In Iraq, Labor Protest is a Crime

Is this the type of democracy that the U.S. was planning to bring to Iraq all along? Are they going to cite "security concerns" after they gun down a few of these protestors in cold blood?

Fascinating article, fascinating editorial site.

www.counterpunch.org...

"August 25, 2003

"War Makes Privatization Easy"
In Iraq, Labor Protest is a Crime
By DAVID BACON

Iraq's legal code may be in disarray. The streets of Baghdad may be filled with thieves and hijackers who seem to have little fear of being arrested. But US occupation authorities seem to have no trouble identifying one crime, at least. For the four million people out of work in Iraq, protest is against the law.

On July 29, US occupation forces in Iraq arrested a leader of Iraq's new emerging labor movement, Kacem Madi, along with 20 other members of the Union of the Unemployed. The unionists had been conducting a sit-in to protest the treatment of unemployed Iraqi workers by the US occupation authority, and the fact that contracts for work rebuilding the country have been given overwhelmingly to US corporations.

Their protest started when hundreds of unemployed workers gathered in front of an old bank building on Abu Nawas Street.. From there they marched to the office of the ruling occupation council. According to Zehira Houfani, a member of the Iraq Solidarity Project in Canada, who witnessed the protest, workers in similar demonstrations in the past had normally dispersed at that point. Each time, however, Madi told Houfani, "the representatives of the occupation forces meet and discuss with us, promise to solve the problem, but each time their promises are not fulfilled and we are forced to take to the streets again."

On this occasion they decided to step up the pressure on US authorities. In the time-honored tradition of workers from Mexico to the Philippines, they set up a planton, or a tent encampment, outside the council gates. US soldiers on guard ordered them to disperse, but the workers refused. Night fell. Then, at one in the morning the soldiers returned, arrested 21 protesters, and took them inside the compound, where they were held until the following morning.

One arrested union member, 58-year old Ali Djaafri, told Houfani that the experience was "very humiliating. At no other time during the occupation," he said, "has my resentment towards the US soldiers been that strong."

The unemployment rate is over 50% in cities like Baghdad. Madi estimates that four million Iraqi workers have no jobs. Thousands of public-sector workers employed by the former government lost their jobs after the war. Many provided services from healthcare to education, and those services have yet to be restored. There is no money to pay those workers, nor an Iraqi government to employ them. Even the records of their employment went up in flames in the looting which followed the occupation of Baghdad.

Thousands more worked in former government-owned enterprises. Many of those have been closed down, and occupation authorities have announced their intention to privatize huge sections of the former economy.

That all adds up to thousands of working families facing an extreme economic crisis. The new union for unemployed workers has become the fastest-growing, largest labor organization in the country as a result.

At the same time, the issue of the foreign contracts has become a hot controversy among Iraqi workers because the US corporations bring workers into the country to work under those contracts. A Kuwaiti firm subcontracting to the US construction giant Kellogg, Brown and Root, for instance, was recently found to be bringing Asian workers into the port of Basra to perform repair and reconstruction work. Meanwhile, Iraqi workers with long years of experience sit idle."...

There's more at Counterpunch.

Anxious to hear people's thoughts.


Jakomo

Ahhh, Jakomoto, how much do you know about the American workplace? If American employers could get away with it, they would gun down employees for complaining about anything.

American employers are friggin slave drivers. We get little vacation, bitched at when taking a break, bitched at when we call in sick, sometimes even fired when were sick, hell, i could list you a massive list of personal labor law violations committed by my own employers past and present, that pretty much go unchecked by the labor and industries offices. This is a non union freindly society we work in.

The Iraqis wanted American style democracy? Well, they are getting it!

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

The Iraqis wanted American style democracy? Well, they are getting it!

who says so?? this is news to the Iraqis when did thye ask for that? what they have got is nothing but caos,murder,mass arrests in the thousands American soldiers breaking down doors dragging Iraqis at gun point infront of children and wives taking the men away, took total control of the oil left a HUGE vacum for terror groups to move in, a total loss of cohesion, no jobs,no food well much to speak of in the wider areas,lack of water electricity, the list goes on and you say they asked for this?

who says so?? this is news to the Iraqis when did thye ask for that? what they have got is nothing but caos,murder,mass arrests in the thousands

Yep. Like I said......American style democracy.......

took total control of the oil left a HUGE vacum for terror groups to move in, a total loss of cohesion, no jobs,no food well much to speak of in the wider areas,lack of water electricity,

God, sounding more and more like the good ol US every day!

you say they asked for this?

Yep, they said they wanted American style democracy.

Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

I prefer calling it McDemocracy. Democracy sold to the highest corporate bidder (or "campaign contributor").

It's to do with BUSINESS first, CITIZENS second, and it's been like that for a long time.

I'm just surprised the average American stands for it (although what was the last presidential voter turn-out? 23%?)

blah


jakomo