Iraq Occupation Focus

Sunday 5 December 2004

11am - 5pm

University of London Union

Malet Street, London WC1

Speakers include: Michael Hoffmann (Iraq Veterans Against the War) Rose Gentle (UK Military Families Against the War) Hassan Juma'a (General Secretary, Southern Oil Company Union, Basra, Iraq) Lou Plummer (US Military Families Speak Out) Adam Price MP Christian Parenti (author of The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq) Sami Ramadani (Iraqi writer, teacher, and activist) Haifa Zangana (Iraqi artist, writer and activist) Dr. Nadje Al-ali (Exeter University Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies) Phil Shiner (human rights lawyer representing Iraqi families) Paola Gasparoli, Bridge to Baghdad (Un Ponte per Baghdad, Italian NGO working in Iraq) During the day the winning entries in the Iraq Occupation Focus-Red Pepper Poetry Competition will be introduced by Adrian Mitchell (Shadow Poet Laureate) and read out by the authors. Workshops feature: Tim Gopsill (editor, The Journalist, NUJ) Dr Kamil Mahdi (Exeter University Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies) Eddie Cherry, UK Veterans for Peace Milan Rai (Voices in the Wilderness) Justin Alexander, Jubilee Iraq (anti-debt campaign) Greg Muttitt (PLATFORM, research group on oil industry) David Miller (editor, Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq) Jo Wilding (activist, eyewitness to attack on Fallujah in spring 2004) Ewa Jasiewicz (activist and journalist, spent eight months in Iraq earlier this year) Munir Chalabi (activist, Iraq Occupation Focus) Mike Marqusee (author, activist) Workshop topics include: human rights in Iraq; the Iraqi economy; legal challenges in Britain; the British media; women in Iraq; resistance in the military; practical solidarity and direct action; solidarity, resistance and the anti-war movement; oil privatisation and oil trade unions. Registration: £5 (waged), £2 (unwaged). Teach in generously supported by: Voices in the Wilderness UK Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers The international teach-in on 5th December will offer all those opposed to the US-UK occupation of Iraq a unique chance to learn, discuss and prepare for action. The British media has largely failed to report or explain the realities of the occupation and the resistance to it. At the teach-in, a wide range of speakers from Iraq, the USA and Britain will share their knowledge, expertise and experience. 5th December will be a day to inform ourselves about the situation in Iraq (and the USA), to strengthen our arguments against occupation and examine the challenges facing the anti-war movement. Media enquiries to: Liz Davies 07958 673840 Munir Chalabi 07952 683415 Contact Iraq Occupation Focus at: PO Box 44680 London N16 7XX Or swood@thenewpress.com Notes to editors Hassan Juma'a al Asaadi is the General Secretary of the Southern Oil Company Trade Union and President of the Basra Oil Union. SOC workers and the Union leadership have repeatedly stated their opposition to the occupation and any privatization of their workplaces and national resources. The Union is proud of its autonomous reconstruction efforts which have spanned every location in the Southern Oil Company, Iraq's largest company. Workers declared the SOC a no-go zone for all Kellogg Brown and Root employees last autumn. Southern Oil Company workers also shut down exports during the siege and attack on Najaf, in solidarity with the holy city's inhabitants. The Basra Oil Union was formed in July 2004 and represents over 30,000 workers from the oil industry across the south of Iraq. For more information contact Ewa Jasiewicz at freelance@mailworks.org 07749 421 576 Michael Hoffman took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as a Marine Lance Corporal. On his return to Pennsylvania he became involved with the anti-war movement. He is co-founder and national coordinator of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Michael is interviewed in US magazine Mother Jones: "If you talk to the majority of guys there [in Iraq], they just want to go the hell home. They don't want to be there anymore. They know they're not wanted by the people of Iraq, so why should they stay?" Lou Plummer - Lou lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina, home of Fort Bragg, where 45,000 military personnel are stationed. Lou served in the US army in the 1980s and is the grandson, son, brother and father of men who've served or are serving in the military. His son is currently in the US navy. He is a leading spokesperson for Military Families Speak Out and Bring Them Home Now. In addition to the Teach-In on 5th December Lou and Michael will be addressing major public meetings in Leeds (Monday 6 December), Glasgow (with Rose Gentle, Tuesday 7th December), Manchester (8th December), Colchester (9th December). For more information on Lou and Michael, follow the link. Adam Price MP is sponsoring the motion to impeach Tony Blair for misleading Parliament and the public on the reasons for invading Iraq. See http://www.impeachblair.org/index.shtml Adam Price is Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr; see http://www.adamprice.org.uk/ Rose Gentle is the mother of Gordon Gentle, a 19 year old UK soldier who was killed in June in Iraq. Since then she has campaigned for an end to the occupation and has helped set up Military Families Against the War. See: http://www.mfaw.org.uk Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist and former political prisoner. See her latest article in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1352849,00.html Sami Ramadani was a political refugee from Saddam Hussein's regime and is a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University. See his latest article in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1347354,00.html Phil Shiner is a lawyer with an international reputation for his work on issues concerning environmental and human rights law. He has acted for Gurkha soldiers facing discrimination in the British army and has represented CND in a judicial review challenging the Government's decision to go to war. Currently he is acting on behalf of Iraqi families in relation to the conduct of British troops in occupied Iraq. US author Christian Parenti travelled extensively in occupied Iraq earlier this year, publishing a series of eye-opening despatches in The Nation (click here for his article). His new book The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq is an un-sanitized eyewitness account of how the war is unfolding. The book has just been published by The New Press at £12.99, and will be on sale at the Teach-In for the special discount price of £10.99. For more information on Christian Parenti's book and his visit to the UK, please contact Susan Wood at the New Press: swood@thenewpress.com