THE ABSURD TIMES — STILL

Occupy — more detail

Posted in Uncategorized by @honestcharlie on January 30, 2012

onday, January 30, 2012

Occupy — Too much stuff being ignored on corporate media — full update

 
Ok, here is the update in more detail.  There is also some coverage on Military rape – our male soldiers are raping our female soldiers. 
 
Then, at the end, there is more misguided sympathy with the Syrian opposition.  Libyans are now beginning to understand what really happened to them when the French, British, and the U.S. were all-too-eager to As of today, there are about 12,000 U.S. troops on the ground as well as many Al-Quaeda operatives and capitalist Libyans exploiting all the others.  The alleged mercenaries turn out to have actually been Libyan citizens.  Finally, they found that Gaddafi had distributed the wealth fairly equitably.  The truth is emerging slowly (but it has not even made it to our independent media, much less our corporate media). 
 
Well, the same propaganda is at work on the Syria operation and, really, I am just too tired to point out yet another example of stupidity.  It will speak for itself eventually.
 

Rush Transcript

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AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Oakland, California, where police have arrested more than 400 Occupy Oakland protesters as well as a number of journalists. One of the largest mass arrests since the Occupy protests began took place on Saturday and early Sunday when people attempted to convert a vacant building into a community center. On Saturday, after the crowd reportedly refused to follow police orders to disperse from the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, witnesses say police used tear gas, bean bag projectiles and flash grenades. Several hours later, police said some of the protesters broke into City Hall. However, demonstrators claimed they found the door to City Hall already ajar.
The Associated Press quoted Oakland Mayor Jean Quan as saying people who broke into City Hall burned a flag they found inside, broke an electrical box, and damaged art displays. Mayor Quan, later directly addressing Occupy Oakland and its supporters.

MAYOR JEAN QUAN: Occupy Oakland has got to stop using Oakland as its playground, and that people in the community and people in the Occupy movement have to stop making excuses for this behavior.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, the Occupy Oakland Media Committee group issued its statement, saying police officers had violated their department’s code of conduct for dealing with protesters, calling the mass arrests “illegal.”
For more, we go now to a video report from Oakland filed by John Hamilton.

JOHN HAMILTON: Occupy Oakland billed Saturday as “Move-In Day,” as their afternoon march set its sights on the sprawling Kaiser Convention Center near downtown.
POLICE OFFICER: I hereby declare this to be an unlawful assembly and, in the name of the people of the state of California, command all those assembled to immediately leave the area.
BOOTS RILEY: Occupy Oakland is marching to go occupy a building to have a home base. They’re kicking folks out of Oscar Grant Plaza, so we’re going to go take a building.
JOHN HAMILTON: A crowd of some 2,000 hoped to turn the vacant convention center into a community space, but Oakland’s police department had other ideas.
POLICE OFFICER: You may be arrested or subject to removal by force, if necessary, which may result in serious injury.
PROTESTER 1: This is not an unlawful assembly. This is a lawful assembly. We are not doing any vandalism.
JOHN HAMILTON: Thwarted in their attempt to claim a new space for Occupy Oakland, protesters soon found themselves face to face with scores of riot police. Stephanie Demos is an Occupy Oakland activist.
STEPHANIE DEMOS: Police began firebombing the crowd. They were shooting rubber bullets, they were shooting explosive devices, and they were shooting tear gas. And we were all gassed. I was gassed.
PROTESTER 2: I started tasting a little tear gas in the back of my mouth, and then I saw a shot, and it landed right where some people had these like corrugated metal sort of barricady things. And everybody started running. And then you could really kind of taste the tear gas.
JOHN HAMILTON: The extraordinary violence came as protesters sought to reestablish a permanent occupation, following police raids last November which cleared their encampment outside City Hall.
STEPHANIE DEMOS: For Move-In Day, the objective was to get a large building where we might be able to have our meetings indoors, especially during winters, and have a good kitchen where we could provide not only for ourselves as a movement, but provide for the homeless population in this town who do not have kitchens and do not have food half the time, have spaces for people, you know, to gather and have a library and every other kind of regular social function that a community space would have.
JOHN HAMILTON: Members of Occupy Oakland say their campaign to challenge corporate power was dealt a serious setback after city officials denied them a permanent public space. Marla Schmalle is an Oakland community activist.
MARLA SCHMALLE: When we had the encampment, people could come down every night. But people lived here all day, and they kept talking, and the consciousness began to build. So when the camp was taken away, and it was cold anyhow out here, I mean, we really need a place in order to develop our consciousness about what’s happening.
JOHN HAMILTON: In all, about 400 people were arrested throughout Saturday’s day of action, many of them kettled by police in an area outside a YMCA during a nighttime march through Oakland’s downtown. Again, Stephanie Demos.
STEPHANIE DEMOS: And as they were marching, they were waylaid by police again and kettled in to in front of the YMCA, where they were surrounded by police. And when they were given an order to disperse, they were not given a path to disperse.
PROTESTER 3: We want to go. We want to leave. Let us leave.
PROTESTER 4: We don’t want to be here. We want to go.
STEPHANIE DEMOS: They were completely surrounded and pushed into the building. So, there were people working inside the building who voluntarily opened the doors to the building to let people get in and escape out the back way.
JOHN HAMILTON: But the day’s actions and the arrests that would follow were not done. Pacifica Radio host Mitch Jeserich witnessed a further protest at Oakland City Hall.
MITCH JESERICH: I didn’t see anyone break into City Hall. The door was open. Some people went inside. A lot of people didn’t go inside. You could tell there was—a lot of people were hesitant to go inside. It seemed like a very major thing to do. The people who did go inside, they went into, I believe, the city council chamber, brought out the American flag that was in there, and then tried to burn it. They didn’t burn the whole thing, but they tried to burn it out here. Then the police showed up, fired some flash grenades, smoke bombs, and it dispersed.
JOHN HAMILTON: Though they endured the largest day of arrests in their young movement’s history, members of Occupy Oakland say they’re preparing to escalate their campaign.
PROTESTER 5: Occupy Oakland will join in enthusiastically with the call for a national and global general strike on May 1st, May Day, 2012. And we encourage all other Occupies, all other social movements in the world, in this country, to join on to that call, as well, and make May 1st a massive general strike across the world.
PROTESTER 6: With 200 exactly votes yes, a strike has passed. No stand-asides, zero no’s, to voted, 200.
JOHN HAMILTON: For Democracy Now!, I’m John Hamilton, with Brandon Jourdan, in Oakland, California.

AMY GOODMAN: And you are watching and listening to Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn now to Berkeley, California, to Maria Lewis. She’s a participant in the Occupy Oakland movement, an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, where she is broadcasting to us from.
Maria, explain what happened this weekend and what happened to you.
MARIA LEWIS: Hi. Yeah. So, this weekend, despite the brutal police repression that the people of Oakland faced, I think was a really beautiful weekend. What we saw was thousands of people taking to the streets to reclaim what this economic and political system in this country has systematically denied us, which is the right to basic food, basic shelter, basic medical care, the things that the Oakland Commune, Occupy Oakland, used to provide in its encampment and has been unable to since that encampment was brutally repressed by the Oakland police. There were thousands of people in the street who fought to reclaim a building, a vacant building, and one of the hundreds of vacant buildings in the city, and to open that space up for people as a social center, as a place where we can get basic—our basic needs met and meet them ourselves. And while we weren’t able to secure that building this weekend, I was really amazed at the spirit and the voracity of the Oakland residents who were fighting in the street this weekend.
I think one of the other things we saw this weekend was a brutal police repression that was really revealing about the priorities of the city. So, tear gas, flashbang grenades, rubber bullets, beanbag guns were all used against Oakland residents who were attempting to retake an abandoned building. All of this was used to protect abandoned private property, and I think that that’s really revealing about the city’s priorities, that it’s really more interested in protecting abandoned private property than it is in human beings.
AMY GOODMAN: Maria Lewis, what about some of the reports that said that the protesters were violent?
MARIA LEWIS: Absolutely. There was a lot of anger this weekend, and I think that the anger that the protesters showed in the streets this weekend and the fighting back that did take place was reflective of a larger anger in Oakland that is boiling over at the betrayal of the system. I think that people, day by day, are realizing, as the economy gets worse and worse, as unemployment gets worse and worse, as homelessness gets worse and worse, that the economic system, that capitalism in Oakland, is failing us. And people are really angry about that, and they’re beginning to fight back. And I think that that’s a really inspiring thing.
AMY GOODMAN: Maria, you were not personally arrested, but you have—I mean, this weekend, we saw one of the largest mass arrests in the last year. Seven hundred people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York. Talk about your own choices in not being arrested, also being a student and your involvement with this movement, and how the arrests were conducted.
MARIA LEWIS: Yeah. So, what happened—there were several arrests that happened during the day, when we attempted to occupy the Kaiser center, but the majority of the arrests happened later that evening when we attempted to march to a backup location and to occupy a backup location. The police kettled the protesters twice. The first time we were kettled at 19th and Telegraph, we were surrounded on all sides and given no option to disperse and then tear-gassed while in the kettle. And it was only really through the scrappiness and resourcefulness of the protesters that we were able to escape that kettle by tearing down a fence and escaping. The protest was then kettled about 20 minutes later at another intersection. Some people were able to escape over a fence, and a few people were able to escape through the YMCA, which opened its doors to us once they realized what was going on. But many people did not escape, and I’ve heard estimates of up to 400 people arrested.
AMY GOODMAN: Oakland City Council Member Ignacio De La Fuente accused the Occupy movement of engaging in domestic terror.

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER IGNACIO DE LA FUENTE: It’s an escalation with our—I think that basically what, in my opinion, amounts to kind of a domestic terrorism, when these people start taking buildings, and they start costing the city incredible amount of resources.

AMY GOODMAN: Maria Lewis, your response?
MARIA LEWIS: Yeah. I think that that was—the idea that reclaiming vacant abandoned buildings is terrorism is very retelling of the city’s priorities and of what the city—what the Oakland Police Department serves and protects. They are more interested in protecting abandoned private property than they are the people. And the idea that opening up a social center is terrorism is very telling of the narrative of the police state.

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AMY GOODMAN: There is also news that the Occupy protests in Washington, D.C., are about to be raided. The National Park Service has said it will begin enforcing a ban today on Occupy protesters camping overnight in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, two parks near the White House where people have been living since October. We’re joined on the phone, as well, from McPherson Square by Justin Jacoby Smith, a member of the Occupy D.C. media team.
Justin, what’s happening right now?
JUSTIN JACOBY SMITH: Hi, Amy.
Well, at the moment, we are very slowly moving a number of our tents and other items into the center of the park. And the reason we’re doing that is to make sure that the people that are at the center of our movement, the people that have been disenfranchised by the 1 percent and their greed and their purges of our democracy—we are going to do our best to make sure that they’re protected from what is effectively a criminalization of poverty and a criminalization of homelessness. By choosing to evict the people who have no place else to sleep, they’re effectively criminalizing those among us who are disenfranchised. And that’s something that we’ll stand against.
AMY GOODMAN: Occupy D.C. has been one of the few places that’s in two separate squares, that have not been raided by the police, have not been ended. What has been your strategy, and what exactly will be your strategy now?
JUSTIN JACOBY SMITH: Well, we have had the benefit thus far of being on federal parkland, which means that rather than having to deal with the particular Metropolitan Police Department, we are under the jurisdiction of the federal Park Police, who essentially understand that our First Amendment rights, generally speaking, trump the demands of someone like Darrell Issa, who really works hard to—who has worked hard to politicize our ongoing encampment in a way that reflects well on him, of course, the richest member of Congress, as opposed to the fact that we’re out here struggling against exactly everything that he represents. And so, thankfully, on federal parkland, we have the benefit of having a cooperative and understanding and First Amendment-supporting police force, for the most part, despite occasional stubbles and occasional moments of struggle.
AMY GOODMAN: Justin Jacoby Smith, I want to thank you very much for being with us, member of the Occupy D.C. media team. And I also want to thank Maria Lewis, participant in Occupy Oakland, an undergraduate at University of California, Berkeley. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Of course, we’ll continue to follow the Occupy movement in Berkeley and Oakland, in D.C. and all over the country. But when we come back, we’re going to Syria. Stay with us.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
 
Posted by Czar Donic at 4:44 PM

 

1 comment

Sunday, January…

Posted in Uncategorized by @honestcharlie on January 30, 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Occupy — Too much stuff being ignored on corporate media

Occupy stands firm – solidarity with Longview continues!

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/27/2012 – 15:32

Occupy stands firm – solidarity with Longview continues!

Don’t stop mobilizing until the workers declare victory!

As you may have heard, EGT and ILWU are back at the bargaining table and scab work at the Longview grain terminal has stopped.  Did EGT come back to the bargaining table because Washington Governor Christine Gregoire asked them to?  NOPE!  It was you.  The determination of the workers in Longview, ILWU ranks in other locals, and the thousands of people in the Occupy Movement threatening to mobilize on an exploitative and union-busting boss have forced EGT into negotiations.  The strength we demonstrated on December 12th during the coordinated West Coast port shutdown showed that the Occupy Movement is capable of disrupting profit-making and affecting the means of production–the only thing the 1% really cares about.  
While a contract with ILWU will not change the fact that EGT and its parent companies, specifically Bunge Ltd., are “Wall Street on the Waterfront,” witnessed by their record of despicable practices that destroy communities here and abroad, Occupy absolutely supports Local 21 in determining the terms and conditions of their labor.  Our movement remains committed to fighting economic systems that pit worker against worker for the benefit of corporations that exploit our natural resources and destroy the fabric of our communities.  
As confidential negotiations between the ILWU and EGT continue, we will continue to stand beside the workers of Longview.  West Coast Occupations will not stop organizing and preparing to mobilize until the Longshore workers claim victory.  If members of Local 21 vote to approve the contract, we will go celebrate with them.  If negotiations stall or if the results are not satisfactory to the Local 21 rank and file, our caravan will be ready to go.   
 

Railroad Workers condemn use of military to escort scab grain

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/24/2012 – 17:46
Railroad Workers United
Unity—Solidarity—Democracy: The Rank and File in Action!
railroadworkersunited.org l info@railroadworkersunited.org
(206) 984-3051 l PO Box 1053, Salem, IL 62881
 
RWU Resolution Condemning the Use of the U.S. Military to Escort Scab Grain Ship in Longview, WA.
Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge, had originally agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview WA, but once the terminal was built, has now tried to void its contract and refused to hire ILWU labor; and
Whereas, EGT has managed to get enough scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port; and 
Whereas, a solidarity caravan of thousands of union members and community activists – endorsed by ILWU Locals 10 and 21, the S.F. and Cowlitz County (Longview) labor councils and many others – is being organized to support our brothers and sisters in Longview, for an emergency mass protest when requested to do so; and
Whereas, according to Long shore & Shipping News, within a month, the empty grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility; and
Whereas, this is the first known use of the United States military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years – not since the Great 1970 Postal Strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike; and
Whereas, the use of the armed forces against labor unions is something you might expect to see in a dictatorship or police state but never in a free and democratic society; and
Whereas, ILWU international President Bob McEllrath has stated: “ILWU’s labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities”;
Therefore be it Resolved, that Railroad Workers United condemns any and all use of the United States military to provide an armed sea and air escort for the empty grain ship, which is due to call at the new EGT grain terminal, Port of Longview, Washington, to load scab grain for export to Asia; and
Be it further Resolved, that RWU join with allies in other cities on the West Coast to participate in any press conferences and demonstrations that are organized to denounce this use of the military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of the foreign-owned “Wall Street on the Waterfront”; and
Be it finally Resolved, that RWU circulate this resolution to all rail unions, and urge our labor leaders to take a strong stand against this brazen assault, by a foreign corporation and our own government on the labor rights and civil liberties of our brothers and sisters in the ILWU. An assault on their labor rights is an assault on ours. 
Adopted by the RWU Steering Committee January 24th, 2012

US Labor Against the War condemn use of U.S. military in Longview

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/24/2012 – 17:26
Originally posted at US Labor Against the War
Professional Staff Congress, City Univ. of NY
January 23rd, 2012
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:11:40 -0800
Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge, agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview WA, but once the terminal was built has tried to void its contract and refused to hire ILWU labor. With the use of brutal police and courts and 220 arrests in the 225 member ILWU Local 21, EGT has managed to get enough scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port; and 
Whereas, a solidarity caravan of thousands of union members and community activists – endorsed by ILWU Locals 10 and 21, the S.F. and Cowlitz County (Longview) labor councils and many others – is being organized to support our brothers and sisters in Longview, for an emergency mass protest when requested to do so, to confront union- busting by Wall Street on the Waterfront; and 
Whereas, according to Longshore & Shipping News, within a month, the empty grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility. The Coast Guard is an integral part of the US Armed Forces, operating under the Department of Homeland Security (except when engaged in combat operations abroad, as it did in Iraq, when it operates under the Navy); and 
Whereas, this is the first known use of the US military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years – not since the Great 1970 Postal Strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike. The use of the Armed Forces against labor unions is something you expect to see in a police state. This is part of a disturbing trend where the US military, acting as enforcers for the 1%, is poised to be used against our own people, as exemplified by the new law allowing the military to imprison US citizens indefinitely without trial; and 
Whereas, now the US military, which has been oppressing, bombing and threatening other nations [a military that’s paid for with the workers’ taxes] is now being used against us, against American working people and our unions. To quote ILWU international President McEllrath: “ILWU’s labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities.” 
Therefore be it Resolved, that the PSC condemn in the strongest terms the announced use of US Armed Forces (Coast Guard) to provide an armed sea and air escort for the empty grain ship, which is due to call at the new EGT grain terminal, Port of Longview, Washington, to load scab grain for export to Asia. We condemn this use of the military as part of a union-busting campaign to lower the cost of labor on the waterfront and destroy the union; 
And be it further Resolved, that the PSC join with allies to support press conferences and demonstrations that are organized to denounce this use of the military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of Wall Street on the Waterfront; 
And be it finally Resolved, that the PSC circulate this resolution to the New York City Central Labor council, and the New York State AFL-CIO. and urge them to take a strong stand against this brazen assault on our labor rights and civil liberties. 
Passed by the PSC Delegate Assembly, Jan 19, 20, 2012

Occupy responds to ILWU & EGT tentative agreement for Longview

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/23/2012 – 17:48
For Immediate Release 
January 23, 2012
 
Occupy responds to ILWU & EGT tentative agreement for Longview
Occupations will continue to mobilize until the agreement is finalized by ILWU membership
 
Longview, WA –Occupy protesters and members of labor are still poised to converge on Longview, despite news of a temporary agreement offered to the longshoremen of ILWU Local 21, who have been mired in a 6-month long battle with multinational grain holding company, EGT. Occupiers say news of the offer is not stopping their plans to blockade the loading of a grain ship. 
 
Besides the fact that there is no public knowledge of an alleged “temporary agreement” between EGT (Export Grain Terminal) and the ILWU–despite suggestions otherwise–occupiers are concerned the bargaining process will be rushed. “Any legitimate negotiating process will allow rank-and-file reasonable time to consider and to ratify details of an agreement with their employer,” says Jess Kincaid, an organizer with Occupy Portland.
 
Occupies Portland, Longview, and Oakland, who have coordinated an inter-occupy caravan of protesters from along the West Coast, say they are not swayed by the new development: “What we want is the best possible conditions for rank-and-file. Anything less, and Occupy will mobilize as planned,” promised Occupy Oakland’s Barucha Peller. The company– majority-owned by multinational grain exporter Bunge– has used private mercenaries, litigation, and other forms of pressure to break the ILWU’s contracted jurisdiction on the West Coast. 
 
“This temporary agreement could be a step towards maintaining the jurisdiction of the Longshore union. However, Occupy will continue mobilizing until rank-and-file Longshore workers reach an agreement,” said Paul Nipper, organizer with Occupy Longview.
 
Supporters of the Longview workers are continuing to mobilize and stand ready for defense of the rank-and-file workers.
 
Updates can be found at www.OccupyTheEGT.org

Family Farm Defenders solidarity with ILWU

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/23/2012 – 17:20
For Immediate Release                                                                       Jan. 22, 2012
 
Contact:  John E. Peck, executive director  #608-260-0900
 
Family Farm Defenders Declares its Solidarity with International Longshore Workers
Denying Workers The Right to Organize is a Gross Violation of Food Sovereignty 
 
Family Farm Defenders, a national organization based in Madison, WI expresses its solidarity with International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Local 21, and strongly condemns all attempts to deny workers their basic right to organize.  
 
“Similar strategies of collective action have been successfully used by farmers and workers for centuries in their struggles against corporate robber barons and the fight being waged today on the docks in Washington State, pitting unionized longshore workers against greedy grain exporters, is really no different,” notes John E. Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders.  “It was this historic solidarity that brought ILWU members all the way from the West Coast to bolster the ranks of the hundreds of thousands of protesters outside the state capitol in Madison during the Cheddar Uprising last spring, and which is prompting workers and farmers in Wisconsin and across the nation to express our support for their effort now.  An injury to one is an injury to all.” 
As an active member of La Via Campesina, the largest umbrella organization for family farmers in the world, Family Farm Defenders is a staunch advocate of food sovereignty. One of the underlying principles of food sovereignty is that ALL workers deserve a living wage, dignified working conditions, and the right to organize.   This guarantee extends to everyone working in the food/farm system – not just farmers and farmworkers, but also meatpackers, retail clerks, restaurant servers, truck drivers, and dockworkers. 
 
The union-busting corporation, EGT Development, which is now hiring scabs to replace ILWU workers, is hardly unfamiliar to family farmers as its dominant partner, Bunge North America, has a notorious reputation for commodity price fixing and taxpayer subsidized dumping.   Bunge is among the world’s top three grain traders and saw its profits jump by 77% in the last quarter of 2007 thanks to speculation on the global food crisis.    By the end of 2010 Bunge saw its revenues balloon to $45.7 billion with $2.35 billion in reported profits.  As a major peddler of livestock feed and agro fuels, Bunge is also responsible for environmental destruction, industrial factory farm expansion, and biotech contamination worldwide.
 
“This crude attempt by EGT to consolidate its control over West Coast export facilities is clearly designed to take advantage of the latest round of bad trade deals such as the Korea U.S. Trade Agreement (KORUS) and the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP),” continued John E. Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders. “To be honest the ILWU will be doing U.S. taxpayers a huge favor, too, by blocking any load of scab grain headed overseas, since these cheap exports are only made possible by denying farmers a fair market price and larding massive subsidies onto outfits like Bungee.”
 
Family Farm Defenders will also be urging its members and allies to contact Pres. Obama to express their outrage that the White House is directing the U.S. Coast Guard to support EGT Development against the ILWU in this labor dispute. ###

Tags:

Call to action from Portland

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/23/2012 – 17:18
 
ALSO Text @noegtpdx to 23559 to receive notification.
 
CALL TO ACTION:
 
One of the most important labor struggles of our generation is happening in our backyard. Just one hour away in Longview, WA, the 1% is making an historic grab to break the labor movement. EGT has broken the 80-year-long standing agreement with ILWU, a union well known for its role in supporting the struggles of 99%.
 
Join Occupy Portland, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Longview, and a growing number of unions and organizations in mobilizing to Longview as soon as we receive the call for solidarity. This is a massive mobilization and all eyes are on us in Portland to help provide housing and transportation for supporters from as far away as Florida!
 
Help spread the word far and wide. We’ve attached the LIUNA Laborers 483 Resolution as a sample resolution in support of this action. The online caravan sign up form (link above and below) will help us count our numbers and organize our emergency mobilization plan.
 
Our next planning meeting is on Tuesday 1/24 @6pm at the SEIU 503 Hall, 6401 SE Foster Rd.
 
 
More links to get involved:
 
See you in Longview!
 
-Occupy Portland Labor Solidarity Committee

Occupation of Itochu in SF to Stop Union Busting Against ILWU At Port Of Longview

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/23/2012 – 17:17
Labor solidarity supporters of ILWU Local 21 in Longview, Washington occupied the offices of Itochu in San Francisco. Itochu is part of a union busting partnership to break the ILWU coast wide contract. They have arrested and attacked ILWU members and their families in Washington and plan to open a Wal-Mart type operation at the grain elevator at the port

 
Occupation of Itochu in SF to Stop Union Busting Against ILWU At Port Of Longview
http://youtu.be/W4NiyTaNQhM 
Supporters of ILWU Local 21 Longview longshore workers in their fight against EGK occupied the offices of Itochu in San Franciso on January 20, 2012. Itochu is part of EGT which is seeking to set up a Wal-Mart type operation at their grain elevator at the port of Longview in Washington. They demanded that Itochu stop their union busting. They also said they would be going to greet the scab ship when it arrives at the port later this month. 
This action was also in conjunction with http://www.occupyWallStreetWest.org in which actions took place throughout San Francisco against banks and union busters. 
For more information on the Longview battle go to http://www.facebook.com/groups/256313837734192/ or email committeetodefendilwu [at] yahoo.com 
Production of Labor Video Project http://www.laborvideo.org

Oakland protest against the US Coast Guard

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/23/2012 – 13:21
 

KBOO FM: Longshore Battle Looms in Longview

Submitted by admin on Sun, 01/22/2012 – 14:04
 

program date: 
 Mon, 01/23/2012
The Interntional Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) local 21 in Longview, Washington has put out the call to all working class people to come to Longview [date TBD] for an historic protest.  EGT, a giant multi-natiional corporation which controls one-third of the world’s grain trade, is trying to bust the ILWU, one of America’s most progressive and powerful unions.  EGT’s first grain ship will be docking soon, escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard.  Host Jamie Partridge interviews Meredith Reese from the Labor Solidarity Committee of OCCUPY Portland about organizing for this pivotal battle of the 99% vs the 1%.
Length: 9:23 minutes (12.89 MB)

KBOO FM: Occupy Portland’s solidarity with the ILWU

Submitted by admin on Sun, 01/22/2012 – 14:00


program date: 
 Fri, 01/20/2012
Join ani and Lyn with their guests to discuss how on-going struggles are relating to the Occupy Movement.
Arlo Stone is involved with Occupy Portland, and is currently working with Occupy the EGT, an action in solidarity with the Longview ILWU.  The Longview ILWU has been engaged in struggle against the huge union-busting corporation EGT, which has a grain ship scheduled to come to Longview within the next couple of weeks.  They have asked that “friends of labor and the 99% everwhere” support them is this struggle.
Nora Callahan is the Executive Director of the November Coalition.  She has just returned from a 5-weeks spent with Occupy DC.
We’ll also hear an update of other actions coming up for Occupy, including Friday’s Occupy the Courts, a national day of action to demonstrate against corporate personhood on the anniversary of the Citizen’s United decision; January 25th: A day of solidarity with Tahrir Square on the 1st anniversary of their uprising; an action against the NDAA on February 3rd, and F-29 A day of action to shut down corporations (on February 29th)– to name but a few. 
Length: 60:00 minutes (54.93 MB)

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WC Port Shut Down

occupytheport

occupytheport SUPPORT NEEDED ON FEB 7 #F7 Oakland City Council will vote on Schaaf/Fuente resolution preventing Port Shutdown. #oo#occupyoakland #osf5 days ago · reply · retweet · favorite
occupytheport@Deviantdreamer solidarity with ILWU and other laborers who are being hurt by EGT. Also, Goldman Sachs has interests in many ports.5 days ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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