Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Iraq and Syria

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is in the midst of their national convention (held this year in Los Angeles).  You can follow the AFL-CIO Twitter feed for details on the convention.

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    Former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is in the house at the Bread and Rosie Women's reception!
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As with any organization's convention, various business will take place.  This includes passing resolutions.  One vying for approval at this convention:


Resolution 21: Resolution in Support of Labor Rights in Iraq



Submitted by the South Carolina AFL-CIO
Referred to the Resolutions Committee
WHEREAS, Hassan Juma’a Awad, President of the Federation of Oil Unions in Iraq, has been criminally charged by the Ministry of Oil for allegedly organizing strikes at the South Oil Company; and 
WHEREAS, strikes in this sector have taken place with increasingly regularity as workers in the oil industry seek to protect their rights and interests, improve their working conditions, and seek redress for their grievances; and
WHEREAS, if convicted, Hassan Juma’a Awad could face stiff fines or even 3 years of imprisonment, and the Federation of Oil Unions could be severely crippled—all part of an effort by the al-Maliki government to remove a huge obstacle and source of resistance to privatization of Iraq’s oil resources; and
WHEREAS, the attacks on Hassan Juma’a Awad and the Federation of Oil Unions—which are attacks on freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively—reflect the government of Iraq’s intention to hold onto repressive laws and policies issued by the Saddam Hussein regime, namely, Decree 150 of 1987 and Labor Law No. 71, both of which are in contradiction with ILO conventions and international labor standards, including conventions to which Iraq is signatory; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Labor Against the War (with which CWA is affiliated), the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center and the Iraq Civil Society Solidarity Initiative have spearheaded an international campaign to protest the ongoing violation and denial of worker rights in Iraq, the harassment and persecution of labor activists, interference in the internal affairs of unions, and now an effort to criminalize union activity and prosecute Hassan Juma’a Awad and other union leaders; and
WHEREAS, these actions on the part of the al-Maliki regime are part of a larger pattern of increasingly authoritarian, sectarian and anti-democratic actions and policies that threaten not only the labor movement but all independent civil society organizations that seek to build a peaceful, tolerant, democratic society;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the South Carolina AFL-CIO joins USLAW, Solidarity Center, the Iraq Civil Society Solidarity Initiative and unions the world over to demand that the government of Iraq immediately drop all charges against Hassan Juma’a Awad and cancel the punitive orders issued by the Ministry of Oil to union activists, including all retaliatory transfers, reprimands  and disciplinary penalties against union activists; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the South Carolina AFL-CIO calls upon the Iraqi government to abide by internationally recognized labor standards, including the right of free association to organize, collectively bargain and strike as reflected in International Labor Organization Conventions and Iraq’s own Constitution, and further calls upon the Iraqi government to expeditiously adopt a basic labor law that affirms those rights for all workers, both public and private sector; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the South Carolina AFL-CIO will inform its members about the threat to labor rights in Iraq and encourage them to participate in appropriate solidarity activities in support of the unions and workers of Iraq, and will submit this resolution  to the AFL-CIO with a request that it be adopted at the forthcoming Quadrennial Convention of the Federation.


US Labor Against War is one of the few sites that regularly notes and reports on Nouri al-Maliki's attacks on labor in Iraq.  They also have a new campaign, calling for no war on Syria.


 











 You can say no or you can enable the so-called 'rebels' and take sides in a civil war.  We don't whine about 'moral outrage' because we're not stupid morons (yeah, we'll be taking Richard Cohen's nonsense in today's snapshot).  I don't need your 'morality,' I don't seek it and I don't embrace it nor do I honestly have any respect for any argument made on so-called 'moral' grounds.  Historically, 'morality' is a false line drawn to discriminate against others.

If you want to talk ethics, I can join in that conversation.

And I think it's unethical for the White House to back al Qaeda.

That's one of the elements of those so-called 'rebels.'  Dropping back to the September 4th snapshot:

 In an attempt to help him, let's note Karin Laub and Sarah DiLorenzo (AP) reported this afternoon that a vicious assault took place on the "Christian mountain village" of Maaloula today.  Bashar al-Assad's forces?  No, al-Assad's government has been secular.   So who was it?  Barack Obama's beloved rebels, "rebels from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra group launched the assault on predominantly Christian Maaloula."


Euronews notes,  "Maaloula is an ancient Christian town and is on a UNESCO list of world heritage sites.  Concerns are growing for members of its Christian community which has in the past been attacked by Islamist fighters who accuse them of sympathising with the Assad government."  That's who Barack's supporting.  Sunday, Jamal Halaby (AP) reported of the takeover of Maaloula:

 A Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and shouting Allahu Akbar, or God is great, attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after moving into the village overnight.
“They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village,” said the resident, reached by telephone from neighboring Jordan. “So many people fled the village for safety.”
Aid agencies say Syria's 2 million Christians are often targeted for suspected sympathies to President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Two top bishops have been kidnapped; a well-known priest is missing.
Antoinette Nassrallah, the Christian owner of a cafe in Maaloula, told CNN last year she had seen government TV images depicting radical Muslim attacks on Christians. She said she has heard about such violence in Aleppo.
"For now in our area here it's fine," she said last year. "But what I heard, in Aleppo, they are killing, destroying many of churches -- very, very old churches."
Many of Syria's Christians have fled to Lebanon where they shelter in monasteries.



 Along with Rebecca's "sick of the culture of war," the following community sites updated last night:







The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.











 

















 

















 

















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