IFTU tours the US. posted by Richard Seymour

US Labour Against the War have invited the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions on a tour of antiwar meetings across the US. The presence of the IFTU has stoked up the old flames about their support for and collusion with the occupiers. I have written before about how the IFTU's Abdullah Muhsin collaborated with the Labour leadership at the party's conference in 2004 to subvert trade union policy and win backing for a resolution supporting the occupation . Muhsin comically tried to deny it, but this sort of gave the game away. In all of this, they were assisted by the egregious and dishonest Labour Friends of Iraq .

Now, because it is the US antiwar movement that is giving a platform to the IFTU in this case, Jennifer Horan of Boston United for Peace with Justice, wrote to the leadership of the UfPJ to point out that: the IFTU is controlled by the Iraqi Communist Party which had collaborated with Saddam Hussein and which was on Allawi's slate in the January elections; the IFTU claims to oppose the occupation, but says it must never end until the US have 'imposed order' [ie, not in this lifetime Charlie]; "The President of the IFTU is Rasim Alawadi, deputy premier of the INA, and second—-in-command to Allawi. The INA is composed of disaffected former leading members of Saddam’’s regime and military. It worked closely with British and US intelligence after its 1992 founding to overthrow Saddam"; the IFTU claims to be the "real democratic resistance" to the occupation, but rarely denounces coalition violence and always finds the time to denounce the armed resistance as Ba'athists and Talibanis (an outright lie on the part of the IFTU).


Abdullah Muhsin with Sabi Abdullah Mashadani.

Indeed, New York City Labor Against the War have issued a separate, copiously noted statement :

USLAW’s conveners describe the IFTU as “a legitimate force for a progressive democratic sovereign Iraq, “ that is “organizing strikes and other militant actions against U.S. plans to privatize the economy” and “fighting for a future free from occupation.”

These claims, however, are contradicted by widely-available evidence that the IFTU is a pro-occupation mouthpiece for the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) and Iyad Allawi’s Iraqi National Accord (INA), and supported by the same “AFL-CIA” alliance that has supported U.S. domination in Vietnam (1960s), Chile (1973), Nicaragua (1980s), Venezuela (2000s) and many other countries.

...

[T]he IFTU has become Iraq’s only officially-recognized labor body (thereby inheriting frozen assets of the defunct Saddamist union federation); receives State Department support through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – a CIA-surrogate – and AFL-CIO Solidarity Center (with the direct involvement of its notorious former director, Harry Kamberis)

...

Although the ICP/IFTU claims to oppose privatization, it has not fought Bremer’s orders that permit foreign investment and slash workers’ salaries, or the current regime’s plans to sell-off the Iraqi economy.

The IFTU has sabotaged labor resistance to the occupation, including major strikes and protests by Basra oil workers in 2003. It appears that, with few exceptions, IFTU affiliates have struck only to demand that the occupation regime protect it from the resistance.

Iraqi trade unionists who have not had the benefit of the occupiers' largesse have been scornful. Hassan Juma’a Awad, General Secretary, Southern Oil Company Union said: “[The IFTU] “do[es] not organise workers on the ground. . . . They do not oppose the occupation but are linked to their stooge regime.”

Meanwhile, Houzan Mahmoud of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq remarks: “IFTU is this era’s version of state-made, anti-labour Ba’athist unions. . . . Any support or recognition offered to them will be a direct support for the government of Allawi and against the interests of the workers and people of Iraq.” (Emphasis added) Hani Lazim of Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation was even more forthright: “If you are part of a government that allows the US to bomb towns like Fallujah and the al-Sadr area of Baghdad, don’t tell me you oppose the occupation.”

So, what has been the effect of the IFTU's tour so far? One witness account, forwarded to me by Jennifer Horan, suggests:

Audience members think they're hearing an anti-war speech, but they leave the room knowing two things for sure: (1) the "resistance" are foreign Islamic and domestic Saddamist terrorists, and (2) the occupation should end now, which means the occupation should end as soon as Iraqis build the necessary political structures and security forces to and stabilize the country. That's supposed to be the anti-war position.

These people are not antiwar or opposed to the occupation. They are auxiliary to the US empire One can only marvel at their boldness in declaring themselves to be the 'real' resistance against the occupation when they are exerting themselves in every possible way to support it - for demonstrably mercenary reasons at that. Any fool who runs around telling you that the IFTU can be relied upon to defend Iraqi workers is a pure sap, or worse.

Lee Sustar has a good summary here .