Picket war profiteers in the Port on May 19
also see
A letter from Bellingham--Port actions in the Pacific North West
To catch a war profiteer
OAKLAND, CA: Antiwar protesters marched into the Port of Oakland on Saturday, May 19, 2007 and picketed a war profiteer, SSA (Stevedoring Services of America). "The war is for profit--Longshore workers can stop it," read our signs and banners. We asked the longshoremen to honor our picket line, and they did. One ship sat unloaded at the dock, and two more ships waited in the harbor. Cargo did NOT move that day.
Themes and issues of the action were: Stop the shipping of war materiel. Bring the troops home now, and give them the healthcare they need. Port money for schools and social services.
It was at this very same SSA Terminal that protesters and longshoremen were attacked by police four years ago, on April 7, 2003, when 59 people were injured. Fortunately, this time all went well, and the war profiteer was successfully shut down for two shifts.
This does not happen often--not every year, not every decade. Possibly not even during the war in Vietnam. It was more than just another major news story; it was an historical event. Several TV and radio stations covered it, but the print media somehow missed it.
MORE ARTICLES, from this & other websites
May 19 report from Bay Rising Affinity Group
Audio from the picket line on May 19, 2007
SSA has been shut down!!!
Profile of a War Profiteer in the Port of Oakland
The Spymaster's Tale
***
Successful Picket at the Port of Oakland - What It Means Long Term
Green Sunday Discussion
Successful Picket at the Port of Oakland - What It Means For the Longer Term Struggle Against the War and For Funding Our Needs At Home
TIME & PLACE
Sunday, June 10th
5:00 - 6:30 PM
Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave.,
at 65th in North Oakland
On May 19 the group Port Action picketed war profiteer SSA at the Port of Oakland, demanding a stop to war shipments and Port money for schools and social services. In a significant act of solidarity, the ILWU refused to cross the picket lines, not once, but twice (morning and night shifts), resulting in a important victory for the people!
This successful direct action to stop the war and fund people's needs was organized by a coalition which had as prominent members the Oakland Green Party, the Oakland Education Association, and Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. The Green Sunday for June 10 will focus on this event. Two of the leaders, Green Party members Jonathan Nack and Larry Shoup, will discuss the event and what it might mean for the longer term struggle against the war and for funding people's needs here at home.
Please come and bring your questions because, as always, our speakers will be interested in a dialogue.
LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., at 65th in North Oakland.
DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Served directly by AC Transit routes 40, 64 & 17 with 6, 51 & 43 nearby. Ashby Bart is about 7 blocks away.
***
Getting ready for Saturday, May 19
We're organizing a community picket against war profiteers at the Port of Oakland on May 19th and we're asking for help from you and your group. Our goal is to shut down business by war profiteers that day to call attention to our demands: Stop War Shipments and War Profiteering - Port Money for Schools and Social Services - Bring the Troops Home Now!
Join us May 19th to Picket War Profiteers at the Port of Oakland!
Port Money for Schools & Social Services!
Bring the troops home now and give them the healthcare they need!
Picket at APL Terminal at Port of Oakland, 1579 Middle Harbor Road
We will call on ILWU Local 10 to honor our picket line and not to cross. If Local 10 honors our picket line, as it did for similar pickets in 2003 and 2004, then work will be shut down. Local 10 has a long history of supporting community pickets and struggles, and is in the forefront of labor opposition to the war.
How can you and your group help? There are a number of ways:
Publicize the May 19 picket posting this message to your email list, web site, or sending it to personal contacts;
Distribute print and digital literature (PDF of poster Map of picket location);
Come to our final organizing meetings on Monday nigh at 7pm at NPML (see below);
Give a group or individual endorsement for May 19th and/or contribute funds; and most of all,
Join the picketing on May 19th.
Every act of support and solidarity is important. When we unite and work in concert we have power. To be successful on May 19, we need to turn out a large number of pickets.
There are a number of critical issues which intersect at the port. It is a major hub for the war machine; little of the huge revenues generated at the Port fund human needs; the Port pollutes West Oakland; independent truckers are organizing for justice and a union; and ILWU Local 10 is there fighting for longshore workers. The Port offers a chance for building alliances between community-based organizations and campaigns. Thus the port, with its military shipments, is not just an anti-war issue. It is also an education and budget issue - an economic powerhouse that is not making a fair contribution to sustain Oakland and the region.
There are also governance issues, with a Port Commission that is allocating land as political patronage and not being accountable to community needs. It is a labor issue, with the commission leasing city property to labor-unfriendly businesses. It is a housing issue, with land being sold to developers who are building housing that is not affordable to residents of that area.
On April 7th, the Port Action Committee organized a rally in front of the Port of Oakland offices at Jack London Square which highlighted these issues. The rally, which also commemorated April 7, 2003 when police fired on anti-war protesters at the Port, was covered by major television, radio, and print media (Trib article Chron article ). Representatives of teachers, labor, veterans, anti-war movement, youth, and the community spoke at the rally. Now we've calling on all these forces to unite to picket war profiteers on May 19th.
For more info, or to arrange to get print literature, contact Port Action Committee at
portaction[at]riseup.net
The call for the Port picket has received endorsements from:
Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
Cindy Sheehan
Ella Baker Center
Idriss Stelley Foundation
Lake Merritt Neighbors Organizing for Peace (LMNOP)
Northern California Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism.
Oakland Education Association (OEA)
Oakland Green Party
United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ)--Bay Area
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 69 - (Bay Area)
ENDORSEMENTS & SOLIDARITY from around the country
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, National
Veterans For Peace, National
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 88, Vermont
C-3 of New Orleans.
The Bienville Hose Center For Peace and Justice, Baton Rouge
Coalition Against War & Injustice, Baton Rouge
***
Below are links to more stories from the Port
report from the April 7, 2007 rally at Port Hq
The Attack and the Response--a detailed account of events from April 7th to May 12th 2003
The Spymaster's Tale
United Nations report on the police attack at the Port of Oakland
Back at the docks in April 7, 2004
The unexpected ending of the case against the Oakland 25 in 2004
For 8 days in May of 2004, Truckers closed the Port of Oakland
A letter from Bellingham--Port actions in the Pacific North West
A letter from Bellingham--Port actions in the Pacific North West
To catch a war profiteer
Community picketers caught a war profiteer with three ships in the harbor, in a hurry to be unloaded and reloaded
OAKLAND, CA: Antiwar protesters marched into the Port of Oakland on Saturday, May 19, 2007 and picketed a war profiteer, SSA (Stevedoring Services of America). "The war is for profit--Longshore workers can stop it," read our signs and banners. We asked the longshoremen to honor our picket line, and they did. One ship sat unloaded at the dock, and two more ships waited in the harbor. Cargo did NOT move that day.
Themes and issues of the action were: Stop the shipping of war materiel. Bring the troops home now, and give them the healthcare they need. Port money for schools and social services.
It was at this very same SSA Terminal that protesters and longshoremen were attacked by police four years ago, on April 7, 2003, when 59 people were injured. Fortunately, this time all went well, and the war profiteer was successfully shut down for two shifts.
This does not happen often--not every year, not every decade. Possibly not even during the war in Vietnam. It was more than just another major news story; it was an historical event. Several TV and radio stations covered it, but the print media somehow missed it.
MORE ARTICLES, from this & other websites
May 19 report from Bay Rising Affinity Group
Audio from the picket line on May 19, 2007
SSA has been shut down!!!
Profile of a War Profiteer in the Port of Oakland
The Spymaster's Tale
***
Successful Picket at the Port of Oakland - What It Means Long Term
Green Sunday Discussion
Successful Picket at the Port of Oakland - What It Means For the Longer Term Struggle Against the War and For Funding Our Needs At Home
TIME & PLACE
Sunday, June 10th
5:00 - 6:30 PM
Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave.,
at 65th in North Oakland
On May 19 the group Port Action picketed war profiteer SSA at the Port of Oakland, demanding a stop to war shipments and Port money for schools and social services. In a significant act of solidarity, the ILWU refused to cross the picket lines, not once, but twice (morning and night shifts), resulting in a important victory for the people!
This successful direct action to stop the war and fund people's needs was organized by a coalition which had as prominent members the Oakland Green Party, the Oakland Education Association, and Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. The Green Sunday for June 10 will focus on this event. Two of the leaders, Green Party members Jonathan Nack and Larry Shoup, will discuss the event and what it might mean for the longer term struggle against the war and for funding people's needs here at home.
Please come and bring your questions because, as always, our speakers will be interested in a dialogue.
LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., at 65th in North Oakland.
DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Served directly by AC Transit routes 40, 64 & 17 with 6, 51 & 43 nearby. Ashby Bart is about 7 blocks away.
***
Getting ready for Saturday, May 19
We're organizing a community picket against war profiteers at the Port of Oakland on May 19th and we're asking for help from you and your group. Our goal is to shut down business by war profiteers that day to call attention to our demands: Stop War Shipments and War Profiteering - Port Money for Schools and Social Services - Bring the Troops Home Now!
Join us May 19th to Picket War Profiteers at the Port of Oakland!
Port Money for Schools & Social Services!
Bring the troops home now and give them the healthcare they need!
Picket at APL Terminal at Port of Oakland, 1579 Middle Harbor Road
We will call on ILWU Local 10 to honor our picket line and not to cross. If Local 10 honors our picket line, as it did for similar pickets in 2003 and 2004, then work will be shut down. Local 10 has a long history of supporting community pickets and struggles, and is in the forefront of labor opposition to the war.
How can you and your group help? There are a number of ways:
Publicize the May 19 picket posting this message to your email list, web site, or sending it to personal contacts;
Distribute print and digital literature (PDF of poster Map of picket location);
Come to our final organizing meetings on Monday nigh at 7pm at NPML (see below);
Give a group or individual endorsement for May 19th and/or contribute funds; and most of all,
Join the picketing on May 19th.
Every act of support and solidarity is important. When we unite and work in concert we have power. To be successful on May 19, we need to turn out a large number of pickets.
There are a number of critical issues which intersect at the port. It is a major hub for the war machine; little of the huge revenues generated at the Port fund human needs; the Port pollutes West Oakland; independent truckers are organizing for justice and a union; and ILWU Local 10 is there fighting for longshore workers. The Port offers a chance for building alliances between community-based organizations and campaigns. Thus the port, with its military shipments, is not just an anti-war issue. It is also an education and budget issue - an economic powerhouse that is not making a fair contribution to sustain Oakland and the region.
There are also governance issues, with a Port Commission that is allocating land as political patronage and not being accountable to community needs. It is a labor issue, with the commission leasing city property to labor-unfriendly businesses. It is a housing issue, with land being sold to developers who are building housing that is not affordable to residents of that area.
On April 7th, the Port Action Committee organized a rally in front of the Port of Oakland offices at Jack London Square which highlighted these issues. The rally, which also commemorated April 7, 2003 when police fired on anti-war protesters at the Port, was covered by major television, radio, and print media (Trib article Chron article ). Representatives of teachers, labor, veterans, anti-war movement, youth, and the community spoke at the rally. Now we've calling on all these forces to unite to picket war profiteers on May 19th.
For more info, or to arrange to get print literature, contact Port Action Committee at
portaction[at]riseup.net
The call for the Port picket has received endorsements from:
Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
Cindy Sheehan
Ella Baker Center
Idriss Stelley Foundation
Lake Merritt Neighbors Organizing for Peace (LMNOP)
Northern California Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism.
Oakland Education Association (OEA)
Oakland Green Party
United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ)--Bay Area
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 69 - (Bay Area)
ENDORSEMENTS & SOLIDARITY from around the country
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, National
Veterans For Peace, National
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 88, Vermont
C-3 of New Orleans.
The Bienville Hose Center For Peace and Justice, Baton Rouge
Coalition Against War & Injustice, Baton Rouge
***
Below are links to more stories from the Port
report from the April 7, 2007 rally at Port Hq
The Attack and the Response--a detailed account of events from April 7th to May 12th 2003
The Spymaster's Tale
United Nations report on the police attack at the Port of Oakland
Back at the docks in April 7, 2004
The unexpected ending of the case against the Oakland 25 in 2004
For 8 days in May of 2004, Truckers closed the Port of Oakland
A letter from Bellingham--Port actions in the Pacific North West
