One of the dirty secrets of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq has been the efforts of U.S. authorities and their Iraqi proxies to thwart genuinely democratic labor organizing throughout the country. That policy has played out in the United States, as well, with mainstream labor groups and anti-war labor projects divided on which voices and projects should be permitted to talk about their struggles to the American people.

This Friday at 6PM at UNITE hall, Chicago anti-war labor activists are sponsoring a delegation of secular, progressive Iraqi labor activists who'll talk about conditions on the ground. The event is part of a controversial national tour that has brought three separate delegations -- some of whose members tacitly work WITH occupation forces -- to the States, and included a bitter fight to win visas for the Chicago delegation members, who have been vocal in opposing the U.S. occupation.

Read more. | Download the flyer. | Listen to a Labor Express interview with progressive Iraqi labor activist Amjad Al Jawary.