International Solidarity

International Solidarity

(Not)Waving a Red Flag

Posted Fri, 08/24/2007 - 11:06am by x344543

By "Static" - Fort Worth Weekly, Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Jerry Lobdill begs to differ with Static’s description of what happened at city hall last week when a group of local activists asked the Fort Worth City Council to go on the record in favor of impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney. In fact, “beg” is too weak a description. A vein probably starts throbbing at the side of his head when he thinks about it.

His objections and those of others who were there? Let’s see — the four or five Industrial Workers of the World folks (Wobblies) in attendance weren’t actually part of the impeachment group. They didn’t wave any red or black flags in council chambers or come up to the lectern to talk about abolishing capitalism. (Please, not before Static’s next paycheck clears!) The speaker described as a veteran of several tours of duty in Iraq served in the first Gulf War, not the current conflict. And that’s just for starters.

Oaxaca: “A Sign of What May Be to Come for the Rest of Mexico”

Posted Thu, 08/23/2007 - 11:39am by x344543

A Book Review of “The People Decide: Oaxaca’s Popular Assembly” by Nancy Davies

By Paul Bocking - The Industrial Worker, August 23, 2007

The popular uprising in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca was one of this country’s biggest untold stories from 2006, a precipitous year full of protests, strikes and repression across the nation. The People Decide is a diary-like compilation by Nancy Davies of day to day first-person news stories chronicling the movement led by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) and the state local of the national teacher’s union, for the ousting of an authoritarian governor and the creation of a truly democratic society led by the poor Indigenous majority. Davies is an American retiree who has lived in Oaxaca for the past eight years. These reports on the struggle unfolding around her were published online at narconews.com in English, and subsequently translated into Spanish and other languages.

Support this worldwide Divestment and Boycott Campaign Against Israel and Apartheid" appeals Palestinian Labor Leader in Speech

Posted Sat, 07/21/2007 - 3:40am by x344543

Submitted by sparrow, x326388

"We actually don't have any other way to exercise (international) pressure except calling our friends and supporters in the trade unions around the globe to call for this Boycott and Divestment." stated Manawel Issa Abdellal,(see photo) member of the Executive Committee of the 250 thousand member Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in a recent speech to labor movement supporters in San Francisco.

"Factories actually exist inside the settlements and their products are going to the markets in Europe and in the United States.  The whole world is saying these settlements are actually illegal settlements.  So why would it be wrong to boycott them?"

Iraqi workers tour US, reach out to workers in the US to build solidarity against the US occupation

Posted Sat, 06/23/2007 - 1:10am by x326388

Hashmeya (pictured, right, with a written message of thanks to the IWW for its solidarity with workers in Iraq)  is a  native of Basra and  a 25-year veteran in the Iraqi Department of Electricity.   While she is the first woman to rise democratically from the ranks to represent a national  Iraqi labor union, she emphasizes that she is not alone -  that  there are many dedicated and committed union women in the forefront of the Iraqi labor movement.

Ten days ago, two top leaders of Iraq's labor movement, Hashmeya  Muhsin Hussein , President of the Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers (EUWU-GFIW))and Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Federation of Oil Unions (FOU) spoke throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as part of an Iraqi labor tour of the US.   They spoke urgently of Iraqi labor's unified demand for the end of the brutal US occupation and sought for the support of US labor in rejecting the imposition of the Oil Law which the US is using to force the surrender of Iraqi oil resources to foreign corporations  as the price of their withdrawal.

Oakand Port Anti-War And Labor Protesters Close SSA Terminal for the day - ILWU 10 & ILWU34 Members Refuse to Cross Lines

Posted Fri, 05/25/2007 - 10:37am by x344543

The Bay Area IWW participated in the organizing of this event and members attended the pickets.

By Steve Zeltser and Jeff Paterson, May 19, 2007

Dozens of anti-war protesters including the leadership and many members of the Oakland Education Association OEA joined the picket lines this morning and in the evening of the  SSA (Stevedoring Services of America)shipping terminal in Oakland, California to protest the war and the lack of funding for schools in Oakland. The picketers demanded that the US get out of Iraq and called on other trade unionists throughout the United States to mobilize in action to stop the war.

The action which began at in the early morning before the first day shift of ILWU Local 10 longshoremen and women as well as longshore clerks of ILWU Local 34 was organized to encourage the dockworkers to honor the picket line which they are allowed to do under their contract. As a result of a political  education campaign in the ILWU Local 10, most workers were fully in support of the picket and did not cross the line. Newly elected Democratic mayor Ronald Dellums had also sent a letter to the Port Action committee that organized the picket which declared that the war "had been a blunder" and said he opposed the war. The police however not only prevented anti-war picketer from driving to the docks in the morning but also stopped major news media from bringing their vans to the picketlines to cover the demonstration. The police when questioned by this reporter said that the news vans were not allowed in the area since it was  a "safety issue". In 2003, the Oakland police in collaboration with the SSA company and state security forces launched a violent attack on a similar anti-war protest. They also shot at many ILWU members for the first time since the 1930's.