Monthly Archives: February 2009

U.S. Trade Unionists Support South African and Australian Dockers’ Boycott of Israeli Cargo

To endorse the following statement, please go to: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/LaborforPalestine

“For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”
–Martin Luther King Jr., Beyond Vietnam, April 4, 1967

We salute the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) in Durban, and Western Australian dock worker members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), for refusing to handle Israeli cargo.

Theirs is a courageous response to Israel’s attack on Palestinians in Gaza that, since December 27 alone, have left some 1,400 dead and 5,000 wounded — nearly all of them civilians.

This action is in the best tradition of dock workers in Denmark and Sweden (1963), the San Francisco Bay Area (1984) and Liverpool (1988), who refused to handle shipping for apartheid South Africa; Oakland dock workers’ refusal to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1978); and West Coast dock workers’ strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (2008).

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) rightly “calls on other workers and unions to follow suit and to do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free.”

COSATU’s appeal is particularly relevant for workers in the United States, whose government stands behind Israel’s war against the Palestinians, and without which Israeli apartheid cannot continue.

In the past ten years alone, U.S. military aid to Israel was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be $30 billion. As in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, white phosphorous and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers. Both the Democratic and Republican parties condone the slaughter in Gaza.

Such support bolsters Israel’s longstanding role as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East — and beyond. In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa’s closest ally.

As with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, workers in the United States pay a staggering human and financial price, including deepening economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation.

Yet, in contrast to trade union bodies in South Africa, Australia, Denmark, Britain, Canada and elsewhere, most of labor officialdom in this country — often without the knowledge or consent of union members — is a main accomplice of Israeli apartheid.

For more than sixty years, it has closely collaborated with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation that has spearheaded — and whitewashed —  apartheid, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians since the 1920s.

U.S. labor leaders have plowed at least $5 billion of our union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds.

In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent “National Solidarity Rally for Israel.”

In July 2007, the Jewish Labor Committee, a Histadrut mouthpiece, enlisted top officials of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to condemn British union support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Now, by their silence, these same leaders are complicit in Israel’s massacre in Gaza.

These policies echo infamous “AFL-CIA” support for U.S. war and dictatorship in Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war machine and labor’s corporate enemies, reinforces racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of international solidarity.

For all these reasons, we join COSATU in supporting the growing international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which demands Palestinian self-determination, including an end to Israeli military occupation, the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and elimination of apartheid throughout historic Palestine.

Join us in publicizing the example of South African and Australian dock workers, and working toward the same kind of labor solidarity here at home.

Join us in demanding immediate and total:

1. End to U.S. aid for Israel.

2. Divestment of business and labor investments in Israel.

3. Labor boycott of Israel.

4. Withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from the Middle East.

———–

Initial Signers

Larry Adams
Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, NPMHU Local 300*

Michael Letwin
Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Brenda Stokely
Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, AFSCME DC 1707*; Co-Chair, Million Worker March

Anthony Arnove
National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981*

Black Workers for Justice (North Carolina)

Marty Goodman
Former Executive Board Member, TWU Local 100*

Monadel Herzallah
President, Arab American Union Members Council, California

Clarence Thomas
National Co-Chair, Million Worker March Movement; Executive Board Member, ILWU Local 10*

Sam Weinstein
Former President, UWUA Local 132*

Steve Zeltzer
Producer, Labor Video Project

Charles Jenkins
Million Worker March Movement

Mike Gimbel
Chair, Labor-Community Unity Committee, AFSCME DC 37 Local 375*; Delegate, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Noha Arafa
UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Helene J. Busby
UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Julie Fry
Vice-President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Steve Terry
UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Azalia Torres
Former Executive Bd. Member, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Gloria La Riva
President, Typographical Sector, N. California Media Workers Guild Local 39521 CWA*

Carol Seligman
South San Francisco California Teachers Association*

Roland Sheppard
Retired Business Agent, Painters Local 4*

Hank Silver, SEIU Local 1021,* retired

Matt Kline
San Francisco May 1st Organizing Committee

Kevin Kachadourian
CTA Castro Valley*

Beth Youhn
IUOE Local 3 *

Leo L. Robinson
ILWU Local 10,* retired

Mark Glass
UA Local 399*

Charles Hinton
GCIU/Teamsters3M*

Charles Minster
California Alliance for Retired Americans*

Marcus Holder
ILWU Local 10*

Judy Jamerson
Sign & Display Local 510*

Tom Lacey
OPEIU Local 3*

Joel Schor
Sailors Union Of The Pacific*

Russ Miyashiro
ILWU Local 34*

Dave Welsh
Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council*

Larry Wright
ILWU Local 91*

Pierre Labossiere
CSEA*

Gene Pepi
Past Vice President retired, ATU Local 1555*

*For identification only.

———————————————————————————-
http://laborforpalestine.wordpress.com/
laborforpalestine.us@gmail.com

Endorse: U.S. Trade Unionists Support South African and Australian Dockers’ Boycott of Israeli Cargo

Endorse: U.S. Trade Unionists Support South African and Australian Dockers’ Boycott of Israeli Cargo

To endorse the following statement, please go to:http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/LaborforPalestine

—————————————————————————————————————-lfp-size


U.S. Trade Unionists Support South African and Australian Dockers’ Boycott of Israeli Cargo

February 17, 2009

“For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”

–Martin Luther King Jr., Beyond Vietnam, April 4, 1967

We salute the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) in Durban, and Western Australian dock worker members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), for refusing to handle Israeli cargo.

Theirs is a courageous response to Israel’s attack on Palestinians in Gaza that, since December 27 alone, have left some 1,400 dead and 5,000 wounded — nearly all of them civilians.

This action is in the best tradition of dock workers in Denmark and Sweden (1963), the San Francisco Bay Area (1984) and Liverpool (1988), who refused to handle shipping for apartheid South Africa; Oakland dock workers’ refusal to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1978); and West Coast dock workers’ strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (2008).

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) rightly “calls on other workers and unions to follow suit and to do all that is necessary to ensure that they boycott all goods to and from Israel until Palestine is free.”

COSATU’s appeal is particularly relevant for workers in the United States, whose government stands behind Israel’s war against the Palestinians, and without which Israeli apartheid cannot continue.

In the past ten years alone, U.S. military aid to Israel was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be $30 billion. As in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, white phosphorous and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers. Both the Democratic and Republican parties condone the slaughter in Gaza.

Such support bolsters Israel’s longstanding role as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East — and beyond. In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa’s closest ally.

As with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, workers in the United States pay a staggering human and financial price, including deepening economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation.

Yet, in contrast to trade union bodies in South Africa, Australia, Denmark, Britain, Canada and elsewhere, most of labor officialdom in this country — often without the knowledge or consent of union members — is a main accomplice of Israeli apartheid.

For more than sixty years, it has closely collaborated with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation that has spearheaded — and whitewashed —  apartheid, dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians since the 1920s.

U.S. labor leaders have plowed at least $5 billion of our union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds.

In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent “National Solidarity Rally for Israel.”

In July 2007, the Jewish Labor Committee, a Histadrut mouthpiece, enlisted top officials of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to condemn British union support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Now, by their silence, these same leaders are complicit in Israel’s massacre in Gaza.

These policies echo infamous “AFL-CIA” support for U.S. war and dictatorship in Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war machine and labor’s corporate enemies, reinforces racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of international solidarity.

For all these reasons, we join COSATU in supporting the growing international campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, which demands Palestinian self-determination, including an end to Israeli military occupation, the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and elimination of apartheid throughout historic Palestine.

Join us in publicizing the example of South African and Australian dock workers, and working toward the same kind of labor solidarity here at home.

Join us in demanding immediate and total:

1. End to U.S. aid for Israel.

2. Divestment of business and labor investments in Israel.

3. Labor boycott of Israel.

4. Withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from the Middle East.

———–

Initial Signers

Larry Adams
Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, NPMHU Local 300*

Michael Letwin
Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Brenda Stokely
Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, AFSCME DC 1707*; Co-Chair, Million Worker March

Anthony Arnove
National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981*

Black Workers for Justice (North Carolina)

Marty Goodman
Former Executive Board Member, TWU Local 100*

Monadel Herzallah
President, Arab American Union Members Council, California

Clarence Thomas
National Co-Chair, Million Worker March Movement; Executive Board Member, ILWU Local 10*

Sam Weinstein
Former President, UWUA Local 132*

Steve Zeltzer
Producer, Labor Video Project

Charles Jenkins
Million Worker March Movement

Mike Gimbel
Chair, Labor-Community Unity Committee, AFSCME DC 37 Local 375*; Delegate, NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Noha Arafa
UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Helene J. Busby
UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Julie Fry
Vice-President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Steve Terry
UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Azalia Torres
Former Executive Bd. Member, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys*

Gloria La Riva
President, Typographical Sector, N. California Media Workers Guild Local 39521 CWA*

Carol Seligman
South San Francisco California Teachers Association*

Roland Sheppard
Retired Business Agent, Painters Local 4*

Hank Silver, SEIU Local 1021,* retired

Matt Kline
San Francisco May 1st Organizing Committee

Kevin Kachadourian
CTA Castro Valley*

Beth Youhn
IUOE Local 3 *

Leo L. Robinson
ILWU Local 10,* retired

Mark Glass
UA Local 399*

Charles Hinton
GCIU/Teamsters3M*

Charles Minster
California Alliance for Retired Americans*

Marcus Holder
ILWU Local 10*

Judy Jamerson
Sign & Display Local 510*

Tom Lacey
OPEIU Local 3*

Joel Schor
Sailors Union Of The Pacific*

Russ Miyashiro
ILWU Local 34*

Dave Welsh
Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council*

Larry Wright
ILWU Local 91*

Pierre Labossiere
CSEA*

Gene Pepi
Past Vice President retired, ATU Local 1555*

*For identification only.

———————————————————————————-
http://laborforpalestine.wordpress.com/
laborforpalestine.us@gmail.com

Support this worldwide Divestment and Boycott Campaign Against Israel and Apartheid” appeals Palestinian Labor Leader in SF Speech (USACBI)

Support this worldwide Divestment and Boycott Campaign Against Israel and Apartheid” appeals Palestinian Labor Leader in SF Speech

Monday, 16 February 2009

“We actually don’t have any other way to exercise international pressure except calling our friends and supporters in the trade unions around the globe to call for this Boycott and Divestment.” stated Manawel Issa Abdellal, member of the Executive Committee of the 250 thousand member Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in a recent speech to union activists and labor movement supporters in San Francisco.

“Factories actually exist inside the settlements and their products are going to the markets in Europe and in the United States. The whole world is saying these settlements are actually illegal settlements. So why would it be wrong to boycott them?”,

he continued.

“My message to you as labor activists is to follow the lead of unions in Canada and Britain.”
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)in Ontario passed Resolution 50 in May of 2006.”

Adopted unanimously by 900 delegates, the resolution expressed support for the global campaign against Israeli apartheid. CUPE Ontario is the largest public sector union in Ontario representing over 200,000 workers.

The same month, the British National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) declared its active support of boycotts against Israeli academics and academic institutions that do not publicly take an explicit stand against Israeli apartheid and Israel’s discriminatory educational system. NATFHE is the largest union of university teachers in Britain (70,000 members).
Histadrut

In a wide-ranging talk, Manawel spoke about the PGFTU’s efforts in defense of Arab workers struggling under the Israeli iron heel in occupied Palestine. He gave numerous examples of the policies employed by Histadrut and the State of Israel attempting insure the Arab majority of historic Palestine remains isolated and powerless.

Manawel described how Histadrut (the Israeli Labor Union) has used its privileged position in the Jewish State to take advantage of Palestinian workers for Histadrut’s own ends. “Histadrut has failed to represent any Palestinian workers inside Israel.”, he said, “and the PGFTU is forbidden from defending Arab workers in such areas. It is very painful. We can see, witness, and hear of Israeli brutal exploitation of Arab workers, but we cannot do anything…It can only remind us of the Cantons of the Apartheid State of South Africa.”

In one example, there are Palestinian workers who have worked in the same East Jerusalem hospital continuously for over 30 years. The State of Israel does not allow them to leave Jerusalem to visit their families. If they were to leave Jerusalem, they would lose their jobs because they would not be allowed to return. Just over a year ago, a worker from Gaza working at the Makassed Hospital left to visit his family in Gaza. Although he had a permit to work at the Hospital, he wasn’t allowed back in and lost his job. He was the sole breadwinner for his entire family.

In response to a direct question of whether Histadrut has shown any solidarity with Palestinian workers, Manawel answered, “Until now I have not seen any sort of solidarity. Even when Arab workers are hurt, which should be the ABC of solidarity with workers, I have never seen the Histadrut say that they condemn such an act or do something about it.”

He described instances of Histadrut’s withholding and diversion of funds belonging to the Palestinian workers. “An American Communication Union wanted to donate something to the Palestinian Unions and the Palestinian Labor Movement. Histadrut somehow obtained these funds, built a building for themselves in East Jerusalem, then leased it to the private sector, ironically, a Palestinian private sector. The contribution was meant to benefit Palestinian workers, not a private sector, Palestinian or otherwise. When confronted, Histadrut responded, “Well, we didn’t sell the place”.

Histadrut has been automatically deducting 1% of the salaries of Palestinian workers since 1970 as “trade union fees”. The PGFTU estimates between 1970 and 1994, the Histadrut pocketed NIS (New Israel Shekel) 400 million (=US$94.27 million) “for little more than permission to enter Histadrut collective agreements along with Israeli workers”.

In 1996, right after Oslo, an agreement was signed between the PGFTU and Histadrut stipulating that from 1995 on, of the 1% Histadrut was collecting, one-half was to go to the PGFTU. Histadrut has not honored the agreement they signed. Since 1996, they have kept all the funds they have collected from Palestinian workers.
Yet Histadrut has a strong presence in the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), having been among the leadership for many years, even before it changed its name to the ICFTU. Instead of bringing pressure on Histadrut to implement the terms of the agreement they signed with PGFTU, the ICFTU is exerting pressure on the PGFTU to abrogate the agreement and make changes more favorable to Histadrut.

Manawel compared Israel’s disproportionate influence among international labor organizations to the political power that Israel is able to exert among western nations, regardless of legitimacy of their claims under international law. Now that the possibilities of US federal sanctions have receded even further, with the largest number of congress members having dual-Israeli citizenship (43 – 13 Senators, 30 Representatives), it is ever more imperative that rank-and-file labor rise to the task of divestment, boycott, and state and local sanctions.

One rank-and-filer in the audience related that in 1987 Histadrut had an office in San Francisco at the Service Employees Financial Union Headquarters on Golden Gate. Every year the Labor Council would give a dinner honoring Histadrut. The Labor Committee on the Middle East in San Francisco organized a picket line which received a lot of publicity. August, 1987 was the last dinner that was given for Histadrut. They closed their office soon afterward and left San Francisco.

The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)

The PGFTU’s roots go back to the founding of the Arab Worker’s Association (AWA) in Haifa in 1920 and its struggle against the discriminatory labor and immigration policies of the foreign-imposed British Mandate. Increased wages, improved working conditions, and the 8-hour day were early union successes. But many later labor campaigns, including one of the longest general strikes in history (1936 – 6 months), were sabotaged through collaboration between the British, the Jewish Histadrut, and Arab collaborators and bought agents. Still, in 1948 the AWA was recognized by the International Trade Unions Federation as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian workers.

The 1948 catastrophe of the Jewish State and ethnic cleansing of Israel (al-Nakba) split the Palestinian Labor Movement asunder. The West Bank, operating under Jordanian law (with some British labor law), was initially allowed independence of action. Union activity was even made a part of the labor code in 1953. The next year, the West Bank-dominated General Federation of Unions, containing twenty Jordanian Unions, moved from Amman to Nablus. But by 1957, the Communist Party was banned and the unions rigidly controlled. Thirty-nine unions in 1957, became twenty-nine by 1959, and, after merging with the Jordanian trade unions in 1960, became sixteen by 1961.

Gaza, however, found Egyptian labor law more flexible, especially under Nasser, who encouraged the development of a Palestinian labor law. By 1964, the Palestinian Trade Union Federation (PTUF) in Gaza, with six industrial unions, began organizing Palestinian workers abroad and eventually established 13 exile branches in Europe and the Middle East. The PTUF was the first mass-based organization to recognize the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people and became a part of it in 1969.

With the 1967 June War and Occupation, Israel attempted to totally suppress the Palestinian union movement. Gaza union offices were closed, union leaders were imprisoned or expelled, and all union activities were banned for twelve years. The notorious Military Order 101 of August 27, 1967[see below] was employed to insure the goal of silencing the voices of the Palestinian people. The unions went underground, but continued to grow. As the burden of occupation grew heavier on their institutions and economy, Palestinian workers increasingly sought work in Israel and urban centers. They began to view themselves with a united working class perspective for the first time.

[Military Order 101: “It is forbidden to conduct a protest march or meeting (grouping of ten or more where the subject concerns or relates to politics) without permission from the Military Commander. It is also forbidden to raise the flag or other symbols, to distribute or publish political articles and pictures with political connotations. No attempt should be made to influence public opinion in a way which would be detrimental to public order/security. Censorship regulations are in accordance with the Defence Regulations (Emergency) 1945. The punishment for non-compliance is a prison sentence of up to 10 years and/or a fine of 2,000 Israeli lira; soldiers may use force to apply this law.”]

The First Intifada had a profound effect on worker’s solidarity and class consciousness. Factional political struggles by The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and, finally, Fatah resulted in an overt politicization of the unions at the expense of their class unity.
Paralleling that of the Communist Party, later called the Palestine People’s Party (PPP), all three organizations formed popular movements under trade union banners. From 1984, all four effectively shattered the labor movement with competing trade unions that eventually resulted in 161 “political” unions on the West Bank and Gaza, involving no more than 6,000 mostly politically affiliated workers.

It wasn’t until 1991 in Amman, as the intifada cooled, that the PPP, PFLP, and Fatah combined into the Fatah-governed PGFTU , with twenty industry-based unions. The exiled PTUF, being the official PLO trade union, was still viewed as the parent organization of them all.

The PTUF occupied 15 seats in the Palestinian National Congress (PNC), the governing body of the PLO, but they were essentially appointed by Arafat and had no direct significance to workers’ struggles under occupation. When the Palestinian Authority (PA) was first formed in 1994, the leader of the PTUF in-exile was appointed Deputy Minister of Labor. He tried to assert control over the PGFTU, by combining it with the PTUF, but only allocated two seats (representing West Bank and Gaza) on the 19-seat executive board.
The Palestinian unions in the trenches under occupation refused to combine and severed ties with the Tunis-based PTUF. The International Labor Organization (ILO) recognized the PGFTU as the Palestinian workers’ representative in the ILO, declaring that it would only recognize “elected representatives from the territories, not appointees from Tunis”.

The Palestinian labor movement has been hampered, not only outside from the occupation, but inside as well from the discord between Arafat-appointees returning from exile and entrenched union organizers who held their unions together all through the First Intifada. While the rank-and-file sided with the PGFTU, during the early years, neither side had been directly elected. The PGFTU constitution was finally approved by ballot in 2004. By 2005, it had implemented direct elections and its Secretary General could declare, “The PGFTU is the first institution working independently and democratically inside the Palestinian Territories.”

The reaction of hegemonic nations to the Palestinian elections and the Hamas victory, a year and a half ago, was a disaster for all Palestinians, but especially for workers and their families. The failure of hegemony leads to coercion. A catastrophic political and economic blockade was deliberately inflicted to starve them into submission. In Palestine this means no job opportunities and those with jobs have no salaries. Four or five families depend on one worker feeding them all. Unemployment rose almost overnight from 41% to 75% of the workforce (400,000 workers). 80% live below the poverty line.

With the government still nascent and divided, the PGFTU had to provide much more then workplace representation and union issue negotiations. The union had to create an economic and social infrastructure for workers and their families. Manawel described graphically what unemployment really meant for them. There is no unemployment system yet. No work means no milk and no bread for the family. The union had to intervene between the government agencies and private sector employers to provide workers with jobs and salaries.

Prior to the last election, payments were still being received by workers who were unemployed because of the Intifada. The PGFTU made agreements with some of the Ministries to distribute these funds, supplemented them with grants and other resources, and redistributed them to those who were in the most need. Food supplies were likewise distributed by the PGFTU. As an independent organization, they insured a non-partisan distribution.

They also negotiate with private employers to get them to increase their workforce. They have also negotiated with government agencies like the Ministry of Labor to provide specific programs to provide jobs for the unemployed. They succeeded in establishing a program in which the government paid wages to unemployed workers who volunteered in non-private organizations for three months a year on a rotation basis.

Manawel was asked about the use of the ultimate weapon of class struggle,the strike, under their extreme situation. He responded, “Even if we are under occupation, there are human…workers rights that we are obligated to defend…There are workers’ rights that we should be entitled to exercise in every place and every time. So while I resist the occupation from one side, I must also resist injustice in my workplace so we workers retain our rights.”

The PGFTU, Hamas, and Fatah

The specter of the Hamas-Fatah conflict loomed heavy over Manawel’s remarks. At a San Francisco labor union breakfast he was asked about the internecine bloodletting in Gaza and whether it was truly a confrontation between Hamas and Fatah or, in reality, involved just one faction in Fatah which was pursuing its own agenda. He diplomatically answered, “The latter”. I heard the name of Dahlan, the Gaza Fatah warlord, mumbled in the audience.

Later, he spoke about the Hamas Unions and PGFTU’s relationship with them. He explained,
“Hamas started very recently in trade union work, but they call themselves the Islamic Unions…I refuse to transform the unions into ethnic or religious groups or institutions. If you want to work in the unions, you don’t work under a Code Islamic Union. They realize that in a union there is power and they want this. We are not going to cooperate with the kind of union that has only one ethnic and one religious identity. Hamas is very selective. They are willing to work with secular unions only if they can gain more power for their workers. We refuse to work conditionally with them as long as sectarianism is involved.”

He was truly saddened by the situation between Hamas and Fatah.

“It was the outcome of the accumulation of several incidents and circumstances. I just want to remind you, before the elections, the US Administration, the European Union, the Arab Countries, and Israel, all pressured Abbas to bring Hamas to the election. When the election took place, they refused the outcome. You ask for democracy, so why do you reject the outcome? That was the beginning of it.”

“And the dialogue and the different conflicts since that election day until the Mecca Agreement last February…the issue of taking different Ministries, one would take one and one would take another…it was so weak and so shallow that it has caused this type of explosive event. And each of them has a specific agenda so that they must win and implement it. Right now with technology and the information revolutions, everybody knows a lot of the facts. One of which is the taking by Fatah of support from the US and the European Countries. Others say that Hamas takes their resources from other countries that have a religious trend in the area.”

“Unfortunately, instead of directing these funds and resources into rebuilding the social infrastructure, they use them to try to destroy one another. In my point of view, the only solution right now is the dismantlement of both governments, and a continued engaging in a national dialogue to come out of this crisis we are going through. In this small, tiny land we are talking about, we were asking for one state, now we have three states – Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.”

By D Leland Castleberry

D Leland Castleberry is retired California Attorney. He is currently a labor organizer for the I.W.W. His law partner for over twenty-five years was born in Jaffa, Palestine and fled to the United States during al-Nakba 1948.

South Africa: Cosatu and PSC launch Week of Action for Palestine

http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=906_0_1_0_C

In a historic development for South Africa, South African dock workers have announced their determination not to offload a ship from Israel that is scheduled to dock in Durban on Sunday, 8 February 2009. This follows the decision by Cosatu to strengthen the campaign in South Africa for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Apartheid Israel.

The pledge by Satawu (South African Transport and Allied Workers Union) members in Durban reflects the commitment by South African workers to refuse to support oppression and exploitation across the globe. Last year, Durban dock workers refused to offload a shipment of arms that had arrived from China and was destined for Zimbabwe. Now, says Satawu’s General Secretary Randall Howard, the union’s members are committing themselves not to handle Israeli goods.

Satawu’s action on Sunday will be part of a proud history of worker resistance against apartheid. In 1963, just four years after the Anti-Apartheid Movement was formed, Danish dock workers refused to offload a ship with South African goods. When the ship docked in Sweden, Swedish workers followed suit. Dock workers in Liverpool and, later, in the San Francisco Bay Area also refused to offload South African goods. South Africans, and the South African working class in particular, will remain forever grateful to those workers who determinedly opposed apartheid and decided that they would support the anti-apartheid struggle with their actions.

This is the legacy and the tradition that South African dock workers have inherited, and it is a legacy they are determined to honour.

Last week, members of the Western Australian members of the Maritime Union of Australia resolved to support the campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel and have called for a boycott of all Israeli vessels and all vessels bearing goods arriving from or going to Israel.

Cosatu, the PSC and many other organisations salute the principled position taken by these workers.

In celebration of the actions of Satawu members with regard to the ship from Israel, and in pursuance of the campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, and our call on the South African government to sever diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, this coalition of organisations has declared a week of action beginning on Friday, 6 February 2009. These actions follow marches and rallies held throughout the country over the past month involving tens of thousands of South Africans in all provinces. Activities that have already been confirmed for this week will include:

· Friday, 6 February: A protest outside the offices of the South African Zionist Federation and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, 2 Elray Street, Raedene, off Louis Botha. Both these organisations unquestioningly supported the recent Israeli attacks against Gaza, and supported the massacre of civilians and the attacks on schools, mosques, ambulances, and UN refugee centres. Protestors will be addressed by, among others, Satawu General Secretary Randall Howard, and ex-Minister Ronnie Kasrils. Protest starts at 14:00.

· Friday, 6 February: A picket outside parliament in Cape Town. Cosatu members and solidarity activists will be joined by a number of members of parliament. Picket starts at 09:30.

· Friday, 6 February: A mass rally in Actonville, Benoni, at the Buzme Adab Hall. The rally will be addressed by, among others, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, South African Council of Churches General Secretary Eddie Makue, ex-Minister Ronnie Kasrils and Salim Vally from the PSC. Rally starts at 19:30.

· Sunday, 8 February: A protest at the Durban Harbour Mouth, off Victoria Embankment. Protestors will be addressed by, among others, Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini. Protest starts at 10:00.

· Sunday 8 February: A mass rally in Cape Town at Vygieskraal Rugby Stadium. The rally will be addressed by, among others, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, and Allan Boesak. Rally starts at 14:30.

Cosatu and the PSC will inform members of the media of other activities as details are confirmed.

For further information contact:

Patrick Craven (Cosatu spokesperson)

Bongani Masuku (Cosatu international Relations officer)

Melissa Hole (PSC)

Na’eem Jeenah (PSC)

Salim Vally (PSC)