A coalition of leftists and Islamists blocked access to piers in Oakland which had been designated for offloading of a container ship owned by the Israeli firm Zim Lines. The local longshoremen refused to cross the “picket line” and perform their job of unloading the vessel. There was nothing particularly controversial about the ship’s cargo: this was clearly an economic action directed at the entire country of Israel.
Follow the link above to learn the identities of the organizations involved in this–organizations that the San Francisco Chronicle referred to as “peace and labor groups.”
When the leftists decide to stage a dockside “protest” against the shipment of military supplies in support of a U.S. military operation, or an operation by one or more of our allies, are the longshoremen going to go along with this as well? I see this as a very serious issue: Large-scale military operations are highly dependent, as they have been for centuries, on sea transportation.
Do not fail to read this WSJ article by Shelby Steele: Israel and the surrender of the West. Excerpt:
The most interesting voice in all the fallout surrounding the Gaza flotilla incident is that sanctimonious and meddling voice known as “world opinion.” At every turn “world opinion,” like a school marm, takes offense and condemns Israel for yet another infraction of the world’s moral sensibility. And this voice has achieved an international political legitimacy so that even the silliest condemnation of Israel is an opportunity for self-congratulation.
Rock bands now find moral imprimatur in canceling their summer tour stops in Israel (Elvis Costello, the Pixies, the Gorillaz, the Klaxons). A demonstrator at an anti-Israel rally in New York carries a sign depicting the skull and crossbones drawn over the word “Israel.” White House correspondent Helen Thomas, in one of the ugliest incarnations of this voice, calls on Jews to move back to Poland. And of course the United Nations and other international organizations smugly pass one condemnatory resolution after another against Israel while the Obama administration either joins in or demurs with a wink.
Read the whole thing.
The author “Zombie” brings up the subject of the picket line. I was once at a Whole Foods and they were being picketed for something, I don’t even remember what. One of the picketers who I asked “what was up” was a temp worker that was hired to walk back and forth with a sign. He didn’t even know why he was picketing. Told me a lot about picket lines.
OTOH, a business who is in the back of my building was being picketed over a union contract and the picketers were blocking the access to the driveway of my business (one driveway for both businesses). These were actual union guys picketing in the snow and slush. I nicely asked them not to block access to my business and they refused. A call to their union boss got them removed very quickly as that was quite illegal, of course.
The Pixies are my favorite all time band, and now they go and do this. I will have to investigate, but if true they will never get another cent of my money.
I should add that I typically don’t worry myself about the politics of bands, but in this case it seems as if it has gone too far.
The Left’s interpretation of picket line is full of situational ethics, like the Left itself. Back when I was wearing a badge, the Sovereign State of Colorado violated the Civil Service laws that determined the method of setting the pay for state employees. In my Department, everyone at the rank of Captain and below was forced to take a 12.5% pay cut [and our pay was frozen for 6 years afterwards]. The money was used to create and fund a number of Senior Executive Service [political appointments outside of and above the Civil Service pay charts] positions. A similar cut was imposed on nurses, PA’s, and orderlies in the state hospital system, for the same purpose.
When Colorado has a Democrat governor, there is an annual Labor Dinner with the governor in Pueblo, Colorado. The AFSCME locals for my Department, and the State Hospital system put a picket line around the Events Center where that dinner was being held, against the Governor and his cabinet who were there. I will say that a few of the building trades unionists took one look at the picket line and turned around. But the majority busted right through; with the Retail Clerks Union being the loudest about how it was wrong to picket a Democrat, and how they had to have dinner with the Governor.
Picket lines have absolutely nothing to do with laws, labor contracts, or the workers anymore. Unions do not care about any of that. It is all subsumed into supporting the Democrats and the Far Left. The American labor movement is rooting for the destruction of Israel because the Democratic Party is rooting for the destruction of Israel.
You can guess my reaction to union picket lines today.
Subotai Bahadur
I don’t get it. Why don’t the Peace and Labor groups simply proclaim a nation wide boycott of Jew-owned businesses, as their socialist ancestors did?
Apparently they got the wrong ship. (This is included in an update by Zombie too.)
Tehag – good point, they should cut out the middle man.
Robert Avrech comments on the Shelby Steele article.
Hey people! Don’t you know that there are only two groups in society, in the world, in the WHOLE UNIVERSE? The oppressors and the oppressed.
That’s it.
That’s the only prism one needs to understand anything about anything; anywhere, anytime, any place. And once that distinction is made, all thoughtfulness and nuance go out the window.
Sorry to be so glib about such a serious topic, but that’s the way many people look at the situation. “Strong” guy bad, “weak” guy good. No room for looking critically at the situation.
If you have more money, you must be bad; if you have a successful business, you must be a criminal; if you make a success of your country, despite imperfections, you must always be wrong in everything. Beats thinking.
– Madhu
Am I the only one here who never heard of the Gorillaz or the Klaxons?
Alan K. Henderson: no. Never head of Pixies, either.
I think it’s a blessing in disguise, those bands canceling the tour. Public keeps their money, and there is less noise in the atmosphere. Everyone wins.
A few years back, the same gang tried to block the shipment of war materiale to the Gulf via the Port of Oakland. Then Mayor Jerry Brown sent in the riot squad and opened the port using batons and tear gas. He got a lot of criticism from liberals and the leftists for that.
Now I don’t give Jerry Brown much credit in general, but this was the right call on his part. No political leader can let a small group of protesters block the sea-going commerce of our nation.
One can think of this action as Hamas trying to blockade the Israelis from inside the US.