STOP DEPORTATIONS TO IRAQ. Happy May Day!

We call on all Freedom-loving people, refugee and human rights organisatons, labour groups and trade union organisations to join our campaign to stop deportations to Iraq.

 The UK government has arrested more than 50 Kurdish and Iraqi people in the last month.  The same is happening in some other EU countries. The IFIR campaign in Iraq previously forced the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional governments to stop accepting forcible deportation flights. However, under pressure from European governments they appear to be reneging on promises they have made.  This is all taking place at a time when Iraq is being plagued by war and violence, which is forcing so many to make the dangerous journey across the sea to Europe.  The daily tragedy of the refugees on the borders of Europe is a direct consequence of the policy of closing borders to people whose livelihoods and place of residence have been turned into a battlefield of civil war, unrest and insecurity.   The disaster facing refugees places a tremendous responsibility upon European governments.  Whilst the UK and Europe talk about human rights they have provided no realistic solution to prevent the wave of refugees seeking safety in Europe. 

 European countries ignore their responsibility for the refugee crisis, which in Iraq stems from the military involvement of European countries (alongside the US), and their support of inhuman and repressive systems in the Middle East. Presented as democracies, these regimes are however nothing more than nationalist, Islamist, and murderous groups.

 The recent protests of the teachers and civil servants in Kurdistan, strikes, in France against the labour law, protests against the anti-migrant rhetoric used by Donald Trump and so on, are only examples of our dissent. We need more. We need an international front of the working people. It is time to remember our main slogan “workers of the world, unite!” It is time for our class to stand against evils, hardships and tragedies, against state terrorism and Islamic terrorism and against racism. It is time to openly declare that our political spectre, which haunts not only Europe, but also the whole world, should become reality. If we internationally unite, no one can exorcise this spectre.

Long live May Day, International workers day!                

Join with IFIR to Demand:

• An end to the policy of imperialist wars of division in the Middle East and North Africa; condemnation of the  USA, NATO, Russian and Chinese military interference in the area, and end to their support for groups affiliated to them, because it is their war which created instability and poverty leading to a mass refugee exodus. 

• Stop forcibly deporting people to Iraq.

• Opening of the borders for the refugees who are victims of war, in order to save them from death; equal allocation of refugees across Member States in line with Member States’ responsibilities, and protection of refugees from racism and from assault by fascists.

• Activation of the UN in the war-torn countries in order to help IDPs and refugees and to oblige the EU to recognise the refugees’ rights and provide them with assistance. Swift steps by the EU to enable civil society groups and refugee organizations to help the refugees with food, health care, clothes and shelter without discrimination by ethnic group or religion .