Bay Area Labor and Community to Picket an Israeli Ship

2010-06-19T22:06:00.003+03:00

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We are not going to "sleep in", but instead we will make history!

Bay Area Labor and Community to Picket an Israeli Ship

Sunday, June 20, 2010, 5:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Berth 57, Port of Oakland, California, U.S.A.

Protest Israel’s Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla!
Boycott Israeli Ships and Goods!
Lift the Blockade NOW – Let Gaza Live!
Bring Down Israel's Apartheid Wall!

Unions, labor federations and other organizations around the world have condemned Israel’s deadly attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31, 2010. Nine people were killed and dozens seriously injured in the Israeli commando attack in international waters on ships attempting to bring humanitarian cargo to the suffering and blockaded people of Gaza.

Israel maintains a deadly blockade against 1.5 million people in Gaza, with claims ranging from the control of weapons to achieving demographic superiority in favor of Israel’s occupation. The construction of the apartheid wall in the West Bank aims to create Jewish-only colonies on Palestinian territories. Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, rose to prominence calling for the expulsion of the indigenous Palestinian people living in the borders of the Israeli green line.

Israeli Apartheid can fall too !

similar to the Apartheid State of South Africa,

Israel’s best friend

Along with dock workers from Sweden and Norway, calls from Malaysia, and following previous actions from liberated South Africa, we will picket the arrival of Israel’s Zim ship liner at the Port of Oakland. In San Francisco in 1984, a picket line and refusal by dockworkers to unload a ship carrying South African cargo was a key event in mobilizing the anti-apartheid movement worldwide. We will be picketing the Zim ship and asking the workers to do the same with apartheid Israel.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All

Israeli apartheid must fall!

We call on everyone who stands for justice and against occupation and apartheid to join the June 20 picket at the Port of Oakland.

The Israeli Zim Lines ship is scheduled to dock at Berth 57 on Middle Harbor Rd. in the Port of Oakland, about a mile from the West Oakland BART station. BART does not begin running on Sundays until 6:00 a.m. There is parking available at the BART station and on nearby streets.

Car pooling coordination: +1 510-282-7032
Details about Port action: +1 415-821-6545

Updates on the actions:
http://www.transportworkers.org
http://www.answersf.org

Legal Hotline: +1 415-285-1011

This action is endorsed by the members of the Free Palestine Movement U.S. delegation on the Sfendonh passenger ship:

Janet Kobren, Paul Larudee, Gene St. Onge, Ambassador Edward L. Peck, and Joe Meadors

Labor / Community Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People:

Arab American Union Members Council, ANSWER- Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Palestine Youth Network, US PalestineCommunity Network, Al Awda- Right to Return Coalition, Arab Youth Organization, MECA-Middle East Children's Alliance, SJP-Students for Justice in Palestine, AROC-Arab Resource and Organizing Center, ISM-International Solidarity Movement, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, International Socialist Organization, Peace and Freedom Party - SF, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, Bay Area US Labor Against the War, Bay Area Committee for Peace and Justice, Barrio Unido, Movement for Unconditional Amnesty for All Immigrant Workers, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupation, Friends of Deir Ibzi’a, Socialist Viewpoint, FMLN in Northern California, San Jose Justice for Palestinians, Code Pink – SF, World Can’t Wait – SF, International Action Center, Skyline Against Cuts, Industrial Workers of the World –SF, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, QUIT!- Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, Fred Hirsch, Executive Board Member of Plumbers & Fitters Local 393, Delegate to the south Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, Break the Silence Mural Project, and many labor activists in the Bay Area.

Palestinian Trade Union Movement Calls on International Dockworkers Unions to

Block Loading/Offloading Israeli Ships
Until Israel Complies Fully with International Law and Ends its Illegal Siege of Gaza

http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/712

June 7, 2010- The Palestinian trade union movement, as a key constituent member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on dockworkers' unions worldwide to block Israeli maritime trade in response to Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla, until Israel complies with international law and ends its illegal blockade of Gaza. Drunk with power and impunity, Israel has ignored recent appeals by the UN Secretary General as well as a near consensus among world governments to end its siege, putting the onus on international civil society to shoulder the moral responsibility of holding Israel accountable to international law and ending its criminal impunity. Dockworkers around the world have historically contributed to the struggle against injustice, most notably against the apartheid regime in South Africa, when port workers unions refused to load/offload cargo on/from South African ships as a most effective way of protesting the apartheid regime.

Today, we ask you to join the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), who resolved [1] not to offload Israeli ships in Durban in February 2009 in protest of Israel’s war of aggression on Gaza, and the Swedish Dockworkers Union [2] who resolved to blockade all Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel in protest of Israel's attack against the Freedom Flotilla and the ongoing deadly Israeli siege of the occupied Gaza Strip.

Israel’s ongoing blockade of essential food, health, educational and construction supplies is not only immoral; it is a severe form of collective punishment, a war crime that is strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, that is inducing mass poverty, water contamination, environmental collapse, chronic diseases, economic devastation and hundreds of deaths. This three-year old medieval siege against 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, has been squarely condemned by leading legal experts, including UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Prof. Richard Falk, who described it as constituting "slow genocide."

Israel's deplorable attacks on the unarmed ships are a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes." Under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988, it is an international crime for any person to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process. As prominent international law scholars have recently confirmed, there is absolutely no legal justification for Israel's act of aggression against international civilian ships carrying humanitarian and developmental aid to civilians suffering under occupation and a patently illegal blockade, which has created a man-made and deliberately sustained humanitarian catastrophe. Our response must be commensurate with this crisis.

Gaza today has become the test of our universal morality and our common humanity. During the South African anti-apartheid struggle, the world was inspired by the brave and principled actions of dockworkers unions who refused to handle South African cargo, contributing significantly to the ultimate fall of apartheid. Today, we call on you, dockworkers unions of the world, to do the same against Israel's occupation and apartheid. This is the most effective form of solidarity to end injustice and uphold universal human rights.

Signed:

- Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
- General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)
- Federation of Independent Trade Unions (IFU)
- Palestinian Professionals Association**
- Youth Workers Movement (Fatah)
- Central Office for the Workers Movement (Fatah)
- Progressive Workers Block
- Workers Unity Block
- Workers Struggle Block
- Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) –part of IFU
- Workers Liberation Front
- Labor Front Block
- Workers Solidarity Organization
- Workers Struggle Organization
**Includes the national syndicates of engineers, agricultural engineers, doctors, dentists, pharmacists,
lawyers and veterinarians.

Rachel Corrie on Her Way

2010-06-04T15:39:00.000+03:00

Source: FreeGaza.org

[Cyprus, June 4, 2010] The Rachel Corrie is 150 miles away from Gaza in international waters and on her way. They will arrive on Saturday morning. The 1200 ton cargo ship is the last ship from the Freedom Flotilla and is loaded with construction materials, 20 tons of paper and many other supplies that Israel refuses to allow into the imprisoned people of Gaza.
Some of the High-Profile people on board:
Mairead Maguire from Belfast, Ireland, a Nobel Peace Laureate (l976) and Co-founder of Peace People, Northern Ireland. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace and a nonviolent solution to the Ethnic/political conflict in Northern Ireland. Mairead went on the maiden Voyage of Dignity in October 2008, the second successful voyage for the Free Gaza Movement. She was also on Board ‘Spirit’ when Israel hijacked the Boat in International Waters, taking all 2l humanitarian passengers to Israel, where they were arrested, detained for a week in an Israeli prison and then deported.
Denis Halliday, from Ireland, a UN Assistant Secretary-General from 1994-98. Appointed by SG Boutros Ghali, he served as ASG UN Human Resources Management in New York and in mid 1997 to end 1998 as Head, Humanitarian Programme in Iraq to support the Iraqi people struggling under the genocidal impact of UN Sanctions. Since resigning from the UN in 1998, Halliday has delivered numerous parliamentary briefings, provided extensive media inputs and has given public/university lectures on Iraq, human rights, and the UN, in particular its reform.
Matthias Chang Wen Chieh is a Malaysian of Chinese descent. He is a Barrister of 32 years standing and once served as the Political Secretary to the Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. He is the author of three bestsellers, “Future Fast Forward”, “Brainwashed for War, Programmed to Kill”, and “The Shadow Money-Lenders and the Global Financial Tsunami”, published in the US and in Malaysia.
Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria,Perak, Malaysia, MP Mohd Nizar bin Zakaria is a Member of the Malaysian Parliament.
In addition, there is a three-member camera crew on board from Malaysia TV3 and journalis Shamsul Akmar bin Musa Kamal.
The passengers on board the ship have stated, “Communication is difficult and sometimes impossible and there are many rumors out there started by Israeli authorities, but there is no way we are going to Ashdod. We are, for sure, on our way to Gaza.”
Contact: Greta Berlin, 00 357 99 18 72 75
Mary Hughes 00 357 6 38 38

Sail to Gaza, Rachel Corrie! on Facebook

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2010-05-22T06:47:00.001+03:00

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2010-05-19T15:18:00.000+03:00

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Bay Area Labor and Community to Picket an Israeli Ship

Rachel Corrie on Her Way

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