by Rally Against April 19, 2003 Police Violence in Oakland –
http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org
STOP POLICE TERROR. DEFEND CIVIL LIBERTIES, CIVIL RIGHTS AND UNION RIGHTS
Friday MARCH 19 — Rally in Oakland
• Rally – 12:00 noon at Superior Court (7th and Washington Streets , Oakland.)
• Hearing at 2:00 p.m. in Department #115
Background
On April 7, 2003, in the Port of Oakland, police launched the most violent attack against anti-war protesters in the US since the beginning of the war in Iraq.
Demonstrators, legal observers and longshoremen who were going to work were hit by police fire. Police used “crowd control” weapons in a lethal manner, shooting directly at people, injuring dozens and sending several to the hospital.
Making a mockery of justice, the DA has charged the victims of police brutality instead of the real culprits, the police and CATIC, the California state anti-terrorism agency that gave them the green light!
As March 20 approaches, the anniversary of the start of this war for oil and empire, we must defend the democratic right to protest in the port and in the street. Bush’s lies have caused this senseless slaughter in Iraq, while ripping up the Bill of Rights.
For more information call 415-273-1649 or visit www.defendilwuba.com
Committee to Defend ILWU Local 10 Business Agent Jack Heyman
US Labor Against the War Calls for Labor to Turn Out for
March 20 Global Day of Action
On March 20, the one-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq, millions of people across the globe will once again take to the streets to say,
“The world still says NO to war!”
This was a war based on lies. There is no evidence Iraq was involved in 9-11. Iraq posed no imminent threat to the United States. No weapons of mass destruction have been found there.
Bush lied …
U.S. troops and innocent Iraqi civilians died.
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers died; thousands more have been physically or emotionally scarred for life. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have suffered casualties and death. Unemployment among Iraqi workers has reached 70%, but there are no unemployment benefits. Wages for most Iraqi workers have been frozen at $60 per month, while all bonuses, profit sharing and subsidies for housing and food have been eliminated.
Iraqi workers have been denied the right to organize unions of their choice. The U.S.-run Occupation Authority continues to enforce a 1987 Hussein-era law that prohibits unions in the public sector and state enterprises where most Iraqis work.
All this suffering, for what? To make Iraq safe for Halliburton, Bechtel and a host of other corporate cronies of the Bush administration! The Occupation Authority just issued a new decree, Public Order 39, allowing 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses and the repatriation of profits.
One year of U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has only brought chaos and disaster to that country.
Iraq teeters on the brink of malnutrition, chaos and civil strife while multinational corporations scramble to divide up Iraq’s national resources and wealth – the same corporations that violate workers’ rights, fight unions, and downsize, outsource and export jobs in the United States.
ORGANIZE a HUGE LABOR TURNOUT on MARCH 20
Join veterans, military families, students, senior citizens, religious leaders, immigrant rights and other social justice advocates and millions of others on March 20th to protest the war and occupation in Iraq and Bushs war on us!
Join us to say NO to vast cuts in vital domestic social programs to pay for massive increases in military spending.
Join us in expressing our opposition to the “Patriot Act” and erosion of our rights in the name of “fighting terrorism.”
Join us to demand an end to the mass detentions and deportation of immigrants in the name of “national security.”
Join us to demand respect for labor and human rights in both Iraq and the United States.
Join us in demanding that the U.S. government respect national sovereignty and uphold the right of self-determination for all peoples, beginning with the people of Iraq.
Join is in demanding that the U.S. government solve disputes by diplomacy not war, strengthen international treaties, reject unilateral action and preemptive military aggression, and promote global economic and social justice rather than the race-to-the-bottom, job-destroying, discriminatory practices favored by multinational corporations.
USLAW also calls upon all trade unionists, labor and antiwar activists in the United States to support our Campaign for Labor Rights in Iraq.
Use this link (http://www.progressiveportal.org/iraq-labor.html) to urge your elected representative to join Reps. Sam Farr, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Tom Lantos and others in demanding that the Bush Administration respect labor rights in Iraq and here at home.
Together, let’s send a message —
NO to occupation!
NO to war profiteering!
NO to labor rights violations!
Bring the troops home Now!
E-Mail: info@uslaboragainstwar.org * Website: www.uslaboragainstwar.org
