[News] Victory declared — Israeli Cargo Ship Blocked for Entire Weekend in Port of Oakland

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*For Immediate Release—August 18, 2014*
***BAY AREA ACTIVISTS DECLARE VICTORY — ISRAELI CARGO SHIP BLOCKED FOR 
ENTIRE WEEKEND AT**
PORT OF OAKLAND*

*Historic Port Shutdown Contributes to International Boycott, Divest, 
and Sanctions Movement Against Israel in Protest of Its 7-Year Siege of 
Gaza***

Oakland - For two days in a row, the Bay Area community prevented a ZIM 
Lines container ship, the most prominent shipping company in Israel, 
from docking and unloading goods at the port of Oakland in response to 
Israel’s latest attack on Gaza and its ongoing occupation of Palestine. 
Israel's violence over the last month and a half has left over 2,000 
Palestinians dead and over 10,000 injured.

The ZIM Pireaus arrived in Northern California the afternoon of August 
15 and was scheduled to unload early Saturday morning. As a result of 
the build up for a mass mobilization at the port, organized by Block the 
Boat, a coalition of Bay Area organizations and activists, ZIM was 
pushed back onto the Santa Cruz shores, idling overnight. Organizers 
called this an early victory, and called for community members to come 
at 3 PM to stop the scheduled work crews from unloading the ship. As the 
5000 person protest marched toward the gate, organizers were notified 
that the ship was not going to dock and longshoremen had been told not 
to report to work. Block the Boat declared victory.

Then, Sunday afternoon on August 17, organizers received word that the 
ship had arrived and workers were being called to unload it. Within 30 
minutes they mobilized more than 400 people back to the port and 
organized community pickets at Berths 57 and 59. Workers honored the 
picket lines, stood on the side of justice, and the ship was not unloaded.

According to Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of the Arab Resource and 
Organizing Center, “Our actions this weekend have sent a clear message 
to the state of Israel that apartheid and Zionism have never been and 
are not welcome in Oakland or anywhere on the West Coast.”

"We are learning from the historical success of the international 
movement to boycott apartheid in South Africa," says Sameh Ayesh, a 
member of Arab Youth Organizing. "Just as we did with the Block the Boat 
mobilization, we will build on the rapidly growing BDS movement until 
the Israeli apartheid regime falls." The Block the Boat action has 
received widespread international attention, and is part of the growing 
campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel for its ongoing 
genocide of the Palestinian people with the military, economic and 
diplomatic support of the United States.

“We hope that this historic port blockade will inspire further port 
blockades and actions by workers and communities all over the world to 
isolate Zionism and end the oppression of Palestinians,” says Monadel 
Herzallah, a former labor organizer and current member of the US 
Palestinian Community Network .

Another ZIM ship is planning to dock in Tacoma and Seattle this week. In 
both cities, the ship will be met by communities united in their 
determination to Block the Boat and stand with Palestinians in their 
struggle for freedom and self-determination.

http://araborganizing.org/


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