I am always amazed by the complexities of life and activity in Baghdad. We can now give a new meaning to the notion of its "Red Zone". Link here to over 50 photographs of the People's Flag in Baghdad on May Day (including the one above).The Iraqi Communist Party celebrated May Day with a rally in Firdos Square in central Baghdad, followed by a march to the headquarters of the party. The rally and march were attended by leaders of the party, including the Secretary of its Central Committee, Comrade Hameed Majid Mousa. Thousands of trade unionists, members of democratic organisations and other people participated, carrying banners greeting the Iraqi working class on International Workers' Day.
Hat Tip - General Federation of Iraqi Workers
5 comments:
INshallah! My Friend! The aliens from outer space love thee!! ;-)
It is good to see a different side to what is happening in Iraq rather than only hearing about deaths and fighting.
Solidarity to the workers of Iraq.
I have heard many on the left blast the CPI (Communist Party of Iraq) as collaborators (for joining the Iraqi Governing Council, and Allawi's list in Iraqi elections.) Many call for violent attacks against the CPI. (the Iraqi resistance hit the CPI hard in 2003.)
Others like Christopher Hitchens publicly support the CPI.
Personally, I am not sure that the CPI and Allawi would govern worse than the UIA.
Anand : You are probably aware of my 4 part series on the ICP, which contrasts strongly with the form of left-criticisms you mention. It appeared in April 2007 on the 22nd, 23rd, 25th and 26th and can be got to by clickling into the "Communist Party" label on this post and trawling down. On the whole, my approach is favourable to ICP and contrasts with the type of analysis which appears in IIario Salucci's "A People's History of Iraq: the Iraqi Communist Party, Workers' Movements and the Left 1924-2004". (Haymarket Books $12) and tends to be shared by bodies such as "Labour Against the War" in this country, whom I helped launch prior to the invasion and then resigned from afterwards when they didn't take into account the complexities of the post-invasion situation.
I will rework my own short history sometime. I am now aware that when the Dawa Party came into existence, it and subsquent groups such as the Sadrists felt a need to be seen to fight for the social needs of the poor Shia working class who had formed the base of ICP support (although the ICP had wider support also). There is also extra literature I need to study.
I will look into Hitchen's material on the issue.
Cool. Thanks for the information. I obviously agree with you. Please consider joining our discussions at Mojo more often. We miss your perceptive insights :-)
Some on the hard left are very strange. Some of their eyes light up with joy when they hear that someone from the IA or IP was murdered.
As you know the ISF (IA + IP) lost more 5 1/2 times as many dead as the MNF-I in April, 2008. I was horrified at how deeply this death toll for the ISF was celebrated by many on the hard academic left.
I (and the vast majority of Iraqis) take a very different perspective on that, as you can see from this opinion poll:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1060a1IraqWhereThingsStand.pdf
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