Monthly Archives: October 2014

10/25 Block the Boat Tampa Solidarity Action

10/25 Block the Boat Tampa Solidarity Action

In solidarity with Oakland and all the other port cities around the country who are organizing labor to refuse to unload Israeli Apartheid onto US shores, Block the Boat Tampa held a solemn vigil at ILA Local 1402 Union Hall.

With large banners, including one made of 12X18 photos of children massacred from Palestine to Ferguson, Block the Boat activists met 1402 Longshoremen as they arrived for their work orders. When the vice president of the union arrived he told us to go to the other side of the street, where workers would not have to see our messages and the heartbreaking photos that accompanied them. We remained silent. He called the police who quickly responded with 4 cars and a larger vehicle. However, when the police saw our solemn vigil on a public sidewalk, they made no effort to remove us.

Workers filed by us for 2 hours but rarely were they able meet our eyes, read our messages or pay respect to the slaughtered children on our banners. Activists remained at the Union Hall, lining the exit as workers pulled out on their way to the dock and speaking with workers who did not get work for the day.

In August of this year, Palestinie Solidarity activists and Longshoremen of Local 10 in Oakland California successfully blocked an Israeli Zim ship from bring offloaded. Inspired by such an effective BDS action, other ports have begun campaigns.

Zim Integrated shipping is complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestine, is arming the world with Israeli made weapons and munitions, including munitions used by militarized US police forces, and transferred White Phosphorous to Israel used in the 2008-9 military massacre in GazaBtB10251

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United States Against Sweatshops Endorses BDS

New national student alliance: National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) join forces

USAS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: October 20, 2014

CONTACT:
NSJP Media Committee: nsjp.media@gmail.com

Nation’s largest student labor organization to announce endorsement of National Students for Justice in Palestine and Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Movement this weekend at NSJP’s fourth annual conference

October 24-26, 2014, Tufts University, Boston, MAFor the first time, United Students Against Sweatshops will participate in the National Students for Justice in Palestine conference, an annual convention where students participate in political development workshops, meet fellow organizers and learn from other social justice movements.

This weekend, USAS will announce their endorsement of NSJP, the BDS movement and the Palestinian struggle for equality and self-determination more broadly. On the heels of the latest attack on Gaza, USAS drafted a statement in support of the Palestinian people at their summer convention, stating: “As student labor supporters from across the United States, we work to build a world where people in all communities, schools, and countries are free from the oppressive forces that suppress humanity and creativity in all people. We believe that we have an obligation to be engaged with the social issues of our time, and we will not turn a blind eye to the injustices that have been committed against the Palestinian people.”

With chapters on over 150 campuses, USAS is the nation’s largest student labor organization. During the NSJP conference this weekend, representatives from USAS are meeting with NSJP Steering Committee members and hosting a workshop, sharing their years of expertise and experience with other student organizers. USAS’s partnership with National Students for Justice in Palestine reflects the visions of collective liberation and intersectionality espoused by each of these student organizations.

NSJP is honored to collaborate with USAS, and hopes to carry the tradition of developing relationships and campaigns based on principled politics and mutual solidarity. In 2012, national MEChA, the largest Chicano student organization in the U.S., endorsed the BDS movement, and a delegation from NSJP’s Steering Committee was invited to participate in their 2013 conference. NSJP has also worked in partnership with Anakbayan, the national democratic organization of Filipino Youth and Students. Earlier this month, representatives from NSJP participated in the Palestine contingent in Ferguson after releasing a statement in support of ending racism and inequality in Ferguson and beyond.

At the conference this weekend, workshops will cover a range of social justice issues, from environmental justice in Hawaii to exploring the ways in which Palestinian liberation is a feminist and queer issue. Grassroots cross-movement building of this sort has reverberated across the country, where SJP chapters have partnered with a broad range of student organizations on campus, united in their work towards a more just and equal world.

If you’re a journalist interested in covering the NSJP conference, please sign up by visiting our press page.

National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) is a grassroots network composed of students and recent graduates which provides resources and support to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters on university campuses and the U.S. movement for Palestinian rights and self-determination.

Los Angeles activists block unloading of Israeli cargo ship for two days (Electronic Intifada)

Electronic Intifada

Los Angeles activists block unloading of Israeli cargo ship for two days

LA ship

An Israeli shipping vessel was delayed at the port of Long Beach, California, by Palestine solidarity activists.

(Wayne Marchyshyn)

The Block the Boat coalition of Los Angeles claimed another victory this weekend after an Israeli cargo ship, the Zim Savannah, delayed docking at the port of Long Beach for at least 34 hours.

Cookie Partansky, an organizer with the LA Block the Boat coalition, told The Electronic Intifada that approximately 150 activists gathered at the Los Angeles port at 6am on Saturday, 18 October. The morning’s action followed weeks of communication with the longshoremen’s union and educating workers about Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine, as well as the group’s reasons for targeting Zim, an Israeli shipping line.

The coalition — representing nineteen different activism groups — showed up at the port Saturday morning despite being informed at 5am by a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 13 that the ship was still at sea and no workers had been called in to unload it.

“The fact that the boat is delayed for 24 hours is already costing Zim shipping a significant amount of money because their entire schedule will be delayed. This is already a victory for us,” Partansky said Saturday afternoon.

Another protest planned

The Block the Boat activists had planned to return to the port Sunday morning, in hopes to again stop the unloading of the ship after the 24 hour delay ended, but were informed by the union on Saturday at 4pm that the morning shift had been canceled.

Now the group plans to return to the Long Beach port Sunday afternoon, at 4pm, when the ship has been rescheduled to unload.

Partansky said that while the rank and file members of LA’s ILWU Local 13 have been more “reserved” in their support for the Block the Boat actions than those in the Bay Area union chapter, the LA coalition has continued to reach out to the union and the port truck workers in order to secure their support, and increase their understanding of why the anti-Zim picket lines have been organized.

Block the Boat LA, which delayed a Zim ship from unloading on 23 August, was formed in the image of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Block the Boat coalition. That group aimed to prevent the offloading of Zim ships at the Oakland port in response to the brutal, 51-day military assault by Israel on Gaza this summer.

The Bay Area Block the Boat campaign was launched in August and delayed the Zim line for four straight days — widely considered a historically successful action in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. Other Bay Area activists also delayed the ship from unloading in Oakland on 27 September, and the Bay Area Block the Boat coalition is readying for yet another port shutdown on 25 October.

Update:

The Zim Savannah has again delayed its arrival at the port of Long Beach until Monday, 5pm local time. In a statement to the press, the Block the Boat coalition writes, “Each reschedule has an economic consequence, every twelve hours the Zim vessel is not unloaded the cost is in the thousands of dollars; a victory for Block The Boat Los Angeles.”

Los Angeles activists block unloading of Israeli cargo ship for two days (Electronic Intifada)

Los Angeles activists block unloading of Israeli cargo ship for two days

block_the_boat_la

An Israeli shipping vessel was delayed at the port of Long Beach, California, by Palestine solidarity activists.

(Wayne Marchyshyn)

The Block the Boat coalition of Los Angeles claimed another victory this weekend after an Israeli cargo ship, the Zim Savannah, delayed docking at the port of Long Beach for at least 34 hours.

Cookie Partansky, an organizer with the LA Block the Boat coalition, told The Electronic Intifada that approximately 150 activists gathered at the Los Angeles port at 6am on Saturday, 18 October. The morning’s action followed weeks of communication with the longshoremen’s union and educating workers about Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine, as well as the group’s reasons for targeting Zim, an Israeli shipping line.

The coalition — representing nineteen different activism groups — showed up at the port Saturday morning despite being informed at 5am by a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 13 that the ship was still at sea and no workers had been called in to unload it.

“The fact that the boat is delayed for 24 hours is already costing Zim shipping a significant amount of money because they’re entire schedule will be delayed. This is already a victory for us,” Partansky said Saturday afternoon.

Another protest planned

The Block the Boat activists had planned to return to the port Sunday morning, in hopes to again stop the unloading of the ship after the 24 hour delay ended, but were informed by the union on Saturday at 4pm that the morning shift had been canceled.

Now the group plans to return to the Long Beach port Sunday afternoon, at 4pm, when the ship has been rescheduled to unload.

Partansky said that while the rank and file members of LA’s ILWU Local 13 have been more “reserved” in their support for the Block the Boat actions than those in the Bay Area union chapter, the LA coalition has continued to reach out to the union and the port truck workers in order to secure their support, and increase their understanding of why the anti-Zim picket lines have been organized.

Block the Boat LA, which delayed a Zim ship from unloading on 23 August, was formed in the image of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Block the Boat coalition. That group aimed to prevent the offloading of Zim ships at the Oakland port in response to the brutal, 51-day military assault by Israel on Gaza this summer.

The Bay Area Block the Boat campaign was launched in August and delayed the Zim line for four straight days — widely considered a historically successful action in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. Other Bay Area activists also delayed the ship from unloading in Oakland on 27 September, and the Bay Area Block the Boat coalition is readying for yet another port shutdown on October 25.  

California Leads the Way in the “Block the Boat” Movement (Counterpunch)

Fighting the Occupation on the West Coast

California Leads the Way in the “Block the Boat” Movement

by BEN NORTON

A new phase is developing in the US Palestinian solidarity movement: Block the Boat.

In organizing theory, activists often emphasize the importance of formulating what they call an “escalation plan.” When pushing for social change, they explain, it is important that one’s methods of exerting pressure on power slowly grow in strength, not remain stagnant.

Block the Boat is the next step in the escalation plan of US Palestinian solidarity activists. The idea of Block the Boat is quite simple: Hundreds of activists organize a protest in a local dock and prevent Israeli ships from unloading cargo.

The action has its origins in 2010, when Palestinian solidarity activists flooded the Port of Oakland, in protest of Israel’s attack on the six civilian ships that comprised the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Members of the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief were trying to bring humanitarian aid and construction materials to Gaza—which was (and still is) under an internationally illegal siege by Israel—when the Israeli military reacted with a brutally violent crackdown, killing 10 civilian activists. Oakland protesters, repulsed that the Israeli government, with US economic and political support, would kill foreign human rights activists, retaliated by blocking an Israeli ship from unloading. This stood as the first time in history an Israeli ship had been blocked in a US port.

In the four years following Oakland’s 2010 action, this direct action strategy fell by the wayside. It was not until 2014, in the midst of Israel’s latest military assault on Gaza, dubbed “Operation Protective Edge,” that activists returned to the method.

Many contemporary American activists identify Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” as a turning point in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In just 50 days, the Israeli military killed close to 2,200 people—including roughly 1600 civilians, 500 of whom were children—wounded over 11,000,  and made over 100,000 homeless, bombing 10s of 1000s of homes, businesses, schools, mosques, churches, power plants, and even hospitals. Many activists felt frustrated at what they saw as the ineffectiveness of non-confrontational actions such as rallies and marches, and saw the need to turn toward nonviolent civil disobedience. Block the Boat for Gaza was organized to meet this need.

Counterpunch1Block the Boat for Gaza on 16 August
CREDIT: Henry Norr

On 16 August 2014, thousands of Palestinian solidarity activists convened at the Port of Oakland and marched roughly 1.5 miles in order to prevent the Israeli cargo ship the Zim Piraeus from unloading. Zim Integrated Shipping Services is Israel’s largest cargo shipping company (and the 10th biggest in the world). The company has a close to $4 billion dollar annual revenue, and is partially owned by the Israeli government.

In early September, Bay Area activist Daniel Borgström published “A Diary of the Oakland Blockade of the Israeli Cargo Ship ZIM Piraeus Blocking the Boat.” Borgström explains that what was planned on only being a one-day protest expanded and multiplied, eventually morphing into a four-day blockade.

The Oakland activists’ action garnered attention from the international media, including the GuardianHaaretz, and more. Journalist Roqayah Chamseddine, however, noted the “unpublicized impact” of Block the Boat’s successes. Unsurprisingly, the same US corporate media that is so unsympathetic to the plight of a people that has been ethnically cleansed for 67 years and military occupied for 47 has also largely ignored the actions citizens within its own borders have taken to stop this horrific and violent oppression.

When Block the Boat is mentioned in the corporate media, it is typically discussed as though it was a one-time phenomenon. Yet Block the Boat did not end with Oakland’s August 2014 action. In the time since, the movement has only grown—and rapidly, at that. Oakland activists have called for “allies in cities across the US to join us in building on our historic victory against Zionism by ensuring that Zim ships are not welcome anywhere!”, and advocates worldwide are heeding their call. Similar actions are being organized in Seattle, Vancouver, New York, New Orleans, Tampa, and more.

In the meantime, California continues to lead the way.

Block the Boat Los Angeles

The weekend of 18 October, Palestinian solidarity activists in Los Angeles will be holding another Block the Boat action. Block the Boat Los Angeles is organizing a community picket at 6 am at the intersection of Pier A Way and Pier A Plaza, on Long Beach, to prevent a Zim ship from unloading.

Counterpunch2Block the Boat LA is holding an action 18 October
CREDIT: Facebook

I spoke with Block the Boat LA activists, inquiring about their motivations, experiences, and feelings about the new movement they are advancing. They stated that their principal goal is to stop ships “from unloading cargo made in Israel in an effort to peacefully apply economic pressure and fight Israeli Apartheid.”

LA activist Garrick Ruiz explained that the advocates “believe this form of peaceful protest through applying economic pressure is one way to get Israel to pay attention to the growing global public opposition to the illegal occupation of the Palestinian people,” calling the Block the Boat movement “our part in adding to the already powerful Israeli boycott movement happening around the globe.”

Contrary to rumors about the supposed “hostility” of Palestinian solidarity activists, Block the Boat LA was careful to insist that “Any hostility or aggressive behavior towards port personnel or in general is not accepted,” and that it encourages “a compassionate/inspiring attitude.”

Activists expressed excitement at the efficacy of the movement, calling Block the Boat “one of the most exciting and effective methods of BDS so far, with estimates that a few hours of delay could cause the Israeli owned ZIM cargo company millions of dollars.”

Block the Boat LA organizers gave me an overview of how they have developed. In August, Oakland’s Block the Boat for Gaza reached out to LA allies, asking the latter to form its own branch. The advocates understood that any vessel unable to dock in Oakland could simply move south and unload in an LA port. They consequently organized an informational picket on 13 August, in which 50 activists asked port workers for support in future community pickets.

On 23 August, Block the Boat LA, held its first successful protest. Approximately 250 protesters met from roughly 6 to 8:10 am, at which point the picket was declared successful and the workers went home. The little time that the action required demonstrated its efficacy, and inspired activists to continue moving forward.

Block the Boat LA has remained busy. In mid September, Block the Boat LA and Oakland representatives spoke at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation 13th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in San Diego, and organizers received national recognition among the larger Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Movement, of which it sees itself an important part.

The activists have too tried to strengthen their ties with local dock workers and unions. Block the Boat LA representatives attended various union meetings for ILWU Local 13 and Teamsters Local 848. On 4 October, activists held another informational picket, reaching out to dock laborers and port truckers.

Organizers told me they expect, as in their past demonstrations, to have hundreds of activists and workers in attendance at their 18 October protest. They also hope to reach non-union port truckers, in addition to the rank-and-file members of the local unions with whom they have worked.

The activists were incredibly accommodating, and included English-, Spanish-, and Arabic-language contacts in their press release. Block the Boat LA expressed optimism at its future, telling me that it “will continue to build with labor organizations, religious-based organizations, social justice organizations and the community at large.”

The organization itself is already a coalition of 18 civic engagement groups. It sees reaching out to a variety of community organizations as vital to building a strong, diverse base. Block the Boat activist Vicki Tamoush explained that “As a person of faith I see the protest against the Zim Savannah to stand against the injustice happening everyday in Palestine. My conscious tells me that killing 500 innocent children during Operation Protective Edge was wrong and that Israel should be held accountable.”

For those unable to physically attend the demonstration, activists recommend following and spreading the #BlockTheBoatLA tag on Twitter and  Facebook.

Oakland’s Block the Boat for Gaza

On 25 October, Palestinian human rights advocates in Oakland will be holding another Block the Boat action. Activists will meet at West Oakland Bart, at the Port of Oakland, at 5 am, and march to Berth 57.

I got in touch with Oakland Block the Boat activists as well. In their public Call to Action, they call for four simple demands:

End the siege on Gaza!
End the colonial occupation of Palestine!
Right of return for all Palestinian refugees!
Free all political prisoners!

The activists see themselves as part of the larger, international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which maintains the same goals. Their ultimate goal is to “Take the wind out of Zim’s sails!”, to boycott the company and prevent Israeli ships from docking in any port, until their demands are met, until Palestinian human rights are respected. In their Call to Action, they proclaim: “Not in Palestine, not in the Bay, not anywhere. Stand against Zionism everywhere!”

Block the Boat for Gaza, like its counterpart in LA, has reached out to local workers and unions, educating and handing out fliers. Moreover, like many Palestinian organizations, Oakland Block the Boat organizers have noted the close ties between Israeli corporations like Zim and other forms of repression and oppression around the world, writing:

The apartheid state of Israel not only impacts Palestinians, but also plays a role in the oppression of communities all across the globe. The Zim shipping line is instrumental in upholding this system of global repression. There are direct ties—training, weapons, and surveillance—between Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the increasingly militarized occupation of black and brown communities in the United States. And it is now a well-known fact that police departments in and around Ferguson, Missouri, have received training from Israel.

The Oakland activists say they “salute the longshoremen who stood with the Palestinian people by honoring our Block the Boat picket and refusing to unload Zim in” both August and September, and are calling on the workers to do the same in October.

Organizers of Block the Boat for Gaza note that although Israel’s military assault on Gaza was “halted, thanks to the Palestinian resistance,” the struggle is not over. “With the full support of the US  government, Israel continues to carry out its brutal occupation, confiscate more land and build more settlements, imprison thousands of Palestinians, and maintain the siege on Gaza as part of its policy of ethnic cleansing.”

US Palestinian activists recognize their complicity in fueling this occupation, repression, and ethnic cleansing, as $3.1 billion of the tax dollars they pay go to Israel each year. US allies are tired of their government bankrolling Israel’s destruction of Gaza, and seek a new, more direct strategy to force their government to listen to their calls, to practice democracy.

The Block the Boat movement sees itself as the next step in a long line of dock  organizing. Block the Boat for Gaza pointed out that:

Ports have historically been places for workers to assert their power and make social change. During apartheid in South Africa, ILWU workers refused to unload South African cargo in San Francisco in 1984. This action was a major catalyst for international anti-apartheid solidarity that helped topple the apartheid regime of South Africa.

As Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people become more and more flagrant, as racism in Israeli society becomes more and more extreme, and as the world stands up and says enough to the colonization, occupation, and torture of the indigenous Palestinians, activists are taking matters into their own hands. Public support for Palestine is growing, around the world. Block the Boat, and myriad actions like it, continue to grow. The world’s peoples are standing up for human rights, freedom, and dignity. This is how history is made. It always has been, and it always will be.

Ben Norton is an artist and activist. His website can be found at http://bennorton.com/.

BDS protestors confront Israeli shipping line in Tampa (Arab Daily News)

BDS protestors confront Israeli shipping line in Tampa

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The following is a write up of the Block the Boat Tampa picket and protest which was held in the morning hours of October 11th at the Port of Tampa against the ZIM ship, Alabama.

At 5:30 am, activists, community organizers, local labor union members and representatives and members from nearly two dozen social justice organizations marched down the entryway to the Port of Tampa where barricades were set up to stifle our resistance to Israeli apartheid entering our shores, our community in Tampa Bay.

With the wind at our backs of 18 endorsing organizations the world over, we refused the barricades and held signs and banners for the entering ILA Local 1402 members asking them to respect our picket line, as we would respect theirs-  Do not cross.  Delay the ZIM.  Show your solidarity for the children, women and men of Gaza who have just endured another genocidal offensive over the summer in the besieged coastal enclave that is the Gaza strip by Israeli forces.

A fleet of half a dozen cars full of blockaders drove slowly down the entry way to the Port flying Palestinian flags, waving signs and yelling our resistance to ZIM Integrated Shipping Services and occupation as police blared sirens, followed and issued citations.

10-12-14ZimProtestTampa5In the lead up to the action, several organizers went to the union hall every morning delivering letters directly written to the ILA 1402 rank and filers asking them to make a small sacrifice for the occupied Palestinian people and for the Palestinian dockworkers who are unable to work because of the seaport blockades.  Labor to labor and labor to community solidarity.

The ILA Local 1402 did not delay the ZIM.  They crossed our picket line.  But throughout the day, we received communications from several supportive longshoremen of the Local who asked us not to give up, not to quit, not to stop letting people know of the atrocities that were committed during Operation Protective Edge.

For four hours, dozens played drums, dozens more marched non stop  back and forth across the entry way to the port so that every single truck that would be transporting and distributing ZIM shipped cargo would not do so unabated.  Dozens more held signs and banners so that everyone knew that there was mass, united resistance to full US financial complicity and backing of Israel’s occupation and massacre of Palestinians.

For those who are now left battling the war of violently imposed humanitarian crisis in Gaza- for the 15,000 plus homes that were destroyed during Israel’s latest 51 day offensive that left over 2,150 Palestinian children, women and men dead- for those strangled under the 8 year siege by land, air and sea- we are already well into the stages of organizing the next blockade action which will take place on November 1st at the Port of Tampa.

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(Article and photos submitted by the Block the Boat Protestors, Tampa, Florida. Reach and support them at blocktheboattampa@riseup.net)

 

Video: Block the Boat Tampa: October 11, 2014

Block the Boat Tampa plans BDS action Saturday (WMNF News)

Published on Oct 10, 2014

Block the Boat Tampa plans BDS action Saturday.
WMNF News interview with Dezeray Lyn with Block the Boat Tampa by Seán Kinane. 2014 October 10.

The (ongoing) unpublicized impact of a successful BDS action (Alakhbar)

The (ongoing) unpublicized impact of a successful BDS action 

akhbar-logo2 (1)If Israel’s largest shipping firm Zim Integrated Shipping Services, self-described as being “one of the largest, leading carriers in the global container shipping industry,” thought troubles were over for them and their cargo, they soon figured out how wrong they were. Last month Al-Akhbar English reported on the steadfast Palestine solidarity activists of Block the Boat, who prevented the Israeli-owned Zim Piraeus from unloading its cargo. The investigative report highlighted the necessary work of the Block the Boat Coalition, whose members were spurred into action by shock over Israel’s latest crimes against the people of Palestine and the ongoing occupation, as well as the call by the Palestinian General Federation Trade Union (PGFTU), which asked for workers around the world to refuse to handle Israeli goods. The report detailed the results of the pickets, including the severe toll that the protests had on Zim and companies that shipped with them.

For four days, from August 16th to August 19th, protests organized by the Block The Boat Coalition and autonomous activists made history at the port of Oakland by preventing the Zim Piraeus from unloading most of its cargo.Kumars Salehi, a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, attended the historic four day action during which activists were told by a dockworker that “every twelve hours [they] delayed the Piraeus cost the company $50,000.” The myth of the unscathed Israeli shipping line was quickly dispelled.

Motivated by the success of the Block The Boat Coalition and others in August, a group calling itself the Stop Zim Action Committee began organizing to picket the arrival of the Zim Shanghai, a container ship registered in Hong Kong, on Saturday, September 27th. On that Saturday morning, there was an announcement made in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) dispatch hall which was meant to inspire workers to refuse jobs on the Zim Shanghai. Due in part to this announcement, it was reported that all but one longshoremen refused to take a job on the Zim ship, showing that rank and file were overwhelmingly on the side of the protesters. Statements made by ILWU Local 10 member Clarence Thomas at a recent panel discussion in Oakland indicate that the months of outreach to ILWU Local 10 rank-and-file by Block The Boat coalition participants were instrumental in motivating the longshoremen to stand down. Independent journalist Charlotte Silver, writing for The Electronic Intifada, notes that “the ILWU Local 10 has been out of contract since July, which means workers will notget paid if they do not work a shift, regardless whether there is a picket line or a health and safety concern.” One of the protesters, @violentfanon, who wishes to only be identified by his twitter username for privacy concerns, discussed the importance of the ILWU response with Al-Akhbar English, stating that “it wasn’t that the workers refused to cross the picket line for health and safety reasons, as they usually claim, they didn’t even take the dispatch tickets.”

Dispatch logs from San Francisco Bar Pilots, who are responsible for navigating the Zim Shanghai through the Bay and docking at the port, were provided to Al-Akhbar English and show that planned movements of the Zim Shanghai changed repeatedly, likely to interfere with the protest organizing. @violentfanon discussed what happened with Al-Akhbar English:

“The arrival time and destination of the ship were changed multiple times in an attempt to foil protestors, but these attempts were unsuccessful. The protesters had multiple ways of tracking the ship, including with inside information from sympathetic port employees, valuable relationships cultivated through months of outreach by participants in the Block The Boat coalition.”

Supporters of Israel are reluctantly taking notice of a pattern of response by activists to Zim shipping, whose imports include ammunition and who is tied to the production of white phosphorous, used by Israel against the people of Gaza in the war of 2008-2009. A recent J-Weekly editorial goes as far as to say about BDS that “this is a pattern that must be stopped,” calling it “sheer madness.” A letter to Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent about Block The Boat authored by the Zionist Organization of America protested what they called “a serious and recurring problem in Oakland,” which the Oakland police department “should be addressing.” Such reactions show just how absolutely terrified Israel’s supporters are of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, especially in light of its back-to-back gains – from Block the Boat and the passage of university resolutions to the American Studies Association voting to endorse the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. BDS has gone from being dismissed as an unexceptional paper tiger to being characterized as a well-organized and particularly dangerous movement that ‘must be stopped.’

Block the Boat Coalition activists who organized the successful pickets of the Zim Piraeus are planning another action on October 25th to picket the Zim Beijing cargo ship, with hopes to draw in close to a thousand protesters in a strong showing similar to August.

Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), had this to say:

“As we build for October 25th, we are in coordination with Block the Boat organizers holding solidarity actions in Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Tampa, New Orleans, and New York. Collectively we see this as a long term campaign to disrupt Israel’s flow of capital throughout North America. Our strategy is make it as inconvenient as possible for any port to do business with Zim and encourage the workers to help facilitate that process. And by centralizing the leadership of those most impacted by Israeli Apartheid, the Block the Boat Coalition is building a multi-racial, cross-sector grassroots movement advancing worker community solidarity and putting BDS into action.”

According to @violentfanon, Zim has already removed all Zim ship arrivals from their online schedule at Oakland and LA ports following October 25th, done shortly after the announcement was made about the date for the October 25 action. “These protests in Oakland are demonstrating to Israel that, at a minimum, they will pay the price of economic isolation for their repeated violations of international law and human rights. A strong showing on October 25th could mean an end to all Zim arrivals at the Port of Oakland.

Roqayah Chamseddine is a Sydney based Lebanese-American journalist and commentator. She tweets @roqchams and writes ‘Letters From the Underground.

Zionist Organization of America head calls for arrest of Block the Boat protesters (Electronic Intifada)

Electronic Intifada

Zionist Organization of America head calls for arrest of Block the Boat protesters

ZOA

Activists have repeatedly prevented Israeli shipping vessels from unloading their cargo in US ports since August. (Daniel Arauz/Flickr)

Activists preventing the unloading of Israeli cargo ships at the Oakland Port in protest of violations of Palestinian rights have drawn the ire of Israel advocacy groups.

Last week, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, wrote a letter to the chief of the Oakland Police Department, Sean Whent, chastizing his department for failing to “intervene and ensure that the Zim ship could unload its cargo.”

“Anti-Semitic protesters have been blocking vessels owned by Zim Integrated Shipping Ltd., an Israel-based shipping company, from docking at the Port of Oakland, and preventing dockworkers from unloading the cargo,” Klein complains in his letter. “This problem occurred for several days in August and it occurred again last week.”

Klein’s letter, excerpts of which were printed in The Jerusalem Post, seizes on a dockworkers union’s characterization of the protesters as “threatening,” and questions why the police did not do more to squelch the demonstration.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union stated after the last protest on 27 September that “Longshoremen and Clerks trying to report to work were threatened physically at some points of ingress and their personal vehicles were physically blocked.”

The Zionist Organization of America’s Klein writes:

“Why didn’t the police intervene and ensure that international commerce could proceed unimpeded? Why didn’t the police arrest the protesters, who may well have violated the law by physically threatening dockworkers, physically blocking personal vehicles, and preventing the ship from docking and unloading as authorized?”

Klein’s public relations manager declined to give The Electronic Intifada the full letter because he did not want his client to be “conveyed in any negative context.”

JCRC intervention

In August, another Israel advocacy group, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), issued a press statement condemning the port protests as an “overt expression of extremism” that “unjustly singles out” Israel.

public records request to the City of Oakland reveals that the port managers met with leaders of the JCRC on 31 July in preparation for the protests scheduled for August.

Emails between Myrna David, JCRC East Bay Regional Director, and city councilmember Dan Kalb indicate the latter was invited but declined to attend the meeting.

Following the meeting, David wrote to Kalb, “We got the impression OPD [Oakland Police Department] is expected on the scene and should be well prepared.”

Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the JCRC, was included on the email thread. Kahn is a leading anti-Palestinian voice in the Bay Area and vocal opponentof the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

The JCRC and Kahn have a long history of organizing against and stifling Palestine support work in the Bay Area, as has been documented previously by The Electronic Intifada.

In 2006, the JCRC characterized a proposed mural at San Francisco State University, designed to honor the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said, as “threatening” to Jewish students on campus. The group helped pressure the university administration to censor the imagery in the mural.

Using a similar charge, in 2007, the JCRC worked with the Anti-Defamation League to pressure the San Francisco Arts Commission to compel artists working on a local mural to eliminate Palestinian symbols from it.

And in 2011, the JCRC played a central role in pressuring the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in Oakland to cancel an exhibition of drawings done by Palestinian children from Gaza which Kahn said could “potentially create an unsafe atmosphere for Jewish children.”

The JCRC did not respond to The Electronic Intifada’s request for comment.

Port shutdowns

Seeking the intervention of the police and local government leaders, port representatives have expressed concern that the site has become a regular target for political protests since the Occupy movement emerged in late 2011.

On 8 August, the president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association wrote to a handful of state leaders, including Governor Jerry Brown and the Oakland mayor, that:

“The Port has become a focal point for demonstrators as an outgrowth of two prior shutdowns of the Port due to the Occupy Movement. The Port of Oakland was the only port in the United States in which operations were halted due to the Occupy demonstrations. Given that well publicized success, the Port of Oakland is now a constant target of those who want to amplify their voice regarding their opinions of any number of issues.”

Robert Bernardo, spokesperson for the Port of Oakland, told The Electronic Intifada that he was not aware of any ongoing conversations with community groups such as the JCRC, but emphasized that the port is “working closely with law enforcement and our business partners to ensure flow of commerce continues even in the case of a peaceful protest.”

“We at the Port of Oakland support free speech, but our main priority is to keep goods flowing,” Bernardo said.

When asked to describe how they would “ensure” that, Bernardo conceded that it was not possible to predict or go into the details.

Undeterred protests

Activists in California prevented two vessels belonging to Israel’s largest shipping company from unloading any of its cargo at the Oakland port for two weekends in the last two months, and the Block the Boat Coalition is planning another protest for 25 October.

The coalition which planned August’s protest that brought out thousands of demonstrators to the port and prevented the ship’s unloading for four consecutive days say they hope to build a broad base of support for the actions by strengthening ties between the workers and Palestine solidarity groups.

“The Zim Line reflects the huge flow of capital from Israel into the Bay Area and it is an opportunity for building a relationship between workers and Palestine solidarity activists,” Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, said in August.

And despite the language used by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in their 27 September statement, Block the Boat organizers have stressedtheir outreach to dock workers and organized labor for the protest later this month.

Contrary to some media reports as well as a statement issued by the ILWU, the repeat of the picket line last month was not organized by the same Block the Boat coalition which plannd the August action. A new group calling itself the “Stop Zim Action Committee” called for the picket line, and successfully convinced workers to abstain from working the Zim Line on the morning of 27 September.

ILWU has a long history of refusing to load ships from countries engaging in gross violations of human rights. In the 1930s, West Coast dockworkers refused to load and offload ships belonging to Italy after they invaded Ethiopia, and Japan after it invaded Manchuria.

In 1978 and 1980, ILWU refused to load military cargo headed for Chile and El Salvador, respectively. And in 1984, the union refused to unload a South African ship for eleven consecutive days.