by Ewa Jasiewicz

There were some delegates and organisers at the European Social Forum who were shocked to see Subhei Marshadani, the General Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) attacked by protestors when he tried to speak on a plenary platform titled “Ending the Occupation in Iraq”. Later some would label the action of the protestors as “fascist”. Others were not so shocked. The current government of Iraq, which Marshadani and his UK rep Abdullah Muhsin’s party, the Iraqi Communist Party, are part of, is generating a climate fertile for fascism. Many Iraqis regard the interim government as neo-Baathist. The Interior, Security, Defence and Prime Ministers in Iraq are all former Baathists. Those rebuilding and supervising the state apparatuses of control; the police, the army and the intelligence services are descended from a regime which depended heavily on these apparatuses. And the current collaborationist government is relying on them heavily again. History is doomed to repeat itself.