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Former Gazette journalist Tim Lezard is next week
flying to Kurdistan-Iraq to meet politicians and
trade unionists.
Tim, 36, of Berkeley, who on Sunday retires from his
one year post as President of the National Union of
Journalists, is to join a principally British
delegation comprising politicians and senior trade
union officials for the ten day trip.
The group will spend a week in Erbil Kurdistan (Northren
Iraq), where they will meet the President and Prime
Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani,
together with workers struggling to form trade
unions in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.
Other trade unionists will travel to the city from
Baghdad to meet the delegation.
Tim said: "Trade Unionists were among the most vocal
opponents of Saddam Hussein and many of them
suffered for their beliefs, spending many years
being tortures and languishing in his jails.
"The point of our trip is to make contact with
fellow trade unionists and express solidarity with
them whilst learning how we can help them, whether
it's providing them with equipment or training to
support their fledgling movement. Trade unions play
a key role in any civil society and Iraq is no
different."
Joining the delegation on this project is Abdullah
Muhsin, foreign representative of the Iraqi
Federation of Trade Unions. He agrees with Tim,and
stresses the importance of unions as part of Iraq's
new non-sectarian civil society.
The National Union of Journalists has been one of
the most consistent voices against the war since the
invasion in 2003, believing it to be an immoral and
illegal crusade. Writing for the Socialist Worker
this month, Tim Lezard said that as a trade union,
the NUJ is committed to peace, and believes that
"the government uses information as a weapon to
influence media coverage to suit its political and
strategic interests."
While he acknowledges that some NUJ members believe
their job to be impartial, Tim believes his role is
to ask questions, scrutinise the answers given and
to hold official institutions to account.
These beliefs, coupled together with Tim's support
of Iraq's struggle for democracy and labour rights,
has led him to collaborate with other like-minded
people to take their wealth of experience to this
war torn country.
Although the area in which the delegation will base
itself is one of the safest, this trip is not
without its risks. "As a self-rule province,
Kurdistan is Iraq's most stable region, although
we're taking no risks with security because we'll be
accompanied by armed bodyguards everywhere we go and
we'll be travelling in armoured 4x4s."
www.thisisthesouthcotswolds.co.uk
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