Aaron at Erbil

On CAN TV Chicago cable tv Channel 19:
Thurs., April 30, 9:30 pm
Fri., May 1, 4:30 pm
Thurs., May 7, 9:30 pm
Fri., May 8, 4:30 pm

On Evanston Cable Channel 6:
Mon., May 11 , 5:30 pm
Wed., May 13, 9:00 pm
Sat., May 16, 12:30 am
Mon., May 18, 5:30 pm
Wed., May 20, 9:00 pm
Sat., May 23, 12:30 am

On March 13-14 an important International Labor Conference was held in Erbil, Iraq, which is in the Kurdistan region. Along with the 200 delegates from Iraqi trade unions and international unions, attending was a delegation from the U.S., comprised of representatives of U.S. Labor Against the War, and 2 representatives from Iraq Veterans Against the War. Among those IVAW attending was Aaron Hughes, the subject of this 25 minute video. Aaron explains why he attended the Conference, and places his return to Iraq as an anti-war veteran in the context of a similar visit by Vietnam Veterans Against the War to North Vietnam. At the center of Aaron's experience in Erbil is his short speech to the delegation apologizing for his role in the US military in oppressing the people of Iraq. This video is a documenting of that speech and the reactions of the audience, as well as Aaron's anxiety about what the reactions would be. The work of the Conference is also summarized by Aaron, enhanced with footage from Iraq Peacetv in Japan and Aaron's own footage of the event. The experience of the Conference provides the basis of the IVAW delegate's re-dedication of their goal of war reparations for the people and workers of Iraq.

To order a dvd, send $15 check to:
Labor Beat
37 S. Ashland
Chicago, IL 60607
Please indicate title "Aaron at Erbil"

Click here to view on bliptv:
blip.tv/file/1989250
(In bliptv, if you do not have bandwidth for the flash version,
under the playback window and below the text describing the content, there is:
Play episode as: Select a format
Click on Select a format and pull down to select: "Source MPEG4 video")

Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. For info: www.laborbeat.org / mail (at) laborbeat.org / 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video or YouTube and search "Labor Beat".