Stop the Theft of Iraq's Oil in DC on June 5th

Iraqi Labor Leaders to Tour United States

WHAT: Demonstration against US contractor paid by the US to help write and promote law in Iraq to put most of Iraq's oil under control of multinational oil corporations

Join Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Iraq Federation of Oil Worker, and Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President of the Iraq Electrical Utility Workers Union, to protest BearingPoint's and the US government's efforts to take control of Iraq’s greatest natural resource away from the Iraqi people.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 5, 2007, at 5:00 p.m. ET

WHERE: Offices of BearingPoint (80 M St., SE, Washington, D.C. – near Navy Yard Metro) with a march to the U.S. Capitol at 5:30 (3/4 mile)

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ADDITIONAL EVENTS IN DC:

Public forum with Iraqi Labor Leaders
Launching of US Tour
Wednesday, June 6, 2007, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. ET
Busboys and Poets Restaurant
2021 14th Street, NW
Washington DC

Public Forum with Iraqi Labor Leaders
Concluding US Tour
MC’d by Ron Pinchback of WPFW
Tuesday, June 26, 2007, 7:00 p.m. ET
Westminster Presbyterian Church
400 Eye (I) Street, SW– Waterfront Metro (Green Line)

Contact: Denice at 202-320-5588 or denicez@verizon.net

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TOUR DATES:

June 7-10 Los Angeles, Calif.

June 10 San Jose and Santa Cruz, Calif.

June 11 Berkeley, Calif.

June 12 San Francisco, Calif.

June 13-16 Boston, Mass.

June 16-19 New York, N.Y.

June 19-20 Philadelphia, Penn.

June 20-21 Milwaukee, Wisc.

June 21-23 Chicago, Ill.

June 24-27 Washington, D.C.

June 27-28 Atlanta, Ga.

Details here:
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=12200

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BACKGROUND:

A new oil law in Iraq is set to take control of Iraq’s oil out of the hands of its government and give it to international corporations. Since 1972, the Iraqi government has had exclusive control of Iraq’s oil wealth, allowing for a sizeable increase in the standard of living despite the corruption of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Now, under a new law drafted and promoted by the US, the Iraq National Oil Company will have exclusive control of just 17 of Iraq’s 80 known oil fields, leaving two-thirds of known—and all of its as yet undiscovered—reserves open to foreign control.

Foreign companies would have no requirements to invest their earnings in the Iraqi economy, partner with Iraqi companies, hire Iraqi workers or share new technologies. Most of Iraqi’s oil would be under foreign control for 20 to 30 years. Foreign companies would not even be subject to Iraqi courts if there were a dispute over their role or operations.

BearingPoint, a Virginia-based contractor, has been paid $240 million by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to draft the law and lobby for it in the Iraqi parliament (in violation of US and Iraqi law). [Do we know if all that was just for drafting the law, or did it cover other services?] The law was first shown to major oil companies and the US government in July of 2006, then to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September of last year, and only then to the Iraqi Parliament in February of this year.

Five of Iraq’s trade union federations, including the oil workers’ union, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, released a statement opposing the law and rejecting “the handing of control over oil to foreign companies which would undermine the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of the Iraqi people. “ They ask for more time, less pressure and a chance at the democracy they have been promised. They want an opportunity for Iraq’s alone (without outside pressure or interference) to develop the law that will govern development of Iraq’s oil resources and industry.

Join two of Iraq’s most important union leaders in a protest against BearingPoint and the US government’s efforts to take control of their natural resources away from the Iraqi people to enrich already grotesquely wealthy Western oil interests.

The US and other foreign countries should be looking to help the Iraqi people cope with the disaster wrought by the Bush Administration. They should not be exploiting them further. Iraqi oil for the Iraqi people, not for ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, BP and the other oil barons.

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Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President
Electrical Utility Workers Union,
General Federation of Iraqi Workers
Sister Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein is the first woman to head a national union in Iraq. Following high school, she went to work at the Southern Company for Electricity, where she became active in the labor movement. She rose to leadership of the Electricity Workers Union in Basra and recently was elected its national president. She serves on the executive committee of the Basra Work Unions Coalition. She is head of the Women Workers’ Bureau and is a leader in the Iraqi Women’s Association. She and her 7-year old son have received death threats as a result of her activism.

Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary
Southern Oil Company Union,
Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions
Brother Faleh Abood Umara is a founding member of the oil workers union and worked for the Southern Oil Company in Basra for 28 years. In 1998, he was detained by the Hussein regime for his activities on behalf of his coworkers. He has served on the union’s negotiating team with both the Oil Ministry and British occupation authorities to defend the rights and interests of oil industry workers in the post-Saddam era. The Southern Oil Workers Union has conducted strikes against outsourcing to foreign workers and schemes to privatize the oil sector.

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org