Voices from Occupied Iraq
International teach-in
Saturday 26 November 2005
University of London Union,
Malet Street London WC1
10. 30am to 5pm
On Saturday November 26, Iraqis, activists, human rights lawyers and political analysts will gather at the University of London Union in central London for an international teach-in.
At a conference organised by London-based campaign group Iraq Occupation Focus, they will discuss democracy, human rights and corporate activity in occupied Iraq, and shed light on the resistance to the occupation.
This is a unique opportunity to learn the truth about life in occupied Iraq from the men and women who are living through it.
Hassan Juma’a, President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions in Basra and Ismaeel Dawood, human rights activist in Baghdad, have travelled from Iraq to address the teach-in.
Also speaking are Gilbert Achcar, author of The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder, Rahul Mahajan (reporter from Iraq), representatives from the frontline Italian NGO, Un Ponte per Baghdad and Iraqi exiles in Britain, including Sami Ramadani and Haifa Zangana. Biographies of these and other speakers are below.
Ismaeel Dawood and Hassan Juma’a are in the UK to address the teach-in and are taking the opportunity to meet lawyers, MPs, Liberty and other campaigning groups. They will be available for interview in the days leading up to the event and following it. Any requests for interview must be made in advance on the numbers below. Media wishing to attend the conference or seeking further information should contact:
Liz Davies: 07958 673840
Tom Burgis: 07813 550 521
Ewa Jasiewicz 07749 421576
NOTES ON SPEAKERS
Gilbert Achcar lived in Lebanon before he moved to France, where he teaches political science at the University of Paris-8. He is the author of several books on world politics and on the Middle East, including The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder (2002).
Dr Nadje Al-Ali is senior lecturer in social anthropology at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. She specialises in women and gender issues in the Middle East as well as issues related to migration, refugees and diasporas. She is a founding member of Act Together: Women’s Action on Iraq and a member of Women in Black UK. www.acttogether.org
Ismaeel Dawood is a human-rights activist in Baghdad. He has written on civilian casualties and the treatment of detainees by the occupying forces and is a consultant for various human-rights NGOs, including Un Ponte per Baghdad.
Jeremy Dear is General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists.
Paola Gasparoli works for Un Ponte per Baghdad (A Bridge to Baghdad), an Italian voluntary association founded in 1991 immediately after the bombing of Iraq in the first Gulf War. In 2003, A Bridge to Baghdad organised emergency interventions in the areas worst affected by the invasion. Since the war, the group has been involved in assistance to sustain the development of Iraqi civil society. Paola has co-authored two reports with Ismaeel Dawood on civilian casualties and on the treatment of detainees by the occupying forces. www.unponteper.it/baghdad
Hassan Juma’a is the President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (formerly the General Union of Oil Employees in Basra). Organising over 23, 000 workers in Iraq’s southern oil and gas industries, the Union has consistently held a ‘Troops Out Now’ policy. Many of the union’s executive committee, including Hassan Juma’a, were persecuted by the Baath dictatorship. The Union has halted oil exports on two separate occasions through strike action over unpaid wages and repressive Baathist managers. It has successfully reconstructed infrastructure, port equipment, drilling rigs and pipelines without the help of foreign companies. www.basraoilunion.org/
Kamil Mahdi works at the University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, lecturing in the economics of the Middle East. He writes on Iraq’s economy and politics and has campaigned against the Baath dictatorship and US aggression.
Rahul Mahajan is an American journalist and peace activist, reporting and blogging from Iraq. He witnessed and reported the onslaught on Fallujah in April 2004. He is publisher of the blog Empire Notes, which has daily updated analysis of US foreign policy and the state of the American Empire. His first book, The New Crusade: America’s War on Terrorism (April 2002, Monthly Review Press), has been described as “mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a handle on the war on terrorism. ” His most recent book, Full Spectrum Dominance: U. S. Power in Iraq and Beyond, came out from Seven Stories Press in June 2003. www.rahulmahajan.com
Greg Muttit is a researcher and activist who has been monitoring the secret plans to hand Iraq’s oil reserves to western oil multinationals. He is a member of PLATFORM, a London-based group working on issues of environmental and social justice, specialising in the oil industry. www.carbonweb.org
Sami Ramadani was born in Iraq and became an exile from Saddam’s regime in 1969 as a result of his political activities. He is active in the movement to end the US-led occupation and to establish independent democracy in Iraq. He writes on Iraq in The Guardian, is a senior lecturer in Applied Sociology at the London Metropolitan University and a member of NATFHE.
Phil Shiner is a solicitor, heading the team at Public Interest Lawyers and has extensive experience in human rights, judicial review, and environmental work. Human Rights Lawyer of the Year in 2004, Phil has acted in several high profile international and human rights cases. These include representing CND in a judicial review of the decision to wage war in Iraq, and legal challenges to the conduct of British troops in post-invasion Iraq. Phil is a founding member of Peacerights. www.peacerights.org; www.publicinterestlawyers.co.uk
Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist, activist and former political prisoner in Iraq. She regularly contributes to The Guardian and writes a weekly column for Al-Quds newspaper.
An Iraqi humanitarian aid worker from International Peace Angels, who has been distributing aid to besieged cities across Iraq and rescuing families trapped in houses. http://www.internationalpeaceangels.org/index.htm
Website: www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk; Email: iraqfocus@riseup.net
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