CUPE condemns Israeli crimes - will other unions follow?

MY union certainly won't follow along and if CUPE ever brought it to us we'd tell them to go fuck themselves. MY union represents university teachers and is committed to protecting our academic freedom.

I wonder if SSC sings "Blue & White" to himself when he posts. I like to think so.

Quote:

Duke, we thy anthems raise
For all thy praises untold;
We'll sing for the Blue and White
Whose colors we unfold.
Firm stands her line of blue
For they are loyal through and through,
Fighting with the spirit true
All for the love of old D.U.
Fight, we'll fight with all our strength and might- HEY!
Win, we can!
So here we give a hand:
Hey, Rah, Rah, Rah, Rah,
D-U-K-E, Rah!

Anyway, the Scottish Trade Union ruled to stand in solidarity with their Palestinian peers at their meeting yesterday. Text of open letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown:

Quote:

Dear Gordon,

On behalf of the Scottish Trades Union Congress I wish to express our outrage, condemnation, and deep concern at the current attacks being carried out by Israel on Gaza, which have killed over 500 Palestinian people, including women and children.

Given the ground incursion by Israeli troops into the densely populated area of Gaza, there is little doubt that the bloodshed and violence will continue and that the number of civilian deaths will only increase. The situation is bleak with hospitals running out of medical supplies as the Israeli blockade continues to suffocate the people of Gaza. The region's power and infrastructure networks are on the verge of collapse with over 85% of Gazans depending on UN food aid - which is at critically low levels.

We are deeply concerned at the economic blockade Israel has inflicted upon Gaza, the separation wall it has constructed, and its continuing occupation of Palestinian lands. The STUC is clear that the Israeli violence in Gaza and the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian people is out of all proportion to the attacks Israel is currently facing.

The STUC urges you to do all in your power to put pressure on the Israeli Government to halt its attacks on the people of Gaza. We believe that strong statements of condemnation must be forthcoming from world leaders and political institutions. As someone who prides himself in standing up for the vulnerable and oppressed, and who always promotes justice and fairness, we urge you to use your position to do what you can to end the killing of innocent people.

Yours sincerely,

Grahame Smith General Secretary

The STUC will also be trying to convince the Congress (and others) to join the CUPE boycott of Israel a week from Saturday.

Quote:

Speakers in Edinburgh:

Manawel Abdel Al will speak on behalf of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)

Salim Vally is a founder member of COSATU and a spokesperson for the South African Anti-War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Committee

Katherine Nastovski was the Chair of the International Solidarity Committee of Ontario CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) when this key Canadian union body committed to boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel

Speaker from the Palestinian Grassroots Stop the Wall Campaign.

[...]

Aim of the conference:

To educate trade unionists on the current situation for Palestinian workers and to debate and provide information for grassroots trade unionists on the current call from Palestinian civil society, including the PGFTU and other Palestinian trade unions, for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

News from Norway:

Quote:

Demonstrations have now been held in at least 28 cities:

Oslo, Stavanger, Sandnes, Fredrikstad, Trondheim, Hamar, Sortland, Namsos, Arendal, Norheimsund, Mosjøen, Bergen, Sarpsborg, Tønsberg, Harstad, Tromsø, Kristiansand, Notodden, Vadsø, Mo i Rana, Alta, Kirkenes, Røros, Volda, Halden, Gjøvik, Lillehammer, Selbu.

The numbers of participants have never been bigger.

[b]Union activities:[/b]

POLITICAL STRIKE: Thursday ALL trains in the whole of Norway, and all trams and subways in Oslo, will stand still for two minutes as a result of a political strike organized by the Norwegian Locomotive Union and the Oslo Tram Workers Union in protest of the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

A large selection of Norwegian trade unions and organizations has endorsed a new campaign for the withdrawal of all State investments in Israel. The call is endorsed by so far 6 of the largest national trade unions.

The Union of Trade and Office Workers calls on all members to ask their employers to remove Israeli produtcts from stores. The union is the by far largest union of workers in all types of private and public stores in Norway.

The confederation of Norwegian Trade Unions (LO), with apr. 1/5 of the whole Norwegian population as members, condemns the Israeli bombing and invasion in Gaza and calls for demonstrations.

The Norwegian Church has protested Israels invasion of Gaza and was, according to media, "called to the carpet" by the Israeli embassador.

22.000 supports the Facebook-group demanding the embassador to be expelelled from Norway. The Facebook-group has got attention in all major newspaper and was hacked by a Zionist hacker-group but is now back on track.

31% of Norwegians supports the boycott of Israel, in a survey by the pro-Israel tabloid VG today. The question was politicaly charged "Do you support the Socialist Left's boycott of Israel?" If not mentioning the Socialists the number would probably be much higher. The vast majority in all groups in the survey is against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

[url=http://www.marxmail.org/msg55354.html][u]Source[/u][/url]

Quote:

MY union represents university teachers and is committed to protecting our academic freedom.

Yes, Academic Freedom. Not to be confused with FREEDOM. Let them enslave and slaughter them but let me enjoy my cappucino with the brutes who did it while discussing matters of intellectual irrelevance. 

Actually, now that I think of it, as much as I've always opposed the idea of labeling academics elitist, here we have an academic newly elected president of the USA and another leading Canada's Liberal Party and they're both proving as gutless as their colleagues who are so silent on the destruction of a univesity in Gaza and yet so protective of their own little empires of entitlements and perqs. Hmmmm!

i think we really need to defend sid somehow... maybe we can start another thread on this? (unless i missed one. in which case i'm sorry, my concentration isn't the best atm.) there are no canadian news articles supporting him if you run a search of his name on google news. the sick majority are trashing him endlessly, basically trying to ruin him. if a windsor star article is accurate, a growing number of people within the union may be trying to push for his resignation. we can't lose someone like him, or have his political reputation ruined just because he shows the exact type of political bravery we need right now. maybe rabble should have an article to support him for the front page? maybe someone should start a facebook group? it's minor, but an anti-cupe group already has over a thousand memebers. aside from that, i can only find ones that are anti-sid and anti-cupe, except for one small group of 8 or some people that does claim to support him, but can't spell and comes across as awkward and having true anti-semitic issues that they need to address.

am i right to be worried? i'm no expert on interpreting political situations, so i'm sorry if i am way off base.

Lewenza's statement is far better than what Hargrove had to say during the Lebanon war.

[url=http://links.org.au/node/845][color=mediumblue][u]Australian unionists back "boycott apartheid Israel" call[/u][/color][/url]

miles wrote:

funny a week ago it was about individuals

Nonsense.

The link you posted makes it clear that CUPE Ontario calls on Ontario universities and university workers to "refuse to participate in academic cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli universities..." Such a position would inevitably involve refusal to cooperate and collaborate with individual Israeli academics, and a refusal to have visiting Israeli academics speaking and working on Canadian campuses. That doesn't mean the boycott is directed against individuals as opposed to Israeli academia in general.

CUPE's position has not changed. Nor should it.