Baghdad, Iraq
Zehira Houfani (writer and journalist),
Member of the Montreal Iraq Solidarity Project

More than 4 million Iraqis have lost their jobs following the invasion of their country by the United States. To take the measure of the drama represented by this figure, it must be multiplied by five to obtain the 20 million Iraqis (women and children) who survive on little bits of nothing under the indifference of the new masters of Iraq, all too busy with their looting strategy and subcontracting of power in this country.

From the first bombardments to this day, that is almost six months, workers and their families have been without resources and their situation is deteriorating day by day. To make their demands in what is now pompously called ‘The New Iraq’, they have created the Union of the Unemployed. This organisation has made repeated requests to the occupation forces, without any result whatsoever. Once again, it mobilised its members for another demonstration on Abu Nawas street, Tuesday July 29th. The rallying point was an old bank building, burned down during the war, which was now home to the Communist Party of Iraq.