Counterpunch readers respond:

Dear Greg–

A friend emailed me your story about the workers of Nasiriyah and the WCP of Iraq. I was thrilled to read your well-written and rare report on the third and only progressive alternative in Iraq. I have been doing solidarity work with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) for the past year, and as you may know, this courageous women’s organization is also openly affiliated with the Worker Communist Party of Iraq. In addition to their amazing work organizing factory workers and the unemployed, WPI is also the only party that actively supports and fights for women’s equality in Iraq. Iraqi women have a long history of militant activism and this is why they enjoyed more rights than women in most Middle Eastern countries. And it never ceases to amaze me that one of the results of the US occupation and proclaimed “liberation” is to turn back the clock on Iraqi women’s hard-earned rights by 50 years. How Bush manages this PR campaign in the face of what’s happening to women in Iraq is one of the great feats of the modern age.

Our solidarity committee is a small group of 8 (very dedicated) women and we have had a steep up-hill battle against the left in NYC, trying to get them to support the progressive grassroots struggle in Iraq and look more critically at the likes of al-Sadr and company, especially as they relate to women.

So I just wanted to say thank you for your article (which I’ve sent over my large email list) Writings such as yours can make a big difference.

Best Regards,

Jennifer Fasulo

Solidarity with Organization of Women’s Freedom in
Iraq (SOWFI)

sowfiorg@hotmail.com

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Dear Greg,

I was impressed by your coverage of the UUI and Worker Communist party and would encourage you to read more articles and press releases by the WCPI. I think your right on target when you disclosed the dualistic perspective of war, that I think many on the Left, here in the states, have on the Iraqi war. In an attempt to gain political momentum through campaigning against the US/Brit occupation, and ultimately to appeal to ordinary working Americans, American Left groups such as the ISO, synthesizes the “Iraqi resistance” with “socialist resistance,” because it’s an easy sell for them. Especially when they are focused on “racism” and “plundering” as the characteristic of imperialist war. A) Analyzing Iraqi society as a modern-capitalist society with a strong economy and work-force, B) communicating with Iraqi laborers, forming international support groups and representative committees, and C) strengthening the, for the most part untold secular-civil protest of laborers, is the real and complex task of progressive people around the world. It may seems easier but is really less effective, to just wave a “US out of Iraq” banner and latch on to nationalist “anti-imperialist” movements grounded in Iraq.

A telling case in point is the Iranian revolution of 1979. A popular revolution turned “Islamic” as Khomeini, funded by the then marginalized traditional petty-bourgeoisie of Iran, “nationalized” the revolution via politico-religious categories and founded a new enemy: not capitalism, the SAVAK or corporatism under the Shah, but the “Great Satan, America.” Technically, Iran was an example of “self-determination.” An historic _expression of a foreign power (the Shah being US’s puppet) being booted out by Iranian themselves. What was the outcome of that heroic independence: 23 years of theocratic rule….and the total Islamicization of society! This is why we can’t afford to critically or uncritically support what many on the left color as “national liberationist,” since the local bourgeoisie will remain in power and preserve the capitalist mode of production, patriarchy, and isolationism.

Haydar

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Mr. Moses,
I don’t have much to say, except thank you for writing your wonderful
article in Counterpunch on the Iraqi labor movement. Like you, I now
want to know much more about brave these people. If you discover anything
else, please write another article!
Brian Callaci (American studying in London)