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Heed their voices Labour MP Harry Barnes the left needs a new approach to Iraq following the elections Given
that the Iraqi turnout was the same or even larger than at the last UK election,
the left must do some urgent rethinking on Iraq or be morally sidelined while
our natural comrades there fight for non-sectarian democracy without the massive
and direct solidarity they urgently require. It
was one thing to oppose the war, as I did in every single Commons vote. I
don’t regret backing the other superpower – world public opinion against the
war. But history has moved on, with Iraqis trying desperately to salvage a new
society after decades of Saddam Hussein’s fascist-type rule and his wars –
together with the predictable consequences of United Nations sanctions, invasion
and occupation. But some left-wingers seem content just to say ‘I told you
so’ and fail to respect if not always support the decisions of Iraqi
progressives. Campaign
group After
Saddam was overthrown, I contacted the then fledgling Iraqi Federation of Trade
Unions (IFTU), which has soared from a small clandestine movement to up to
400,000 members in the last year or so. I organised meetings in the Commons and
joined with others to increase support for the IFTU’s efforts to rebuild a
free labour movement as part of a vibrant civil society – what we call
‘grassroots Iraq’. We
recently formed a new campaign group for this new civil society called Labour
Friends of Iraq (LFIQ). Other parties should establish equivalent organisations.
LFIQ seeks to unite party members who were pro-war and anti-war in favour of
supporting post-war Iraq. I joined with Ann Clwyd as Joint President to
symbolise such unity. We
back the new unions in Iraq. Such unions were once very powerful. Fresh from the
million strong anti-war march in February 2003, I heard of an Iraqi who had
participated in the May Day rally in Baghdad in 1959, which attracted similar
numbers in a society of around ten million people. Free unions were, however,
crushed after this and under Saddam, so much so that the very term ‘union’
is often associated with totalitarian terror, modelled on both Stalin and
Hitler. But brave working class activists were able to pick up the threads
against huge odds. One
problem was the antagonism of US occupying authorities. They attacked the
IFTU’s headquarters in Baghdad and arrested several of its leaders in December
2003. The leaders were released without charge but the offices were closed. This
caused a worldwide outcry and a year later the IFTU re-occupied its offices. No
decent explanation has been given. They
opposed the war but the IFTU decided that the best way to strengthen civil
society was to support the electoral and political process sanctioned
unanimously by the United Nations Security Council. The
IFTU has rightly been accorded a great deal of support by the British and
international labour movement but a small minority of ultra-leftists and
armchair revolutionaries has behaved disgracefully by attacking groups like the
IFTU. Unfortunately, sharp words here were mirrored by foul deeds in Iraq where
the so-called resistance has attacked, kidnapped, tortured and murdered IFTU
members. Those
who fingered the Iraqi labour movement as ‘Vichy’ forces and hailed the
murderous resistance as ‘Maquis’ should no longer have any credibility or
respect in the labour movement. The decent left should heed the voice and the
vote of Iraqis, who have now issued a powerful message by braving the gunmen and
the suicide bombers and voting in huge numbers for democracy and sovereignty. We
are with them or not. Solidarity No
one should pretend that the conditions in which the elections were held or the
electoral system were perfect. But the turnout, despite intimidation, was superb
– perhaps better than the turnout here. And a third of the candidates were
women, which is certainly better than here. The
next question is the presence of the foreign troops. It may be unwise to set a
precise deadline for withdrawal because that will be exploited by the so-called
resistance. The idea of withdrawing foreign troops to barracks is superficially
plausible but not if it endangers civil society. But the US and the UK should
make it absolutely clear that they won’t overstay and will help Iraqis build
political and security capability before leaving. Whether
we supported or opposed the war should not overshadow the central task of the
British and international labour movement and that is to pour in direct
assistance to grassroots Iraq and the IFTU, not least via the TUC’s appeal.
Solidarity is the watchword. Harry
Barnes MP is Joint President of Labour Friends of Iraq. He resigned from Labour
Against the war on 24 February saying, ‘I thought it was right to oppose the
war. But history moves on and the Iraqi people now have a golden opportunity to
take back their country and build a decent non-sectarian democracy based on
social justice … Labour Against the War is standing in the way of solidarity
and I have resigned to help alert the wider movement to the need to support
grassroots Iraq.’
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