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Historic Victory – Mass Picket Blocks Unloading of Israeli Ship
On June 20 for the first time ever an Israeli ship was boycotted in a U.S. port. More than 800 spirited picketers gathered at 5:30 a.m., blocking four entrances to the Stevedore Services of America terminal in the Port of Oakland. Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, citing safety concerns, refused to cross the picket lines. The ILWU has a long and great history of supporting progressive struggles here and around the world. The slogans of the picket were:
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. Six people aboard the ships are still missing and presumed dead.
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 picketed the arrival of Israel’s Zim ship liner. 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 successfully picketed the Zim ship asking the workers to do the same with apartheid Israel.
An Injury to One is an Injury to All
Israeli apartheid must fall!
The mass picket was sponsored by 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 Palestine Community 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 & Contra Costa Counties, 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, Uhuru Solidarity Movement, Skyline Against Cuts, Industrial Workers of the World – SF, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, Party for Socialism and Liberation, QUIT! – Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, Fred Hirsch, Executive Board member of Plumbers & Fitters Local 393 & delegate to South Bay Labor Council, Progressive Democrats of the East Bay, La Voz de los Trabaja-dores, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism – No. Calif., National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, and many labor activists in the Bay Area (partial list)
To gain insight into the US-Israeli sadistic policy of siege against the Palestinian people, below is a list of prohibited items in May 2010: sage, cardamom, cumin, coriander, ginger, jam, halva, vinegar, nutmeg, chocolate, fruit preserves, seeds and nuts, biscuits and sweets, potato chips, gas for soft drinks, dried fruit, fresh meat, plaster, tar, wood for construction, cement, iron, glucose, industrial salt, plastic/glass/metal containers, industrial margarine, tarpaulin sheets for huts, fabric for clothing, flavor and smell enhancers, fishing rods, , various fishing nets, buoys, ropes for fishing, nylon nets for greenhouses, hatcheries and spare parts for hatcheries, spare parts for tractors, dairies for cowsheds, irrigation pipe systems, ropes to tie greenhouses, planters for saplings, heaters for chicken farms, musical instruments, size A4 paper, writing implements, notebooks, newspapers, toys, razors, sewing machines and spare parts, heaters, horses, donkeys, goats, cattle, chicks.
http://www.actionsf.org/#local1