A United Front in Tweets

Oakland Militants Successfully Block Unloading of Israeli Ship

A militant blockade in the Port of Oakland on Saturday 27 September prevented the Israeli ship Zim Shanghai from unloading for two shifts, forcing the vessel to leave the Bay Area completely unworked and divert to Los Angeles. This followed on the heels of a successful blockade of another Zim ship, the Piraeus, in mid-August. A further blockade is planned for 25 October, when the Zim Beijing is due to berth in Oakland.

The 27 September action was organized by the Stop ZIM Action Committee, a united front comprised of a number of organizations and individuals including the IBT, the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee and pro-Palestine activists. The call out was endorsed by the Palestinian BDS national committee and other groups. Before the blockade was set up, the committee appealed to the traditionally militant workers in Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to support the action and refuse to unload the ship. During the morning shift, rank-and-file support was so strong that only a single longshoreman took a job ticket to work the ship at the dispatch hall.

The same could not be said for the leadership of the ILWU. A press release on behalf of the union’s International Officers alleged, incorrectly, that the ILWU has no position on the bombing and blockade of Gaza by Israel, and also that longshoremen and clerks were threatened by activists during the evening blockade. The press release was widely cited by pro-Zionist media, including in the Jerusalem Post. Morton Klein, President of the Zionist Association of America, used the press statement to call for arresting the “anti-Semitic” protesters in a letter to the Oakland Police Department.

This response to the ILWU leadership by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee refutes these allegations, provides a useful description of what really happened at the August and September actions and exposes the negative role played by the officers of a union once well known for solidarity with the oppressed around the world.

A letter released by the united front committee after the event thanked “all the organizations and individuals who gave so generously of their time and energy, publicized the event to their networks, sent messages of support, endorsed the picket and brought friends and family to the picket line. Most importantly, we salute the longshore workers of ILWU Local 10, who stood aside, gave up a day’s pay and respected the picket lines we put up.”

Organizing a disparate collection of activists of different backgrounds while also appealing to the organized workers movement was not an easy task. One key tool for mobilizing the maximum number of people in a changing situation was Twitter. Many of the tweets from the @StopZIMOak account were retweeted in the Bay Area and internationally, further building the action. The following selection gives a flavor of events: