Cynthia McKinney Letter to ILWU in Support of Port Actions Against the War
Power to the Committee to Elect Cynthia McKinney for President
Post Office Box 311759 _ Atlanta, GA 31131-1759
Telephone 510-250-0729
www.RunCynthiaRun.org
April 2, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters of the ILWU,
Your powerful Longshore Caucus resolution, "For Workers' Action to Stop the War", and your decision to stop work on the West Coast docks May 1st, inspires all of us who have taken up the struggle to end the disastrous war and occupation of Iraq, foisted on us by the Republican administration, and continually funded without substantial objection by both the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress. Sadly, the Bush-Pelosi war policy is a formula for endless global conflict, deterioration of the rule of law among nations, and growing impoverishment, indebtedness and evisceration of workers' rights and civil liberties here at home.
While many unions pass resolution after resolution while doing little to actually stop the bloodshed, for generations the ILWU has shown that we can resist the war-mongering corporate politicians, and their profiteering attempts to divide the labor movement and weaken our capacity to organize and resist their destructive actions.
Once again, your union is setting a shining example for working people everywhere-as you did in 1978, when you refused to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile; in 1984, when you refused to move South African cargo to protest the racist apartheid government; in 1996, when you honored the picket line for striking dockworkers in Liverpool, England; in 1999, when you shut down the Pacific Coast to protest the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle; in 2001, when you prepared a Coast-wide work stoppage in defense of five gallant longshoremen in Charleston, South Carolina, who were charged with felonies for walking a picket line; not to mention the numerous times that you have stopped trade on the West Coast waterfront in support of Black political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
I want you and your members to know that at least one 2008 Presidential candidate is proud to stand up publicly in full and unqualified support of your resolution to celebrate International Workers Day by protesting the war and occupation where it counts: at the point of production. My campaign, the Power to the People Campaign, will stand with you on May 1st, all along the West Coast, and anyplace where working people take up your call to resist the war. We'll be with you on the picket line.
With gratitude for the courage and principles of the women and men of the West Coast docks, I hereby offer my total support for your action. In the days leading up to May 1st, and beyond, I pledge to make backing up the ILWU a central goal of my campaign. Please contact me to discuss how we can best assist in your heroic effort.
In Solidarity,
Cynthia McKinney
Candidate for President of the United States
Power To The People Coalition
Also see:
ILWU to Shut Down Ports May 1 Demanding End to War in Iraq, Afghanistan
tribes.tribe.net/nobloodfo...817def77c0
This has been distributed by Liberation News, subscribe free:
lists.riseup.net/www/info/...ation_news
Cool Earth Party
tribes.tribe.net/coolearth
Come to the May Day protest in San Francisco
WHEN: 10:30 a.m., May 1, followed by a rally at noon.
WHERE: Longshore Union Hall, corner of Mason and Beach (near Fisherman's Wharf).
WHAT: March to a rally at Justin Herman Plaza along the Embarcadero.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.ilwu.org/ and www.transportworkers.org/ or call (415) 776-8100.
Power to the Committee to Elect Cynthia McKinney for President
Post Office Box 311759 _ Atlanta, GA 31131-1759
Telephone 510-250-0729
www.RunCynthiaRun.org
April 2, 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters of the ILWU,
Your powerful Longshore Caucus resolution, "For Workers' Action to Stop the War", and your decision to stop work on the West Coast docks May 1st, inspires all of us who have taken up the struggle to end the disastrous war and occupation of Iraq, foisted on us by the Republican administration, and continually funded without substantial objection by both the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress. Sadly, the Bush-Pelosi war policy is a formula for endless global conflict, deterioration of the rule of law among nations, and growing impoverishment, indebtedness and evisceration of workers' rights and civil liberties here at home.
While many unions pass resolution after resolution while doing little to actually stop the bloodshed, for generations the ILWU has shown that we can resist the war-mongering corporate politicians, and their profiteering attempts to divide the labor movement and weaken our capacity to organize and resist their destructive actions.
Once again, your union is setting a shining example for working people everywhere-as you did in 1978, when you refused to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile; in 1984, when you refused to move South African cargo to protest the racist apartheid government; in 1996, when you honored the picket line for striking dockworkers in Liverpool, England; in 1999, when you shut down the Pacific Coast to protest the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle; in 2001, when you prepared a Coast-wide work stoppage in defense of five gallant longshoremen in Charleston, South Carolina, who were charged with felonies for walking a picket line; not to mention the numerous times that you have stopped trade on the West Coast waterfront in support of Black political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
I want you and your members to know that at least one 2008 Presidential candidate is proud to stand up publicly in full and unqualified support of your resolution to celebrate International Workers Day by protesting the war and occupation where it counts: at the point of production. My campaign, the Power to the People Campaign, will stand with you on May 1st, all along the West Coast, and anyplace where working people take up your call to resist the war. We'll be with you on the picket line.
With gratitude for the courage and principles of the women and men of the West Coast docks, I hereby offer my total support for your action. In the days leading up to May 1st, and beyond, I pledge to make backing up the ILWU a central goal of my campaign. Please contact me to discuss how we can best assist in your heroic effort.
In Solidarity,
Cynthia McKinney
Candidate for President of the United States
Power To The People Coalition
Also see:
ILWU to Shut Down Ports May 1 Demanding End to War in Iraq, Afghanistan
tribes.tribe.net/nobloodfo...817def77c0
This has been distributed by Liberation News, subscribe free:
lists.riseup.net/www/info/...ation_news
Cool Earth Party
tribes.tribe.net/coolearth
Come to the May Day protest in San Francisco
WHEN: 10:30 a.m., May 1, followed by a rally at noon.
WHERE: Longshore Union Hall, corner of Mason and Beach (near Fisherman's Wharf).
WHAT: March to a rally at Justin Herman Plaza along the Embarcadero.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.ilwu.org/ and www.transportworkers.org/ or call (415) 776-8100.
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Re: Cynthia McKinney Letter to ILWU in Support of Port Actions Against the War
Sat, May 3, 2008 - 8:25 PMshe's an idiot of a very high order. oh, and an anti-semite. big surprise. -
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Re: Cynthia McKinney Letter to ILWU in Support of Port Actions Against the War
Sun, May 4, 2008 - 1:17 PM
She's not an idiot, nor is she an anti-semite.
Here's the speech she gave at the rally:
Presentation by Cynthia McKinney:
Hello! Today was a beautiful day. Longshore and Warehouse workers all up and down the West Coast, from the border with Canada to the border with Mexico, refused to go to work for eight hours and rallied against the war instead. This work stoppage included Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, the nation's busiest and second busiest ports, respectively. Grassroots members of the Democratic Party are unnerved at reports that Speaker Pelosi is planning yet another "blank check," war funding bill for the President's signature. Today's action of resistance marked a distinct signal in the heart of a core constituency of the Democratic Party that something is about to change. A representative of the Freightliner Five in North Carolina joined us in San Francisco as an act of solidarity, even as they struggle against their own corporate labor leadership. Work stoppages of solidarity were reported in New Jersey, Texas, and even in Iraq! One thousand marchers, Danny Glover, and Cindy Sheehan joined me at the rally. Here are my remarks:
Cynthia McKinney
ILWU Bay Area Remarks
San Francisco, California
May Day, 2008
It's a beautiful San Francisco day for a peace and dignity strike!
One day off to put peace and justice on the table! Today's action is as historically significant as the decision of four young university students who sat in for justice.
The strong, proud men and women of the ILWU have drawn a line in the sand. And I am proud of you!
By your actions here today, you too have declared your independence: from the policy makers now responsible for every bomb dropped, every child killed, every veteran maimed, every dream deferred.
Your line in the sand is a demand for public policy that reflects your values.
Your line in the sand:
A livable wage,
Repeal of the Bush tax cuts,
Repeal of the Patriot Acts, the Secret Evidence Act, the Military Commissions Act.
The right to unionize,
Single-payer health care,
Repeal of NAFTA,
An end to the Bush-Pelosi war.
Military Recruiters out and more teachers in our classrooms!
Nancy Pelosi wants to sneak another war-funding bill to the President. She thinks we don't know. She thinks we won't care. She thinks she can bushwhack and bamboozle us from the Speaker's Chair.
But Nancy, we're watching you! In fact, the whole world is watching. We see you when you choose to spend $720 million a day for war and yet teachers are being laid off in your district!
Speaker Pelosi, we see you when you remain silent on torture that violates the law; irreparably harms and sometimes even kills the innocent; and robs us all of our dignity as Americans.
Speaker Pelosi, and my former colleagues, how can you continue to give a half-trillion dollars annually to the Pentagon-an institution that's "lost" $2.3 trillion, and that didn't even protect itself on September 11th?
Republican President Dwight Eisenhower told us that every dime spent on war was in a very real sense a theft from those who are in need of food, shelter, and clothing.
Senator Feinstein was forced to leave the Military Construction subcommittee because she was voting on public policy that directly benefited her husband. And hence, her own bottom line.
The ILWU and all of us gathered here today want our young men and women to come home now-alive.
All of us gathered here today understand what George Washington warned of over 200 years ago: He warned us to beware the false patriots who, by cunning and ambition subvert the power of the people and usurp for themselves the very reins of government.
Snipers' bullets and assassins stole my generation of true patriots. One of them said, "A man can't ride your back unless it's bent." Our representatives can betray our values only so long as we continue to give them our vote, because it is our votes that give them their position of power over us.
Another of my generation's true patriots said, "Some see things as they are and say why; I dream of things that never were and say 'Why not?'" With our vision, values, and our votes, we can make real our dreams that never were. Why not?
Thank you!
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I travel next to Detroit to participate on May 3rd in special Water Commission hearings as the right to and a lack of water is being discussed by residents. For more information on my schedule, please visit www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com.
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Ban Seth’s identity theft alt Duana!
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 12:52 AMIt is pretty shitty for Seth to come in here and take over a black woman's identity so as to slime Black people. It is in fact illegal to steal someones photo and pass them off as a fake identity. A felony, in fact. Identity theft.
And for him to say racist shit like:
“Blacks are better basketball because we come from Africa, where we jumped high to get bananas out of trees. Survival of the fittest, you know?
“Funny how, if Rev Wright talks about racial dfferences, liberal ears perk up --imagine if McCain had said that?”
uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/...9acd07d3
Ban Seth’s identity theft alt Duana!
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