Two hundred people packed into a
Stop the War Coalition meeting in
Southend to hear George Galloway MP and other speakers. Alex Gordon, from the RMT railworkers' union, reported on his visit to Baghdad with a trade union delegation to show solidarity with the Iraqi workers and people. He described the massive unemployment in Iraq, estimated at 50-70%, and the repressive labour laws introduced under Saddam Hussein's regime, which have not been repealed. The US occupying power was refusing to release the money that had been collected under duress by the 'officially' recognised union under Saddam. Workers in Iraq have been fighting back, however, with a successful strike in a Baghdad engineering factory and railway workers achieving union recognition.
George Galloway said he had been expelled from the Labour Party not for his actions but for his views. He had exposed Blair's lies about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction as a pretext for going to war. A long-time supporter of the Labour Party asked what the chances of reforming the party were. Galloway pointed to his experience of 36 years in the party ending in his expulsion by a kangaroo court. Members of Blair's "New Labour' clique were in control of the party apparatus and it would now be a Herculean task to dislodge them'.
Galloway said that millions of people all over the world who had been involved in the anti-war movement had the power to stop Bush and Blair. He urged everyone present to support the demonstration to coincide with Bush's visit in November. He received a standing ovation.
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6 soclalist resistance Winter 2003 Socialist Alliance Andrew Wiard RMT OFFICI PICKE