Monthly Archives: April 2006

NYCLAW Flyer: End the War — Bring All the Troops Home Now!

[Download formatted version: 42906-flyer.doc]

Saturday, April 29, 2006 – NYC
End the War – Bring All the Troops Home Now!

No More Blood for Empire, Oil and Profit
*Immediate withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq, Afghanistan & the entire Middle East.
*No “timetable.”
*No “advisors.”
*No “redeployment.”
*No air war.
*No war on Iran.
*End all aid to the Israeli apartheid state
*Freedom for Palestine.
*U.S. hands off the Philippines, Colombia, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba and the rest of the world.

Defend Working People At Home
*No human being is “illegal”
*Full amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
*End the attack on Arab/Muslim rights.
*Reconstruction and the right of return for Katrina victims.
*Decent wages and benefits for all workers.

Labor Contingent
Assembles 10:30 a.m., on 19 St., between Broadway & Park Ave. S.
March begins at 12 Noon

Flyer Issued by:
NYC Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
http://www.traprockpeace.org/nyclaw_blog/
nyclaw@comcast.net
917-282-0139

——————————

New York City Labor Against the War

The U.S. war in Iraq is built on one lie after another: “weapons of mass destruction,” “stopping terrorism,” “promoting democracy,” and now, “preventing civil war.”

In reality, it is a naked grab for oil and empire, enforced with slaughter, torture and death squads.

Such lies have been used to launch brutal U.S. wars of empire throughout U.S. history. And, as always, working people pay the terrible price.

This war has killed thousands of Iraqis and G.I.s, looted the economy and promoted ethnic division.

At home, the “War on Terror” since 9/11 has meant racist attacks on the Arab/Muslim community and immigrants, assault on civil liberties, billions of wasted dollars, massive cuts in social safety net, betrayal of Katrina refugees, and weaker labor unions.

Bipartisan Empire

None of this is an accident. It is part and parcel of Bush’s shameless exploitation of 9/11 to increase U.S. domination of the Middle East and the rest of the world.

But the Republicans couldn’t have done it without the Democrats, who have fully supported war and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, threats to attack Syria and Iran, Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing, the Patriot Act, and many other Bush policies. Their real complaint is that Bush is losing the war.

Grassroots Resistance

But the U.S. empire has bred resistance across the planet.

By standing up to the most powerful military in world history, ordinary Iraqis have prevented the conquest of their country, and stopped the U.S. from invading Iran, Syria or other countries on its hit list.

The empire also faces resistance amongst poor and working people in Palestine, Afghanistan, Colombia, Haiti, the Philippines, Venezuela and many other countries.

At home, widespread antiwar sentiment is clear from the voices of military families and veterans, mass demonstrations, local resolutions, counter-recruitment, and labor bodies representing millions of workers.

A growing number of G.I.s-workers in uniform-have refused to reenlist, gone AWOL or deserted.

Meanwhile, Bush’s war at home has generated opposition from Katrina refugees, NYC transit workers, and a new mass immigrant’s rights movement.

Mass movements like these stopped the bloody U.S. war in Vietnam. In the same way, we can stop today’s war of empire.

Who We Are

New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW) was founded by trade unionists immediately after 9/11 to oppose U.S. wars of empire.

Join us at NYCLAW meetings on the first Monday of each month, at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, contact nyclaw@comcast.net, or 917-282-0139.

Solidarity Pact with African-American Trade Unionists in Support of Immigrant Rights (Bayan)

http://www.bayanusa.org/press/pr_releases.php?press_id=67

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2006

Filipino-Americans Join Solidarity Pact with African-American Trade Unionists in Support of Immigrant Rights; Call for May 1st Rally in Union Square

New York– In a press conference held on the steps of New York City Hall yesterday, the militant Filipino-American alliance known as BAYAN USA joined over 30 African-American trade unionists, New York City Councilman Charles Barron, and immigrant leaders in expressing firm worker solidarity with the massive tide of immigrants rights demonstrations demanding comprehensive immigration reforms from the US Congress.

“We workers, particularly black workers and trade unionists fighting a racist and exploitative system against all working people in the US, are in full solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers who are actively steering what is evidently a new civil rights movement,” stated Larry Holmes of the International Action Center.

“We fully understand and embrace that the struggle of our immigrant sisters and brothers is not separate from the struggle of all working people, and we will not let ourselves be divided, by those in power who will opportunistically use the power of the immigrant rights movement to pit black worker against brown worker. Immigrant rights are worker rights.” Holmes continued.

NY City Councilman and black nationalist activist Charles Barron also acknowledged that the American working people understand that it is the onerous economic policies of the US government with other countries such as the Philippines that causes forced migration of peoples in the first place.

Speaking from the Filipino community, BAYAN USA representative Berna Ellorin affirmed Barron’s statement by pointing out that the Arroyo government’s subservience to US economic dictates over the Filipino people’s interests sets the condition that pushes at least 3000 Filipinos abroad to find work abroad because of rampant joblessness and non-industrialization in the Philippines.

“For most immigrants it was never a matter of choice to migrate. It is a matter of survival. Now that we are here, and sustaining the Philippine economy with our remittances, our struggle as immigrants to reform the racist and anti-migrant US immigration system cannot be separated from the struggle of all working people of color. As immigrants, we are also fighting for what Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X were fighting for– basic civil rights,” Ellorin stated.

Among the demands supported by speakers were legalization, not criminalization of undocumented workers, swift family reunification for immigrant families, full workers rights and protection for immigrants, and no to enforcement-type immigration legislation.

The Congressional debate on immigration reform is currently ongoing amidst pressure from immigrant groups in massive outpouring on the streets. A nationally-coordinated immigrant rights rally last April 10th gathered over 250,000 alone in Manhattan and millions more in other US cities. Immigrant groups have signified the demonstrations will only escalate.

Other speakers included black labor unionists Brenda Stokely and Chris Silvera of the Million Worker March.

BAYAN USA and the Million Worker March also openly supported the call for an immigrant and worker rights demonstration on Monday, May 1st, 4pm at Union Square Park, as an extension of the storm of protests that has erupted across US cities.

“In countries around the world, May 1 is traditionally a day of action as international workers day. This May 1st, immigrants and workers will affirm this tradition in New York City,” Ellorin ended.

As a member of the NY May 1 Coalition Steering Committee, BAYAN USA and other Filipino organizations are organizing a Filipino contingent. For more information, send an email to the New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines at nychrp @ yahoo.com ###

Images of the press conference available at http://www.maniwalaya.org/images/bayanusa/index.htm

References: Kawal Ulanday, Chair, BAYAN USA, email: chair @ bayanusa.org; Berna Ellorin, Media Officer, BAYAN USA, email: mc @ bayanusa.org

Next NYCLAW Meeting: Monday, 8.7

Wed Aug 2, 2006 4:41 am (PST)

The next NYCLAW meeting will take place Monday, August 7,
2006, 6:30 p.m., at CUNY Grad Center, 365 Fifth Avenue
(between 34th and 35th Street), DSC Lounge, 5th floor,
Rm. 5414 (photo ID required to enter building).

The agenda will focus on mobilizing labor against the
U.S.-Israel war on Lebanon and Palestine.

All NYCLAW members and friends are encouraged to attend.