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

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 3/19/07, Jim Straub <rustbeltjacobin at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
> While I'm sypathetic to the larger argument made, as a trade unionist I find
> it impossible to oppose a job action for one's physical personal safety.  In
> fact Shia laborers and tradespeople of various industries have been
> terrifically high on the  recent insurgency hitlists, and many skilled
> workers from the Sunni community seem to have wound up dead with holes
> drilled in them and stuff.

I'm not opposing that, though I suspect that it's a futile appeal.

I'm thinking of the absence of political strikes to help end the
occupation.  Probably, consensus for that doesn't exist among workers
in the key sectors, due to an absence of a national liberation front.
-- 
Yoshie