[News] Activists declare first victory as Israeli ship delays docking at Oakland

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Activists declare first victory as Israeli ship delays docking at Oakland

Submitted by Charlotte Silver on Sat, 08/16/2014 - 18:48
*http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/activists-declare-first-victory-israeli-ship-delays-docking-oakland*

San Francisco Bay Area Palestine activists have declared their first 
victory in attempting to prevent the offloading of an Israeli cargo 
vessel at the Oakland Port. Originally planning to show up at 5:00 am 
Saturday morning to block the ship, activists sent word out late last 
night that the meeting time had been moved up  to 3:00pm, as the ship 
had delayed its arrival at Oakland in an apparent attempt to avoid the 
protest.

Activist Mohamed Shehk told The Electronic Intifada that the organizers 
have been tracking 
<http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-123.1425/centery:36.64083/zoom:8/mmsi:477634800> 
the vessel /Zim Piraeus/, and realized last night that it had stopped 
before reaching its Oakland destination, spending the night at sea.

"This delay is seen as a victory for us. It shows how much Zim is trying 
to avoid our protest, and it shows how effective we can be when we can 
organize these types of actions," Shehk said.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is the Israeli international maritime 
shipping line.

A Zim Lines ship docks every Friday night around 9:00 pm at the Oakland 
port for an early morning offload. Activists have been working with 
members of the local chapter of the International Longshoremen's and 
Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), and hope that port workers will agree not 
to offload the Israeli cargo.

Of significance, the ILWU Local 10 is currently negotiating a new 
contract, the previous one having expired 1 July 2014. This means that 
ILWU Local 10 could potentially engage in a strike without breaking the 
rules of a contract.

In 2010, when activists successfully prevented the offloading of a Zim 
Lines ship 
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/activists-prevent-israeli-ship-unloading-us-port/8886> 
in an historic first, Local 10 relied on the port's arbitrator to 
declare the working conditions unsafe. According to longtime rank and 
file union member Clarence Thomas, there is currently no contractual 
language which would allow for an arbitrator to be called in: "I expect 
the rank and file to respect the picket line, as we have done of picket 
lines since the 1930s."

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 11 straight days.

The terminal at which Zim Lines docks is owned by Stevedoring Services 
of America --- which has been in protracted negotiations with ILWU Local 
10 since last May.

Speaking as a rank and file member of the ILWU Local 10, Thomas 
emphasized that organizing at the ports in solidarity with 
Palestinians is essential given that Israel has foreclosed on any 
opportunity for Palestinians to engage in international trade through 
its ports.

"As a longshoreman, I know how critical international trade is to the 
economy. I think it is an appropriate action against those who have 
prevented the self-determination of the Palestinian people and to show 
solidarity with the people of Gaza."

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20140817/686dde3e/attachment.htm>