The leader of the Sadrist movement, Mr. Muqtada Al-Sadr, called for the restoration of workers’ rights on their Day, describing the first of May as a Day (for agents) and not a Labor Day.
Al-Sadr said in a comment on the X website: ‘I am not exaggerating if I say that (May 1) is not a Labor Day, but rather agents Day.
Not because his idea is Western, nor because the worker does not deserve to have an annual holiday to celebrate, but it does not make sense for the worker to have an annual Day in our societies while he suffers from woes. He has no rights at all, but is robbed of his will and opinion and has nothing but a list of duties. There is no guarantee for him against the risks he is exposed to in his work here and there.
He added that he only has a few broken and frozen laws that do not provide fattening or help with hunger. He only has a handful of money that is given to him in charity by those with influence and authority from among the people of politics and governance, as if it were slavery. But
the worker still has his dignity and pride and is not subject to humiliation, corruption and injustice.
Al-Sadr said, ‘I am certain: If it were not for the workers, the nations would not have been built, and without their help, the countries would not have been built. However, they fell victim to tyranny, corruption, partisanship, and sectarianism. All of this is more dangerous to the workers than development and technology, which has displaced a lot of the labor force and left them in permanent unemployment from which they suffer, the old and the young, as in our beloved Iraq, which displaced the working class at the expense of partisanship, nepotism, artificial loyalty, dependency, and sectarianism.
He continued, ‘No, Labor Day is not just chants and speeches raised from here and there. Rather, the workers must be the ones who take the lead in taking the reins of construction, reconstruction, prosperity, and progress by restoring their rights, respecting them, raising their awareness, and mobilizing their
moral and material enthusiasm, whoever toils and works in our country only gets.
Sustenance does not die, as they say… and whoever lives in palaces and luxurious, cooled and air-conditioned houses, obtains the sustenance of the entire people through injustice, aggression, and corruption. So, good, patriotic, hardworking workers who stay away from diversion and evasion should be the first badge of honor in our beloved Iraq.
Al-Sadr concluded his comment by saying, ‘The workers are from the homeland and to the homeland, and I hope that they will not give up their love for the homeland, that they will not go abroad to serve countries that are not their homeland, and that they will not bow to injustice and corruption as we have accustomed them to.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency