Labor activists oppose theft of Iraqi oil

The San Francisco Labor Council on May 15 adopted, by unanimous vote, a resolution denouncing the planned “Iraqi Oil Law.” The resolution states, in part:

May 15 protest. Photo: Ben Terrall & Bill Carpenter

“Whereas, in the opening days of the 2003 Iraq invasion, U.S. Soldiers were ordered to protect the Oil Ministry, oil fields and refineries while wholesale looting of Iraq’s antiquities unfolded ...

“Whereas, giving credence to Iraqi fears, the oil cartel has prepared a new Oil Law which, if enacted by the parliament, will put effective control of Iraq’s vast oil resources in the hands of foreign companies. Nationalized since 1975, Iraq’s oil was, before the years of U.S. sanctions and invasions, the foundation for a relatively high standard of living, producing more Ph.D.s per capita than the U.S. and a health care system prized as the best in the region ...

“The law would create Oil & Gas Council, on which would sit representatives of Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, BP, etc. ...

“Whereas, the leadership of the Democratic Party has embraced the draft Oil Law. ... By doing so, the Democratic leadership becomes complicit in a backdoor effort to privatize Iraq’s publicly owned oil reserves—second largest in the world ...

“Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council joins in solidarity with the Oil Workers and Trade Unions of Iraq in opposing the proposed new Oil Law, which is nothing less than a hijack of Iraq’s oil by the international oil cartel. ... The Bush Administration and IMF are pressing Iraq to adopt this law. It is unconscionable for the Congress to become partners in trying to shove this law, which will benefit only the rapacious oil companies, down the throats of the Iraqi people.”

Earlier on May 15, up to 60 workers held a demonstration at the U.S. Federal Office Building in downtown San Francisco, in solidarity with the oil workers in Iraq planning to strike in opposition to the proposed oil “theft” law that the U.S. government is pushing on the Iraqi parliament. The demonstration was initiated by U.S. Labor Against the War.

—Joan Marquardt