[olympiaworkers] West Coast Port Shutdown Monday December 12

Greetings and Solidarity from Occupy Oakland!

We present this call to you because we believe it is time the occupation
movement begins to work together to carry through coordinated, pinpointed
actions. We want to disrupt the profits of the 1% and show solidarity with
those in the 99% who are under direct attack by corporate tyranny.

Occupations throughout the US have been evicted through nationally
coordinated police raids. It is time for us to respond with our own
coordinated actions. Our aim is to shutdown the West Coast ports:

On December 12, the occupy movements in different cities will stage
mass mobilizations to march on the ports, create community pickets,
and effectively shutdown the hubs of commerce, in the same fashion
that Occupy Oakland shut down the Port of Oakland on November 2nd, the
day of our general strike. The Oakland Port Shutdown was a historic
and effective action, and the memory of that night on the port lives
in the hearts of people across Oakland and around the country.

The message to you from Occupy Oakland in the face of police raids and
continued disruptions of workers lives by the 1% is the following: The
Occupy movement will strike back and rise again! We will blockade all
of the West Coast Ports on December 12th in solidarity with
longshoremen, port workers and truckers in their struggle against the
1%! Together we are unstoppable! Strike while the iron is hot!

The following is the call for a coordinated West Coast Port Blockade to be
carried out by the Occupy movement. It is this call which we wish for
other Occupies to endorse and carry out. West Coast Occupations will have
full political and material support for each other in whatever ways are
necessary before, during, and after the port blockades. This call was
passed unanimously at our Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Friday,
December 18th.

Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Blockade Passed Unanimously at
the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2012:

In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on
workers across the nation:
Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic
apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire
West Coast on December 12th. The 1% has disrupted the lives of
longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth,
just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into
battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement.

We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to
shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and
attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen
jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los
Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of
Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned
by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for
continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in
their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain
exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose
practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world,
from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd
General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a
warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has
disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at
Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.

Participating occupations are asked to ensure that during the port
shutdowns the local arbitrator rules in favor of longshoremen not
crossing community picket lines in order to avoid recriminations
against them.
Should there be any retaliation against any workers as a result of
their honoring pickets or supporting our port actions, additional
solidarity actions should be prepared.

In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations,
shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.

We ask that you bring our proposal to your next General Assembly, as it is
urgent that each Occupy begins to organize and mobilize for this major
offensive ASAP. Please let us know if you have questions or need help.
Most importantly, please copy us on your support resolutions passed at
your GA's.
In Solidarity and Struggle,
Occupy Oakland

-In Oakland: the West Coast Port Shutdown Coordinating Committee will meet
on General Assembly days at 5pm before the GA to organize the local
shutdown, and to network with other occupations.

http://westcoastportshutdown.org/