Report by Deyar Barznji, a journalist in Sulaymaniyah, member of the Kurdistan Worker-Communist Party, and signatory of the call for the International Rally Against War and Exploitation (Paris, November 8)
“Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, Iraqi Kurdistan has become a destination for many workers, both Iraqi and foreign. Following the Syrian crisis of 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have also sought refuge there. Among them, thousands have become workers. Driven out by the war and to provide for their families, they sought asylum in Kurdistan.
“The editorial team of Dengi Krikar (The Voice of the Workers), a media outlet fighting for socialism, spoke with them. The scars of war were still raw: they recounted how they had escaped the airstrikes by Russian forces and the Assad government, describing atrocities, massacres of civilians, and other tragic scenes they had witnessed.
“In Kurdistan, these workers are forced to work long hours for poverty wages. The (autonomous Kurdish—ed.) government provides them with no essential services. Here, every aspect of life has been ‘privatized.’ It is private companies, owned by regime officials and their children, that provide essential services at exorbitant prices.
“Foreign workers are also often the first victims of workplace accidents. They receive no social insurance. And when it does exist—for example, in a factory with a hundred workers—only twenty benefit from it, and generally, these are the employer’s relatives.
“The Kurdistan region experienced a significant influx of foreign workers during the period of economic growth (2008–2014). But the economic crisis of 2014 led to mass unemployment and a sharp drop in income for hundreds of thousands of workers. Workers’ protests took place: they were violently suppressed by the armed forces of the ruling parties, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries.”
D. B., April 25
Photo caption: May 1st, 2025 in Sulaymaniyah (photo from the newspaper Dengi Krikar – The Voice of Workers)
*Since 2006, the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq have been autonomous. Rich in oil, they are governed by the two parties, the UPK and the PDK, which are subordinate to imperialism (editor’s note).
May Day Call (excerpts)
“Down with the reactionary war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran!”
“The working class, the laboring masses, and the peoples of Iran and the Middle East are being held hostage in the turmoil of this devastating war. The sparks of this conflict have reached Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan; anxiety and fear are gripping the population due to missile and drone attacks and the threat of an escalation of the conflict. The living conditions of workers, already precarious before the war, have deteriorated considerably. (…)
“In this climate of war and instability, the working class’s protests and its struggle for a dignified life and the fulfillment of its fundamental demands are brutally suppressed by the ‘warlords.’ The Kurdish authorities are indifferent to the people’s plight; they exploit the war to enrich themselves and plunder the working class.
“Faced with this perilous situation, of which the working class and the laboring masses are the primary victims, only one path remains: to oppose the war, the climate of war, and its disastrous consequences. The workers of Kurdistan, all trade union forces, communists, and those committed to freedom and humanity must resolutely oppose attempts to drag us into war, and its consequences: rising living costs, forced displacement, and social insecurity.
“Let us make this May 1st the day when our class sends a clear message: an immediate end to the war and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region!”
Kurdistan Worker-Communist Party
International Workers Committee - Comité ouvrier international - Comité obrero internacional 