A plea from Issam Shukri
Support the striking cement workers of Tasluja in Sulaimaniyah - Iraq
Condemn the armed assault on the workers
Condemn the militias of PUK
To:
All workers’ organizations and syndicates
Amnesty International and all international human rights organizations
All freedom-loving and defenders of equality, freedom, and prosperity
Dear Friends,
900 workers in Tasluja cement factory in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq have recently started a strike to demand raise of wages and hazard compensation as well as the return of their laid-off co-workers to their jobs. Their strike has been answered by a barrage of fire assault from the automatic weapons of the guards “protecting” the factory administration, causing the injury of 13 workers, some of whom are in a serious condition. At the hospital of Sulaimaniyah, some of the workers’ bodies were found to have received 3 bullets in the assault!
This aggression against striking workers is a deplorable breach of all human rights international agreements regarding the rights of workers and people in general to organize, strike, and demonstrate. The perpetrators is an armed gang supported by the militias of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK, a paramilitary militia and a nationalist party controlling Sulaimaniyah and parts of Kurdistan and quite infamous for its violations and its brutal use of force to repress the protests and demonstrations of the people in Kurdistan. It is well known fact that the PUK is a major participant in the US-controlled and manipulated government of Iraq.
In our condemnation of this massacre, we have promised to inform all international workers’ and humanitarian and civil organizations of these violations against workers committed by the nationalist forces of Kurdistan with the PUK as both accomplice and perpetrator.
I call upon you to support the striking and wounded workers of Tasluja. Please send your letters of protest to the leaders of the PUK and its chief Jalal Talabani, the “president of Iraq” to protest his militias attack on the workers of Tasluja and demand the stop of these violations and put all perpetrators to trial and also for the authorities to officially recognize the right of workers to strike and demonstrate. Your support is invaluable in defending workers of Iraq against suppressive and reactionary forces, and helps them stand up and fight for a better world for all people.
Kindly send your protest emails to
Jalal Talabani, The President of Iraq, Head of the PUK
or to the offices of the PUK in USA
and in Germany
Kindly email us a copy of your protest letter at:
Best Regards
Issam Shukri
Secretary of the Central Committee
of the Left Worker-communist Party of Iraq - LWPI
29-7-2006