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January 13, 2024</span></p>
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***</span></p>
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press inquiries, please contact</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Wassim
Hage, </span><a href="mailto:wassim@araborganizing.org"
style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">wassim@araborganizing.org</span><span
style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline"><br>
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</span></a></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:15pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Thousands
Shut Down Port of Oakland, Demand Ceasefire and an End to
US Support of Genocide in Gaza</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Organizers declare initial victory in halting all port operations, vow to return at 2pm to ensure port is shut down for entire day</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
id="m_8934025559594793512gmail-docs-internal-guid-d57dcee0-7fff-46c6-3a89-4d77cd6860c4"></span><br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt;font-style:italic;font-weight:700">For
visuals of the action, click <a
href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TTBDn-PbL2oSbvgH-Cl9t1pJYqdQ3Vif?usp=drive_link"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>.</span><br>
</p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Oakland,
CA </span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">-
Starting at 5am this morning, over 2500 </span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">community
members disrupted the majority of Port of Oakland
operations today to demand an end to US economic and
military support of Israel’s </span><a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/11/icj-hears-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-over-gaza-war"
style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">genocidal</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">
bombing campaign in Gaza. This port shutdown comes as the
death toll of Palestinians in Gaza has reached over
30,000, including over 9,000 children, and genocide
proceedings against Israel are taking place at the
International Court of Justice in The Hague, the UN’s
highest court.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Along
with the massive turnout of community members showing up
to protest the ongoing war on Gaza, the Oakland Port
Authority also called off business that was scheduled at
the docks for the morning shift in anticipation of
community turnout, effectively shutting down the port.
Organizers have declared an initial victory, and are
vowing to return to the port at 2pm to shut down any
business as usual for the afternoon shift.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">“The
Oakland port has facilitated the transport of weapons,
military equipment, and technology that fuel the Israeli
slaughter of Palestinians. As long as the US enables this
war with our tax dollars and through our port, there can
be no business as usual,” says </span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Lara
Kiswani, Executive Director of the Arab Resource and
Organizing Center</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">.
”Every day, around $12 million in revenue is generated at
the Port of Oakland. This is nearly the same amount of
money that the US sends to Israel per day in economic and
military aid. Today we are shutting it down to make it
clear that we will not sit by as the US government is
complicit in genocide.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">In
early November, hundreds of protestors disrupted the
loading and departure of a military vessel used to supply
Israel with military equipment and technology. The vessel
has returned and is currently docked though its future
deployment plans are unclear.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">“The
U.S. can end the war on Gaza tomorrow by demanding a
permanent ceasefire. Instead, Biden is making the massacre
of Palestinians possible by sending billions of dollars of
U.S. military aid to Israel, as the only thing this
country cares about is profit with no regard to human
life,” said </span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Cat
Brooks, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Anti
Police-Terror Project</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">.
“By shutting down one of the busiest ports in North
America, we are hitting them where it hurts, and will do
so until a ceasefire is implemented, until the U.S. stops
funding the apartheid state of Israel, and until Palestine
is free.”</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
Israeli war on Gaza is funded and supplied in large part
by the US government. In November of last year, Bay Area
community members turned out to </span><a
href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-oakland-port-protest-18467434.php"
style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">block</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">
a US military vessel, the </span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Cape
Orlando</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">,
which departed to supply Israel with weapons and military
equipment for use in Gaza. The vessel was then met with
protests in Tacoma, Washington, where weapons were loaded
on the ship. The ship is scheduled to return back to the
Port of Oakland and community members are demanding that
Oakland stop aiding in the transport of war machinery, and
the US stop its military support for Israel’s war on Gaza</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.8;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The
Port of Oakland is a frequent site of protests that target
war-profiteers, and actions at the port, taken by workers
and Bay Area communities alike, have a long </span><a
href="https://oaklandside.org/2021/06/08/pro-palestine-ship-blockade-port-of-oakland-activist-history-israel-zim/"
style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">connection</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">
to social justice struggles.</span></p>
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