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<b style="font-family:arial"><span style="font-family:'Athelas
Regular'">October
28, 2014</span></b><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:'Athelas
Regular'">San
Francisco Bay Area Community’s Decisive Victory Over
Apartheid Israel</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">Oakland
has made history once again with another BDS victory for
Palestine against the Israeli Zim shipping line. This latest
round of
organizing has been the most momentous and historic. Members
of ILWU Local 10
informed Block the Boat organizers that the Zim Beijing
which was headed to the
Port of Oakland, has been re-routed to Russia to avoid
disruptions at the SSA
terminal. For the first time ever, an
Israeli ship has been completely turned away before reaching
its port of
destination due to sustained overwhelming community
organizing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">The
damage to Israel’s credibility can’t be exaggerated--the Zim
line, though privately owned, is an Israeli “security
asset.” Israel exerts
control over the corporation through a “golden share” which
it uses to prevent
the sale of the company into foreign hands. The Zim line is
mandated to be part
of Israel’s critical supply chain during protracted military
conflicts. The
brand and economic impact on Zim has yet to be calculated,
but is surely
devastating. Goods have been rerouted, and undelivered for
months. ILWU workers
have honored our pickets and sided with the community
against US complicity in
Israeli apartheid. Zim has been disrupted and confronted by
anti-Zionist
protests in Seattle, Tacoma, Los Angeles, Vancouver, New
Orleans, New York and
Tampa. Ports all over North America are making it clear that
Israel can no
longer conduct business as usual because Zionism is simply
not welcome on our
coasts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family:'Athelas
Regular'">Zim‘s
Maneuvers</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">The
Zim Beijing, which was scheduled to arrive in Oakland on the
morning of Saturday October 25, 2014, instead broke from its
heading soon after
it reached the north western coast of Mexico on Wednesday,
October 22nd, and
headed further northwest. Several sources, including Zim’s
own online schedule,
and port and union authorities confirm that the Beijing’s
intended destination
was Oakland, but that it changed its itinerary to avoid yet
another humiliating
defeat. In an article published on 10/26, headlined "Zim
Beijing Avoids
Oakland" the GulfShip News reported, "The ship was due to
call on Saturday,
but then delayed its call to today [Sunday]. Reports from
Oakland suggest Zim
has now decided to cancel the call altogether. Zim has been
hit by protests at
Oakland in August and September, disrupting its schedules."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">We
also tracked the ship via satellite using an online marine
tracking service and documented that the ship listed its
destination as Oakland
just minutes after it left the Panama Canal--the norm for
Zim ships on the Asia
Pacific line, which stop at either Los Angeles or Oakland
before heading to
China and Russia. Just days into its 9 day journey from the
Canal, however, Zim
abruptly removed Oakland from its online schedule, and
headed northwest, taking
it ever farther from Oakland. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family:'Athelas
Regular'">Confronting
Global Repression</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">It
is clear that the Zim Beijing diverted course in response to
the powerful Block the Boat organizing. In August, Block the
Boat organized and
inspired a series of historic night and day pickets, which
with the support of
ILWU workers, prevented the Zim Piraeus from unloading for 4
days, and
eventually forced the ship to leave before even a fraction
of its cargo could
be unloaded. In September, Zim faced another set of pickets
that forced the Zim
Shanghai to offload in Los Angeles, rather than its intended
Oakland
destination. The Block the Boat coalition along with the
broader Bay Area
community has made it clear that we can determine what takes
place in our
towns. And business with the racist, exclusionary, Zionist
state of Israel,
which works alongside local and federal law enforcement to
repress our
communities, will not go unchallenged.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">Activists
remained focused throughout Zim’s obfuscations,
organizing for a large turnout to picket the Beijing
whenever it would arrive--Saturday,
Sunday, or any day of the coming week. Given the convoluted
maneuvers Zim used
in August, in which it left the port under the cover of an
Israeli consulate press
release, only to return to another terminal less than an
hour later, organizers
now know to be thorough and patient. After tracking the Zim
Beijing for several
days, Block the Boat prepared for a week of possible pickets
by staging a late
day march of hundreds on Sunday to the Port of Oakland to
show the strength and
focus of this movement. It was a warning to Zim to keep
going as it reached the
1000-mile mark from Oakland and a promise that the gates
would be lined again
with unstoppable anti-Zionist picketers if it returned.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">As
the Beijing sails beyond the horizon, it still bears the
destination of Oakland, though it is over 1200 miles away
from San Francisco
Bay at the time of this statement. Our efforts have paid
off; Zim Beijing does
not appear to be turning around. Even if it did reverse
course and head back to
Oakland at this point, it would be a week late, and it would
find us once
again, prepared to stop it at the port. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-family:'Athelas
Regular'">BDS
Victory</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Athelas Regular'">We
are declaring a historic victory in our effort to block the
Beijing. It is very likely that Zim has been completely
prevented from doing
any future business at the Port of Oakland. Only time will
tell if Zim’s changes to its schedule reflect the real
re-routing of its ships, or simply just another ruse to fool
opponents of
Israeli apartheid. Obviously, here in Oakland, we are ready
for Zim’s return
any time. Together with our brothers and sisters from
Ferguson to Palestine, we
are fighting back against state violence and apartheid and
we are prepared to
bring it down brick by brick, wall by wall, port by port. </span></p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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