[Educationforall] spam con huevos, labor news, views and concerns, 12.06.11-I
Carlos Pelayo
cgpelayo at hotmail.com
Wed Dec 7 08:26:51 UTC 2011
Thursday: Vigil and Silent March for the Jobless
Unions and Immigrants and the Occupy Movement
Port Action needs for December 12
You've Got to See This
CONTINUAN AMENAZAS CONTRA SINALTRAINAL...Rv: O se largan o se mueren
Read These Powerful Stories
Latin America: a start point
GROWS FOR OCCUPY MOVEMENT'S COORDINATED WEST COAST SHUT DOWN
Stand For Freedom - Defend the Right to Vote: December 10th March in NYC
Let's demand better in 2012
Many Workers in Public Sector Retiring Sooner
Wal-Mart Debate Rages in India
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
From: The San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council <info at unionyes.org>
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 20:11:02 -0500 (EST)
To: <info at lclaa-sdimpcounties.org>
ReplyTo: info at unionyes.org
Subject: Thursday: Vigil and Silent March for the Jobless
National Day of Mobilization for the Unemployed and for Jobs
Unless Congress acts now, lifeline aid for nearly 2 million workers who have lost jobs will be cut off December 31 as the extended unemployment insurance benefits expire. Not only will this have devastating impacts on already struggling families, but also on our economy, which grows by $2 for every dollar spent on unemployment insurance.
Join us Thursday at 5 p.m. for a candlelight vigil and silent march to the Federal Building to urge Congress to extend Unemployment Insurance now.
Candlelight Vigil and Silent March
Thursday, December 6 at 5:00 p.m.
Civic Center Plaza
B St. & 3rd Ave
P.S. Tell Congress to create jobs! Sign the petition here. America wants to work!!
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
FROM PLANTON TO OCCUPY
Unions and Immigrants and the Occupy Movement
By David Bacon
http://www.truth-out.org/unions-and-immigrants-join-occupy-movements/1323183717
OAKLAND, CA (12/5/11) -- When Occupy Seattle called its tent camp "Planton Seattle," camp organizers were laying a local claim to a set of tactics used for decades by social movements in Mexico, Central America and the Philippines. And when immigrant janitors marched down to the detention center in San Diego and called their effort Occupy ICE (the initials of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency responsible for mass deportations), people from countries with that planton tradition were connecting it to the Occupy movement here.
The banners at Occupy Seattle
This shared culture and history offer new possibilities to the Occupy movement for survival and growth at a time when the Federal law enforcement establishment, in cooperation with local police departments and municipal governments, has uprooted many tent encampments. Different Occupy groups from Wall Street to San Francisco have begun to explore their relationship with immigrant social movements in the U.S., and to look more closely at the actions of the 1% beyond our borders that produces much of the pressure for migration.
Reacting to the recent evictions, the Coalition for the Political Rights of Mexicans Abroad recently sent a support letter to Occupy Wall Street and the other camps under attack. "We greet your movement," it declared, "because your struggle against the suppression of human rights and against social and economic injustice has been a fundamental part of our struggle, that of the Mexican people who cross borders, and the millions of Mexican migrants who live in the United States."
Many of those migrants living in the U.S. know the tradition of the planton and how it's used at home. And they know that the 1%, whose power is being challenged on Wall Street, also designed the policies that are the very reason why immigrants are living in the U.S. to begin with. Mike Garcia, president of United Service Workers West/SEIU, the union that organized Occupy ICE, described immigrant janitors as "displaced workers of the new global economic order, an order led by the West and the United States in particular."
Criminalizing the act of camping out in a public space is intended, at least in part, to keep a planton tradition from acquiring the same legitimacy in the U.S. that it has in other countries. That right to a planton was not freely conceded by the rulers of Mexico, El Salvador or the Philippines, however -- no more than it has been conceded here. The 99% of those countries had to fight for it.
Two of the biggest battles of modern Mexican political history were fought in the Tlatelolco Plaza, where hundreds of students were gunned down in 1968, and three years later in Mexico City streets where more were beaten and shot by the paramilitary Halcones. In both El Salvador and the Philippines, strikers have a tradition of living at the gates of the factory or enterprise where they work. But even today that right must be defended against the police, and (at least until the recent election of the Funes and Aquino governments) even the military.
Plantons or encampments don't stand alone. They are tactics used by unions, students, farmers, indigenous organizations and other social movements. Each planton is a visible piece of a movement or organization -- a much larger base. When the plantons are useful to those movements, they defend them. That connection between planton and movement, between the encampment and its social base, is as important as holding the physical space on which the tents are erected.
For the last two years that relationship has been very clear in the Zocalo, Mexico City's huge central plaza. During that time, fired members of Mexico's independent leftwing electrical workers union, the SME, have lived in a succession of plantons. They've often been elaborate, with kitchens, meeting rooms and communications centers, in addition to the tents where people slept and ate.
At various time, the SME encampment was one of several in the huge square. A year ago the workers were joined by indigenous Triqui and Mixtec women from Oaxaca, who protested the violence used by their state's previous governor against teachers' strikes and rural organizations. The social movement in Oaxaca, which the women represented in Mexico City, grew strong enough to finally knock the old ruling party, the PRI, from the governorship it had held for almost 80 years.
In the Zocalo plantons, people from different organizations mix it up. Last September's Day of the Indignant brought together people from very diverse movements. Some see electoral politics as a vehicle for change, but many indigenous activists and SME members don't. Even among those who do, there are deep disagreements over how to participate in the electoral process.
But the people in the Zocalo have two things in common. Different plantons may not see every political question eye-to-eye, but each represents a social movement in the world outside the plaza. And the planton itself has value primarily because it forces public attention to focus on the crisis that has led each group to set up its encampment.
The SME workers used their plantons to dramatize repression by the Federal government. When Mexican President Felipe Calderon dissolved the state-run power company for central Mexico and fired its 44,000 employees, he sought to destroy their union and move towards the privatization of the electrical system -- to benefit Mexican and foreign 1%ers. A year ago, several SME members conducted a hunger strike at the planton that generated front page headlines for weeks, and lasted so long that doctors warned participants they were risking death. At the height of the protest, the union battled police in front of the power stations, as it tried to exercise its legal right to strike and picket.
The planton and the movement outside it were intimately connected. The hunger strikers were few, but spoke for a union of tens of thousands of workers. In the end, the SME negotiated the removal of its last planton in return for government acknowledgement of its right to exist. It organized other unions to resist the government's assault on labor rights, and mobilized electricity consumers to protest rising bills and cuts in service. The planton helped to focus attention on these demands, and to pull the union's allies into action.
Clearly someone in Seattle knows this tradition of plantons in the Zocalo, perhaps even as a participant. When the painter made the Seattle banner, she or he also included, right next to the word "planton", the anarchists' "A" with the circle around it. This symbol was a reminder of another aspect of cross-border fertilization. Many anarchists or anarcho-syndicalists -- members of the Industrial Workers of the World - fought in the Mexican Revolution. Because of that revolutionary upheaval, even today, almost a century later, ordinary Mexicans expect certain rights, including the right to set up a tent in the Zocalo. U.S. workers crossed the border to fight alongside Mexicans in that insurrection long ago, for a government that would acknowledge that right. The planton, therefore, is a common heritage, with a history that makes it as legitimate on Wall Street as it is in Mexico City.
Not long after the OWS camp was set up in Zuccotti Park, the planton/occupy movement crossed the U.S./Mexico border. In Tijuana, home to a million people, mostly displaced migrants from Mexico's south, activists came together and set up an occupation on the grassy median of the Paseo de los Heroes. Their tents were pitched in the middle of the Zona del Rio, where the city's 1% meet in fancy hotels and work in government offices. Then, on October 18 police reacted even earlier than they did in most U.S. cities, arresting two dozen activists at the urging of local businessmen. Occupy Tijuana condemned the detentions, declaring, "We are not assassins, delinquents, tramps or crooks."
In the U.S. we have our own history of defending public space for protest, and it isn't necessary to reach back a hundred years to find it. In just the last few decades, immigrant workers have popularized the use of the planton here, helping unions recover the militant tactics of their own past. In 1992 immigrants trying to join the United Electrical Workers mounted the first strike among production workers in Silicon Valley, and set up a planton and conducted a hunger strike to pressure their employer. A year later other Latino immigrants in San Francisco erected their tents on the sidewalk in front of Sprint's headquarters, after their workplace was closed days before they were scheduled to vote in a union election.
A decade ago anti-globalization activists and unions shut down the meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. Young protestors chained their arms together inside metal pipes, and lay down in the intersections of downtown Seattle. Tens of thousands took over the streets. Other anti-globalization protests followed, in which activists battled for their right to use public space to challenge the international policies of the 1%.
Working=class support for the battle in Seattle had its roots in the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Workers could see the cost of free trade in the loss of their own jobs, as production moved south. Over the last two decades, many have also discovered that those same agreements and policies didn't make Mexicans better off, but led to their impoverishment as well.
NAFTA and free market policies forced on developing countries produced opportunities for banks and corporations to reap profits. They drove down wages, forced farmers off their land, and destroyed the unions and livelihood of millions of people. This system was designed on Wall Street, by the same bankers Occupiers hold responsible for the current crisis of foreclosures and unemployment in the U.S. The current economic crisis doesn't stop at the border. In fact in Mexico, Central America, the Philippines and elsewhere, it's been a fact of life for a long time. This is the source of forced migration -- what Garcia condemned at Occupy ICE.
The 99% live in all those countries where free trade agreements and structural adjustment policies are imposed. They also live in the communities of people who have come here as a result. Who, then, are more natural allies for Occupy protestors than people who've been on the receiving end of these policies for years?
In New York this connection wasn't lost on Occupy Wall Street. In October a group, Occupy Wall Street - Español was formed at the first Asemblea en Español. They, in turn, translated the first issue of the Occupied Wall Street Journal. Participants formed a subgroup, Occupy Wall Street Latinoamericano to spread the movement to Spanish-speaking communities, recognizing that the city is home to so many Mexicans from the state of Puebla that its nickname is PueblaYork, as well as much older established communities of Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Ecuadorians and other Spanish-speaking people. The group will soon publish the first issue of its own newspaper, with articles talking about immigration, globalization, and the specific attacks by the 1% on Latinos.
Claudia Villegas, a women's rights activist working with the group Occupy Wall Street Latinoamericano, helped organize a demonstration of immigrant women four days after police raided the Zuccotti Park encampment. "We decided to change our original plan for a march because we were afraid they would stop it," she says. "Nevertheless, 23 organizations participated including women's rights groups and above all, those working with immigrant women."
In San Francisco a joint march of immigrant activists and Occupy participants helped to defend that city's encampment. In the general assembly meeting preceding it participants talked about the city's offer to move the Occupiers into an abandoned building in the Latino Mission District several miles away. Few wanted to give up the camp on Justin Herman Plaza, and most felt the city was just trying to move them out of sight. But many people also felt that having an Occupy camp in the barrio was a good idea.
"We're still really working in parallel," Villegas says. She draws attention to the potential power of the immigrant rights movement, and what it could mean to OWS. "We have to include the movement that began in 2006, when there were hundreds of thousands of people in the streets across this country. People were reacting to the injustice of the system then too." They're separate movements, though, she warns, and "our agenda has to come from immigrants themselves. We need to integrate, and at the same time the Occupy movement has to learn to accept us. But we're all on the same path."
Bringing the immigrant and Occupy movements together means more than setting up an encampment. The San Diego demonstration didn't set up an overnight camp, but it brought thousands of workers and supporters down to the ICE detention center to protest the firings of immigrant janitors.
The Occupy ICE protest was intended to draw public attention to the Federal government's immigration enforcement strategy that requires employers to fire undocumented workers. In Southern California, the multinational corporations who clean office buildings are terminating 2000 union members. Earlier waves of firings have targeted unionized building cleaners in Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco, sewing machine operators in Los Angeles, food service workers on university campuses, and thousands of others.
Garcia says ICE and the employers are in collusion. After firing union janitors with high seniority and benefits, using immigration status as a pretext, the companies can then hire new workers at lower wages with fewer benefits. "To hide their greed the commercial real estate industry has used the tools of government to confuse and divide the 99%," he charges. "They first said we were unskilled workers who should be happy to be working. They then weakened worker protections to make organizing virtually impossible. Over the last decade the industry has used immigration as a wedge to intimidate and, if need be, replace our workers. ICE is doing what the 1% corporate real estate industry wants: using immigration laws to recycle well paid janitors in the hopes of taking back gains in pay and benefits our union has won." [Ironically the week USWW organized Occupy ICE its parent union, SEIU, endorsed the reelection of President Obama, who is responsible for the ICE policy of firing workers.]
For Occupy, defending workers under attack is a way to survive, grow roots and develop a strong base. That's not always the direction activists take, however. Near Oakland, over two hundred immigrant workers at the largest foundry on the west coast, Pacific Steel Casting in Berkeley, are being fired in another "silent raid" like that hitting the janitors. Through the summer and fall, foundry workers went to city councils, unions, churches and community organizations, seeking help to pressure ICE not to force them from their jobs. Their campaign held "the migra" off for months, but the firings began nevertheless in November. Now these immigrant families are trying to survive. Occupy Oakland has yet to respond, however.
Instead, some of its activists are trying to shut down work in Oakland's port a second time, as well as others along the west coast. An earlier march to close the port after the first eviction of Occupy Oakland drew thousands of people. The proposal for a second coast-wide shutdown, however, is opposed by the longshore union. The ILWU's opposition does not come from conservatism. The union, whose members make a living from international shipping and trade, has been one of the most vocal critics of U.S. free trade agreements. ILWU members have taken action many times to defend the SME and unions in Mexico, as well as other countries. Its locals, however, had no role in the decision to try to close the ports, nor did other port workers.
Solidarity is a two-way street, based on mutual respect. In most cities, including Oakland and San Francisco, labor has welcomed Occupy and sought to defend the encampments. In New York, Occupy activists have been given resources in many union halls, and unions have mobilized against police raids at Zuccotti Park. An alliance of unions, immigrants and Occupiers has great potential strength, not just in numbers, but also in the exchange of ideas and tactics. Unions in particular might benefit from wider use of the planton or Occupy encampment. Occupy ICE challenges the Occupy movement to take up the firings of immigrant workers, but it's also a challenge to unions themselves, many of whom have watched in silence as longtime members were forced from their jobs.
The vision of Occupy -- the 99% vs. the 1% -- has enormous support among immigrants and unions. In place of the tired rhetoric of politicians, shedding crocodile tears for the "middle class" while demonizing the poor, Occupy gives workers a vision of their commonality in the 99%. This powerful message blows away illusions that higher-paid workers have more in common with stockbrokers than with immigrants laboring at minimum wage, or unemployed young people on the streets of African American ghettos or Latino barrios.
The Coalition for the Political Rights of Mexicans Abroad shares the same vision of class-based commonality. "We are outraged," it says, "that U.S. citizens, when they demand justice and expose the inequalities that exist in their society, are treated like criminals. With the same outrage, we condemn the criminalization of migrant Mexicans by the U.S. government, the raids by immigration authorities [and] the militarization of the border...No human being should be treated as a criminal because they struggle to find better conditions in which to live."
For more articles and images, see http://dbacon.igc.org
See also Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2002
See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the US
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4575
See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html --
__________________________________
David Bacon, Photographs and Stories
http://dbacon.igc.org
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
1 attachment (1.1 KB)
message-f...txt
Download(1.1 KB)
Download as zip
For the Dec. 12 port action, "Occupy the Ports! A Day Without Goldman
Sachs!" we are especially in need of transportation, as well as legal
observers and support, and of course participants.
This week, outreach is still very important. You can download a
quarter sheet flyer (four images on an 8-1/2X11 sheet) with the basic
info, including contact info, from www.occupytheports.com [not our
website]. If you can copy and distribute it, particularly in South
Bay and Harbor area cities (for example, Torrance, Gardena, Compton,
Wilmington, Carson, and San Pedro) and at campuses in that area (for
example, CSU LB and Dominguez Hills, LBCC, Compton College, etc.)
that would be very helpful.
People can come down the night before, Sunday Dec. 11 to Occupy Long
Beach in Lincoln Park, downtown Long Beach near City Hall. They have
their general assembly from 4-6:00 PM, which will be followed by a
port action/General Strike Preparation Committee mtg at 6:00 PM. We
will be finalizing some logistical details and making placards and banners.
The day of, Monday, Dec. 12, we will be car-pooling from 1st and Main
in downtown LA (the corner of Solidarity Park outside City Hall) at
4:15 AM. We need drivers, and if anyone can provide a bus or some
large vans (say from a church, union, or university) that would be
fantastic. Contact occupytheports at gmail.com or 323-901-4269 if you can help.
We will be gathering in Long Beach for the action at 5:00 AM in Harry
Bridges Park. This is right next to the Queen Mary past downtown Long
Beach, at the foot of the 710 freeway. When you exit the freeway,
there will be signs directing you into parking for the Queen Mary. We
will have to park there, as street parking in the area is extremely
limited. Parking is $12 flat rate (it's open 24/7 as it's parking for
the hotel and restaurants as well as the vessel). You can walk back
out (I believe the directional signs say "Events Park" rather than
Harry Bridges); the park is right along the water's edge north of the
freeway off-ramp. There may still be some road work going on.
Depending on the numbers we rally, and the freedom we have to operate
(port police etc may shut down roads to prevent access), we will
march on at least one nearby (about a mile) SSA Marine terminal gate.
We cannot and will not enter the terminal etc. We are planning a
legal, public protest and if possible a community picket. If we have
very large numbers, or if we are prevented for approaching that
particular terminal, there are other possible facilities owned by or
associated with SSA Marine (a Goldman Sachs company) that we could
drive to and rally outside of.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
AMAZING
You’ve got to see this—these stories from jobless workers blew us away.
See the stories, share them and add your voice.
You need to check out this website, right now.
It’s a powerful reminder of the real faces behind America’s sobering unemployment statistics. It has real pictures and stories from job-hunters and impacted people from all walks of life—from your state and from every state.
I hope you’ll take a minute to look at these powerful stories, share them and add your own.
If Congress fails to act by Dec. 31, extended unemployment insurance will expire for millions.
We never forget these are real people who face the prospect of going hungry and getting thrown out of their homes soon after the holidays if Congress fails to act. Many of us have been there before—or have friends and family who have.
Even though obstructionists in Congress are willing to ignore our joblessness crisis, we refuse to let these stories get brushed under the rug.
Click here to see and share the stories and faces behind America’s joblessness crisis.
Then, share our website on Facebook and Twitter and forward this message to all your friends.
These stories and pictures won’t just live on a website. We’ll share them with the media, hand-deliver them to Congress during our massive day of action on Dec. 8 and promote them widely on the Internet.
If callous members of Congress think they can sit back and allow unemployment aid to expire while they play political games, they’re wrong. With your help we’re going to force them to see this crisis head-on—with real faces of real people who are jobless and struggling in this brutal economy.
See these stories, share them and add your voice.
In Solidarity,
Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO
P.S. It’s not just people who are unemployed right now who have stories to tell. Millions of others do, too.
Maybe you’ve been jobless in the past and relied on unemployment benefits to get through. Or you’ve seen firsthand how much unemployment hurts your community and America—and how much unemployment aid helps. Or maybe you can write a brief statement of support for the jobless or urge Congress to act—even in just one to two sentences.
Together, we’re creating a visual display of the impact of unemployment that will be too powerful to ignore. See and share stories and statements in your state and across America. Then, add your own.
To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerardo Cajamarca <gcajamarca at sinaltrainal.org>
To: Gerardo Cajamarca <gcajamarca at sinaltrainal.org>
Sent: Thu, Dec 1, 2011 2:18 pm
Subject: CONTINUAN AMENAZAS CONTRA SINALTRAINAL...Rv: O se largan o se mueren
"Malditos guerrilleros disfrasaos de sindicalistas se largan ose muerengonorreas". Es el texto de las nuevas amenazas de muerte contra dirigentes de Sinaltrainal, seccional Valledupar. El trabajador de Nestlé de Colombia y actual vicepresidente nacional del sindicato Alfonso Barón, es uno de los amenazados.
http://www.sinaltrainal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2057&Itemid=1
"Malditos guerrilleros disfrasaos de sindicalistas se largan ose muerengonorreas". Es el texto de las nuevas amenazas de muerte contra dirigentes de Sinaltrainal, seccional Valledupar. El trabajador de Nestlé de Colombia y actual vicepresidente nacional del sindicato Alfonso Barón, es uno de los amenazados.
Las amenazas fueron recibidas en sus celulares el 30 de Noviembre de 2011, entre las 5: 12 y las 5:30 p.m. A esa hora los compañeros se encontraban reunidos en junta directiva seccional.
Los compañeros amenazados son: JAIRO BUELVAS tesorero de la seccional Valledupar, ALFONSO BARON presidente, WALBERTO QUINTERO vicepresidente y ELMER BLANCO fiscal.
La amenaza de texto fue enviada del celular No 3116772991
Exigimos del gobierno nacional garantías de seguridad y vida para los compañeros amenazados, sus familias y demás integrantes de Sinaltrainal.
Sinaltrainal Seccional Valldupar
Attached Message
From:
Sinaltrainal Internacional <areainternacional at sinaltrainal.org>
To:
Sinaltrainal Seccionales <seccionales at sinaltrainal.org>
Subject:
O se largan o se mueren
Date:
Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:31:52 +0100
O se largan o se mueren
"Malditos guerrilleros disfrasaos de sindicalistas se largan ose muerengonorreas". Es el texto de las nuevas amenazas de muerte contra dirigentes de Sinaltrainal, seccional Valledupar. El trabajador de Nestlé de Colombia y actual vicepresidente nacional del sindicato Alfonso Barón, es uno de los amenazados.
http://www.sinaltrainal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2057&Itemid=1
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Dec. 6, 2011
Dorje Khati, a Sherpa and trade union member, brought to the global negotiations on climate change in Durban, South Africa, the flag he took to the top of Mount Everest.
In Joliet, Ill., Marvin says his unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are no substitute for a paycheck, but “I'm able to keep a roof over our heads....I’d like Congress to walk in my shoes for a day.” Marvin’s story is just one of hundreds on a new AFL-CIO website (click here) where jobless workers and families are sharing their experiences to spur Congress to extend benefits before the program expires Dec. 31. As many as 6 million people could lose their UI coverage if Congress doesn’t act. Click here to read their stories or share yours.
Got comments? Post them at blog.aflcio.org.
Climate Change Talks a Tough Climb
Taxing the Rich Does Create Jobs, Says Venture Capitalist
The Government Can Create Jobs
Sheet Metal Workers Go for the Gold Platinum
Stand with Sugar Workers!
Symposium: Building Bridges to Labor’s Community Allies
Read more important news of the day on the issues working families care about.
Follow the AFL-CIO:
Take the next step. Become a mobile activist
by joining the AFL-CIO Rapid Action Text Team.
Text NEWS to AFLCIO (235246) to receive action alerts and more.
(Message and data rates may apply.)
To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
acnnews 9
Latin America: a start point
By Nestor Nuñez
With the official foundation of the Community of Latin American and
Caribbean States (CELAC), this new organization faces a huge challenge as
it undertakes its journey.
This organization, made up of 33 nations from Latin America and the
Caribbean, wisely excluding the United States and Canada in view that both
countries do not share the history and the origins of the peoples of the
South, is based on open but solid grounds as long as its members maintain
their political will to work with seriousness and not as parts of just
another regional group.
As a matter of fact, this institution was created on the bases of
diversity of criteria, viewpoints, interpretations, and policies, which
must give priority to mutual aspirations and needs.
Fortunately, while speaking at the Third Latin American and Caribbean
Summit, held in Caracas, Venezuela, the participant regional leaders
agreed in that there are but two choices for this geographic area: to come
together or to get absorbed by this increasingly tempestuous, complex, and
incongruous world.
Such union is favored by public knowledge in that this area possesses the
necessary conditions and material and human resources so as to become an
important beacon in humanity’s fate, leaving behind all trails of former
subordination and ostracism imposed by centuries of foreign domination.
There is also an evident consensus on the fact that such union is not only
based on economic or commercial purposes, and that it demands a constant
struggle for social improvement so that the quality of life of our peoples
increases along with the development of productive, technological, and
financial potentials; and to set aside once and for all the stigma of
having the worst distribution of wealth rate in the world.
Thus, apparently, subjective elements such as comprehension and
understanding will benefit the positive development of CELAC as longed for
and defended by the most illustrious figures in the history of the region.
However, it is worth to recall that the events held in Caracas are just a
letter of introduction.
CELAC has been officially founded with commendable force. Now it is time
to make it grow stronger, spread and test its strength and principles, and
to put into practice its projections with hope, self-determination and
real freedom to all Latin American and Caribbean nations.
And yet this organization should stay alert as Northern nations keep an
eye on it with resentment because they do not long for our independence.
Worldnews/acm/aga/1.27 PM/aga
Cuban News Agency
www.cubanews.ain.cu
ainnews at ain.cu
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
”“The call must go out: PORT WORKERS: SHUT DOWN ALL U.S. PORTS !!
SUPPORT GROWS FOR OCCUPY MOVEMENT'S COORDINATED WEST COAST SHUT DOWN
ON DECEMBER 12TH
As of November 27, 2011, the Occupy movement in every major West Coast
port city: Occupy LA, Occupy San Diego, Occupy Portland, Occupy
Tacoma, Occupy Seattle have joined Occupy Oakland in calling for and
organizing a coordinated West Coast Port Blockade and Shutdown on
December 12, 2011. Other West Coast Occupies, including Occupy
Anchorage and Vancouver, Canada are planning to join the economic
blockade and disruption of the 1% on that date, according to
organizers.
From: Ernesto Nevarez <portofaztlan at yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Dec 3, 2011 at 7:59 PM
Estimado Companero Panama,
see: http://www.westcoastportshutdown.org/ also, attached flyer
I understand that you are very busy otherwise I would ask u to read
the Port of Aztlan. However, I'm hitting the streets passing out
flyers for Dec. 12 and won't be posting much. Toni from
Occupy Long Beach is doing all the networking.
The workers and Occupy are shutting down the ports and in Los Angeles
WE will be joining Javier Rodriguez and the migrant movement for our
march in downtown.
We are also striking back against the nationally' coordinated attack on the Occupy movement. In response to the police violence and camp
evictions against the Occupy movement- This is our coordinated
response against the 1%. On December 12th we will show are collective
power through pinpointed economic blockade of the 1%."
Each Occupy is organizing plans for a mass mobilization and community
pickets to shut down their local Port. The mobilization of over
60,000 people that shut down the Port of Oakland during the general
strike on November 2, 2011 is the model for the West Coast efforts.
Organizers state that a police attempt to disrupt the port blockade or
police violence against any city participating will extend duration of
the blockade on the entire coast.
Occupy Denver stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who will be blocking the economic apparatus of the 1% by shutting down the
ports of the world on Dec 12. Occupy Denver is calling for all land
locked occupations to do the same with a coordinated shutdown of
Walmart distribution centers throughout the United States on December
12th. The 1% through this greedy cooperation have destroyed
communities throughout the world, disregarded workers natural rights,
eliminated production jobs in the United States, lowered the standard
of living for all, and disrupted the lives of the workers who create
their wealth. At the same time coordinated nationwide police attacks
have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our
Occupy movement and neglect the very serious issues we are raising.
We call on every occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut
down its local Walmart distribution center.
At 1 PM on December 12th, Occupy Seattle will join the rest of the
West Coast Occupy movement in a mass march to the Seattle port with
the intention of shutting it down through a mass community
picket/blockade.
Later, there will be two rallies near the port at 3pm and 6pm at the
Spokane Street fishing area, just to the east of the Spokane St.
bridge, near the intersection of SW Spokane St & SW Manning St. under
the West Seattle bridge
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
1 attachment (651.2 KB)
voting_ri...pdf
Download(651.2 KB)
Download as zip
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The right to vote is the heart of our democracy. Throughout our history, Americans have fought for and died for this most basic right. But today that right is under attack like never before, the target is the voting rights of Black voters, Latino voters, Asian American Voters, Native American Voters, as well as students and young people, seniors, working women, and immigrants of all colors. These are also among the voting demographics who are most likely to support workers’ rights, equal opportunity, women's rights, LBGT rights, environmental protection, and peace. In 2011 alone, two-thirds of state legislatures introduced laws that undermine the right to vote and voter suppression has taken many forms, including attacks on early and Sunday voting to make voting harder for working people, photo ID requirements for voting and registration that introduce the first financial barrier to voting since the poll tax, and the same racially-motivated ex-felon bans. It is time to Stand together, Stand for Freedom and protect our right to VOTE!
On December 10th join a broad coalition of civil rights and labor groups in New York City
For the Stand for Freedom March
Assembly and March Information
10:30 am to 11:30 am: assemble 61st St. and Madison Ave., the Koch brothers' NYC office.
11:30 am: March from 61st St. and Madison Ave. to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 47th St. and 2nd Ave.
12:30 pm: Rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across from the United Nations.
**For additional details about the December 10 rally, please visit our Stand For Freedom Logistics page.
If you are not able to be there, Take Action Now!
Please see attached flyer for distribution
In Solidarity,
Milton Rosado
National President
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
815 16th Street N.W
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 508-6919 – Main
(202) 508-6922 – Fax
www.lclaa.org
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
If we want 2012 to be a year with good, American jobs...
where workers are respected,
and can join a union if they want...
we're going to have to fight for it.
Get in the trenches. Make your donation today >>
This year we told greedy and abusive companies that no one should sacrifice their self-respect for a job... get fired unfairly... work in 100-degree heat... or endure a workplace where people get hurt or sick. We told them that America should be a place with good jobs.
And together, we've been making it happen – by pressuring IKEA to let their workers form a union in Virginia, by shaming Amazon for treating workers like sweatshop laborers, and by making sure that California legislators know that going after collective bargaining comes at a steep political price.
But the fight doesn't end here. Is 2012 going to be the year where workers are demeaned, demoralized, and taken advantage of? Or will 2012 be the year we protect workers from greedy corporations, champion collective bargaining rights, and make sure politicians represent our interests?
Make a donation to continue our momentum for workers' rights in 2012 – and if you donate $35 or more by December 14, USA Coffee will send you a free bag of union-made coffee in time for the holidays.
What's the story behind the free coffee? It's made by the kind of people that we love to support: the employees that harvest and process USA Coffee are paid fair wages. They have healthcare and retirement benefits and a voice on the job. USA Coffee is proof that companies don't have to choose between profits and workers.
But if we want companies like IKEA and Amazon to follow USA Coffee's lead, we're going to have to continue to fight for it. More than ever, we'll have to publicly shame corporations that rob workers to increase their bottom line. We'll have to make sure that legislators who try to shred collective bargaining rights will face the consequences. We'll have to build coalitions, generate press, and run aggressive campaigns. And we'll have to do it smarter, bigger, and better than ever before.
Let me tell it to you straight: We just won't succeed without the partnership of people like you – people who haven't given up on the American Dream, who care about the workers who make our country strong, and who will get in the trenches and do what they can to make it a good place to work.
With your help, we will demand better for workers in 2012. Make your gift of $35 (or more!), and we'll send you a free bag of union-made coffee.
Thanks so much for your support.
Sincerely,
Kim, Liz, Hilary, Beth, Zoe, Michael, and the American Rights at Work team
www.AmericanRightsatWork.org
This message was sent to cgpelayo at hotmail.com. To unsubscribe
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Many Workers in Public Sector Retiring Sooner
By MONICA DAVEY
The change reflects demographics, in part, but also government cost-cutting that has resulted in less generous pay and benefits.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Wal-Mart Debate Rages in India
By VIKAS BAJAJ
Many in India fear that its local stores will be hurt if Wal-Mart is allowed to open American-style retail stores.
Slide Show: An Argument Wal-Mart Has Heard Before
Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monitory gain to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the material for research and educational purposes. This is in accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. section 107..
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
Listen to Native Voice One http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/nv1/ppr/index.shtml
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/educationforall/attachments/20111207/dd429951/attachment-0001.htm>
More information about the Educationforall
mailing list