You can read about the international fight of ILC : *************************************** UNITY & INDEPENDENCE c-o The Organizer Newspaper P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140. Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217. New web site: www.theorganizer.org ------------------------------------------------ UNITY & INDEPENDENCE ISSUE NO. 5 (SUMMER 2006) -------------------------------------------------- LABOR PARTY So. CAROLINA ELECTION CAMPAIGN FACES NEW CHALLENGES By ALAN BENJAMIN The Labor Party's campaign to run a candidate for state office in South Carolina this coming November has hit a major snag. The South Carolina Labor Party will not be certified for ballot status in time for the November 2006 election. A founding convention of the SCLP is scheduled to take place in September of this year, at which time plans will be made to run candidates in the 2007 state and local elections. See accompanying reports by LP Interim National Council member Bill Onasch and LP National Organizer Mark Dudzic in this section of UNITY & INDEPENDENCE. As Bill Onasch notes in his update from the Labor Party's Interim National Council meeting, the Labor Party encountered numerous difficulties in turning in the 10,000 signatures required for ballot recognition before the deadline. In addition, news that the Labor Party intended to run a candidate for the South Carolina legislature prompted the Working Families Party (WFP), which is based in New York, and the local Democrats and Republicans to regroup and strategize to fend off the electoral challenge by the Labor Party. All took the LP threat very seriously. The WFP immediately hired a team of full-time organizers to register the WFP for the November 2006 elections. The incumbent Republican in the district that was targeted by the Labor Party was pressured into "retiring" and was replaced by one of the GOP's young turks. And the Democrats decided to contest the targeted seat for the first time in many years. Suddenly, the scenario that had prompted the Labor Party leadership to decide to run a candidate in South Carolina shifted dramatically. A Labor Party candidate who could win a seat in the State buttembly now faced credible rivals. This forced the SCLP Organizing Committee to go back to the drawing boards. What Is the Working Families Party? The Working Families Party is a "fusion party." Fusion voting allows candidates to run as the nominee of more than one party. The votes that each candidate receives are tallied by party and then combined. Voters disgruntled with the Democrats are thereby given the ability to vote for the Democratic candidate by voting "independent" -- that is, by voting for the Democrat on the WFP ticket. It's a ploy to bolster the sinking Democratic Party by giving voters the illusion they are voting for an independent candidate. Fusion is legal in 11 states -- including South Carolina -- and there are plans to legalize fusion voting in Oregon and other states in 2007. The WFP was founded in 1998 in New York City by a coalition of labor and community organizations, including UAW, CWA, locals of UNITE HERE, SEIU, GCIU (now Teamsters Graphic Division), SEIU, ACORN and Citizen's Action. The WFP also is endorsed by the AFL-CIO. An article in the ILWU's monthly newspaper, The Dispatcher, explains the value of this fusion voting to the Democratic Party. "The Working Families Party and fusion voting will give labor an opportunity to gain votes from the places it has been losing them, such as the Republican Party and Independent candidates." (June 2006) This last point merits some attention. The union officials tied to the Democrats are scared to rest of losing votes to independent candidates, particularly to the new kid on the block, the Labor Party, which, if successful in South Carolina, could set an example that could potentially begin dismantling the Democratic Party's hold over the entire labor movement. All supporters of ruling-clbutt politics, whatever their guise, fully understand the threat posed by a Labor Party that begins to run its own independent candidates for political office. That is why the Democrats, Republicans and the Working Families Party all ganged up against the fledgling Labor Party in South Carolina to prevent it from opening the door for working people to have their own independent political expression. Door Has Not Been Closed! Still, despite the initial setback of not running an independent Labor Party candidate for state office in the November 2006 election, the LP opening in South Carolina has not been closed, far from it -- though it will now have to confront new and difficult challenges, particularly from the Working Families Party. The decision by the SCLP Organizing Committee to found the SCLP as a legally registered ballot party next September is an extremely positive step that deserves the full support of trade unions and working people all across the country. Under South Carolina law, the SCLP will have to field at least one candidate within the next year to remain a legally registered party. Organizing the founding convention of the SCLP in September is therefore a commitment that the SCLP will go ahead with its effort to run one or more candidates within the next year. Supporters of independent labor political action have a duty to give their full support to the Labor Party's effort in South Carolina. The obstacles are many, and the SCLP urgently needs our support. We call upon all our readers to get fully behind the SCLP founding convention -- so that the Labor Party effort to begin running candidates in South Carolina can get off the ground, as planned. See accompanying box on how you can help. In his "10th Anniversary of the Labor Party" statement, LP National Organizer Mark Dudzic noted the following: "When our founding brother Tony Mazzocchi traveled the country in the early 1990s to promote the idea of a labor party, he called it an investment in our future. It still is. If anything, the events of the past 10 years reinforce hundred-fold the need for a labor party." We agree fully with Brother Dudzic. Let's go forth to build the Labor Party! ---------- UPDATE ON THE SO. CAROLINA LABOR PARTY CAMPAIGN By BILL ONASCH Note: Bill Onasch is a member of the Interim National Council of the Labor Party. The following is a report he issued this Spring to the members and supporters of the Labor Party in his hometown of Kansas City. Since the time this article was written, the LP in South Carolina has gathered 15,000 signatures to qualify for ballot status. I want to update you on what I have learned about the status of the Labor Party campaign in South Carolina. When the LP Interim National Council approved a major commitment of resources to this campaign at our meeting back in December we envisioned our proposed LP candidate in South Carolina taking on a leading Republican reactionary in a state legislative race this Fall. That's not going to happen for a couple of reasons. One, the major parties have taken the South Carolina Labor Party threat very seriously. The incumbent in the district targeted by the LP- Ed. Note has been pressured into "retiring" and has been replaced by the GOP with a moderate, photogenic yuppie. The Democrats have decided to seriously contest the seat for the first time in many years. So the character of that race will be much different than we had imagined. More important, the Labor Party will not be certified for ballot status in time for the November election. The signature count currently stands at 13,000. While the minimum number required is only 10,000 a substantial cushion is needed because the election board will be using a magnifying glbutt and a fine tooth comb to reject as many names as they dare. The plan is to continue pebreastioning for the rest of May in order to turn in at least 15,000. We could have gotten ballot status by essentially buying a line already held by one of a couple of dormant "parties" but this would have led to political confusion. Pebreastioning could have been accomplished much sooner if we had hired a firm to get it done. But our folks in South Carolina chose a different strategy -- and, I believe, in the long run a better one. They have taken a party-building approach to the whole process. Not wanting to be seen as a scheme by outside union boss carpetbaggers, they have relied primarily on supporters in the state. Unlike professional pebreastioners they have taken the time to explain the Labor Party project to those they approach for signatures. They have put together functioning regional committees in five cities that will facilitate a Founding Convention for the state party -- a requirement of both the Labor Party consbreastution and the state protocol for ballot status. This has all taken more time and money than we had initially estimated. It would have been good to have run our targeted LP candidate this year but our main motivation from the beginning has been to use interest in elections to build the Labor Party -- not just to win a seat in the South Carolina legislature. The Founding Convention of the South Carolina party is tentatively being planned for early September. There will be some races in that state in 2007 and plans for one or more contests will likely be announced at the convention. There is one additional complication that has developed. South Carolina is one of a handful of states that permits "fusion" or "cross endorsement" -- a process where a candidate can appear on more than one party line. This is a strategy pursued by the Working Families Party in New York, an outfit supported by a few unions. The WFP runs a few candidates of their own for minor offices while garnering as many votes as they can for Democrats on their ticket. They try to use this favor to the Democrats to leverage clout in their lobbying efforts and pick up a little patronage. (This tactic was debated -- and overwhelmingly rejected -- at the 1998 Labor Party convention.) They seek to expand from their New York base into the few other states that allow such horse trading, Connecticut, Delaware, Oregon -- and now South Carolina. Last fall, the WFP approached South Carolina AFL-CIO President Donna Dewitt for help. Sister Dewitt is national co-chair of the Labor Party, and the South Carolina state fed is a Labor Party affiliate. Donna explained to them the Labor Party project in the state and asked them to hold off a year to see how it develops. But the WFP did not accept this reasonable request. Concerned only with a ballot line, and not party building, the New York group contracted with ACORN to send in pebreastioners, and they most likely will also be certified for ballot status. As is undoubtedly their intention, the simultaneous entry of the WFP on the South Carolina scene will muddy the waters somewhat. All of a sudden the working people of South Carolina will be presented with two parties claiming to be representing labor. We will need to begin from the git-go to explain how we are different not only from the two boss parties but also this strange hybrid that gathers votes for the boss parties on a "third party" ticket. But, of course, we knew all along our task is not easy. Spirits remain high in South Carolina and the rest of us need to pitch in. A high priority now is for fund raising. The expenses of the pebreastion campaign have been costly. A high-profile convention will cost substantial money. And a serious election campaign will require even much more. Individual contributions can be made online through the national web site. See box on this page. ---------- LABOR PARTY 10th ANNIVERSARY By MARK DUDZIC Note: The following statement by Labor Party National Organizer Mark Dudzic is reprinted from the June 2006 issue of Labor Party News. Ten years ago this month, 1,400 delegates came together in Cleveland, Ohio, to found the Labor Party. Fed up with four years of the Clinton administration and inspired by significant changes in the labor movement, we made history by calling for a decisive break with the two parties of the corporations. When we left Cleveland, many of us felt that finally the tide had shifted and working people were poised to regain the offensive. Of course we all know today that 1996 was not the start of labor's great revival. And no one can claim that the Labor Party has achieved its full promise. But we all understand that an expansive project such as ours could not and cannot thrive while the labor movement is in broad retreat. While there are many reasons for this retreat, the labor movement as a whole has yet to confront the consequences of its lock-step relationship with the Democratic Party. After the debacle of the 2004 elections, for a brief moment, the labor movement began to debate its future. The sheer volume as well as the pbuttionate nature of the proposals and counter-proposals was encouraging. In this spirit, the Labor Party challenged the movement to embrace a new vision of politics. We do not have an effective labor party today, we butterted, because the labor movement has yet to take up the task of building one. Unfortunately those debates only paid lip service to the issue of political independence. We now have two major labor federations whose most radical "new" political ideas range from endorsing the occasional Republican to cross-endorsing the same old party hacks on some minor party label. And still the fact remains: without a real party of our own, working people continue to be at the mercy of the two corporate parties. As we reflect on the events of the past 10 years, we have much to be proud of. We've understood that you can't just wish a party such as ours into existence; it must develop within a web of working clbutt insbreastutions and an expansive movement. We've stood by the position that electoral politics must be conducted from a position of strength and not out of desperation. And we've been a firm voice against the never-ending schemes to repackage the Democratic Party and its corporate agenda with some fake progressive window-dressing. We can also be proud of the depth of commitment and support of our core members and affiliate unions. Our activists and organizers have little interest in preserving the Labor Party as a nostalgic museum piece. Rather, we are all committed to building the kind of power that will allow working people to confront the corporations that rule our world. With those principles in mind, and with the support of key labor and community leaders (including the state AFL-CIO and the Charleston local of the International Longshore buttociation) last December the Labor Party embarked on an exciting new project in South Carolina. Today, we are well on our way to certifying the first state Labor Party with the right to run candidates on our own ballot line. We took up this challenge convinced that the Labor Party's message would resonate with the people of South Carolina. And now, six months later, after thousands of one-on-one conversations in union halls, public gatherings, people's homes and at the numerous flea markets where working people gather to buy life's necessities, we are proud to report that 15,000 South Carolinians have affirmed that it's time for another choice at the ballot box. We are beginning to lay the plans for our statewide founding convention, aiming to create a state party which, from the very start, represents the working clbutt in all its diversity. Consistent with the national party's values and principles, we expect this convention to plot a course towards running strategic electoral campaigns. As our Electoral Policy puts it, our candidates "will be accountable to the party membership and required to follow the positions outlined in the party platform." This is what distinguishes our effort from all other political organizing projects that claim to speak for working people. We are confident that South Carolina will be the first state where we will field serious candidates who can promote a new vision of working clbutt politics. That we can do so in a state like South Carolina shows what can happen when the labor movement and other activists make a serious commitment to political independence. This effort could well be the first concrete step out of the political wilderness. It is that potential that spurred the Labor Party's Interim National Council to commit to our supporters in the state that we would raise the funds necessary to firmly establish a viable South Carolina Labor Party. This is not an insurmountable task. If we could raise as much as the labor movement will waste on re-electing just one of the many pro-CAFTA, pro-war Democratic senators in "safe" seats, we could transform the politics of South Carolina. To that end, hundreds of individuals and numerous affiliate unions generously answered our call for funds. Committed Labor Party activists have opened their homes and union halls for fundraisers in Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, New Haven, San Francisco, Edison, Amherst, New York and Washington -- with others scheduled for this Summer and Fall. In May, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) endorsed and pledged financial support to our South Carolina campaign. When our founding brother Tony Mazzocchi traveled the country in the early 1990s to promote the idea of a labor party, he called it an investment in our future. It still is. If anything, the events of the past ten years reinforce a hundred-fold the need for a labor party. Tony also had an abiding faith in the unpredictability of powerful social movements. No one, he told us, could have predicted the rise of the CIO out of the depths of the Great Depression. One year ago, no one was predicting that millions of immigrant workers would take to the streets this spring. And 10 years ago no one would have predicted that the first statewide Labor Party electoral effort would be in South Carolina. Social progress might be unpredictable. But, as long as we live in a world that ignores the needs and aspirations of the vast majority of people who work for a living, it is inevitable. ******************** NATIVO LOPEZ SPEAKS OUT ON NEW OBSTACLES TO LEGALIZATION OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS Note: Following are excerpts from an interview with Nativo Lopez, national president of the Mexican-American Political buttociation (MAPA). Lopez was one of the organizers of the May 1st immigrant boycott and protest marches. The interview was conducted by Amy Goodman on her "Democracy Now" radio show on June 26, 2006. AMY GOODMAN: What is the status of the "immigration reform" bill in the Congress? NATIVO LOPEZ: It's stalled, as a result of the GOP's adamant opposition to any type of legalization program -- although the Senate version, as far as we're concerned, is not much better than the House version. We call it the Corona-Corona-lite effect, Sensenbrenner and the Sensenbrenner-lite. The Senate version still has many, many enforcement measures similar to Sensenbrenner. In fact, our two senators in California, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, voted for building the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and sending the National Guard to that border, enhancing the authority of local police to act as agents of the immigration authorities and whittling away or eliminating due process rights for immigrants. If it was the thinking of Democrats that compromising on the enforcement measures to obtain some form of legalization program would satisfy the immigrant community or the immigrant rights movement, they're absolutely wrong. A.G.: Are you glad that the bill, overall, has been tabled now? N.L.: Absolutely. Our position has been: No bill this year is better than a bad bill. A.G.: Do you have confidence in the Democrats? You just said that your two Democratic senators voted for the Senate version that also militarizes the border and supports the wall. Under the Democrats, under Gore and Clinton, NAFTA was pbutted. ... N.L.: No. Prior to the Easter recess, I had mentioned to you that we had tremendous fears the Democrats would try and cut a deal behind the backs of the immigrant movement that had risen up throughout the United States. Well, that is exactly what happened. Those responsible for this rotten deal are the National Catholic Conference of Bishops, the Cardinal, the Mayor of Los Angeles, the national leadership of SEIU and UNITE HERE, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Immigration Forum. The Democrats and their supporters thought they could offer up something to the Latinos that would be acceptable. But their deal has been roundly repudiated by grbuttroots organizations and by the immigrant community families throughout the country. A.G.: House Republican leaders will be holding public hearings across the country on the immigration "reform" bill. What are you going to do in response to this roadshow? N.L.: We are responding by organizing immigrant tribunals outside those hearings -- to bring forth children, mothers, and relatives who have lost family members crossing the border. Well over 4,000 people now have lost their lives to the trek across the border. This can be attributed directly to the policies implemented by the Clinton administration and Senator Dianne Feinstein with the pbuttage of NAFTA. Under their Operation Gatekeeper in 1994, the first wall construction along the border began, as did the militarization of the border that has led to the loss of over 4,000 lives. A.G.: Putting this discussion in a broader context, what is the answer? N.L.: Individuals are coming to the United States out of economic necessity. There's a huge demand for their labor. They should be offered legal status as a result of the contributions they seek to make and that we want them to make. This goes for their families, too. A.G.: What about guest worker programs? N.L.: We're absolutely opposed to guest worker programs. They seek to perpetuate servitude. There's no reason in the world why a person should be a contract laborer in the United States. Those workers should be accorded legal status. It's shameful that there are some unions like SEIU, the United Farm Workers, UNITE HERE, and others that support a guest worker program. They're living under some illusion they will be able to obtain contracts to represent these workers and receive dues monies from those members to fill the coffers of those unions. We think these unions are making a terrible strategic mistake. We support the position of the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers and many other unions in total opposition to any form of contract temporary labor. Those workers are going to be here. They should be accorded legal status, paid a fair wage. We should increase the federal minimum wage and the state minimum wage throughout the United States, so that immigrant workers are not put in a position to compete against native workers of the United States. Guest worker programs undermine the labor movement. A.G.: Are more major immigration protests planned? N.L.: Absolutely. Labor Day this year, September 4, will be a historic difference than what it's been in the past, similar to what we observed on May Day of this year. We will be joining with labor unions throughout the United States to organize major mega-marches, demanding fairness and the rights for immigrants. We will be as one with the labor movement in the United States, because the movement of the immigrants in the United States can only be solidified to the extent that labor generally is solidified. ---------- SEIU'S ANDY STERN MAKES DEAL WITH BOSSES BEHIND THE BACKS OF IMMIGRANT WORKERS By ALAN BENJAMIN On Sunday, May 14 Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), appeared in a 15-minute segment of "60 Minutes" -- the widely watched CBS program. It is not every day that a major TV channel features a portrait of a trade union leader. During the interview, Stern -- who was characterized by Lesly Stahl as "labor's savior" -- said that unions must conform to globalization by seeking partnerships with giant corporations. For the past year, Stern has been repeating this theme ad nauseam. In an interview published by Epoch Times last February 27, for example, Stern stated: "SEIU's goal for 2006 is to go global and to bring unions and corporations together as partners, not enemies. I think that what we're going to see happen within ten years, if not sooner, is a convergence of a global labor movement." Stern continued: "Employers need to recognize that the world has changed and there are people who would like to help them provide solutions in ways that are new, modern and that add value to companies. .... A partnership between labor and corporations would be a step towards the intended goal." Then, addressing himself directly to the trade union movement, Stern added: "On the other side of the coin, union members have to understand that companies are not their enemy, but must think about increasing shareholders' wealth. ... Labor should ask itself, 'how can I contribute to meeting those shareholders' expectations in a way that also meets mine'?" Not Just Rhetoric For Stern, this is not just rhetoric. His first main project as a "labor savior" has been to build a "partnership" with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tyson Foods and Walmart known as the Essential Workers Immigrant Coalition (EWIC). Together with these "partners," Stern and SEIU drafted the outlines of what would become the McCain-Kennedy "immigration reform" bill -- the essentially anti-immigration bill that was approved earlier this year by the Senate in a slightly amended form. But this "corporate partnership" -- at least in its most visible guise of EWIC and pro-corporate "immigration reform" -- is being more and more challenged within Stern's own union. In early June, for example, the Economic and Social Justice Caucus of SEIU Local 790 voted to endorse the statement by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR), which is in direct opposition to Stern and the McCain-Kennedy bill. Many other SEIU locals also have taken positions at odds with the SEIU leadership on the immigration reform issue. Stern is being given this publicity because his message is the one the bosses and the corporate sponsors of "60 Minutes" want us to hear. Prime-time TV for a union leader doesn't just happen by accident. Never has, never will in capitalist America. Stern, not surprisingly, is a big promoter of the upcoming international trade union merger between the ICFTU (of which the AFL-CIO is a member) and the Christian-based World Confederation of Labor. This upcoming merger will take place openly in support of a "partnership" agenda with the global corporations. This will transform the ICFTU from an international trade union confederation with a bureaucratic misleadership into an openly "corporatist" anti-union outfit, much like the European Trade Union Confederation -- which is a construct of the European Union bosses, not a body that emanates from the labor movement itself. Ed. Note: For a full analysis of this upcoming international trade union merger, please see issues No. 179-191 of the weekly ILC International Newsletter. You can subscribe to this online newsletter by writing to to press at the end of August 2006 will include a special section on this merger and the threats it poses to the international labor movement. "Undermining Union's Mission" Stern's role, self-confessed, is to drive this "partnership" agenda not only for the Change to Win coalition but for the entire labor movement. That's why Stern keeps hammering away at John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO leadership for holding to the "outdated concept of clbutt struggle" -- which, alas, is ever so far from the truth. Stern is pushing to throw in the union towel altogether, to transform the unions from instruments defending workers' interests (which they still remain, despite the policies of the labor bureaucracy at their summit) into instruments to undermine and attack workers' interests. That is why the defense of trade union independence, of the basic concept of trade unionism, must begin with an open rejection of Stern's so-called "New Unionism." In this sense, RoseAnn De Moro of the California Nurses buttociation was right on the mark when she told Lesly Stahl of "60 Minutes" that Stern's "partnerships with giant corporations would result in undermining a union's prime mission to defend and advance the interests of its members." "Unions," De Moro said, "would have to make enormous concessions to get corporations to accept them as junior partners, to the detriment of their members." This must be our message, as well, as we fight -- slowly but surely -- to reclaim the unions from all proponents of "partnerships" with the multinationals and from all proponents of support to the Democratic Party, which is the other side of this "partnership" coin. ******************** WE URGE YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON KATRINA To All Supporters of the ILC the World Over Dear Sisters and Brothers: At the end of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. Day after day, the entire world looked in horror at TV images of Black people stranded on their rooftops for days on end without being rescued. The U.S. National Guard, which was set up to handle national disasters such as this one, had been deployed to fight an immoral and unjust war in Iraq; thousands of people, whose lives could have been saved, were left to die. The scene of tens of thousands of people crammed into a football stadium, or into community centers, without food or medical resources for up to one week -- or bodies washed up daily onto the city streets -- was reminiscent of images from war-torn countries in Africa. People around the world were shocked that such a scenario could be taking place in the richest country of the world at the beginning of the 21st century. As the disaster unfolded, the dimension of conscious policy and criminal negligence on the part of the U.S. government became more and more apparent -- from the failure to repair levees, to the failure to evacuate people, to the failure to provide food and shelter for the evacuees. It also became clear that the government complicity was shared by politicians of all stripes at the federal, state and local levels. The International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) reported on this tragedy in our weekly, multi-language ILC International Newsletter and gave voice -- issue after issue -- to the Black organizations on the ground in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast that began to organize the struggle of the evacuees for their rights, their dignity -- and, above all, their resolve to control all facets of the reconstruction process in their own name. Over the past year, as you will read in the two texts below sent out by the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition (PHRF-OC), the human tragedy has not abated. On the contrary, it has continued to worsen. The evacuees and the organizations they built to secure their rights have been ignored. The evacuees have been dispossessed of their homes, denied the right to return to their neighborhoods and communities. Their right to vote has been trampled upon. The levees remain without repair, and the housing crisis has deepened as the reconstruction process has become the vehicle for powerful corporate interests and the ruling elites to gentrify the city of New Orleans and expel the Black majority in what can only be characterized as a process of ethnic cleansing. To put the international spotlight on this unfolding tragedy, the PHRF-OC is organizing an International Tribunal on Katrina in the spring of 2007. At the end of August of this year, they are putting together an International Commission of Inquiry that will travel to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to draw up the first charges against all the agencies and insbreastutions in the United States responsible for the ongoing crimes against the predominantly Black people of the Gulf Coast region. The PHRF-OC organizers have called upon the ILC to help promote this important initiative. Over the years, we have worked closely with many of the organizers of this campaign on two campaigns launched by the ILC: the International Tribunal on Africa (whose first session was held in Compton, Calif., in February 2000) and, later, the International Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. The ILC -- which since its founding conference in February 1991 has promoted the struggle of all working and oppressed peoples against war and exploitation -- calls on all its supporters the world over to join us in endorsing the "Day of Judgment" Call for the International Tribunal on Katrina. We also call upon all unions and organizations interested in participating in the International Commission of Inquiry at the end of August 2006 to contact us as soon as possible at our Paris office, so that we can relay your message to the PHRF organizers in the United States. The ILC considers that this campaign for the rights of Black people against the policies of ethnic cleansing in the Gulf Coast is part and parcel of the same fight against the U.S. war in Iraq and against the U.S.-IMF-WTO drive to implement the Structural Adjustment and debt-repayment policies that are devastating the peoples of Africa -- also promoting war and ethnic cleansing on that continent. All these destructive policies are carried out to advance the interests of the multinational corporations and the governments in their service, beginning with the U.S. government. That is why the fight against such policies requires more than ever the political independence of the workers' organizations in relation to the capitalist state and to the political parties and insbreastutions in their service. We urge all ILC supporters to get behind this International Tribunal on Katrina by filling out the endorsement coupon below and returning it both to us at the ILC and to the organizers of the PHRF-OC campaign in the United States. In solidarity, Daniel Gluckstein, Coordinator, ILC ---------- ENDORSEMENT COUPON FOR INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON KATRINA Please add my name to the list of endorsers of the International Tribunal on Katrina, organized by the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition Please add the name of my union-organization to the list of endorsers. I am available to participate in the International Commission of Inquiry at the end of August 2006. Please send me all the details about this Commission. NAME UNION-ORG (if individual endorsement, list if for id. only) CITY-STATE COUNTRY EMAIL ---------- A DAY OF JUDGMENT A call for an International Tribunal to address the U.S. government's human rights violations responsible for the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the ill treatment of the Internally Displaced People, and rebuilding plans that seek ethnic cleansing and political disenfranchisement of historically majority Black communities in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Why a Tribunal "They left us here to die" is the clear charge against the U.S. government by the peoples of New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast region displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Between August 29 and September 5, 2005 the world witnessed the monumental failure of the U.S. government to protect and respect the lives of Blacks and the poor. This failure is the direct result of the insbreastutional dimensions of race, clbutt, and gender oppression inherent in the U.S. government's and social structure's treatment of Blacks throughout its 230-year history. Since Katrina and Rita, the government has politically disenfranchised tens of thousands of Blacks, refused to adhere to its own policies and procedures pertaining to the security and well being of the Internally Displaced, mismanaged resources for the reconstruction of the region, including awarding no-bid contracts to big corporations connected to the Bush administration, eliminated environmental and worker-protection laws, unjustifiably criminalized thousands of the Displaced people, set up a process for reconstruction that excludes effective input, major decision-making and control by the majority Black population, and targeted large portions of New Orleans for ethnic cleansing to prevent the right of return of the Black majority. And this is just a short list of the countless abuses being actively committed against the Internally Displaced of the Gulf Coast by the U.S. government. The U.S. government must be held responsible for these crimes against humanity and summarily brought to justice. This is why we are calling for an International Tribunal for justice, reconstruction and reparations. Background On December 8-9, 2005 hundreds of Internally Displaced People from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita gathered in Jackson, Mississippi in a Survivors buttembly to demand accountability, reconstruction and resbreastution from all levels and departments of the U.S. government. The Survivors buttembly was convened as a democratic insbreastution to provide the Internally Displaced impacted by Katrina and Rita and the U.S. government's destruction, particularly the Black and working clbutt majority, with a vehicle for self-determination that voices, organizes and mobilizes for a just reconstruction. Their demands were in response to the government's deliberate indifference to the fate of Katrina victims and survivors. Katrina was a category 5 hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi on August 29, 2005 and left over 2,000 dead or missing and over 800,000 without homes, jobs or help. It is the largest and most inhumane internal displacement of Blacks since the end of the 19th Century following the Civil War. On December 10, 2005 over 5,000 survivors and their supporters marched on City Hall in New Orleans demanding the right to return with dignity to their homes and their communities. The Survivors buttembly was facilitated by the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition (PHRF-OC), the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition (MS-DRC), the Black Activists Coalition on Katrina, and over 50 coalition partners from a broad range of political, religious, and social sectors in North America. The tragic scenes of Katrina victims and evacuees facing rest, destruction, abandonment and eventually relocation at gunpoint in herds like animals gave rise to outrage across the globe. The events of December 8-10, 2005 signaled the first phase of turning this outrage to action. Now the voices of the Displaced and their supporters are fighting to reclaim their homes and organizing for self-determination in the reconstruction process. From these voices came a cry to put the U.S. government on trial for its Katrina-related crimes against humanity. The Charges Katrina survivors have serious charges against the federal, state and local governments for violating and negating their fundamental human rights. The charges can be divided into three categories: (1) Pre-Katrina abuse and neglect, (2) Katrina storm, flood, rescue and evacuation related abuses, and (3) post-Katrina related abuses. A sampling of these charges include: 1. The government, on all levels, knew for years that the levee system in New Orleans was inadequate to withstand the impact of a storm as powerful as Katrina and yet did little or nothing to fortify or update the levee system. This left thousands at risk, particularly in poor and predominantly Black communities where the levee system was in the worst condition. 2. Waited four days before coming to the aid of Katrina Victims after the storm hit, and made little or no preparation to deal with the storm although it was forecast days before it hit. 3. Left Black women, children and men begging for help on roof tops, trudging through filthy and contaminated water, locked in their homes, locked in jails, stranded at the convention center, the Superdome and on bridges without medical treatment, food, clean water, restroom facilities and other necessities for days. Meanwhile helicopters and ambulances rushed pbutted Black victims in order to attend to whites and upper middle clbutt neighborhoods. 4. Ordered the National Guard and police to shoot to kill survivors for taking necessary food items and clothing from abandoned stores. There are reports that some were indeed shot and end by these forces. 5. Treated evacuees with disdain and disrespect when buses were finally sent in to transport survivors out of New Orleans. Most were relocated at gunpoint, and often separated from their children or other love ones. 6. Refused to allow critical medical and emergency rescue aide from foreign countries and the international community to help save lives in the Gulf Coast. 7. Disenfranchised tens of thousands of Black voters in the New Orleans elections by refusing to establish and implement satellite voting in major centers where displaced survivors were temporarily living (like the system in place for Iraqis living in the U.S.), and made the process of obtaining absentee ballots prohibitively restrictive. 8. Refused to designate the Survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita an Internally Displaced People, and failed to comply with its own laws and policies on the provision of emergency relief, international aid, and long-term development buttistance as contained in the "USAID buttistance to Internally Displaced Persons Policy." 9. Ethnic Cleansing of the historic Black majority of New Orleans via threats of imminent domain, denial of vital resources for reconstruction, and the systematic denial of social services in predominantly Black neighborhoods. The Call The Black Activist Coalition on Katrina and the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition are launching a campaign to convene an International Tribunal on Katrina and the human rights abuses of the U.S. government. This tribunal will be held in New Orleans in early 2007. A specific date has not been determined, but the committee is investigating March 30-31, 2007. The Tribunal will expose to the world the evidence with respect to the racism and lawlessness of the federal, state and local governments in the Katrina tragedy. We call on organizations, individuals and governments throughout the United States and internationally to sign on as endorsers of the International Tribunal and to contribute time, resources and funds to help organize this important undertaking. To participate in the Tribunal organizing process or for further information contact the Katrina Tribunal at (601) 353-5566 or write Katrina Tribunal at 440 North Mill Street, Jackson, MS 39202. You may also email Kai Abiodun at www.peopleshurricane.org for more information. ---------- Appeal for an International Commission of Inquiry on Hurricane Katrina The International Commission of Inquiry on Katrina (ICI) is part and parcel of the International Tribunal on Katrina (see "A Day of Judgment" at www.peopleshurricane.org). The Black Activist Coalition on Katrina, the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition, the International Liaison Committee for a Workers International, and International Tribunal on Africa and others are organizing the International Tribunal on Katrina, aka the "Day of Judgment". The Tribunal is tentatively scheduled for March 2007, although an exact date has not been determined. The purpose of the International Commission is to ascertain preliminary facts pertaining to the human rights crimes being charged against the U.S. government related to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. It is also intended to help broaden, build and internationalize the Tribunal on Katrina. The International Commission of Inquiry is going to be conducted in New Orleans, Louisiana Sunday, August 27 through Sunday, September 3, 2006. The Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition and the Black Activist Coalition on Katrina will host the Commission. The general activities of the Commission will entail: * Taking testimony from various Katrina Survivors * Meeting with Survivors Councils and other New Orleans and Gulf Coast related relief and reconstruction organizations, * Examining the status of the reconstruction process, including the levees and water management systems, * Meeting with various. government agencies and public officials * Observing various one-year commemoration activities The aforementioned conveners of the International Tribunal would like to invite you to serve as a delegate on the International Commission of Inquiry. Please respond regarding your availability by Friday, July 21st to We sincerely hope that you will join us in support of this critical human rights initiative that will not only aid the struggle for justice for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but peoples struggling against injustice and oppression everywhere. In Unity and Struggle, Conveners, International Tribunal on Katrina ******************** THE STRUGGLE FOR RECONSTRUCTION IN THE GULF COAST OF THE U.S. SOUTH By SALADIN MUHAMMAD Note: The following is the final section of a longer piece by Saladin Muhammad that appeared in pamphlet form under the breastle: "The Struggle for Reconstruction in the Gulf Coast of the U.S. South: A Strategic Perspective of the Struggle for African American Self-determination." This selection is reprinted here with the author's permission. For a full copy of this statement, contact Brother Muhammad c-o BWFJ, P.O. Box 934, Rocky Mount, NC 27802. The National Survivors buttembly in Jackson, Mississippi, on December 8-9, 2005, which brought together more than 300 Katrina and Rita Survivors and supporters from many states and cities within and outside of the Gulf Coast, was an initial step toward grounding this movement and its highest decision-making body among the Survivors. The buttembly was convened by the Mississippi Disaster Relief Fund and the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF), as a framework for facilitating a process of self-determination and empowerment for Survivors in developing and carrying out a Reconstruction program and movement. It developed a basic program of action enbreastled "The People's Declaration: Survivors buttembly Demands." The People's Demands We demand that local, state and federal government make conditions possible for our immediate return. This includes the following: 1. The Nagin Administration must make temporary housing such as apartments, hotel rooms, trailers and public housing developments available for us while we rebuild our homes. 2. The government must put an end to price gouging, stop all evictions and make rents affordable. 3. Local residents must take the lead in rebuilding our communities and must be hired to do the rebuilding work. 4. There must be immediate debt relief for debt buttociated with this disaster. 5. Quality public education and childcare must be provided for our children. 6. Quality affordable healthcare and access to free prescriptions must be provided. 7. The government must immediately clean up air, water and soil to make it safe and healthy for people to return home. We demand that the government provide funds for all families to be reunited and that the databases of FEMA, Red Cross and any organizations tracking our people be made public. We demand accountability for and oversight of the over $50 billion of FEMA funds and the money raised by other organizations, foundations and funds raised in our name. We demand representation on all boards that are making decisions about relief and reconstruction. We also demand that those most affected by Hurricane Katrina be part of every stage of the planning process. We demand that no commercial Mardi Gras take place until the suffering of the people is lifted. We are calling on Survivors and supporters to participate in organizing efforts to make these demands heard! Survivor Councils & buttembly This program outlines a basic direction for the Reconstruction movement. Some adjustments have been made such as not building a campaign to oppose Mardi Gras -- because the Mardi Gras Indian movement is a cultural component of the historical resistance movement where Native Americans supported and embraced the runaway slaves into their communities and nations. The buttembly called for the creation of Survivor Councils throughout the Gulf Coast and among evacuees throughout the country. The Survivor Councils are seen as vehicles to unite the dispersed Survivors into a national organization that enables them to have input into shaping the movement for Reconstruction. The buttembly also called on allies to form solidarity committees to help locate Survivors and buttist them in building Survivor Councils and broader coalitions for immediate and long-term struggles. Part of the task of the Survivor Councils is to elect leadership to the National Survivors buttembly. The Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund has applied this principle to its own organization by calling on Survivor Councils to elect representatives to the PHRF Interim Coordinating Committee (ICC). This is an important factor distinguishing the PHRF perspective on Reconstruction from other initiatives. The National Survivors buttembly and the Survivor Councils are crucial to defending the rights and maintaining the political connection of the Survivors to their Gulf Coast communities -- an essential factor in building a movement for the right of return as part of a just Reconstruction. The Reconstruction movement is still young, having growing pains and transitioning from a relief movement into a mbutt political movement. The struggles and differences within this movement, while problematic, should not be viewed as or made into antagonistic contradictions. A united front is needed, and where decisions cannot be arrived at by consensus, the will of the majority should be respected. A united front must seek to build a critical mbutt movement. The various political, organizational, ideological and religious tendencies and preferences should be encouraged to find ways to identify and support the will of the majority even if they have reservations about doing so. Over time, the merits of the various positions and their ability to coexist will be clarified through struggle. The Reconstruction movement must develop a culture of political education and comradely struggle as one of its democratic pillars. Black Workers Take the Lead The Black working clbutt has a leading role to play in organizing the social and political power of the working clbutt in support of Reconstruction. The trade unions must be drawn into the Reconstruction movement. Black workers must form rank-and-file caucuses to push the unions forward in support of this struggle. The labor movement, with its competing federations and their business-union perspectives that deny rank-and-file democracy, cannot be expected to act as a positive force without an internal rank-and-file movement with a social unionism and internationalist fightback orientation and program. The Million Worker March Movement that emerged in 2004 was a very important first step toward such a rank-and-file movement. Although still mainly a national network, it has contributed to building the Reconstruction movement. Some of its leaders and activists have helped create a solidarity network of support committees, mbutt organizations, union caucuses and individual activists that in turn are helping to form Survivor Councils and are mounting protests against evictions and other injustices. A key part of the struggle must be to organize trade unions throughout the South (including rebuilding trade unions that once existed in the Gulf Coast industries) and among the new workforce emerging around the clean-up and rebuilding, many of whom will be contract workers, including undocumented and temporary workers. Worker Centers can be formed to play a major role in this organizing. Public sector workers are another key sector. Their demand for union recognition could become a major part of a South-wide campaign to win collective-bargaining rights, which at present are denied to the majority of public workers in every Southern state. It could also be a connecting point with public workers in the Southwest region, who are largely Latino and who likewise are denied bargaining rights in many locations. Finally, the issues impacting working-clbutt women must be given conscious attention to ensure that they grow and promote the struggle against patriarchy as an integral part of the Reconstruction movement. A Reconstruction Party The African American mbuttes must become independent of the Democratic and Republican parties as a precondition for African American self-determination. The formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Lowndes County Freedom Party and others throughout the South, despite some weaknesses, were a necessary development in the transition from the civil rights movement to the struggle for Black power. The Democratic Party is clearly trying to co-opt the Gulf Coast struggle to rebuild its base throughout the African American community, especially in the South. The disenfranchisement of Black people in Florida, leading to the stolen presidential election of 2000, showed Black people that the Democratic Party had no interest in protecting their democratic rights, as confirmed by the fact that none of the Democratic Party Senators endorsed the Congressional Black Caucus's call to challenge the election. Black Democrats in the U.S. Congress and their spokespersons in the communities, many whom are playing important roles in pushing for support for the Gulf Coast Survivors and communities and should be considered as part of the broad objective national Black united front, will push for the Reconstruction movement to align with the Democratic Party. But a Reconstruction movement must not be subordinate to the priorities of the corporate-controlled Democratic and Republican parties or even to more progressive organizations like the Green Party. An independent Reconstruction Party is needed as the political arm of the Reconstruction movement. A Reconstruction Party is an important component of the right of return. It would help link the dispersed Survivors to a political organization that enables them to vote in Gulf Coast elections. It would enable them to have input into decisions made by local, state and federal governments about their future. The refusal of the federal government to provide for onsite voting for Survivors in the various cities throughout the country requires a major struggle throughout the United States, including expressions of international support. The voter registration efforts could also be used to sign up Survivors in the Gulf Coast and throughout the country to begin forming the mbutt base and discussing elements of a program for a Reconstruction Party. A Reconstruction Party with an organized membership throughout the United States would have a major impact on developing Reconstruction parties in the major cities where large concentrations of African Americans and other oppressed nationalities live and work. It also can have a powerful influence on the development of an independent national mbutt workers' party as a coalition party of the working clbutt and oppressed nationalities. This perspective and discussion about strategy is far from complete. It needs the further discussion, debate and thinking of others who are committed to finding answers and engaging in work that help the oppressed and exploited to end oppression and build a better world as others before us have organized, fought and died trying to do. ******************** ILWU DENIES VOICE TO BLACK WORKERS Convention Honors A Leading Black Voice of the 20th Century While Voting to Deny Black Members A Voice in the 21st Century By CLARENCE THOMAS Note: The following is an abridged version of an article by Clarence Thomas that was distributed to a number of labor and left newspapers for publication on June 26. Brother Thomas is the Past Secretary-Treasurer of ILWU Local 10, National Co-chair of the Million Worker March Movement, and a member of the African American Longshore Coalition. This abridged version is published with the author's permission. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) held its 33rd International Convention May 13-20, 2006 in Vancouver, Canada. During the Convention, a resolution regarding the African American Longshore Coalition (AALC) was put forward by ILWU Local 10. This resolution called for the AALC to have a "voice but no vote," at the Convention and Longshore Caucus, providing the AALC with the same status as the ILWU Pensioners and Women Auxiliaries and costing the ILWU no money at all. The AALC, a rank-and-file organization, has been recognized by the International union for its contributions to remedy racism within the ILWU since March 1992. However, the resolution recognizing AALC was defeated at the Convention and the Longshore Caucus. While the ILWU was honoring the memory and achievements of the great artist, activist, and freedom fighter Paul Robeson, Sr., they were in another room denying African American members a voice in the union by refusing to let the AALC Resolution reach the Convention floor. This is so ironic because Paul Robeson, Sr., among the best-known and widely respected Black Americans of the 20th Century, is remembered as a civil rights activist and advocate of progressive causes. His buttociation with organized labor was almost as long and consistent as his buttociation with the concert stage. Robeson worked tirelessly so that the voice of Blacks could be heard in organized labor. For the Convention to reject the resolution and for it not even to reach the floor is indicative of where the consciousness of ILWU members is on the issue of diversity and democracy. And it clearly shows that the ILWU is not in line with other international unions who have long recognized the importance and necessity of Black Caucuses within their respective unions. The Longshore Division, representing dock workers who supply the labor at 29 ports on the West Coast, held their Longshore, Clerks and Walking Boss Caucus, one week following the Convention. The resolution for the AALC to have "voice but no vote" at no cost to the union was rejected once again. This time the resolution was debated on the Longshore Caucus floor. None of the Longshore Division leadership spoke on the resolution. The reasons put forward in rejecting the recognition of the AALC by delegates at the Longshore Caucus are in this writer's opinion disingenuous. In my opinion, the real reason is that delegates are in denial of racism and discrimination in all its forms within the ILWU. Segregation and White Supremacy in the Longshore Division The roots of segregation and white supremacy in the Longshore Division are very deep. The ILWU Story: Six Decades of Militant Unionism, explains how during the civil rights movement, "Sthere were longshore locals that steadfastly refused to integrate their membership. As an indication of the paradoxes of prejudice, these locals -- mainly in the Northwest, but also early on in Southern California -- agreed with the International policies supporting the civil rights movement and affirmative action programs, and contributed generously to early ILWU support for sit-in demonstrations and marches for equality in the Southern United States beginning in 1955. Yet an unofficial color line held fast in these locals, despite constant efforts by the International leadership and other longshore locals S" The message was: "Integration in the South is fine but not in my local." It would not be a stretch to conclude that these segregated locals in the ILWU wanted to give the appearance they were progressive on the race question for purposes of public image. Harry Bridges was in the vanguard of all North American trade union leaders of his generation on the question of race. Brother Bridges said, "Discrimination is a tool of the bosses." He wrote in the ILWU Dispatcher on February 15, 1938 -- among a series of articles featuring "The Economics of Prejudice" that "prejudice means profit for the boss S for the worker, Black and White, it means lower living standards, humiliations, violence, and often rest." Thomas C. Fleming writes in his Reflections on Black History, 12-16-98, The Great Strike of 1934: "In 1934 S Blacks could only work on two piers in San Francisco; the Panama Pacific and the Luckenbach Line. If you went to another pier down there, you might get beaten up by the hoodlums. "Before this time, I clung to the view that the trade union movement was first formed to continue racial discrimination. But Bridges S felt that by keeping unions lily-white there would be a steady reserve of Black potential strike breakers whenever strikes were called, which would weaken the unions when negotiations broke down." Bridges went to Black churches on both sides of the San Francisco Bay and asked the ministers if he could say a few words during the Sunday Services. He begged the congregations to join the strikers on the picket line, and promised that when the strike ended, Blacks would work on every dock on the West Coast." History of the AALC The AALC was formed in March 1992 to address the racism, loveism and other forms of discrimination up and down the West Coast of the Longshore Division for the purpose of resolving such problems internally. In the February 1992 issue of the ILWU Dispatcher, past President David Arian wrote in his column, "For the ILWU in particular, Black History Month also means that we must take a close look at ourselves. We must examine whether we are holding true to the democratic principles upon which this union was founded. We must eliminate any and all barriers that divide us. We must eradicate discrimination wherever and whenever it exists." At the 1994 Longshore, Clerk and Walking Boss Caucus, the Report of the AALC minutes includes a statement by Brother Leo Robinson, Local 10 retired and a founding member of the AALC, regarding the pervasive discrimination in the Pacific Northwest. Robinson said, "The brothers and sisters of this union, whether they be of color or of the majority population of this society, have one thing in common: a threat to one from our enemy, which is a clbutt enemy, is a threat to us all -- and we will respond accordingly". With this said of 1992 and 1994, here it is 2006 and the AALC still does not have a "voice and no vote" at the Convention or Longshore Caucus. ILWU Endorses the AALC In a recent letter dated Feb. 14, 2006, ILWU International President James Spinosa and members of the Coast Committee Labor Relations Committee addressed the problems of racism, discrimination, loveism in all of its forms, which are more prevalent among the Longshore Division in the Pacific Northwest. The letter reads in part, "We are pleased to say that considerable progress has been made in working to correct several individual cases raised by the AALC. However, we also recognize that much more needs to be done to improve solidarity among all ILWU members across racial and gender lines. The ILWU remains committed to its long standing policies against discrimination, harbuttment and retaliation of all types." The recognition by President James Spinosa of the efforts of the AALC to remedy racism in the ILWU begs the question of why he was silent on the resolution recognizing the AALC at the Longshore Caucus! Conclusion The action taken by the ILWU regarding the AALC must be viewed in the national context of the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in Florida and throughout the nation and the refusal by the Democratic Party to put forward at least one of its 47 senators to co-sponsor the Congressional Black Caucus' challenge to the certification of the 2000 Election on the grounds of the political disenfranchisement of African Americans. The treatment of African Americans and the role of race and clbutt on the treatment of Katrina survivors must also be considered in the overall context of the rejection of the AALC Resolution at the Longshore Caucus and Convention of giving "voice but no vote" to a Black Caucus within the ILWU. Saladin Muhammad, Chairman of Black Workers for Justice and Co-Convener of the Million Worker March Movement Southern Region, writes in Hurricane Katrina: The Black Nations 911: "The racist economic, social and political policies and practices of the U.S. government and capitalist system shape society's atbreastude about the reasons for the historical oppression of African Americans. It seeks to isolate, criminalize and scapegoat African American as social pariahs holding back the progress of society. "The characterization of the Black working clbutt in this way is part of a continuous ideological shaping of white supremacy that gives white workers a sense of being part of another working clbutt, different from the Black working clbutt. This often leads many white workers to act against their clbutt interests, discouraging them from uniting with the Black working clbutt in struggling to seek common, equal and socially transformative resolutions to their clbutt issues". The rejection of Local 10's resolution recognizing the AALC to have a "voice but no vote" was a betrayal to African Americans and other progressive ILWU members, past and present, who have been in the forefront contributing to the progressive history of the union. The Longshore leadership has been addressing individual cases involving discrimination prompted by the efforts of the AALC and Local 10. But, the insbreastutional racism and other forms of discrimination within the ILWU will require insbreastutional change. Blacks, people of color, women, and other oppressed workers must be empowered from the bottom as well as the top to eradicate racism, loveism, and all the other forms of discrimination. The recognition of the AALC, initially with "voice but no vote," will be an important step in bringing about that change. After all, this is about democracy and fairness for all of the rank and file of the ILWU.
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