Occupy Oakland Calls for TOTAL WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN ON 12/12

Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown, Passed With Unanimous Consensus by vote of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2012:

In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:

Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12th. The 1% has disrupted the lives of longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth, just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement.

We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.

Participating occupations are asked to ensure that during the port shutdowns the local arbitrator rules in favor of longshoremen not crossing community picket lines in order to avoid recriminations against them. Should there be any retaliation against any workers as a result of their honoring pickets or supporting our port actions, additional solidarity actions should be prepared.

In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations, shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.

-In Oakland: the West Coast Port Shutdown Coordinating Committee will meet on General Assembly days at 5pm before the GA to organize the local shutdown, and to network with other occupations.

So there was no guilt because there was no economic gain, but isn’t the ultimate goal of getting rid of the OWSers’ college loans a case of economic gain?

http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_rico.htm

Background:
The US Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) of 1970 was originally written to target organized crime. It allowed the courts to attack “enterprises” that engage in a “pattern of racketeering.” A similar piece of legislation, the Hobbs Act of 1946 makes it a crime to take property from another with force. Both have been used by pro-choice groups to target anti-abortion organizations.

1986 case:
In the early 1986, the National Organization of Women (NOW) used RICO to initiate a lawsuit against Operation Rescue, the Pro-Life Action League, the League’s Executive Director, Joseph Scheidler, and two of Scheidler’s associates: Timothy Murphy and Andrew Scholberg. The groups had allegedly blockaded a number of abortion clinics in Delaware and Wisconsin.

During the trial, U.S. District Judge David Coar prohibited the clinic lawyers from introducing evidence that they claimed would link the defendants to more than a decade of bombings and arson attacks throughout the U.S. However, they were allowed to introduce evidence about physical attacks and threats against clinic staff and patients.

The case proceeded against On 1998-APR-20, all of the defendants were found guilty of having engaged in 21 acts of extortion. The US Federal jury ordered the three activists and the two organizations to pay $85,962.92 in damages. The amount was based upon the cost of increased security arrangements during the blockade. Because of the nature of the RICO act, these damages were tripled to about $258,000. The way became clear for up to 1000 abortion clinics in the US to follow the lead of the the Milwaukee and Wilmington clinics, bring similar lawsuits, and claim massive damages.

Mr. Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League commented: “They want to bankrupt us; there’s no question about that...We wanted to come out as a legitimate force in America, and not as racketeers. There is no honor in being a racketeer and we’re not racketeers.” Later, he said: “A million dollars, a billion dollars, a trillion dollars, the national debt - they won’t get it. You can’t get blood from a turnip - and we’re turnips.” Larry Crane, the lawyer representing Operation Rescue confirmed this; he said: “There’s no chance or likelihood of collecting any judgment against these impecunious defendants.”

Patricia Ireland, president of NOW, said: “A jury of six men and women saw through the thugs’ shameless attempt to pervert the First Amendment.”

NOW lost the case at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The court decided that RICO could not be used in this instance. It ruled that the law can only be used in instances of criminal activity motivated by economic gain. 6

You know... sometimes I just think it’s all a charade. The protestors are obviously operating with the tacit approval of the government, so they aren’t rebelling against the government, not really. They are rebelling against the wealthy. But the wealthy continue to pour billions into lobbying and donations to political figures on both sides. And frankly, I doubt the protest is hurting them. It’s only snarling traffic and hurting the little people in the immediate vicinity. None of it makes sense to me anymore. I mean, why don’t the rich Go Galt? They never do, which tells me none of this really hurts them. It’s all just this big, meaningless cycle.

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