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Bay Area picketers stop unloading of Israeli ship

by shergald Mon Jun 21st, 2010 at 07:31:17 PM EST


In Oakland, California an Israeli ship was blocked by protesters from being unloaded, in protest of the Gaza siege, the recent massacre aboard the Mavi Marmara, and Palestinian rights to freedom and a country of their own. Reportedly 700-1000 protesters (probably around 500) blocked three different gates in the early morning Sunday, keeping dockworkers from unloading the Israeli cargo.

ILWU members refused to cross picket line citing safety provisions in their contract. When management demanded instant arbitration, the arbitrator surveyed the picket lines at each gate and ruled that ILWU members were justified in refusing to cross.

The dockworkers were sent home with FULL PAY.

Today's victory repeated a historic milestone back in 1984, when ILWU workers in San Francisco refused to unload a ship called the Nedlloyd Kimberley, because its cargo came from Apartheid South Africa. The similarity of these situations make the present protest especially meaningful.

The SFGATE (San Francisco) newspaper put it this way: Hundreds in Oakland protest Gaza blockade. The protest was also covered by Ynet, IMEMC, Al Manar, and Haaretz, thus far. We have to wait and see if the US mainstreat media respond to the protest or remain silent (censored).

At Mondoweiss, Henry Norr reported:

If anyone had any doubts that the movement for justice in Palestine is growing by leaps and bounds, in numbers, breadth, and determination, check out what happened this morning in Oakland, CA.

(snip)

Waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and chanting "Free, free Palestine - don't cross the picket line" and "An injury to one is an injury to all - the Israeli apartheid wall will fall," the demonstrators blocked three gates to the berth for more than four hours. The turnout was all the more impressive because the BART, the Bay Area subway system, doesn't even start running until around 8 a.m. on Sunday, and even after people got to the assembly point in West Oakland, we had to walk more than a mile to get to the berth.

The event was organized by an ad hoc coalition of dozens of community and labor organizations. The main leadership came from Palestinian-Americans and other Arab Americans, with the Bay Area branch of ANSWER also playing a key role. The idea arose in response to a call issued in the wake of Israel's attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, which asked workers around the world to stop unloading ships carrying Israeli goods.

Union dockworkers from countries like Australia, Ireland, and Norway have already voted to refuse to unload Israeli cargo ships. The boycotts are spreading, and perhaps the ILWU will eventually follow suit.

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Bay Area picketers stop unloading of Israeli ship | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Bay Area picketers stop unloading of Israeli (4.00 / 3)
This is quite significant. Harbours are one of the choke points where even a comparatively small group of well-organised people can enforce a citizen's embargo against unsavoury regimes and businesses. If dockworkers decide that Israeli exports won't get unloaded, then Israel is looking at a potentially serious contraction of its foreign trade.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 02:56:31 AM EST
Re: Bay Area picketers stop unloading of Israeli (none / 1)
Israeli apartheid already exists, only to be eventually formalized after further solidification of the colonialism that is taking place. Peace activist groups around the world have therefore geared up to fight it.

In the US, the greatest difficulty for this anti-Apartheid movement in gaining a wider foothold is the censorship and bias that affects news reporting about Israel-Palestine. For example, publication of the Israeli narrative on the Gaza Flotilla massacre in most newspapers led to more than half of Americans polled believing that the Turks were at fault and caused it, and possibly that the IHH which sponsored the Mavi Marmara is a terrorist organization with ties to Hamas. Well, of course it has ties to Hamas, just as the Red Cross does and so too UNWRA, the UN.

by shergald on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 07:28:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Bay Area picketers (4.00 / 6)
Them's my folks.  Don't you love CA?  Still sane after all these years.

They tried to assimilate me. They failed.
by THE Twank (yatta blah blah @ blah.com) on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 08:19:38 AM EST
Re: Bay Area picketers ... (4.00 / 4)
I work for an organisation that works on Middle East Peace, has held witness visits to Palestine.  (www.worldywca.org). The fact that this is now being seen as apartheid is good.  
by LokiMom on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 05:10:12 PM EST
LA Times covered it (4.00 / 4)
Protesters block unloading of Israeli cargo ship in Oakland
June 20, 2010 |  6:09 pm

Pro-Palestinian protesters on Sunday created a blockade of their own on Sunday by gathering at the Port of Oakland before dawn to block the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship.

Longshoreman working the day shift agreed not to cross the picket line of hundreds of protesters, who were demanding an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Protesters planned to stage another rally to halt the offloading for the evening shift. The protesters, organized by the San Francisco Bay Area ANSWER Coalition, was particularly incensed by the action of Israeli commandos to halt a flotilla of ships attempting to run the blockade May 31. Nine people were killed in the military action on the high seas. . . .

You know it's the mainstream media by the strategic use of the passive form in that last sentence.

Is it true that ANSWER was the main organizer, or is that more propaganda?

fairleft

by fairleft (fairleftatyahoodotcom) on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 09:04:12 PM EST
Re: LA Times covered it (4.00 / 3)
I see that Mondoweiss already mentioned the main organizers, and so, yeah, looks like LA Times was trotting out the ANSWER bogey man and ignorning the diverse coalition:

The event was organized by an ad hoc coalition of dozens of community and labor organizations. The main leadership came from Palestinian-Americans and other Arab Americans, with the Bay Area branch of ANSWER also playing a key role.


fairleft
by fairleft (fairleftatyahoodotcom) on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 09:14:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: LA Times covered it (4.00 / 2)
Link, please.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Wed Jun 23rd, 2010 at 05:30:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: LA Times covered it (none / 1)
Clicky

It wasn't the LA Times per se, but a blog affiliated with them.

The comments over there are just sad. But I guess that's par for the course for an American paper...

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Jun 23rd, 2010 at 05:55:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Washington Post also mentions it, (none / 1)
in this article, which doesn't mention the 'boycott' movement directly but discusses many of its effective campaigns:

Israel's feeling of isolation is becoming more pronounced
By Janine Zacharia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A very good article, considering the mainstream source.

fairleft

by fairleft (fairleftatyahoodotcom) on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 09:12:53 PM EST
Re: The Washington Post also mentions it, (none / 1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062104706.html

fairleft
by fairleft (fairleftatyahoodotcom) on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 at 09:13:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: The Washington Post also mentions it, (4.00 / 4)
Thanks, fairleft.  This is an interesting article worth reading because it addresses the scope of international displeasure with the Govt. of Israel rather than merely report on a single incident.

I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
by Gringo (stargazing camel at aoldotcom) on Wed Jun 23rd, 2010 at 10:02:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
picketers stop unloading of Israeli ship (none / 1)
In a similar vein, this report from the Jerusalem Post this morning:

One of UK's largest unions votes to boycott Israel

Another victory for the BDS Movement against Israel's continuing military occupation and colonialism of Palestinian lands, and the brutal siege of Gaza, was today reported from the UK. The action was apparently spurred on by the recent Gaza Flotilla massacre in which nine Turkish peace activists were killed.

One of Britain's largest trade unions passed a motion at its annual conference in Bournemouth last week accusing Israel of lying over the Gaza flotilla incident and has called for a complete boycott of Israel and for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, it was confirmed on Thursday.

The emergency motion was introduced on the third day of the annual conference of UNISON, the largest public sector union with around 1.4 million members. It said Israel was "brazenly lying" over the flotilla incident, as it "attempted to define it as an attempted lynch mob of its troops by passengers on the boats. "This is a further sign that Israel does not respond to words of condemnation, only action will have any effect," the motion states....

The union will now support a full boycott of Israel - economic, cultural and sporting; it has joined the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign and will suspend ties with the Histadrut.

http://www.jpost.com/Internati...




by shergald on Fri Jun 25th, 2010 at 08:47:26 AM EST
Bay Area picketers stop unloading of Israeli ship | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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