June 16th to June 30th
Initiated by Jubilee Iraq* and Voices in the Wilderness**

Participants also include members of Jubilee USA and Progressive Democrats of America

As international social justice activists, including citizens of Iraq, the U.S. and the U.K., we stand united and resolved to seek an end to the ongoing economic exploitation of Iraq. Such exploitation is a form of violence which must be resisted. Those of us who are citizens of the U.S. and U.K. bear a special responsibility as it is our respective countries which created and held firm to the economic sanctions regime which devastated Iraq’s health care, education, water and electrical infrastructure.

by Ewa Jasiewicz
Big Issue Scotland — June 2005 Issue

‘What Bleeds Leads’ has been the mass media’s narrow angle when it comes to stories on Iraq. Soaring death-tolls, explosions, wailing mourners, harried police, - these are the bloody images of a typical Iraq news story.

The story that didn’t make the news last month though was that of one of Iraq’s most powerful unions – the 23,000 strong General Union of Oil Employees – holding a historic conference on Privatisation.