UK trade union UNITE discussed Freedom for Öcalan

A meeting to talk about the Freedom for Öcalan Campaign will take place at UNITE Rules Conference in Brighton.

The Unite Rules Conference 2019 is undergoing in Brighton (UK). 

One of the biggest British Union has been deeply involved in the Freedom for Ocalan campaign and this year at its Rules Conference has organised a fringe event dedicated to Kurdish people's leader and the campaign run by the trade union. 

The fringe meeting will take place on Wednesday, 26 June, 1 to 2 pm. Speakers will be: Tony Burke, Unite Assistant General Secretary; Tommy Murphy, Executive Council Member and Shavanah Taj, Vice President TUC Wales. 

Background to UK Unions support of the Freedom for Öcalan Campaign

Abdullah Öcalan is the recognised leader of the Kurdish movement in Turkey and beyond. He speaks for the Kurdish people’s aspirations for freedom from political and cultural oppression, for democracy and peace.

Trade unions in the UK have a long honoured record of standing shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed across the world. From South Africa to Palestine, Nicaragua to Burma, the trade union movement has demonstrated its solidarity and spoke out whenever our own government has denounced freedom movements as terrorists, as it did with the ANC and Nelson Mandela.

Today we must speak out for the Kurds. We must support them in their ongoing struggle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria where the PKK and its allies have been the most successful in fighting them. We must also support the Kurds in Turkey.

That means demanding an end to the state violence, for a restoration of peace negotiations, and championing the rights of trade union, civic society organisations, journalists and elected representatives. They must all be allowed to exercise their democratic rights.