A Memorable Anniversary
Last Thursday marked the tenth anniversary of an historic event I was privileged to attend–the Founding
of US Labor Against the War. Okay, maybe Doris Kearns Goodwin will never write a book about it and
Spielberg is unlikely to enshrine it in cinema. But, for the first time since the days of Eugene V Debs,
union forces came together to oppose a U.S. war from the beginning–in fact before the actual invasion
of Iraq.
The run-up to that war lasted several months. In the autumn of 2002 some members of Teamsters Local
705 in Chicago–one of the biggest in the IBT–proposed at a union meeting that the Local actively
oppose the threat of war on Iraq. The then principal officer, Gerry Zero, asked them to bring their idea
to the Executive Board. Though somewhat suspicious of a brush-off, that invitation was accepted. That
led to a motion by the Board for the Local to host a national conference of unionists opposed to the war
threat–which was overwhelmingly approved by the ranks.
That’s how more than a hundred of us, from 76 union organizations, came to spend a Saturday in
January at the old brick 705 Hall in balmy Chicago. The biggest scoop this site ever scored was a short,
widely reproduced report on the gathering I filed less than 24 hours after adjournment.
The very next weekend KC Labor Against the War was established. A month later, KCLAW sponsored
a Labor and War Teach-In at UMKC. A few weeks after that ATU Local 1287, after a heated debate,
voted by a narrow margin to endorse USLAW.
There were at least weekly demonstrations across the country against the threat of war in Iraq for
months prior to the March, 2003 invasion. Both USLAW and KCLAW were prominently involved.
After the invasion, mass actions tapered off. But USLAW continued education and winning antiwar
resolutions in unions.
But even more was done. USLAW established contacts with Iraqi trade unionists and started raising
material support for them. Iraqi unionists were toured here in the USA to tell their story to American
unionists. In Kansas City we were able to bring in an Iraqi unionist who had been living in exile in
Canada. Such war-time solidarity was also an historic first.
The focus of USLAW for the first several years was on the Iraq war. But they didn’t fold up shop when
U.S. combat missions ended there. USLAW continues its basic project opposing the ongoing war in
Afghanistan.
It would hardly be appropriate to say Long Live to any antiwar group. The ultimate goal is to end all
wars and go out of business. But we hope USLAW will live and prosper as long as the need remains to
oppose unjust wars fought in our name.
Idle No More
Mainstream media in this country carries little news from Canada. The most prominent story recently
featured has been the amazing series of trades and free agent signings by the Toronto Blue Jays. This
studied ignorance is partially due to a Big Brother complex but is also used to keep us in unstudied
ignorance about a higher level of class, democratic, and environmental struggle north of the border.
Particularly inspiring is the recent Idle No More movement launched by First Nations, Metis and Inuit
peoples, that has won widespread support from non-aboriginal Canadians as well. Their actions are in
response to laws, imposed by the Tory Harper government. that are summarized by Russell Diaboto,
Editor of First Nations Strategy Bulletin to:
“1) Focus all its efforts to assimilate First Nations into the existing federal and provincial orders of
government of Canada; 2) Terminate the constitutionally protected and internationally recognized
Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty rights of First Nations.”
In pursuing these goals environmental protection goes down the tube as well–a matter of concern to all
residents of Canada–in fact all on this planet.
Winona LaDuke, an Ojibwe resident of the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, who is a respected
writer on Native and environmental issues, and was Ralph Nader’s Vice-Presidential running mate in
2000, wrote a good introduction to Idle No More published on Common Dreams. She opens,
“Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence enters her fourth week of a hunger strike outside the Canadian
parliament building, thousands of protesters voice their support in Los Angeles, London, Minneapolis,
and New York City. Spence and the protesters of the Idle No More movement are drawing attention to
deplorable conditions in native communities and the recent passage of Bill C-45, which sidesteps most
Canadian environmental laws.”
She goes on to describe the poverty on Reservations and the horrendous suicide rate among Native
youth–issues shared on both sides of the border. And she details how mining companies such as DeBeers
have uprooted whole villages to plunder Native lands. All of this fits in to Tory policy to expand the
tar sands, mining, and drilling in the arctic region.
In addition to the hunger strike, the movement has blocked highways and rail lines and carries out
frequent “flash mob” demonstrations at shopping malls. Recently even bigger actions have been taking
place. The CBC reported,
“Thousands of protesters packed into West Edmonton Mall Sunday afternoon, filling the halls with the
sounds of chanting and drumbeats, to signal that the Idle No More protests will continue even after
Friday’s meeting with the Prime Minister.”
Judy Rebick, a well-known social justice activist, educator and author, wrote of Idle No More in her
blog on rabble,
“It is a 21st-century movement decentralized and deeply democratic in the sense that much of the
initiative belongs to the grassroots. In that way, it looks like Occupy but as Pam Palmater, now a
spokesperson for Idle No More, has explained, it is a movement of a group of people with a common
identity and despite the different history and cultures of their nations, a common history in relation to
Canada. In this way, the Idle No More movement is better compared to the civil rights movement and
women’s movement.”
Such a movement is a complement to the “Maple Spring” student-worker struggles in Quebec, the union
strikes and protests against austerity in Ontario, and the alliance that turned out thousands for a
demonstration in Vancouver Monday against plans for a tar sands pipeline to a British Columbia port.
They are examples worthy of imitation south of the border as well.
A Healthy Response
An initial press release from the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer began,
“More than two hundred union leaders and activists gathered in Chicago for the Labor Campaign's
fourth national conference to strategize about next steps for labor in the movement to win universal
health care. With government officials from both major parties contemplating cuts in Medicare as part
of a ‘grand bargain,’ delegates resolved to stand up to any cuts in this cornerstone social insurance
program.
“Conferees were welcomed and inspired by Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, who
shared lessons of her union's recent successful strike. Lewis drew important parallels between the
struggles for quality public education and quality universal health care.
“A second inspiring keynote came from Nicole Bernard representing the French CGT Federation of
Social Security and Health Care Workers who described the struggle by French workers to defend their
national health care plan and pledged strong support for American efforts to win single payer.”
We’ll pass along more details as they become available.
When the Going Gets Tough...
A CP/AP story reports,
“The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency resigned abruptly last week, reportedly to
protest the Obama administration's apparent plans to approve TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline in
the coming months. The American environmental movement is abuzz following a New York Post report
that Lisa Jackson suddenly quit the post because she doesn't want to be at the helm of the agency when
the White House rubber-stamps the controversial project. That could happen as early as March or April,
the paper suggested.”
Don’t forget: we provide a digest of links to news stories of interest to working people–even from
Canada–Monday-Friday by 9AM Central on the Labor Advocate Blog.
That’s all for this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment