Andy Griggs, who is on the national steering committee of US Labor Against the War, and was one of the key organizers of the L.A. stretch of the Iraqi Labor Tour, also serves on the Advisory Board of Cafe Intifada.
I had the privilege of spending all day Saturday as well as Sunday morning with the Iraqi labor leaders. They spoke on Saturday at the UCLA Labor Center and later at Patriotic Hall. On Sunday, before catching a morning flight, Hassan and Faleh went to Arlington West (set up every Sunday at the Santa Monica Pier) to meet with the Veterans Against the War as they placed grave markers in the sand to commemorate the deaths of soldiers killed in the war, Along with a marker that explains that to place grave markers for the Iraqi dead would fill the beach. Sally Marr and Peter Dudar, filmmakers of the film "Arlington West" interviewed the labor leaders. Before leaving for their flight to the Bay area, they each spontaneously picked up one of the blue crosses, symbolizing one of the U.S. soldiers killed this week in the war and planted them in the sand. (No dry eyes to be found!) They spoke about defending Iraqi oil, the problems with occupation, colonization and privatization, the importance of unionization and of labor solidarity. The tour continues on to other cities throughout the U.S. For more information, go to: http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/ Cafe Intifada and the L.A. Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee will be holding an organizing meeting on Thursday June 22 at 6:30PM at 3303 Wilshire Blvd. Please continue the efforts of global labor solidarity and join us. Solidarity forever, Emma Rosenthal Cafe Intifada http://home.earthlink.net/~cafeintifada -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Iraqi labor leaders meet with San Pedro activists, Daily Breeze, 6/18/05 Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 20:10:58 -0700 From: Kathleen O'Nan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Kathleen O'Nan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (This article appeared on the front page (above the fold!) of the Daily Breeze along with a picture taken of two Iraqi oil workers from Basra, Iraq. Hassan Juma'a Awad and Faleh Abbood Umara are the president and the general secretary of the General Oil Workers of Iraq. We were with them on a boat tour of the San Pedro and Los Angeles Harbors, sponsored by the ILWU and the Harry Bridges Institute. This was but one event of the Los Angeles part of a national tour organized by the U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW). For more information about the national tour, please go to: http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org . L.A. USLAW did an outstanding job of organizing numerous events ranging from public meetings at L.A. Valley College, at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center and at Patriotic Hall to union meetings with PACE 8-675, ILWU 63, UTLA and several other union events. Kathleen O'Nan) http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/1648206.html The Daily Breeze <http://www.dailybreeze.com/> (LAX to LA Harbor) Saturday, June 18, 2005 Iraqi labor leaders meet with San Pedro activists Pair, who helped start a union of 23,000 oil industry workers in Basra, speak of challenges. By Muhammed El-Hasan Daily Breeze Hassan Juma'a Awad and Faleh Abbood Umara took a quiet boat tour Friday through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, thousands of miles from the port city where they live and work in Basra, Iraq. Less than two weeks after allied forces entered the southern port city of Basra in 2003, Awad, Umara and other labor activists started the General Union of Oil Workers. Such unions were outlawed under Saddam Hussein's rule. And the union still may be illegal, the pair explained after the boat ride. The two Iraqi men spoke through translators about the challenges today in their native land to about 60 labor leaders and activists opposed to the war at the Harry Bridges Institute & Community Labor Center in San Pedro. A group called U.S. Labor Against the War is sponsoring the Iraqis' nationwide speaking tour to talk about conditions in the Middle Eastern nation. While happy that Hussein is out of power, the Iraqis said that their country's people and labor rights still suffer. "I ask you to help us pressure your administration to remove its forces in Iraq so we can rebuild our country," said Umara, 48, general secretary of the oil union. "If they mention the security situation, I say that we are brothers in Iraq. And brothers can fight, but brothers can reconcile." About 35,000 Iraqis work in Basra's oil industry, with about 23,000 part of the new union, said Awad, who serves as president. From a labor perspective, Awad and Umara said they're especially concerned that the laws forbidding unions in public sector industries haven't been reversed. They're also worried that the Iraqi government and previous U.S. civil administration have pushed the country toward privatizing state-owned industries. "My understanding is that unions don't get their legitimacy from the government. Unions rely only on the workers," Awad, 53, said with a defiant tone. "We decided to organize ourselves without relying on the laws." Awad added that newspapers financed by the Iraqi government regularly praise privatization as a positive step for the people, a notion Awad rejects. A press officer at the U.S. State Department directed questions about labor laws to the Iraqi government and queries on privatization to the U.S. Agency for International Development. An official at USAID couldn't be reached Friday afternoon. Awad and Umara both are members of the Shiite branch of Islam, which make up a majority of the population in Iraq and Basra. Umara said people face extreme dangers while traveling to work. He said it's common for American troops to shoot at Iraqi cars for driving too close. "It's like the occupation forces are the people of the land and we're the foreigners," Umara said. "If you complain, you may end up in Abu Ghraib (prison), and you don't know what will happen to you there." Awad dismissed the idea of an impending civil war between Shittes and minority Sunnis. "Who is talking about war?" Awad said. "I am 53 years old, and I didn't hear about Sunni and Shiite (divisions) before the occupation forces entered. I am Shiite, but I'm married to a Sunni woman." Asked if things are better now than when Hussein was in power, Umara said, "Under any occupation, don't expect things to get better." Umara said he would have preferred the Iraqi people removed Hussein, adding that "America could have removed Saddam without this destruction. This is all about the oil." Shannon Donato, president of the Harry Bridges Institute, said she was grateful to hear the "truth" about Iraq. "For them to come to this country and take the time and energy to deliver the truth to the workers of this country -- I hope the truth gets out," Donato said. The attendees placed donations in a plastic bowl that was passed around during the presentation. Donato said $545 was collected to help finance the Iraqis' tour and labor efforts in their homeland. Find this article at: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/1648206.html ©2005 Copley Press, Inc [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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