[Antiracism] Samir Adil, President of the Iraqi Freedom Congress will speak in western Massachusetts, May 8

Thu Apr 20 14:32:30 EDT 2006

Greetings Friends,

Please save the date  on Monday, May 8, Samir Adil, President of the Iraq
Freedom Congress will speak in western Massachusetts. (I just received
confirmation, so I have to hustle to find a location! Stay tuned!)

The Iraqi Freedom Congress was formed in March 2005 by the
Worker-Communist Party of Iraq. The purpose of the Congress is to promote
democracy and secularism in Iraq.  It's a people's movement -- based in the 
student, labor and human rights communities.

The Worker-Communist Party of Iraq is a Marxist political party in Iraq
and amongst Iraqi exiles. They opposed both Saddam Hussein and the
American-led new administration. Under the Ba'athist regime, the group was
persecuted, and so operated primarily in the Kurdistan region, and
overseas in the United Kingdom and Australia (where they were among the
founders of the Socialist Alliance).

They are involved in the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in
Iraq, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq and the Union of the
Unemployed in Iraq. They produce a newsletter called Iraq Weekly.
For more information: http://www.ifcongress.com/English/index.htm.

I understand from colleagues that Samir is extraordinary. He was tortured
during Saddam Hussein’s presidency, but continues to speak of uniting a
peaceful Iraq.

I would be happy to make him available for all of Monday and Tuesday days
for radio interviews and/or school visits. Please call my cell to arrange
this (413.695.6059).  AFSC also welcomes co-sponsors of this event.  All 
are welcome also to table and distribute literature.

The following is a letter Samir wrote to the international community on the
third anniversary of the US war in Iraq.

Peace, Jo

An open letter to the anti war and anti terrorism movement of the world in
the third anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq

As the third anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq emerges while the
society is undergoing the hardest time of its life, the war continues its
pace in every single street in Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk and everywhere else
in the country. The assassinations and disappearances overtake
politicians, doctors, engineers and scholars. The explosives are taking
the civilians lives regardless of their ages at every given moment. The
arrests, raids and torture carried out by the occupying troops are in a
state of ongoing actions. The poverty and unemployment are wide spreading
as the security situations slipping off the hands. In addition the puppet
government and in response to the International Monetary Fund have made
decisions to make peoples’ lives even more miserable by rising the fuel
prices and taking steps to gradually eliminate the subsidized ration
coupon. What we gained after three years of occupation are, the lack of
social services, power outage, and ethno-sectarian gangs hanging over the
society.

Just as we forewarned in the eve of the constitution referendum and
election at the end of last year, that the US administration attempts to
get its policies through and continue its occupation after failing to find
the weapons of mass destruction. We said at that time that this is a US
game in which the ethnic and sectarian division will deepen and the
society will slide into a civil war. There you are! Seeing and hearing how
Iraq is becoming another Rwanda. People are getting murdered on a daily
bases because of their sectarian identities.

We were supposed to organize marches in the third anniversary of the
invasion in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Basra as we announced earlier this month,
however the current security situation preclude us from doing so. Though
we will consider different possibilities to express our protest in this
day where millions of people around the world will march the streets to
denounce the war and occupation.

Friends, brothers, comrades and peace lovers all over the world and
especially in the United States:

Millions of people in Iraq are looking forward to your movement, to your
hard work, and to your struggle to bring peace to the world. Without your
solidarity and support the US inhumane policies will not be defeated. We
strongly believe that the security and stability will not prevail unless
the occupation is ended. Therefore we are determined to boot out the
occupation, and here we are today in spite of the hardship we are
enduring, we save no effort to bring hope to millions of people around us
and present our humanitarian alternative.

We work in several regions in Iraq to create secured neighborhoods where
the sectarian and ethnic hatred have no ground what so ever. We educate
people how to protect themselves and their neighbors and how not letting
the hatred get to their unity. We organize their ranks to make their
places of living safer for the people who run away from the sectarian
mobs. At the same time we work to bring basic social services to make
their lives easier.

On the other hand, through carrying out demonstrations, sit-ins,
gatherings, and media we struggle to end the occupation, forming a
non-ethnic and non-religious government where people are recognized as
human beings and take their matters on their hands.

In this occasion, I would like to say: what ended the bloodshed in Vietnam
are the protests that swept New York, Washington and the rest of the
world. And we are absolutely certain that ending the chaos and bloodshed
in Iraq will take place by rising the international protests and awareness
in the same cities that ended the Vietnamese war.

Iraq Freedom Congress is part of the humanitarian current you represent.
With your support by all means only, will prevail.

Long Live international solidarity
Samir Adil, President of Iraq Freedom Congress
Baghdad
March 14, 2006
ifcongress at gmail.com
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"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?
         The world would split open"  ~ Muriel Rukeyser

Jo Comerford
American Friends Service Committee, Western Massachusetts
140 Pine Street, Room 10
Florence, Massachusetts 01062
413.584.8975 (W)
413.584.8987 (F)
413.695.6059 (C)
afsc at crocker.com
www.WesternMassAFSC.org

New Resource:
Ten Reasons Why the US Must Leave Iraq:
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.pdf
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/activism/10-reasons.htm (Text)
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