Iraqi Oil Workers Will Bring The U.S.Occupation To Its Knees

[Itsthetruth]

ZNet
June 23, 2005

A View from Iraqi Oil Fields comes to the US
by Zachary Lown

In August of 2003 the General Union of Oil Workers (GUOW) in Basra, Iraq led its 23,000 members in a general strike aimed at Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR). They surrounded their headquarters for six days, halted all oil extraction and forced the Halliburton subsidiary out of the region. By January of 2004 the mere threat of a strike was enough to get the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to raise their monthly salary from $35 US dollars a month to about $100.

Hassan Juma’a Awad, Chief of the Executive Bureau for this oil union arrived last week in Washington DC. This marks the first time an Iraqi union has come to the US to explain their experience. Hassan attributes his success to the centrality of Iraqi oil workers for the US occupation. “The Americans have to show the world that they can deliver oil to the world market as justification for their continued presence,” he explains. He believes that he is wielding a powerful social force, a force that will inevitably bring the occupation to its knees.

The following day Hassan addresses a lunch meeting at the Communications Workers of America. “Many people are in the dark and don’t know the real intentions of the occupation, but we the indigenous have known since the first day,” he says. “Oil is the main reason for the invasion. This became clear when the Occupation authority tired to privatize the oil sector in Iraq. It covered this practice with various disguises so many Iraqis will buy it.” The crowd seems transfixed. Some chew their food staring straight at the speaker. He tilts his head to the side and rests both fists on the podium waiting for his interpreter to hurry up and finish.

“Privatization is a nice word, but it means the economics of colonialism. The transfer of public national wealth to private foreign ownership...As soon as they came in with tanks from Kuwait they began defending the oil fields. The Ministry of Oil is the only department where there has been no looting. Do you all know this? I don’t think so because the mainstream media is molding your opinion…We have to fight and struggle to expel the occupiers from our land. We need your support in this goal.” Enthusiastic applause bursts from the crowd but Hassan does not smile as he sits down.


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