[lbo-talk] Class struggles in the Middle East...

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 3/19/07, Mike Ballard <swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> March 15th, 2007 by catch
> an electricity worker in kirkuk
>
> Workers at an electricity plant in Kirkuk were on strike yesterday
> whilst others protested in Baghdad.
>
> The following report is from the General Federation of Workers in Iraq
>
> On Tuesday 13 March 2007 Workers and Technicians at "Taza Plant 15K"
> outside Kirkuk conducted a day strike action calling on the local
> authorities to improve their security from extremist attacks which are
> killing many workers indiscriminately. The strikers also called on the
> management of the plant to increase their pay.
>
> At another development, on same day workers at Baghdad main electricity
> plant protested at the Minister�s of Electricity decision to abolish
> their allowances.
>
> http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/archives/000854.html

One of the reasons that it's difficult to end the US occupation of
Iraq is not only the sectarian elections that created a predominantly
Shi'i "Iraqi government" and the growth of the apparently
al-Qaeda-linked "Islamic State of Iraq," which exploited and deepened
the division between Sunnis on one hand and the Shi'is and the Kurds
on the other hand, but also workers of the key industries such as oil
and electricity, while opposed to privatization of oil and the like
and capable of making economic demands, appear unable or unwilling to
use their power to help end the occupation.
-- 
Yoshie