13.10.2004

Self-determination for the Iraqi people!

The working class must win leadership of anti-imperialist struggle, writes Paul Greenaway

The Worker-communist Party of Iraq is under attack from forces allied to the US-led occupation and its office in Muqdadyiah is threatened with closure. While we do not agree with the WCPI’s ‘even-handed’ approach to the occupation and those resisting it, we are totally opposed to this outrageous attack and are pleased to publish its statement

The Worker-communist Party of Iraq - Muqdadyiah branch - and other mass organisations, such as trade unions and the Union of Unemployed and Iraqi Federation of Workers Councils, have exposed the widespread corruption in this town orchestrated by the municipal council. This included outright theft as well as fraud of public money and property. The regional governor was at the centre of this corruption and acted as the mediator between the members of municipal council and other parties involved in plundering the public wealth of the people.

This crime was carried out while the majority of the people in this town are in deep poverty and have little access to social services. The Worker-communist Party of Iraq and mass organisations have been struggling alongside people in Muqdadyiah for a return to civil life and security for the population; in this fight, they have stood against both political islam and America and their military confrontation.
The people of Muqdadyiah have been calling on American forces and the islamic militias to leave the town and conduct their war away from people’s life and workplaces. By making these secular, progressive demands for security and a better life, the people of Muqdadyiah have threatened to undermine the basis of the corrupt rule of the local municipal council. They have illustrated their independent ability to take the running of their society into their own hands, out of the control of the local reactionaries and occupying forces.

In retaliation, the regional governor of Muqdadyiah organised a forum on October 2 where he called for a vote to close the office of the Worker-communist Party of Iraq, and those of mass organisations in this town. He justified this outrageous attack with the observation that the WCPI calls for secularism and criticises religion!

Predictably, the islamic parties, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution of Iraq and the al-Dawa Party, voted for the closure. However, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan also voted for the closure and its representative expressed pride that his party had closed down the WCPI’s offices in Suleimanyiah, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in 2000.

The Worker-communist party of Iraq and the mass organisations that represent the just demands of workers and women in Iraq call upon the people, political parties, labour organisations, and human right organisations the world over to condemn this act and support us in our struggle. Write letters of protest to US embassies condemning the occupation of Iraq and call for withdrawal.