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The Occupy Seattle General Assembly passed the following proposal (italics) by a vote of 110 to 10 on Sunday 02/26/2012:
Occupy Seattle stands in solidarity with and endorses the call for a General Strike – A day without the 99%!
On May Day, wherever you are, we are calling for:
*No Work
*No School
*No Housework
*No Shopping
*No Banking
*No Work
*No School
*No Housework
*No Shopping
*No Banking
--TAKE THE STREETS!
Community Planning Meeting March 10th, 2-5pm, at the Convention Center.
(http://occupyseattle.org/blog/2012-02-27/may-day-2012-general-strike)
Also for more info see: http://www.occupymay1st.org/; http://www.may1stseattle.org/
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Whatever your particular struggle(s), situation, or concerns with society, May 1st 2012 will be a day for you to take time from the usual routine and assemble with thousands of other people in spaces created directly by the people order to better organize and communicate for our mutual benefit and self-determination
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[On January 27th, 2012 (Decolonize/)Occupy Seattle marched in solidarity with United Farm Workers and workers from Ruby Ridge Dairy to hand deliver a petition with over 20,000 signatures to Darigold headquarters (see UFW's report of the action). The following is a narrative of the organizing process and context of J27 2011 put together by a group of folks with Decolonize/Occupy Seattle who were intimately involved in preparing for that day (the initial proposal for the J27 action can be seen here).]
Decolonize Los Campos: Desde Abajo Hacia la Izquierda
We are a group of people of many genders, races, abilities and political viewpoints that came together though Decolonize/Occupy Seattle (DOS) and are interested in organizing around a whole-systems approach to worker liberation. Many of us initially met at Westlake, worked together at Seattle Central Community College and united to organize the D12 Port Shutdown. As we work together to create community, we consistently engage in movement building through critical dialogues and acts of resistance. We understand that the struggle of farm workers is one aspect of a larger pattern of resistance, which is a response to the dispossession that capitalism and globalization inflicts on our global community. We were approached by the United Farm Workers (UFW) to work in solidarity with them in their current campaign against the outrageous labor practices of Ruby Ridge Dairy. Workers at Ruby Ridge are forced to work long hours without breaks or lunch, have had their wages stolen, and are denied clean drinking water as they are told to drink from the same place where the cows drink. Their efforts to unionize have been met with threats of violence and most of the workers who led the unionizing effort were fired. Darigold, the company who purchases milk from Ruby Ridge, has neglected to hold Ruby Ridge accountable for its exploitative actions, and in their failure to respond to the needs of the workers, have condoned such unjust working conditions.
In honor of the ongoing struggle of these workers, we began our organizing with the commitment to work in solidarity with farm workers, as opposed to taking action for them. We understand that our accountability to the workers themselves is a necessary piece of our intentions for solidarity; it is vital that those on the front lines of their workplace struggles remain central to the decision- making process. This accountability is a major principle we utilized to organize as a collective. In order to make sure this principle was followed, we met directly with workers twice- once in Seattle and once again in Pasco. In these meetings we shared our backgrounds, reasons for organizing and talked about the current struggles we are engaging in. The meetings were multilingual; we spoke in Espanol, English, and Spanglish. Traveling together to Pasco, and hearing stories of the worker’s struggles from the workers themselves, had a strong impact that we carried with us through the organizing process. We were mobilized and energized by our meeting with the workers; forming these relationships was a tangible way to actualize our goals of solidarity, community-building and to provide vision and inspiration for our work within the movement. We also planned the day of action and talked about logical next steps during the meeting. Meeting with workers and leaders from the UFW was an important step in keeping us accountable to the principle outlined above and was also a way to connect our communities.
Elemental to this action was arte -- the ways in which we created together and how our co-creativity influenced the march. There were two banner making parties leading up to January 27th, 2011. During these parties, food and music were abundant as we expressed our rage, hope and solidarity with paint, projecting nuestra voz onto the void spaces and transforming them into meaning. For many of us, this arte was as much a healing process as it was a symbol used to convey a message. Again, this demonstrates how an action is not just the event itself but also the way that we make it happen. Arte is the heart.
In line with our efforts to build community, we began the day of action with a breakfast that we cooked together to welcome the workers to Seattle and to further integrate the wider DOS community into the day of action. We put thought into aligning our food choices with the intentions of the campaign, keeping in mind that we are all connected to waste, worker and animal exploitation and ecological collapse via our food sourcing choices. We continuously work hard to maintain a full systems perspective within our organizing work. The community breakfast was held in the basement of a local church decorated with colorful, creative banners, and picket signs. As we shared food we continued to build community.
After sitting for breakfast with some of the workers and their families, we all headed to Westlake Plaza to rally. The rally began as two-high school students from Seattle, who are the children of farm workers, spoke about their families’ experiences and their own feelings around their struggles. We also heard from workers at Ruby Ridge and one of the organizers from the UFW. We then took to the streets in a high-energy march filled with arte and enthusiasm. One of the main goals of the day was to deliver a petition with 20,000 signatures to the Darigold Headquarters. Previous attempts to reach the administration had been unsuccessful; when workers and their allies showed up the doors were closed and guarded. When we arrived at the headquarters, we were greeted by a security guard who stated that only one person would be allowed inside and only one door would be open. However, the crowd did not find this to be acceptable and they opened the other door to allow the voices of the farm workers’ to travel into the offices and the ears of the corporate staff.
As a group we requested that the President and CEO of Darigold, Jim Wegner, come out of his office to answer to the demands of the workers and their allies. However, he declined to show his face. Despite his failure to listen to his workers and customers the petitions were delivered by one of the farm worker’s sons, whose path to the office was cleared by protesters. We proceeded with a second rally outside the Darigold headquarters. Speakers included farm workers revealing the truth about their unjust working conditions, two longshoremen speaking out in solidarity, a member of the UW custodian’s union and voices from Decolonize/Occupy Seattle. We ended the day of action with a march around the building and a promise that we will continue to organize until the farm workers’ demands are heard and working conditions at Ruby Ridge improve and meet basic standards of dignity and respect.
For many of us, what defined this action as “successful” was the building of relationships with each other, with workers, and with UFW representatives. From this base we aspire to move forward together as we continue to create, organize and overcome. While we consider the action on January 27th to be a success, we also recognize that it is only one step in the struggle for workers’ liberation. We completed the goal of delivering petitions to Darigold and through this process we were strengthened and inspired by the feelings of community, solidarity and accountability that had been our intentions. Our commitment to these principles has given us insight into the next stages of this struggle. We acknowledge that this petition is one step in the battle to hold Darigold accountable for its abuses, and is therefore one aspect in the struggle against the oppressive and exploitative practices of the dairy industry. We also acknowledge that these fights are embedded within the greater, global struggle to reclaim sovereignty of our food and labor.
The abuse of farm workers in Darigold feeder farms is not an isolated issue; it is one instance of the way our capitalist food system, which puts power in the hands of wealthy corporations (profiteering off of thousands of wage laborers), continues to perpetuate injustice. The exploitation of farm workers runs parallel to the abuse of other laborers throughout the food system. From the fields to the fine dining room, the exploitation of these workers is tied to their powerlessness within capitalist and racist institutions. In a similar way, consumers of this food are bound to the system. We are forced to make unjust choices as the oppressed roots of our food are veiled from us by a false abundance at the store. Friday’s action was part of the inspiration for a research project to explore these connections between labor abuses, the way our food is produced, and the structure of power in the food system. This project will continue as this struggle builds, both informing and learning from it.
Additionally, as we push our organizing efforts forward we recognize that the complexities of all struggles toward liberation require multiple approaches. This applies to the workers’ struggle at Ruby Ridge; thus, our organizing includes a variety of tactics from a diverse group of workers, allies, consumers and union members. Most importantly, we must always acknowledge that workers will continue to organize themselves and lead the course of solidarity. As consumers, we want to reach out to other consumers and continue to educate each other and our communities about the crimes of Ruby Ridge and Darigold. This could look like students addressing the milk purchased by their schools or creating human billboards stationed outside of supermarkets to inform shoppers about the suffering they contribute to when they drink milk. We encourage affinity groups and individuals to think of their own methods of supporting the effort to change the ways of Ruby Ridge Dairy and Darigold. The UFW is not officially calling for any of these actions; these are suggested ideas coming from people independent of any official affiliation to the UFW.
A vital next step is to continue traveling to Pasco and Eastern Washington to meet directly with workers and strengthen our solidarity through further relationship building. We also support workers from other dairies, orchards and farms that experience abuses similar to those of Ruby Ridge Dairy, because we know oppression is not isolated.
As mentioned, this action was part of a greater web tied in with international worker solidarity, class struggle, Northwest based alliances, and immigrant/economic refugee justicia y libertad. From the onset we knew this action was one aspect of a long-term vision, which could help us unite in building for May Day 2012.
A key component of our movement/solidarity bridging was recognizing the historical significance of May Day 2006, an international worker’s day led by the people for the people. This event awoke like a sleeping giant prior to the Decolonize/Occupy Movement. There are many lessons we can learn about the general strike that led millions of economic refugees to take to the streets, walk out of los campos, schools, and divest from the capitalist empire. International Workers Day reminds us that through unity, and through bridging struggles that transcend traditionalist labor movement building, we as a people can create the communities we want to live in. From Food Sovereignty and Workers Rights, from the fields to the cities, we can dismantle the capitalistic empire and its nation-states, and plant, cultivate and nurture a new system. From planting community gardens in our neighborhoods, to painting murals on urban canvasses we will move our struggles forward. By building community with economic refugees/migrants, farm workers, people of color, queer/trans folk and wombyn, we will dismantle all systems! A movement led by the people for people. May Day 2012 we unite with the world!
Will you be there?
Decolonize Los Campos: Desde Abajo Hacia la Izquierda
We are a group of people of many genders, races, abilities and political viewpoints that came together though Decolonize/Occupy Seattle (DOS) and are interested in organizing around a whole-systems approach to worker liberation. Many of us initially met at Westlake, worked together at Seattle Central Community College and united to organize the D12 Port Shutdown. As we work together to create community, we consistently engage in movement building through critical dialogues and acts of resistance. We understand that the struggle of farm workers is one aspect of a larger pattern of resistance, which is a response to the dispossession that capitalism and globalization inflicts on our global community. We were approached by the United Farm Workers (UFW) to work in solidarity with them in their current campaign against the outrageous labor practices of Ruby Ridge Dairy. Workers at Ruby Ridge are forced to work long hours without breaks or lunch, have had their wages stolen, and are denied clean drinking water as they are told to drink from the same place where the cows drink. Their efforts to unionize have been met with threats of violence and most of the workers who led the unionizing effort were fired. Darigold, the company who purchases milk from Ruby Ridge, has neglected to hold Ruby Ridge accountable for its exploitative actions, and in their failure to respond to the needs of the workers, have condoned such unjust working conditions.
In honor of the ongoing struggle of these workers, we began our organizing with the commitment to work in solidarity with farm workers, as opposed to taking action for them. We understand that our accountability to the workers themselves is a necessary piece of our intentions for solidarity; it is vital that those on the front lines of their workplace struggles remain central to the decision- making process. This accountability is a major principle we utilized to organize as a collective. In order to make sure this principle was followed, we met directly with workers twice- once in Seattle and once again in Pasco. In these meetings we shared our backgrounds, reasons for organizing and talked about the current struggles we are engaging in. The meetings were multilingual; we spoke in Espanol, English, and Spanglish. Traveling together to Pasco, and hearing stories of the worker’s struggles from the workers themselves, had a strong impact that we carried with us through the organizing process. We were mobilized and energized by our meeting with the workers; forming these relationships was a tangible way to actualize our goals of solidarity, community-building and to provide vision and inspiration for our work within the movement. We also planned the day of action and talked about logical next steps during the meeting. Meeting with workers and leaders from the UFW was an important step in keeping us accountable to the principle outlined above and was also a way to connect our communities.
Elemental to this action was arte -- the ways in which we created together and how our co-creativity influenced the march. There were two banner making parties leading up to January 27th, 2011. During these parties, food and music were abundant as we expressed our rage, hope and solidarity with paint, projecting nuestra voz onto the void spaces and transforming them into meaning. For many of us, this arte was as much a healing process as it was a symbol used to convey a message. Again, this demonstrates how an action is not just the event itself but also the way that we make it happen. Arte is the heart.
In line with our efforts to build community, we began the day of action with a breakfast that we cooked together to welcome the workers to Seattle and to further integrate the wider DOS community into the day of action. We put thought into aligning our food choices with the intentions of the campaign, keeping in mind that we are all connected to waste, worker and animal exploitation and ecological collapse via our food sourcing choices. We continuously work hard to maintain a full systems perspective within our organizing work. The community breakfast was held in the basement of a local church decorated with colorful, creative banners, and picket signs. As we shared food we continued to build community.
After sitting for breakfast with some of the workers and their families, we all headed to Westlake Plaza to rally. The rally began as two-high school students from Seattle, who are the children of farm workers, spoke about their families’ experiences and their own feelings around their struggles. We also heard from workers at Ruby Ridge and one of the organizers from the UFW. We then took to the streets in a high-energy march filled with arte and enthusiasm. One of the main goals of the day was to deliver a petition with 20,000 signatures to the Darigold Headquarters. Previous attempts to reach the administration had been unsuccessful; when workers and their allies showed up the doors were closed and guarded. When we arrived at the headquarters, we were greeted by a security guard who stated that only one person would be allowed inside and only one door would be open. However, the crowd did not find this to be acceptable and they opened the other door to allow the voices of the farm workers’ to travel into the offices and the ears of the corporate staff.
As a group we requested that the President and CEO of Darigold, Jim Wegner, come out of his office to answer to the demands of the workers and their allies. However, he declined to show his face. Despite his failure to listen to his workers and customers the petitions were delivered by one of the farm worker’s sons, whose path to the office was cleared by protesters. We proceeded with a second rally outside the Darigold headquarters. Speakers included farm workers revealing the truth about their unjust working conditions, two longshoremen speaking out in solidarity, a member of the UW custodian’s union and voices from Decolonize/Occupy Seattle. We ended the day of action with a march around the building and a promise that we will continue to organize until the farm workers’ demands are heard and working conditions at Ruby Ridge improve and meet basic standards of dignity and respect.
For many of us, what defined this action as “successful” was the building of relationships with each other, with workers, and with UFW representatives. From this base we aspire to move forward together as we continue to create, organize and overcome. While we consider the action on January 27th to be a success, we also recognize that it is only one step in the struggle for workers’ liberation. We completed the goal of delivering petitions to Darigold and through this process we were strengthened and inspired by the feelings of community, solidarity and accountability that had been our intentions. Our commitment to these principles has given us insight into the next stages of this struggle. We acknowledge that this petition is one step in the battle to hold Darigold accountable for its abuses, and is therefore one aspect in the struggle against the oppressive and exploitative practices of the dairy industry. We also acknowledge that these fights are embedded within the greater, global struggle to reclaim sovereignty of our food and labor.
The abuse of farm workers in Darigold feeder farms is not an isolated issue; it is one instance of the way our capitalist food system, which puts power in the hands of wealthy corporations (profiteering off of thousands of wage laborers), continues to perpetuate injustice. The exploitation of farm workers runs parallel to the abuse of other laborers throughout the food system. From the fields to the fine dining room, the exploitation of these workers is tied to their powerlessness within capitalist and racist institutions. In a similar way, consumers of this food are bound to the system. We are forced to make unjust choices as the oppressed roots of our food are veiled from us by a false abundance at the store. Friday’s action was part of the inspiration for a research project to explore these connections between labor abuses, the way our food is produced, and the structure of power in the food system. This project will continue as this struggle builds, both informing and learning from it.
Additionally, as we push our organizing efforts forward we recognize that the complexities of all struggles toward liberation require multiple approaches. This applies to the workers’ struggle at Ruby Ridge; thus, our organizing includes a variety of tactics from a diverse group of workers, allies, consumers and union members. Most importantly, we must always acknowledge that workers will continue to organize themselves and lead the course of solidarity. As consumers, we want to reach out to other consumers and continue to educate each other and our communities about the crimes of Ruby Ridge and Darigold. This could look like students addressing the milk purchased by their schools or creating human billboards stationed outside of supermarkets to inform shoppers about the suffering they contribute to when they drink milk. We encourage affinity groups and individuals to think of their own methods of supporting the effort to change the ways of Ruby Ridge Dairy and Darigold. The UFW is not officially calling for any of these actions; these are suggested ideas coming from people independent of any official affiliation to the UFW.
A vital next step is to continue traveling to Pasco and Eastern Washington to meet directly with workers and strengthen our solidarity through further relationship building. We also support workers from other dairies, orchards and farms that experience abuses similar to those of Ruby Ridge Dairy, because we know oppression is not isolated.
As mentioned, this action was part of a greater web tied in with international worker solidarity, class struggle, Northwest based alliances, and immigrant/economic refugee justicia y libertad. From the onset we knew this action was one aspect of a long-term vision, which could help us unite in building for May Day 2012.
A key component of our movement/solidarity bridging was recognizing the historical significance of May Day 2006, an international worker’s day led by the people for the people. This event awoke like a sleeping giant prior to the Decolonize/Occupy Movement. There are many lessons we can learn about the general strike that led millions of economic refugees to take to the streets, walk out of los campos, schools, and divest from the capitalist empire. International Workers Day reminds us that through unity, and through bridging struggles that transcend traditionalist labor movement building, we as a people can create the communities we want to live in. From Food Sovereignty and Workers Rights, from the fields to the cities, we can dismantle the capitalistic empire and its nation-states, and plant, cultivate and nurture a new system. From planting community gardens in our neighborhoods, to painting murals on urban canvasses we will move our struggles forward. By building community with economic refugees/migrants, farm workers, people of color, queer/trans folk and wombyn, we will dismantle all systems! A movement led by the people for people. May Day 2012 we unite with the world!
Will you be there?
Hi
ReplyDeleteI read this post 2 times. It is very useful.
Pls try to keep posting.
Let me show other source that may be good for community.
Source: ESL teacher interview questions
Best regards
Jonathan.