Workers Resistance

Author: Fight Back

  • People’s Thanksgiving Dinner to raises funds for Rasmea Odeh defense

    Chicago, IL – Since 1992, activists with Fight Back! news, some of whom are members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, have held a People’s Thanksgiving dinner. According to Joe Iosbaker, “It was started as part of a movement to protest 500 years of colonialism and to celebrate the resistance of the indigenous people.”

    Each year the dinner has recognized activists and organizations that have contributed to struggles in Chicago and around the country.

    This year, there is urgency to the gathering. Rasmea Odeh, a beloved activist in the Palestinian community in Chicago, is under attack by the U.S. government. The Sunday, Dec. 8 dinner will raise funds for her defense, in addition to helping to keep publishing Fight Back!.

    Hatem Abudayyeh, a friend of Fight Back!, and himself a victim of repression, said, “The FBI and the U.S. attorney in Chicago have used political repression against 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists for the past three years. Now the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney in Detroit are victimizing Rasmea.”

    Odeh faces 10 years in prison and deportation if she is convicted of falsifying her application for citizenship.

    Along with Rasmea Odeh, the dinner will honor two activists with the Anti-War Committee-Chicago: Newland Smith, a longtime fixture in the Palestine solidarity movement, and Sarah Simmons for her role resisting Mayor Emanuel’s attack on the Chicago Teachers Union and public education. Pete Camarata, a founder of Teamsters for a Democratic Union, will be recognized for his lifelong efforts for the cause of working people. And the continued struggle for justice for Trayvon Martin will be highlighted by a Skype message from Michael Sampson, a Dream Defender who occupied the State Capitol in Florida after the acquittal of George Zimmerman.

    For more information on the dinner, go to www.StopFBI.net

  • On the passing of Nelson Mandela, listen to his own words

    Nelson Mandela, a leader of the South African struggle for national liberation, passed away today, Dec 5. Mandela led the African National Congress, and along with South African communists, founded the armed struggle group Umkhonto we Sizwe, After 26 years in prison, the national liberation movement of the African masses, supported by a broad international anti-Apartheid movement, won his freedom. The official racial segregation and discrimination of Apartheid was brought down and Nelson Mandela elected president of South Africa.

    The U.S. government supported Apartheid and opposed Mandela – keeping President Mandela on the U.S terrorism list up until 2008. The U.S. government has instituted laws such as the Patriot Act and NDAA and reversed other civil rights laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1964, reminiscent of apartheid South Africa.

    It is important to study and understand Nelson Mandela the freedom fighter in his own words:

    http://www.anc.org.za/list_by.php?by=Nelson%20Mandela

    Mandela On Struggle:

    “Only through hardship, sacrifice and militant action can freedom be won. The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”

    “It is revolutionary…precisely because the changes it envisages cannot be won without breaking up the economic and political set-up…to win the demands calls for the organization, launching, and development of mass struggles on the widest scale.”

    “The most vital task facing the democratic movement in this country is to unleash such struggles and to develop them on the basis of the concrete and immediate demands of the people from area to area. Only in this way can we build a powerful mass movement which is the only guarantee of ultimate victory in the struggle for democratic reforms”.

    “The majority of South Africans, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. It has to be ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. The mass campaign of defiance and other actions of our organization and people can only culminate in the establishment of democracy.”

    Mandela on Apartheid, Racism, and Discrimination:

    “The Government takes measures to protect White people in one way and Black people not at all.”

    “Our most potent weapon against this [AIDS] virus is education. We have, perhaps, for some time, allowed ourselves to believe that like other epidemics it will come and go; that the great advances of our time in science and technology will offer us appropriate quick intervention. The key to our success is our own collective effort. The time for rhetorical arguments and victim blaming has passed. Now is the time for action.”

    “As long as…people are denied the democratic vote, they shall have to vote with their feet.”

    Mandela on Freedom:

    “No power on earth can stop an oppressed people determined to win their freedom.”

    “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

    Mandela on the U.S.:

    “If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don’t ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.”

    “What I am condemning is that one power, with a president [George W. Bush] who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.”
    — Iraq War speech (2003)

    Mandela On Workers:

    “I think we may sometimes be at fault in not stressing and repeating the importance of the organized participation of workers in our struggle.”

    “What has characterized workers in our country, has been the determination not to be isolated from the rest of society, not to be misled that Unions must only concern themselves with shop-floor issues.”

    Mandela on Communism:

    “Communists have always played an active role in the fight by colonial countries for their freedom, because the short-term objects of Communism would always correspond with the long-term objects of freedom movements.”

    Mandela on Armed Struggle:

    “I admit immediately that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto we Sizwe, and that I played a prominent role in its affairs until I was arrested in August 1962.”

    “50 years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation, and fewer and fewer rights.”

    “Secondly, we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the African people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy. All lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation, and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority, or to defy the Government. We chose to defy the law. We first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence; when this form was legislated against, and then the Government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies, only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.”

    “As violence in this country was inevitable, it would be unrealistic and wrong for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the Government met our peaceful demands with force.”

  • China refutes lies about new air identification zone

    Minneapolis, MN – Geng Yansheng, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, made an important statement in Beijing, Dec. 3 on China’s establishment of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

    The release of the statement coincided with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to China and come on the heels of provocative unannounced flights of U.S. war planes in the identification zone.

    Geng stated that the establishment of the zone is “a necessary measure for China to protect its state sovereignty and territorial and airspace security. It is conducive to maintaining flying safety in international airspace, and is in line with international laws and conventions.”

    Geng noted the ADIZ was not a ‘no fly zone’ and that it did not undermine the freedom of over-flight. He also stated, “Some people doubt China’s monitoring capabilities in the East China Sea ADIZ. The Chinese military’s determination and volition to safeguard the security of national territory and territorial airspace are unwavering and the military is fully capable of exercising effective control over the East China Sea ADIZ. Generally, supervision and control are exercised through reported flight plans and radar response and identification, among other means. Military planes can also take flight if necessary to identify entering targets. Measures to be taken are based on factors such as an entering aircraft’s attributes – military or civilian, the extent of threat, or distance. Fighter planes are unnecessary when an entering aircraft is found to pose no threat to us, but necessary surveillance is needed; when the entering threat is ascertained to reach a certain extent, military aircraft will be mobilized at an appropriate time to dispose of the situation.”

    Speaking on the role of Japan, which has its own ADIZ, Geng stated, “Since September 2012, Japan has been making trouble over territorial disputes, staging a farce by announcing that it would ‘purchase’ the Diaoyu Islands, frequently sending vessels and planes to disturb Chinese ships and planes in normal exercises or training, openly making provocative remarks such as shooting down Chinese drones, playing up the so-called China threat, escalating regional tension, creating excuses for revising its current constitution and expanding its military, trying to deny the result of the World War II, and refusing to implement the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. Japan’s actions have seriously harmed China’s legitimate rights and security interests and undermined the peace and stability in east Asia. China has to take necessary reactions.”

    One aspect of the U.S. ‘pivot towards Asia’ is strengthening relations with Japan and other countries in the region to counter People’s China. The overall aim of the ‘pivot’ is to dominate the Pacific region.

     

  • China refutes lies about new air identification zone

    Minneapolis, MN – Geng Yansheng, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, made an important statement in Beijing, Dec. 3 on China’s establishment of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

    The release of the statement coincided with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to China and come on the heels of provocative unannounced flights of U.S. war planes in the identification zone.

    Geng stated that the establishment of the zone is “a necessary measure for China to protect its state sovereignty and territorial and airspace security. It is conducive to maintaining flying safety in international airspace, and is in line with international laws and conventions.”

    Geng noted the ADIZ was not a ‘no fly zone’ and that it did not undermine the freedom of over-flight. He also stated, “Some people doubt China’s monitoring capabilities in the East China Sea ADIZ. The Chinese military’s determination and volition to safeguard the security of national territory and territorial airspace are unwavering and the military is fully capable of exercising effective control over the East China Sea ADIZ. Generally, supervision and control are exercised through reported flight plans and radar response and identification, among other means. Military planes can also take flight if necessary to identify entering targets. Measures to be taken are based on factors such as an entering aircraft’s attributes – military or civilian, the extent of threat, or distance. Fighter planes are unnecessary when an entering aircraft is found to pose no threat to us, but necessary surveillance is needed; when the entering threat is ascertained to reach a certain extent, military aircraft will be mobilized at an appropriate time to dispose of the situation.”

    Speaking on the role of Japan, which has its own ADIZ, Geng stated, “Since September 2012, Japan has been making trouble over territorial disputes, staging a farce by announcing that it would ‘purchase’ the Diaoyu Islands, frequently sending vessels and planes to disturb Chinese ships and planes in normal exercises or training, openly making provocative remarks such as shooting down Chinese drones, playing up the so-called China threat, escalating regional tension, creating excuses for revising its current constitution and expanding its military, trying to deny the result of the World War II, and refusing to implement the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. Japan’s actions have seriously harmed China’s legitimate rights and security interests and undermined the peace and stability in east Asia. China has to take necessary reactions.”

    One aspect of the U.S. ‘pivot towards Asia’ is strengthening relations with Japan and other countries in the region to counter People’s China. The overall aim of the ‘pivot’ is to dominate the Pacific region.

     

  • Jacksonville workers picket Walmart on Black Friday

    Jacksonville, FL – By Florida standards, the 30-degree morning on Black Friday, Nov. 29 was a chilly day, but that could not stop 15 local workers from protesting at a Walmart Supercenter.

    Organizing as a part of the nationwide Black Friday protests of Walmart stores called by OUR Walmart, the Jacksonville protest drew a small, energetic crowd outside the store on the busiest shopping day of the year. Chanting and carrying colorful signs, the protesters demanded full-time jobs for Walmart workers, better pay, health care and an end to Walmart’s harassment of union organizers.

    “I’m a low-wage, part-time warehouse worker, so I have a lot in common with Walmart workers,” said Dave Schneider, one of the protesters and a member of Teamsters Local 512 in Jacksonville. “The main difference is that I have a union that protects me from supervisor harassment, guarantees me affordable health insurance and works to raise my wages. Every low-wage worker in the country, especially our sisters and brothers at Walmart, deserve the same.”

    The crowd chanted, “Full-time jobs! Not part-time poverty!” and “Union-busting is a crime!” The latter chant refers to an ongoing investigation by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of Walmart’s harassment of workers who try to organize unions. For the first time in history, the NLRB has brought charges against Walmart management. The charges say that Walmart illegally intimidated and fired several of their workers who sought to organize a union. In the face of mounting pressure from workers across the country and these NLRB charges, long-time Walmart CEO Mike Duke resigned.

    Marina Djordjevic, a lead organizer of the event, read a list of grievances from a letter to Walmart. Those gathered all signed the letter together and plan to deliver it to Walmart. Walmart workers want higher wages and affordable healthcare. Some Walmart workers are forced onto social welfare programs like food stamps and Medicaid while the company makes big profits. Despite making more than $17 billion in profits last year, Walmart seldom pays its workers more than $12 per hour. In Florida alone, a study by the Department of Children and Families found that more than 9000 of the state’s food stamp recipients were Walmart workers, costing taxpayers approximately $2.6 million to subsidize the low wages paid by the corporate retailer.

    Another demand was that Walmart stop purchasing from brutal and exploitative sweatshops in other countries.

    The protest continued for more than three hours. As customers drove by the Walmart parking lot, the protesters received many honks and signs of support. Several Walmart workers and Jacksonville union members pulled over in their cars to talk with the protesters about their demands.

    Marina Djordjevic said of the protest, “The few who stood in solidarity with the Walmart workers today encourage other workers to stand up and fight against the systematic oppression they face daily. It takes a spark to ignite a fire!”

    Protesters voiced their plans to continue work with Walmart workers in Jacksonville and build the city’s labor movement.

     

  • Somalia’s prime minister ousted, cracks appear in puppet government

    Minneapolis, MN – U.S. attempts to establish a stable puppet government in Somalia were dealt a new setback Dec. 2, when Somalia’s parliament voted to remove Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon. Shirdon, who was locked in power struggle with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, received a no-confidence vote from the Parliament.

    Setbacks and defeats for the regime, along with corruption, have made the puppet government increasingly unstable.

    Lacking popular support, the Somali regime rules limited areas of the country with the help of foreign troops and their Western backers. The African Union Mission in Somalia, which supplies troops from countries whose governments are closely tied with the West, provides the military muscle to keep the Somali regime in power.

    In January of this year, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton underscored the importance of the U.S. role in Somalia, stating, “We provided more than $650 million in assistance to the African Union Mission in Somalia, more than $130 million to Somalia’s security forces.”

    The U.S. special operation forces have carried out numerous attacks in Somalia and the country is often the target of drone warfare.

  • MCTC Professor Shannon Gibney disciplined for teaching about structural racism

    Minneapolis, MN – In early November, Shannon Gibney, an English Professor at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), was given an official letter of reprimand by the college’s Vice President of Academic Affairs Lois Bollman after two white male students interrupted a discussion on structural racism in her Intro to Mass Communication class. The two white students said they felt uncomfortable and “singled out” for being white. After class they, along with another white male student, issued a formal complaint of racial discrimination with MCTC’s Office of Legal Affairs.

    The Vice President of Academic Affairs Bollman responded to their complaints by issuing a formal disciplinary letter accusing Gibney of creating a “hostile learning environment” and mandating she attend two one-on-one sessions with the Executive Director of Diversity. While 53% of MCTC students are non-white, Gibney is one of the few Black female professors there. MCTC is already embroiled in controversy, which includes several MCTC faculty and staff of color leaving in recent years, as well as complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging workplace discrimination.

    According to Matt Boynton, a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Minnesota, “SDS stands with Professor Gibney and against structural racism in Minnesota’s colleges and universities. MCTC’s talk of ‘diversity’ and other buzzwords is meaningless if Black professors are the ones being disciplined and forced to attend ‘diversity sessions’ because a few white students feel uncomfortable discussing structural racism. MCTC should move towards genuine ‘diversity’ by hiring more faculty of color and recognizing also that ‘diversity’ is not enough. To address the root causes of racial and national oppression in the U.S. today, there needs to be dramatic changes made to the political, economic and social structures of our society.”

     

  • St Paul: About 30 arrested seeking justice for Walmart workers

    St. Paul, MN – Black Friday protests are happening across the country today. Around 500 people took to the streets at the Midway Shopping Center here, Nov. 29, chanting, “Poverty wages have to go!”

    The rally was organized by OUR Walmart (Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart), Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, Service Employees International Union, Take Action MN, Saint Cloud Workers Center and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy.

    People marched through the shopping center, which brought the protest to the front doors of Walmart. A striking Walmart employee stated that not only do they work for low wages at the store but they are continually disrespected and harassed by management. The march continued into the streets, passing other stores and restaurants chanting, “Walmart, Walmart you are no good, treat your workers like you should,” while onlookers cheered and honked horns. Once the march entered an intersection, people circled around, blocking traffic. The Saint Paul police gave warnings to disperse but all stayed. About 30 people were arrested.

  • St Paul: About 30 arrested seeking justice for Walmart workers

    St. Paul, MN – Black Friday protests are happening across the country today. Around 500 people took to the streets at the Midway Shopping Center here, Nov. 29, chanting, “Poverty wages have to go!”

    The rally was organized by OUR Walmart (Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart), Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, Service Employees International Union, Take Action MN, Saint Cloud Workers Center and Minnesotans for a Fair Economy.

    People marched through the shopping center, which brought the protest to the front doors of Walmart. A striking Walmart employee stated that not only do they work for low wages at the store but they are continually disrespected and harassed by management. The march continued into the streets, passing other stores and restaurants chanting, “Walmart, Walmart you are no good, treat your workers like you should,” while onlookers cheered and honked horns. Once the march entered an intersection, people circled around, blocking traffic. The Saint Paul police gave warnings to disperse but all stayed. About 30 people were arrested.

  • Palestine activists demand Target drop SodaStream on Black Friday

    West Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition organized actions outside Target in West Milwaukee, calling on the store to drop illegal settlement products. The protest was coordinated with an international day of action organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

    Activists rallied in front of the store with signs reading “Boycott Soda Stream” and “No money for apartheid.” Some activists entered the store to hand out educational fliers detailing the case against SodaStream.

    SodaStream operates a factory on stolen Palestinian land, in an Israeli settlement condemned by the international community. In the past year, the company has emerged as one of the primary targets of the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for its involvement in Israeli occupation and apartheid.