[olympiaworkers] Support Grows for Occupy Movement's Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown on December 12th

Indybay.org

As of November 27, 2011, the Occupy movement in every major West Coast
port city: Occupy LA, Occupy San Diego, Occupy Portland, Occupy Tacoma,
Occupy Seattle have joined Occupy Oakland in calling for and organizing a
coordinated West Coast Port Blockade and Shutdown on December 12, 2011.
Other West Coast Occupies, including Occupy Anchorage and Vancouver,
Canada are planning to join the economic blockade and disruption of the 1%
on that date, according to organizers.

"We're shutting down these ports because of the union busting and attacks
on the working class by the 1%: the firing of Port truckers organizing at
SSA terminals in LA; the attempt to rupture ILWU union jurisdiction in
Longview, WA by EGT. EGT includes Bunge LTD, a company which reported 2.5
billion dollars in profit last year and has economically devastated poor
people in Argentina and Brazil. SSA is responsible for inhumane working
conditions and gross exploitation of port truckers and is owned by Goldman
Sachs. EGT and Goldman Sachs is Wallstreet on the Waterfront" stated
Barucha Peller of the West Coast Port Blockade Assembly of Occupy Oakland.

"We are also striking back against the nationally' coordinated attack on
the Occupy movement. In response to the police violence and camp evictions
against the Occupy movement- This is our coordinated response against the
1%. On December 12th we will show are collective power through pinpointed
economic blockade of the 1%."

Each Occupy is organizing plans for a mass mobilization and community
pickets to shut down their local Port. The mobilization of over 60,000
people that shut down the Port of Oakland during the general strike on
November 2, 2011 is the model for the West Coast efforts. Organizers state
that a police attempt to disrupt the port blockade or police violence
against any city participating will extend duration of the blockade on the
entire coast.

"These Ports are public. People have a right to come to the Port and
protest. The ILWU has historically honored picket lines at the Port."
stated Clarence Thomas, a member of ILWU Local 10.

ILWU longshore workers are involved as individuals in the planning of the
Shutdown. "I am a longshoreman and I support the December 12th Blockade
against EGT. EGT is a threat to the survival of the ILWU," stated Anthony
Leviege, a member of Local 10. Dan Coffman, the president of Local 21 in
Longview, has publicly thanked the Occupy movement and Occupy Oakland for
its actions on November 2nd.

Further interviews and details can be obtained through local Port Blockade
committees and the Oakland West Coast Port Blockade Assembly.

http://westcoastportshutdown.org/

[olympiaworkers] Saturday: "The Wobblies" film at Kings Books

This Saturday! “The Wobblies” Film showing. Dec. 3rd, 7 PM  At Kings Books, 218 St. Helen's, Tacoma.
  Tacoma General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World is sponsoring a film showing at King's Books, 218 St. Helen's Ave. in Tacoma. The film to be shown is the documentary "The Wobblies," and is a good account of the IWW during the early part of the 20th Century, with interviews with eye-witnesses and members of the Union filmed in 1979. We encourage all who are curious about our Union to attend, and there will be members present to answer your questions and engage in discussion. A suggested donation is $5.00, but low income people, unemployed, and students can contribute what they can afford.
  The IWW, aka the Wobblies, was founded in 1905 by veterans of the labor struggle who sought to create a new industrial union organization that would be open to all workers. The IWW stood then, as it does today, for working class solidarity, industrial democracy, direct action, rank and file control, and no control over it from the outside. The IWW seeks to organizer working people for their needs of today, while at the same time building the organization for a better society.
  The IWW has a history that spans 105 years and is very active today with many job shops and has active groups in 61 cities in the U.S., 8 cities in Canada, 14 cities in England, 3 cities in Scotland and also is active in Australia, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and South Africa. For more information on the IWW please go to its official web site at: www.iww.org.
  The Tacoma General Membership Branch of the IWW has monthly meetings, guests are welcomed.

TACOMA GMB-IWW, P.O. BOX 7276, TACOMA, WA 98417. E-mail:  TacIWW@iww.org on facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Tacoma-Gmb-iww/100002540934803

[olympiaworkers] The Case of Leonard Peltier

PLEASE POST WIDELY

From the Tacoma Chapter, LPDOC

INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The Case Of Leonard Peltier

After a conflict between the Lakota people and the U.S. government and corporate interests a peace treaty was signed and the great Lakota reservation was created in the late 19th century. That peace treaty meant nothing to U.S. interests, for its terms were violated from almost the moment it was signed. Those interests continued to steal more Lakota land wherever they found gold and other minerals that they wanted. At the same time, they sought to destroy the Lakota way of life. U.S. interests outlawed Lakota religion and massacred the Lakota at Wounded Knee in an act of religious suppression. U.S. interests kidnapped Lakota children and placed them in internment, in schools where they were held for years away from their families, while their language and traditions were being beaten out of them. U.S. interests carried out a secret forced program of sterilization of Lakota women. Then, in the 1920s, acting upon the interests of oil and mineral companies, the U.S. forced a 'government' entity upon the Lakota people, to be controlled by those corporate and U.S. interests.

In the late 1960s uranium was found in the northwest section of the Pine Ridge Lakota Reservation. The U.S. interests wanted that uranium for their weapons of mass destruction and nuclear power plants.

The U.S. interests knew that the Lakota people would not give up any more of their land willingly: they had already refused to take payment for the Black Hills, stolen from them for its gold. U.S. interests then set out to suppress all possible resistance to further theft. That led the resisters’ to request the help of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Upon a request by Lakota Elders, a stand was taken at Wounded Knee, on the Pine Ridge reservation of the Lakota people.

In the two and a half years after what became known as Wounded Knee II there was a 'Reign of Terror' the resisters on Pine Ridge was forced to suffer. Whole villages were shot up, people were run off the road, many Native people were wounded and over 67 of them were murdered. The Lakota people again asked AIM for help and an AIM encampment was set up. Most of the people in that encampment were from Northwest AIM. And Leonard Peltier was one of them.

The AIM people were under considerable oppression and lived there daily in danger from the death squad (they called themselves the Goon Squad). One day two cars came speeding onto the land of their encampment, in the same manner that earlier drive-by shootings by the death squad had taken place on Pine Ridge. The AIM members there that day defended themselves from what they saw as another murderous attack. In the firefight that took place two FBI agents and one AIM member died.

Norman Zigrossi, head of the local FBI office at the time, defended the illegal actions, saying, “Indians are a conquered nation and the FBI is merely acting as a colonial police force.”  He went o n, “When you’re conquered, the people you’re conquered by dictate your future.”

It is clear that the attack upon the AIM encampment was planned to start a conflict to draw away resistance to the illegal signing away of Lakota land that had taken place in Washington, D.C. at that time. Before the firefight, hundreds of U.S. Government agents were brought on to Pine Ridge reservation, the roads leading to the AIM encampment were blocked before the firefight and local hospitals were given notice to expect casualties.

In the first trial of two AIM members, who had been in the firefight at their encampment, the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty by reason of self-defense.

The U.S. interests then put all their efforts into convicting Leonard Peltier. They fabricated evidence, intimidated witnesses and illegally changed judges, settling on one who would not allow Leonard’s lawyers to present his case of self-defense.

Through appeals, Leonard’s lawyers have been able to disprove the case against him to the point that the U.S. Government prosecutors have stated that they don’t know what role Leonard played in the firefight-- he was just there that day and thus by default aided and abetted in the deaths of the agents. It can be reasoned that since the first two AIM members were found not guilty by reason of self-defense, then Leonard has been in prison all these years for aiding and abetting an act of self-defense!

Much of our focus should be on FBI political repression, COINTELPRO, and how they are connected to Leonard’s case, for the FBI has been continually be used as the U.S. Government’s and corporate interests’ Political Police Force.

As you read this, Leonard’s lawyers struggle to get all the documents that the FBI has withheld in his case. The FBI claims it needs to withhold those documents to protect national security. We need to ask,  â€œWhose national security needs to be protected from the truth?” Given that documents already received by the defense team have exposed the U.S. Government’s frame-up of Leonard to the point that the government’s lawyers have had to admit that there is no evidence connecting him directly to the deaths of the FBI agents, and have shown that the FBI took illegal, aggressive actions to suppress the right of Native people to organize to air their grievances, there is no doubt that documents still withheld will show further evidence of FBI illegal actions.

Even the courts have recognized the repressive nature of the government actions against AIM and Leonard. Judge Heaney stated, “The United States Government overreacted at Wounded Knee. Instead of carefully considering the legitimate grievances of the Native Americans, the response was essentially a military one, which culminated in the deadly firefight on June 26, 1975.”

And in 2003 the Tenth Circuit Court found that, “Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and in its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.”

Even with this acknowledgment Leonard has been in prison for over 28 years. Leonard is not in prison based upon the laws of this land, for the courts have stated over and over again that the U.S. government has violated those laws in Leonard’s case. Leonard Peltier is in prison for one reason and one reason alone, and that is because it is in the interests of the few to keep him locked up: because he represents the essence of this land, the wrong upon which the United States was established, a simple truth which has to be recognized before the country can ever be sound. Leonard suffers under the same interests that hung Chief Leschi, the same interests that massacred the Lakota at Wounded Knee, the same interests that are behind many of the wars around the world, the same interest behind the WTO, the Wor ld Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the same interests that strips our schools of basic funds, that strip you of your unemployment benefits and overtime pay, and the same interests that we all find ourselves struggling against in our common pursuit of peace and well-being. Justice for Leonard and the end to political repression by the FBI will only come from the organized spirit of solidarity of all people struggling in their true interests.

Illegal actions by the FBI should be the concern of all American people who believe in social justice, because Leonard was not and will not be the only victim of political repression.  Among those that were targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO were: Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists and organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Jesse Jackson (note that the FBI also carried out intimidation of Jackson supporters in the south when he ran for U.S. pre sident), Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers (UFW), the National Lawyer’s Guild, antinuclear weapons campaigns (SANE-Freeze), the National Council of Churches, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), antiwar organizations, the alternative press, student organizations including the National Students Association (TNSA) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), environmental, anti-racism and feminist organizations, the alternative media,GI organizations, the Industrial Workers of the World, organizations of self-determination for people of color, and Native organizations such as the American Indian Movement (AIM).

The political repression carried out by the FBI has never ended. It was seen this year with the FBI’s intimidation of antiwar protesters who planned to protest at the national conventions of the two major political parties. Though the FBI claimed it needed more power, money and agents to deal with the threat of terrorism after 9-11, the agency still had the time, money, and forces to harass people who questioned the war in Iraq.

The same drive to acquire enormous profits that keep this country in Iraq over the opposition of its own people is also what led to the U.S. Government’s suppression of traditional indigenous people, AIM and in its frame-up of Leonard Peltier.

And as to making connections, the war on Iraq was justified by using false documents, lies about weapons of mass destruction and sham connections to terrorists. That is the same tactic the U.S. Government used in its suppression of AIM and in its frame-up of Leonard Peltier.  The government used the war in Iraq in the interest of bringing global U.S. company’s huge profits, and on the Pine Ridge reservation that same government carried out its repression in the interest of U.S. energy corporations.

We call on you as sisters and brothers to join us for THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER, LEONARD PELTIER MARCHES A ND RALLIES FOR CLEMENCY, FEBRUARY 4. 2012, either at the Tacoma Regional March, or by organizing a march and rally where ever you maybe in the world, as we send the message: We will not give up! We will not surrender! We will continue to stand for justice for Leonard Peltier and for justice for all that he represents for as long as it takes to set him free! Our strength is building and time is on our side, the sweep of justice is moving throughout the world and we are a part of that great wave of truth and justice. Please join with us on February 4,  2012 for a tremendous show of solidarity, a march and rally in Unified Solidarity for Justice for Leonard Peltier. All of us working together will free Leonard Peltier.

In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse
Tacoma Chapter,  Leonard Peltier Offense/Defense Committee
Susan Morales
Steve Hapy
Arthur J. Miller

  For donations for the NW Region March: Please make checks payable to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (mark them for NW March) and send them to: Tacoma Chapter LPODC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415.

TACOMA CHAPTER, LPDOC
P.O. BOX 5464, TACOMA, WA 98415-0464
bayou@blarg.net

LINKS
Join Tacoma Chapter LPDOC on facebook at:
http://facebook.com/tacoma.lpdoc
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at:
nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net    
For more information: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
March web site; http://leonardpeltiermarch.wordpress.com/
On the web
http://zinelibrary.info/international-day-solidarity-leonard-peltier-feb-4-2011-fliers-and-info
Two page flier for NW Regional March:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2011.pdf
One page flier for NW Regional March:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2001_info.pdf
Portland flier for NW Regional March:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Portland_Peltier_Flier.pdf
March statements and flier:
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2001_info.pdf  
The Case of Leonard Peltier - short summary www.youtube.com
LPDOC NW Regional Organizer & Tacoma LPDOC Chapter member Arthur Miller speaking about the case history of political prisoner Leonard Peltier.
LPDOC: Constitutional Violations in the Peltier Case:    http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/violations.htm

[olympiaworkers] International Day in Solidarity

Please post widely

From: Tacoma Chapter, LPDOC

As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we make a mighty fist.
-- Sitting Bull

INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
NW REGIONAL MARCH AND RALLY FOR CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 4, 2012, TACOMA, WA.

12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.
  
  This march is answering the call by LPDOC for marches and rallies on Feb. 4, 2012 Internationally in support of clemency for Leonard Peltier. Of all the regional marches in Tacoma, 16 since 1992, this is the most important one yet. The New Leonard Peltier Clemency Campaign is building and we need to show public support. If you are a regular supporter, please join us again. If you are a new supporter, who has thought about supporting Leonard, now is the time to do it. We need all of you.  

  SPEAKERS:
Co-MCs
Matilaja: Yu’Pik Eskimo from Mountain Village Alaska. Member of N.W. AIM since 1973, Friend of Leonard Peltier for 38 odd years and member of Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Steve Hapy: Long time Leonard Peltier and Native struggles activist, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Drum:
Albert Combs and Coastal Hand Drum Singers
Welcoming:
Deeahop Conway, Puyallup Tribal member, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Leonard's case and up-date;
Arthur J. Miller: Northwest Regional Organizer LPDOC, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC,  long time union member and human rights activist
Keynote Speaker:
Ramona Bennett: Puyallup Tribal Elder, Life long friend of Leonard Peltier, Grand Mother, Great Grand Mother
Chester Earl: Puyallup Tribal member
Zoltan Grossman: Evergreen State College faculty in Geography and Native Studies, in Olympia. former board member of Midwest Treaty Network in Wisconsin.
Closing words:
David Duenas: Puyallup Tribal Member
  
  CAR POOLS: OLYMPIA: There will be a carpool leaving from the parking lot at Harrison and Division at 10:15 am. PORTLAND, meet up outside of KBOO Radio Station (20 SE 8th, Portland, OR 97124) before embarking to Tacoma between 9:00-9:30am.SEATTLE CAR POOL: Meet at the Red Apple parking lot at 23rd and Jackson by the bus stop. Will be leaving at 10:30 am
  We need new banners and signs.  We need video of this event to use for support work. We need supporters to get out fliers, if you can please contact us. We need people to forward our e-mail statements. We need people to share on facebook information on the march. Our marches are not about one group but rather they are the work of all Peltier supporters in our region.
  
  RESOLUTIONS FOR CLEMENCY: Leonard needs resolutions for clemency from Tribes, Unions, Human Rights Organizations and others. See a sample resolution at:
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/resolution.htm
  
  For donations: Please make checks payable to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (mark them for NW March) and send them to: Tacoma Chapter LPODC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415.
  
  Join Tacoma Chapter LPDOC on facebook at: http://facebook.com/tacoma.lpdoc
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net    
For more information: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

TACOMA CHAPTER, LPDOC, P.O. BOX 5464, TACOMA, WA 98415-0464. bayou@blarg.net

MARCH STATEMENT

“I have no doubt whatsoever that the real motivation behind both Wounded Knee II and the Oglala firefight, and much of the turmoil throughout Indian Country since the early 1970s, wasâ€"and isâ€"the mining companies’ desire to muffle AIM and all traditional Indian people, who soughtâ€"and still seekâ€"to protect the land, water, and air from their thefts and depredations. In this sad and tragic age we live in, to come to the defense of Mother Earth is to be branded a criminal.” --Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings â€"

Leonard Peltier (of the Anishinabe, Dakota, and Lakota Nations), long time Native Activist and member of the American Indian Movement. Leonard Peltier, an innocent man who was convicted for the 1975 shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. prosecutors have repeatedly admit ted that they did not and cannot prove Peltier's guilt, and the appellate courts have cited numerous instances of investigative and prosecutorial misconduct in this case. As late as November 2003, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that "…Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed." The trial of the first two AIM members in this case were found not guilty for reason of self-defense.
  Behind the case of Leonard Peltier and the events that took place on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation is the continuing theft of Native land for energy corporations. High grade Uranium was found in the northwest corner of Pine Ridge. It was well known that the Lakota people would be unwilling to sell their land because they refused payment for the Black Hills. So a plan was carried out to suppress the traditional Oglala Lakota people and their supporters from the America Indian Movement. This lead to the Wounded Knee II Occupation, over 500 AIM members being indited on charges, a two and a half year reign of terror against the Oglala Lakota people, and the firefight near Oglala, that Leonard was charged with, that took place at the same time that a corrupt tribal Chairman was illegally signing away the part of Pine Ridge with the Uranium. The firefight took place as a means to divert attention and to suppress AIM.
  Leonard has been in prison for over 35 years for a crime he did not commit and a crime that forces of greed were responsibly for. They have withheld medical care for Leonard and recently Leonard was placed in solitary confinement for 72 days and then sent to a high security prison in Florida, as far away from his lawyers and family as they could send him. Leonard is in bad health and they want Leonard to die in prison, alone and forgotten.  We will not let that happen.
   We are now organizing a new clemency for Leonard Peltier campaign and the regional marches on Feb, 4, 2012 are a very important part of that. Please help us raise money for it and get the word out everywhere.  Please. let us come together in the spirit of unity for Leonard and for the kind of justice and peace we want for our world. Thank you.

DONATIONS: Organizing this march has already costs us more than we have raised by donations. We are a grassroots movement, we get no outside funding and depend upon donations. Please make checks out to: The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, (mark them for NW March) and mail them to: Tacoma Chapter, LPDOC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415-0464. Thank you.

International Day of Solidarity With Leonard Peltier:
Clemency For Leonard Peltier Marches and Rallies

From:
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
Phone: 701/235-2206
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

International Day of Solidarity With Leonard Peltier:
Clemency For Leonard Peltier Marches and Rallies

February 4, 2012

  The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee calls on supporters worldwide to protest against the injustice suffered by Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier. Gather on February 4, 2012, at every federal court house and U.S. embassy or consulate worldwide to demand the freedom of a man wrongfully convicted and illegal imprisoned for 36 years!
  Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist wrongfully accused in 1975 in connection with the shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Government documents show that, without any evidence at all, the FBI decided from the beginning of its investigation to 'lock Peltier into the case'.
  U.S. prosecutors knowingly presented false statements to a Canadian court to extradite Mr. Peltier to the U.S. The statements were signed by a woman who was forced by FBI agents to say she was an eyewitness. The government has long since admitted that the woman was not present during the shootings.
  Meanwhile, in a separate trial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mr. Peltier's co-defendants were acquitted by reason of self defense. Had Leonard been tried with his co-defendants, he also would have been acquitted.
  Unhappy with the outcome of the Cedar Rapids trial, prosecutors set the stage for Mr. Peltier's conviction. His trial was moved to an area known for its anti-Indian sentimentâ€"Fargo, North Dakota. The trial judge had a reputation for ruling against Indians, and a juror is known to have made racist comments during Mr. Peltier's trial.
  FBI documents prove that the U.S. government went so far as to manufacture the so-called murder weapon, the most critical evidence in the prosecution's case. A ballistics test proved, however, that the gun and shell casings entered into evidence didn't match. The FBI hid this fact from the jury. Mr. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. According to court records, the United States Attorney who prosecuted the case has twice admitted that no one even knows who fired the fatal shots.
  Leonard Peltier is 67 years old and in poor health. An accomplished author and artist, Mr. Peltier is renowned for his humanitarian achievements. In 2009, Leonard was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the sixth consecutive year.
  Although the courts have acknowledged evidence of government misconductâ€"including forcing witnesses to lie and hiding ballistics evidence reflecting his innocenceâ€"Mr. Peltier has been denied a new trial on a legal technicality. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, 55 Members of Congress and othersâ€"including a judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Mr. Peltier’s appealsâ€"have all called for his immediate release.
  The Courts may not be able to act but Barack Obama, as President, can. Please join with us to free an innocent man. On February 4, 2012, tell Obama to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier.
  If you can organize, or help organize and event in your area, please contact LPDOC. Please if you can make a donation to help with the costs of the LPDOC. Scheduled events will be announced and details provided at www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106
Phone: 701/235-2206
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

[olympiaworkers] Film showing "The Wobblies" Dec. 3rd Kings Books Tacoma

“The Wobblies” Film showing. Dec. 3rd, 7 PM  At Kings Books, 218 St. Helen's, Tacoma
  
  Tacoma General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World is sponsoring a film showing at King's Books, 218 St. Helen's Ave. in Tacoma. The film to be shown is the documentary "The Wobblies," and is a good account of the IWW during the early part of the 20th Century, with interviews with eye-witnesses and members of the Union filmed in 1979. We encourage all who are curious about our Union to attend, and there will be members present to answer your questions and engage in discussion. A suggested donation is $5.00, but low income people, unemployed, and students can contribute what they can afford.
  The IWW, aka the Wobblies, was founded in 1905 by veterans of the labor struggle who sought to create a new industrial union organization that would be open to all workers. The IWW stood then, as it does today, for working class solidarity, industrial democracy, direct action, rank and file control, and no control over it from the outside. The IWW seeks to organizer working people for their needs of today, while at the same time building the organization for a better society.
  The IWW has a history that spans 105 years and is very active today with many job shops and has active groups in 61 cities in the U.S., 8 cities in Canada, 14 cities in England, 3 cities in Scotland and also is active in Australia, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and South Africa. For more information on the IWW please go to its official web site at: www.iww.org.
  The Tacoma General Membership Branch of the IWW has monthly meetings, guests are welcomed.

TACOMA GMB-IWW, P.O. BOX 7276, TACOMA, WA 98417. E-mail:  TacIWW@iww.org on facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Tacoma-Gmb-iww/100002540934803

[olympiaworkers] Providence Hospice Workers on Strike Now. Picket line on SouthBay Rd.

Providence Hospice workers are walking the picket line into the evening.

Stop by if you get the chance.

3432 South Bay Road NE Olympia, WA

[olympiaworkers] Providence Hospice Workers on Strike Now. Picket line on SouthBay Rd.

Providence Hospice Workers on Strike.

Picket line going into the evening.

3432 South Bay Road NE Olympia, WA

[olympiaworkers] Solidarity to Occupy Oakland General Strike

by PALEA indybay.org Friday Nov 4th, 2011

The Philippine Airlines Employees' Association (PALEA), the union of
the ground staff of Philippine Airlines, and Partido ng Manggagawa
(Labor Party-Philippines), the independent party of the working class
in the Philippines, stand shoulder to shoulder with the Occupy Oakland
protesters. We too struggle against corporate greed and capitalist
globalization with its destructive impact on the workers and the
youth. Truly the movement against corporate greed and capitalist
globalization is international in scope.

To the Occupy Oakland protesters:

We express our solidarity with the Oakland general strike on November 2
especially the blockade of the Port of Oakland. The general strike and
port blockade will reveal the truth that the 99% creates the wealth that
the 1% now monopolizes. Such forms of mass actions will also show the way
forward for the occupy protest movement now surging in the US and other
countries.

We likewise salute the Occupy Oakland protesters who bravely faced violent
eviction last October 25 even as we condemn the police for their brutal
attack.

The Philippine Airlines Employees' Association (PALEA), the union of the
ground staff of Philippine Airlines, and Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor
Party-Philippines), the independent party of the working class in the
Philippines, stand shoulder to shoulder with the Occupy Oakland
protesters. We too struggle against corporate greed and capitalist
globalization with its destructive impact on the workers and the youth.
Truly the movement against corporate greed and capitalist globalization is
international in scope.

More than a thousand PALEA members are presently occupying areas outside
the international airports of Manila and Cebu, the two biggest cities in
the Philippines, for a month now since the company locked out and
terminated some 2,400 employees. The layoffs are part of an outsourcing
scheme that aimed to downgrade us into contract workers which we have been
fighting against for the last two years.

Two weeks ago a court sheriff accompanied by hired goons of the company
attempted to disperse the picketline in Manila. The resistance of PALEA
members forced them to retreat. And then last Saturday, scores of hired
goons launched a daybreak attack on PALEA's occupation camp while many,
including women and children, were still asleep. Half of the campout was
destroyed and several protesters were hurt but the dispersal attempt
masterminding by the company was repelled. In less than a day the
occupation camp was wholly rebuilt.

We have vowed to defend our occupation. PALEA's struggle is inspired by
the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Oakland protests and our fight is part
of the global movement against corporate greed and capitalist
globalization.

On November 2, PALEA and its supporters started a three-day "long march"
around several cities to bring the campaign against corporate greed and
capitalist globalization to the working class communities and areas. The
Oakland general strike and port blockade will be an inspiration to our
"long march" protest.

http://www.partidongmanggagawa2001.blogspot.com/

[olympiaworkers] Olympia General Strike, March + Rally//November 2nd.

On Tuesday, the occupiers of Oakland, California courageously faced off
against a monstrous deployment of riot police. The police, armed to the
teeth and swarming in from 15 different jurisdictions, violently evicted
and brutally beat occupiers, denying them entry to Oscar Grant Plaza. The
following day, while we in Olympia were occupying Heritage Park in
solidarity with our comrades around the world, our comrades in Oakland
were victoriously tearing down the fences that had barred them from their
occupation site and, once again, reclaiming Oscar Grant Plaza. That
evening, the Oakland General Assembly, attended by over 2,000 in high
spirits, approved (by 96.9%) a November 2nd General Strike and Mass Day of
Action.

We in Olympia stand with Oakland as they initiate the first citywide
general strike in the United States since 1946. In so doing, Oakland has
joined millions in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and elsewhere who have launched
waves of General Strikes to shut their economies down in the struggle
against the global capitalist system. We in Olympia are fighting against
the same system. And, sooner or later, massive strike actions are sure to
explode here in our city. This is not a speculation, it's a guarantee. The
same has happened in every place hit by the global economic crisis. It has
followed each of the occupations with which occupy Olympia is inspired and
in solidarity – Tahrir, Syntagma, Barcelona, and now Oakland.

So what does it mean to have a General Strike in our city? It is a mass
refusal across multiple sectors of the economy in a city or region, and it
is one of our strongest weapons against capitalism. "General Strike" means
nobody and nothing works. It means that we refuse the demands of our
bosses and re-appropriate our activity toward our own desires. It can last
for one day, for a week, or for as long as we make it. No money is
exchanged during a General Strike – Everything is for Everyone.

Or, as those in the Oakland General Assembly put it, the General Strike
means that we liberate our city and ourselves by shutting down the profits
of the ruling class.

November 2nd, 2011 General Strike

In solidarity with the general strike in Oakland, let us:

Call in sick to work
Walk out of school
Find and create egalitarian ways of sharing
Organize marches and actions
Do whatever we want for the day

Olympia will not have a successful general strike on November 2nd unless
tens of thousands join us. Yet every empty desk, every unpunched time
card, and every sick call is a strike against global capitalism. And rest
assured, they will feel it.

Everything for Everyone//General Strike November 2nd// Liberate Your Desires

(this text has been lovingly adopted from an Occupy Seattle pamphlet and
approved by the Olympia General Assembly)

MARCH + RALLY//NOON, NOV. 2ND AT HERITAGE PARK