Sisters and Brothers:

Simone Gordon and the IWW Starbucks Workers Union [StarbucksUnion.org] need your solidarity now. Ms. Gordon is homeless and on welfare after Starbucks demoted her from shift supervisor to barista on New Year’s Day and cut her schedule to a stunning five hours per week. Simone’s store manager, Graham Higgins, falsely accused Ms. Gordon, who is African-American, of being racist against white people and stated that she wasn’t fit to be a leader in the store. The allegation that Ms. Gordon is racist is so patently absurd that we won’t even dignify it with a response. Suffice it to say, Simone Gordon, who has a white grandparent, opposes all forms of discrimination.

Contact: Billy Randel Industrial Workers of the World NYC General Membership Branch phone: (646) 645-6284 email: iww.nyc@gmail.com

With help from the IWW, New Jersey truckers open first driver education and organizing center in nation.

Elizabeth, NJ, April 27, 2007 - Truck drivers from Ports Elizabeth and Newark, in conjunction with the Industrial Workers of the World union,are set to open a new drivers' education and organizing center in Elizabeth on May 1, 2007, the first of its kind in the nation.

The center is being organized to fight for and enforce the rights of rail and port truckers, and is being named in commemoration of Teamster organizer José Gilberto Soto. Soto was assassinated in El Salvador while organizing port truckers there in 2004.

Urgent Action Needed!

(Again, for folks in and around Kansas, KMA is again raising money to aid with these comrades!)

New Jersey Animal Rights Activists Rearrested

Following Anti-Terrorist Task Force raid and arrests last weekend, New Jersey activists have been rearrested today [7/29/2005]. They need your support now!

Nicholas Cooney has been arrested once again. He was involved in a legal protest outside Glaxo Smith Kline's King of Prussia, PA facility and taken in for an outstanding warrant in Ocean County, NJ. During the last contact with Nicholas, it was reported that he was being held in the Upper Merrion, PA jail, but will be extradited to NJ at an undetermined time. Supporters do not currently know where Nick is being held.

Please make some polite but firm phone calls to the jail to request vegan food for Nick and to inquire about his well-being. The phone number at the jail he was last known to be at is 610 265-3232.

If and when Nick is extradited (an email will go out under separate cover), he will be transferred to the Ocean County Correctional Facility in Tom's River, NJ. After he has been transferred, the phone number for jail support calls will be 732 929-2043.

(For folks local to Kansas, KMA is helping to raise some funds, contact them at: kansasmutualaid@hotmail.com or 913-775-1399)

Janice Angelillo was picked up by the NJ State Police for allegedly spray-painting. Her bail has been set at $15,000 cash. It is believed she is being targeted for political reasons. As she is the treasurer of the Central New Jersey Industrial Workers of the World and an avid animal rights activist. She is presently being held in Essex County Prison. She was not given her phone call until two days after being arrested. Another associate was also arrested a friend named Nick, from Philadelpha, who is being held on a $20,000 bail.

At approximately 6:30pm (July 23), police arrived at her house in Highland Park, NJ and detained all the people in the house - Janice's husband Ted, another housemate, and a few friends who were with them. According to Ted, they have currently were detained for several hours by officers from New Jersey Joint Terrorism Task Force, brandishing automatic weapons and other firearms. This is being sent out by the request of the people currently being detained. They are asking that people be kept aware of the situation and spread the word.

The other day on InfoShop.org, there was an article on how the FBI now has Food Not  Bombs on the “terrorist watch list.” Strange but true. I had a chance to think about it during our regular Saturday sharing in Hackensack today.

Every Saturday about a dozen of us, SPers, IWW members and some youth from the Bergen County area meet in our (Andrea & my) kitchen, and cook up vegan food which would normally be tossed by local markets. Food that’'s tossed because it'’s not perfect or (in the case of fruits or vegetables) slightly bruised. The idea is that there is more than enough out there already to feed everyone, and that this food should not be thrown away because there’s no “market” for it. Food is a basic need that should be a right not a privilege.

This morning while setting up out table in Hackensack I noticed the same person (identified as a cop by the local homeless population) watching us, and I hear he has harassed some of the local folks that go to our sharings (‘what’s your name”, “where do you live”, etc.) Guess the word came down and we are now officially being “watched”.

Today'’s Subversive Activity