regard this privatisation as a form of neo-colonialism, an attempt to impose
a permanent economic occupation to follow the military occupation. 

The occupation has deliberately fomented a sectarian division of Sunni and
Shia. We never knew this sort of division before. Our families intermarried,
we lived and worked together. And today we are resisting this brutal
occupation together, from Falluja to Najaf to Sadr City. The resistance to
the occupation forces is a God-given right of Iraqis, and we, as a union,
see ourselves as a necessary part of this resistance - although we will
fight using our industrial power, our collective strength as a union, and as
a part of civil society which needs to grow in order to defeat both
still-powerful Saddamist elites and the foreign occupation of our country. 

Bush and Blair should remember that those who voted in last month's
elections in Iraq are as hostile to the occupation as those who boycotted
them. Those who claim to represent the Iraqi working class while calling for
the occupation to stay a bit longer, due to "fears of civil war", are in
fact speaking only for themselves and the minority of Iraqis whose interests
are dependent on the occupation. 

We as a union call for the withdrawal of foreign occupation forces and their
military bases. We don't want a timetable - this is a stalling tactic. We
will solve our own problems. We are Iraqis, we know our country and we can
take care of ourselves. We have the means, the skills and resources to
rebuild and create our own democratic society. 

q. Hassan Juma'a Awad is general secretary of Iraq's Southern Oil Company
Union and president of the Basra Oil Workers' Union 

hssnawad at yahoo.com 

 
 
_________________________________________________
 
- What good fortune for those in power that the people do not think.
- Adolf Hitler
 
- gw bush is not an American nor a Christian. He is anti-American and
anti-Christian, by his own words and acts. He has 2 more years to gut this
country, and he will do it unless we stop him via impeachment and
indictment. The congress will do nothing, unless we force them to. Tell them
if Bush is not impeached and we are not out of Iraq by Election Day 2008,
the Democrats will lose congress. The American people will not vote for
those who stand for nothing.
 
- It is not clear to me that there is a real threat in this country from
terrorism.
- Thomas Powers, author of "Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from
Hitler to Al-Qaeda," on KPFA interview, January 18, 2007
 
- Many Americans suspect by now that "International Terrorism" is in the
same category with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. The real, actual
terrorism in the world today is the State Terrorism being conducted by the
United States government with our support and with our tax money --- the
bombs we drop on small defenseless nations and the atrocities committed
against nationless people (e.g., the Palestinians).
 
- The United States stands out among the nations of the world --- as a
psychotic sociopath.
 
Daniel Stone
justice_freedom@ <mailto:justice_freedom at earthlink.net> earthlink.net
 
__._,_.___ 
Messages
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/message/6349;_ylc=X3oDMTM0aGlpOHIwBF
9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BG1zZ0lkAzYzNDkEc2
VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDdnRwYwRzdGltZQMxMTgyMTk5NzgyBHRwY0lkAzYzNDk-> in this topic
(1)
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJwNDZjOHRyBF9TAzk3Mz
U5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BG1zZ0lkAzYzNDkEc2VjA2Z0cg
RzbGsDcnBseQRzdGltZQMxMTgyMTk5Nzgy?act=reply&messageNum=6349> Reply (via web
post) | Start
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlYWQyZHJxBF9TAzk3Mz
U5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3
RpbWUDMTE4MjE5OTc4Mg--> a new topic 
Messages
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJla2RhcTlnBF9TAz
k3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA21zZ3
MEc3RpbWUDMTE4MjE5OTc4Mg-->  | Files
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/files;_ylc=X3oDMTJmOW0zcm9hBF9TAzk3M
zU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2ZpbGVzB
HN0aW1lAzExODIxOTk3ODI->  | Photos
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/photos;_ylc=X3oDMTJlaHVlOWk4BF9TAzk3
MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Bob3QE
c3RpbWUDMTE4MjE5OTc4Mg-->  | Links
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/links;_ylc=X3oDMTJmMXI0NmduBF9TAzk3M
zU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2xpbmtzB
HN0aW1lAzExODIxOTk3ODI->  | Database
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/database;_ylc=X3oDMTJjMHYybzVpBF9TAz
k3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2RiBH
N0aW1lAzExODIxOTk3ODI->  | Polls
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/polls;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcmNsaHIxBF9TAzk3M
zU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3BvbGxzB
HN0aW1lAzExODIxOTk3ODI->  | Members
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJlcXFhdGFuBF9TAzk
3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA21icnM
Ec3RpbWUDMTE4MjE5OTc4Mg-->  | Calendar
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/calendar;_ylc=X3oDMTJkNGxsZzl0BF9TAz
k3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2NhbA
RzdGltZQMxMTgyMTk5Nzgy>  
 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJkMHMzcTJtBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2M
Dk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMTgyMTk5Nzgy>
Yahoo! Groups 
Change
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmbGl0bm5hBF9TAzk3Mz
U5NzE0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3N0bmdzBH
N0aW1lAzExODIxOTk3ODI-> settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) 
Change settings via email: Switch
<mailto:eb-cossi-digest at yahoogroups.com?subject=Email%20Delivery:%20Digest>
delivery to Daily Digest | Switch
<mailto:eb-cossi-traditional at yahoogroups.com?subject=Change%20Delivery%20For
mat:%20Traditional> format to Traditional 
Visit
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eb-cossi;_ylc=X3oDMTJkdTdkNHIyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE
0BGdycElkAzQ2MDk4NjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MzA5BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2hwZgRzdGltZQM
xMTgyMTk5Nzgy> Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms
<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> of Use | Unsubscribe
<mailto:eb-cossi-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=> 
.
 
<http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=4609863/grpspId=1705064309/msgId
=6349/stime=1182199782/nc1=3848567/nc2=3848500/nc3=3848530> 
__,_._,___ 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://paa-tx.org/pipermail/discuss_paa-tx.org/attachments/20070620/de1a69a0/attachment.htm>