Honolulu solidarity action!
Submitted by admin on Sun, 12/11/2011 - 07:47
Action: Rally in Solidarity with the West Coast Port Shut Downs
Website: deoccupyhonolulu.org
Other Info: Meet-up at Thomas Square, Ward and Beretania corner 6AM to carpool to Sand Island, banner drop and hold signs crossing the cross walk at Sand Island 6:30am.
Further Info:
December 12th West Coast Port Shut Down led by the Occupy Movement
Who, What, When, Where, Why?
The Occupy Movements of the U.S. west coast have called for the shut down of all west coast ports on December 12th. The goal is to disrupt commerce to make the 1%, who own the shipping, business, and goods going through the ports, pay for their global austerity attack on working people.
The action is in solidarity with ILWU rank and file workers at the Port of Longview who have been under attack from EGT, a global conglomerate that broke a contract with them to bring in scab labor to move grain to their port. Further, the action is in solidarity with L.A. Port truckers who are fighting for the right to unionize, against Goldman Sachs, which owns a large segment of all SSA ports.
Do the Unions Support the Action?
There have been statements of support for the Occupy movement from the ILWU, a union with a record of protesting injustice and supporting community pickets. The ILWU shut down west coast ports in 2008 to protest the Iraq War. But now, some in the union leadership are coming out against the port shut down. This however is not representative of the ILWU rank and file. In the post World War II period, much legislation (like Taft-Hartley) has limited the right of American workers to strike, and the government and business have brought union management closer to them to enforce what they call "labor peace." In this situation, union bureaucrats must operate as police toward their own workers, to prevent rank and file militancy. But this "peace" has continued as wages, benefits, pensions, and union membership have been slashed.
Why should Occupy worry about the Ports? Isn't that the ILWU's job?
Occupy is shutting down the ports in solidarity with port workers. Remember also that the Occupy Movement is "the 99%." This is another way of saying the working class, as opposed to the 1%, or owning/ruling class. Longshoreman Clarence Thomas explained in a recent interview that "Fifty-one percent of Stevedoring Services of America is owned by Goldman Sachs. EGT is a multinational conglomerate trying to control the distribution of food products around the world. The face of Wall Street is in the ports." So the ports are an issue for all working class people, not just the tiny percentage of unionized workers, or the even smaller group of port and longshore workers. Alliances can be formed between all these groups of workers.
Boots Riley of the West Coast hip hop group "The Coup" put it this way: "They coordinated attacks against us [Occupy encampments], we're gonna respond back with a coordinated attack against the 1%.
On December 12th shut down all west coast ports. Not only make a statement, but cause a lot of profit loss."
What's the point? Does it matter?
The process by which capitalists make a buck is the same process by which they rip us off! By identifying production and the market as the points where we are exploited and alienated, as points of a class struggle, we clarify the terrain on which we must fight. When we strike we contest the ownership of the means of production by which we create our very lives. When we occupy we challenge the privatization of life by reclaiming space and using it for our own needs and those of the community. When we shut down commerce, we disrupt the process by which our bosses realize the fruits of our labor as their profit.
Action: Rally in Solidarity with the West Coast Port Shut Downs
Meet us at: Thomas Square, Ward and Beretania corner
Time: 6AM carpool to Sand Island - 6:30AM banner drop and hold signs crossing the cross walk
Bring: signs, literature, passion, solidarity
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