Portland Workers: Organize Now to Say All Out for FEDS OUT!

Portland Workers: Organize Now to Say All Out for FEDS OUT! The threat is looming over all of Portland’s working people. Troops may be sent here any day now, as part of the assault on the basic rights of us all. Spearheaded by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the Border Patrol and other federal agencies kidnapping our immigrant fellow workers, the aim is to terrorize and silence the whole working class into submission. Donald Trump has declared war on Portland, but protests just seeking to mock the threat won’t stop it. Right now, a flurry of judges’ rulings keeps everyone guessing. But one thing is certain: we can put no faith in the capitalist courts or politicians of either big-business party. Instead, Portland’s working class must bring out its own power – we need to use it now, or the hard-won rights of the whole working class will go down the drain. As federal agents seek to terrorize immigrants and the whole of the population, the Portland Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants calls on workers throughout the city to organize now for bringing out labor’s power to say All out for FEDS OUT! The ICE building on SW Macadam Boulevard has seen busloads of detained immigrants arriving daily and stormtrooper-style units “guarding” the facility with rapid-fire pepper ball launchers and helicopter surveillance. We all know White House claims of “chaos in Portland” are a ridiculous pretext for turning the city into a “training ground” for U.S. military forces to trample the most fundamental rights. We’re already seeing that in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Farce, frog suits and pajama parties outside the ICE jail won’t deter the sinister forces determined to intimidate us and destroy our communities. Against Trump’s power play, we need to organize in our unions, our workplaces, our schools, hospitals, working-class and immigrant communities for the mass mobilization of working-class power. And we need to do this now. Hundreds of National Guard troops were sent to Chicago, but have been blocked by a temporary restraining order from being active on the ground. But meanwhile, masked federal agents have stepped up their rampaging through communities, carrying out gestapo-style immigration raids, ripping up families and workplaces. But people are fighting back, as thousands have marched against the feds’ police-state repression and community members are standing up to the ICE and Border Patrol thugs trying to arrest their neighbors. In New York last week, feds’ kidnap squads targeted African and Asian street vendors while carrying out blatant racial profiling of passers-by. Against this, we keep seeing the courage of everyday people who seek to defend those targeted by ICE. This is inspiring, and such efforts are very important. The politicians are relying on the courts, but any temporary reprieves will likely soon be overturned by Trump’s pliant Supreme Court. The power to actually turn back the hideous deportation machine and the mounting attacks on our rights is that of the multiracial working class whose massive power comes from this simple fact: everything runs on our labor. The time is now for the workers of Portland to organize and use our power, saying: All out for FEDS OUT! For more information, contact the Portland Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants lcdipdx@gmail.com https://lcdipdx.neocities.org/ Labor donated
Click on the image to download a printable leaflet.

The threat is looming over all of Portland’s working people. Troops may be sent here any day now, as part of the assault on the basic rights of us all. Spearheaded by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the Border Patrol and other federal agencies kidnapping our immigrant fellow workers, the aim is to terrorize and silence the whole working class into submission. Donald Trump has declared war on Portland, but protests just seeking to mock the threat won’t stop it.

Right now, a flurry of judges’ rulings keeps everyone guessing. But one thing is certain: we can put no faith in the capitalist courts or politicians of either big-business party. Instead, Portland’s working class must bring out its own power – we need to use it now, or the hard-won rights of the whole working class will go down the drain. As federal agents seek to terrorize immigrants and the whole of the population, the Portland Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants calls on workers throughout the city to organize now for bringing out labor’s power to say All out for FEDS OUT!

The ICE building on SW Macadam Boulevard has seen busloads of detained immigrants arriving daily and stormtrooper-style units “guarding” the facility with rapid-fire pepper ball launchers and helicopter surveillance. We all know White House claims of “chaos in Portland” are a ridiculous pretext for turning the city into a “training ground” for U.S. military forces to trample the most fundamental rights. We’re already seeing that in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

Farce, frog suits and pajama parties outside the ICE jail won’t deter the sinister forces determined to intimidate us and destroy our communities. Against Trump’s power play, we need to organize in our unions, our workplaces, our schools, hospitals, working-class and immigrant communities for the mass mobilization of working-class power. And we need to do this now.

Hundreds of National Guard troops were sent to Chicago, but have been blocked by a temporary restraining order from being active on the ground. But meanwhile, masked federal agents have stepped up their rampaging through communities, carrying out gestapo-style immigration raids, ripping up families and workplaces. But people are fighting back, as thousands have marched against the feds’ police-state repression and community members are standing up to the ICE and Border Patrol thugs trying to arrest their neighbors.

In New York last week, feds’ kidnap squads targeted African and Asian street vendors while carrying out blatant racial profiling of passers-by. Against this, we keep seeing the courage of everyday people who seek to defend those targeted by ICE. This is inspiring, and such efforts are very important.

The politicians are relying on the courts, but any temporary reprieves will likely soon be overturned by Trump’s pliant Supreme Court. The power to actually turn back the hideous deportation machine and the mounting attacks on our rights is that of the multiracial working class whose massive power comes from this simple fact: everything runs on our labor.

The time is now for the workers of Portland to organize and use our power, saying: All out for FEDS OUT!

For more information, contact the Portland Labor Committee to Defend Immigrants

lcdipdx@gmail.com https://lcdipdx.neocities.org/ Labor donated

Local 46 has got to win this: Time to fight with both fists!

Class Struggle Workers, Portland Stands in Solidarity With Striking Electricians! Local 46 has got to win this: Time to fight with both fists! Class Struggle Workers – Portland is a militant tendency of union members in Portland that works in favor of a class-struggle perspective within the labor movement. We have participated in many labor actions and mobilizations, including on the picket lines of many labor struggles. We stand in solidarity with the Low-Voltage electricians, and would like to share some thoughts on how this struggle can be won. Low-Voltage members overwhelmingly rejected NECA’s latest “offer.” Now what? They’ve come back with another, even lower one. Evidently the bosses don’t think the union is serious. They think they can wear the union down until there’s no energy left for a fight. Should they get away with that? “One day longer, one day stronger” is, frankly, a rhyme without reason. Construction workers have the power to force the bosses to catch up with inflation and cough up four paid holidays. But it’s time for labor to use its power – or lose it. And right now Local 46 is fighting with one hand in its pocket. The inside wiremen’s contract is expired. They work for some of the same contractors who are all part of the same NECA cabal. The inside wiremen live with the same inflation. They deserve the same paid holidays that the lower-paid 06’s are fighting for. We think it’s clear that all the affected workers should strike together now! A key point we keep seeing the urgency of: Picket lines mean don’t cross, period! No exceptions, no excuses, no lawyerly waffling about “individual choice.” Solidarity in practice, not just words, is essential for the interests of all workers. Without it we all lose. There have been rallies where leaders of all the unions have spoken many words about solidarity. Now is the time to use it! What about the politicians who claim to be friends of labor? The union-busting, warmongering, strikebreaking parties of the bosses don’t operate in the interests of workers – labor must break with the Democrats and Republicans and form an independent workers party. And in order to fight together, labor needs to free itself of the handcuffs imposed by the bosses’ courts. The Ironworkers’ contract is expired. They just voted down an insulting pay-cut “offer.” The painters’ contract is expired. They have rejected the bosses’ lowball insults. The crane operators in Operating Engineers 302 are working without a contract and they too voted down the latest “offer.” “In unity there is strength” – putting that into action can help win, and workers from Seattle to places across the country would be inspired if all Seattle construction was shut down by a joint strike of all trades. This is a critical moment in the labor movement, with inflation squeezing the workers dry and the bosses riding high, and the time for action is now. https://csw-pdx.org/ cswp@csw-pdx.org 503-303-8278 Labor donated, 14 June 2024

Class Struggle Workers, Portland Stands in Solidarity With Striking Electricians!

Class Struggle Workers – Portland is a militant tendency of union members in Portland that works in favor of a class-struggle perspective within the labor movement. We have participated in many labor actions and mobilizations, including on the picket lines of many labor struggles. We stand in solidarity with the Low-Voltage electricians, and would like to share some thoughts on how this struggle can be won.

Low-Voltage members overwhelmingly rejected NECA’s latest “offer.” Now what? They’ve come back with another, even lower one. Evidently the bosses don’t think the union is serious. They think they can wear the union down until there’s no energy left for a fight. Should they get away with that?

“One day longer, one day stronger” is, frankly, a rhyme without reason. Construction workers have the power to force the bosses to catch up with inflation and cough up four paid holidays. But it’s time for labor to use its power – or lose it. And right now Local 46 is fighting with one hand in its pocket.

The inside wiremen’s contract is expired. They work for some of the same contractors who are all part of the same NECA cabal. The inside wiremen live with the same inflation. They deserve the same paid holidays that the lower-paid 06’s are fighting for. We think it’s clear that all the affected workers should strike together now!

A key point we keep seeing the urgency of: Picket lines mean don’t cross, period! No exceptions, no excuses, no lawyerly waffling about “individual choice.” Solidarity in practice, not just words, is essential for the interests of all workers. Without it we all lose.

There have been rallies where leaders of all the unions have spoken many words about solidarity. Now is the time to use it! What about the politicians who claim to be friends of labor? The union-busting, warmongering, strikebreaking parties of the bosses don’t operate in the interests of workers – labor must break with the Democrats and Republicans and form an independent workers party. And in order to fight together, labor needs to free itself of the handcuffs imposed by the bosses’ courts. The Ironworkers’ contract is expired. They just voted down an insulting pay-cut “offer.” The painters’ contract is expired. They have rejected the bosses’ lowball insults. The crane operators in Operating Engineers 302 are working without a contract and they too voted down the latest “offer.” “In unity there is strength” – putting that into action can help win, and workers from Seattle to places across the country would be inspired if all Seattle construction was shut down by a joint strike of all trades. This is a critical moment in the labor movement, with inflation squeezing the workers dry and the bosses riding high, and the time for action is now.

https://csw-pdx.org/ cswp@csw-pdx.org 503-303-8278

Labor donated, 14 June 2024

Saturday, December 9: Labor’s Fight to Free Mumia

Labor’s Fight to Free Mumia
Saturday, December 9 2023 at 2pm

Musicians Local 99
325 NE 20th Avenue Portland, OR 97232

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Now!

Painters Union Local 10 invites you to an educational forum on the fight to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and the history of working-class struggle against racist police repression. Workers strikes and protest mobilizations have helped to save Mumia, an innocent man, from America’s racist death penalty. Now the power of the workers movement must be unleashed to free our brother, who has been behind bars since 1982.

RSVP for more information: freemumiapdx@eml.cc

Strike to Win!

Bring Out Labor’s Power to Shut Portland Public Schools Down – Victory to the Teachers!

The Portland Association of Teachers is on strike for smaller class sizes, safe staffing levels and better pay. What it’s fighting for is crucial for students, their families and the whole working class. As the strike nears its third week, the teachers are up against a school district administration that has pulled out all the stops against them, from “misunderstanding” its own budget to bringing in “reading tutors” to cross the teachers picket lines. The school district admin is going after the teachers with everything it has.

So why should the teachers be expected to fight with both hands tied behind their backs? While holding morning pickets at every school, the teachers union is issuing special passes to school employees being asked to work during the strike. These “allow” workers, from custodians to paraprofessionals, to cross the picket lines – which means helping the school board bosses keep the schools running. Instead, the whole labor movement needs to reaffirm, once and for all, that picket lines mean don’t cross. Rather than getting permission to work behind the picket lines, workers should refuse to cross, and join the pickets along with a mass mobilization of labor to help the teachers win. A defeat for the strike would affect all labor – but a victory here would be a major gain for us all.

The fate of the strike largely depends on teachers, other school employees, workers across the city and students uniting together, shutting the whole school system down – from Portland Public Schools headquarters to the smallest elementary school – and forcing the school district to meet the strikers’ demands. Along with every school district building, all active construction sites connected to PPS need to shut down too. Not a single nail should be driven and not a lick of paint should be applied until the demands of the teachers are met. Workers in the trades and transportation are instrumental in keeping the department of education going. With their help, the teachers can shut it down in order to win.

Rather than a strategy of finding secret money, “allying” with Democratic governor Tina Kotek, or federally appointed mediators from Biden, the same president who called in the power of the federal government to stop an impending strike of railroad workers, teachers need to turn to their real allies: the working class. The same federal government, Democrats and Republicans alike, that arms and funds the savage bombing campaign and occupation raining mass death on the people of Gaza is not and cannot be an “ally” to teachers here at home. And in fact, unchaining workers’ power to stop the flow of arms to that mass murder abroad is connected to unchaining the power of labor here to help the Portland teachers WIN. It’s about time. All out to defend the teachers’ picket lines and win the strike!

Victory to the Portland Teachers Strike!

One Out, All Out – Picket Lines Mean: Don’t Cross!

The Portland Association of Teachers is on strike, a historic first for employees of Oregon’s largest school district. This struggle is of great importance for all workers – we need to win this one! Demanding better pay, higher staff-to-student ratios and smaller class sizes, the teachers are standing up for us all, for their students, and for the future of public education. Management is refusing to meet key demands – like higher wages to match area standards, and smaller class sizes to help teachers meet students’ basic needs. The strike kicked off on November 1 with pickets and a rally of thousands. Bringing out the power of workers solidarity is key to winning it.

To do so, it’s essential for all labor to be clear on what a strike is all about. It’s about using workers power to bring work to a halt. On strike means shut it down. Shut it down means solidarity in action between all sectors of the workforce – one out, all out. That goes when the strike is at a job site, services (healthcare, for example), transport, industry – or the school system. Today, while the Portland School District goes after the teachers, the classified staff union is also negotiating, with little gain in sight. Maintenance workers will be negotiating with the district soon.

Isn’t it obvious that all sectors should unite together? Yet once again we’re seeing “leaders” tell union members to cross each others’ strike lines. Instead of playing by the bosses’ divide-and-conquer rules, it’s in the urgent interest of all labor sectors to put solidarity into action. For teachers, support staff, paras, clerical, painters, maintenance and all workers, in unity there is strength. To win, we need to reassert the basic labor principle that picket lines mean don’t cross!

Teachers aren’t the only ones on strike right now in Portland. Over a thousand Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in the pharmacy, imaging and other departments are too, demanding more sustainable staffing levels, as well as 1,300 workers at PeaceHealth in Portland and Southwest Washington who went on a five day strike at the end of October. Other healthcare workers represented by SEIU at Kaiser went on strike in the month of October, and healthcare workers at OHSU got a significant raise after voting to strike. In healthcare as at schools, with “picket lines mean don’t cross” a vital rallying cry, we need to build pickets so big that no one dares cross them, calling in support from the whole of labor to force the employers to meet the strikers’ demands.

Seeking to grind us down one after another, the employers want us all to lose. Democratic mayor “Teargas Ted” Wheeler certainly has their back. In this profit-driven system, school buildings crumble and the healthcare system descends into chaos. Workers are stretched to the breaking point with absurdly low staffing levels and low pay. Democrats vote to cut spending on education and strip retirement benefits from public sector workers. Like the Republicans and all capitalist politicians, they stand for exploitation and racist repression here, and imperialist war abroad. Labor needs to cut free from the bosses’ parties and politicians once and for all. In every strike and struggle, we see how much we need our own class struggle workers party.

Today winning the teachers strike is the cause of all Portland labor. Here as elsewhere, the basic needs of the working-class population are up against a ruling class whose attacks on labor and democratic rights “at home” go together with its war drive abroad. Having used an infamous strike-breaking law against the rail workers last December, Biden and the Democrats ramp up their arming and funding for U.S. imperialist war from Ukraine to Taiwan – and today are part and parcel of the horrific genocidal war on Gaza. Yet from Italy and Belgium comes some welcome news from sectors of labor seeking to bring out the power of workers action to stop the imperialists’ arms shipments – this needs to be carried out in the U.S. and internationally. Is this all connected to winning strikes here in Portland? Damn right it is – to win, workers of the world must unite.

All out to win the Portland teachers strike! On strike means shut it down!

Union militants denounce misogynist provocation in Portland

On Saturday November 17, a contingent of Ironworkers and other union members joined in protests against a fascist rally that targeted women who dare to speak up against sexist harassment and abuse. The heavy police presence deployed by Portland’s Democratic Party government menaced anti-sexist protesters, arresting half a dozen and shoving us off city sidewalks with riot clubs and an arsenal of lethal weapons, protecting the small band of fascists. CSWP fights in the unions to break with the bosses’ Democratic Party, and for union-based workers defense guards to lead mass worker/black/immigrant mobilization to sweep the fascist scum off the streets. We distributed the following leaflet.

 

PDX #HimToo Nov. 17 Event Is a Fascist Provocation

Mobilize the Power of Labor to Defend Women’s Rights!

On November 17th, a group calling itself #HimToo wants to use Portland as a platform to intimidate and harass women. Make no mistake: the sponsors’ talk of “men’s rights” and a “war on men” is in fact a battle cry for an attack on women by ultra-rightist, racist and outright fascist forces. Class Struggle Workers – Portland calls on labor and all defenders of democratic, union, immigrants’ and women’s rights to mobilize against this dangerous provocation.

The public face of this bogus “movement” is one Haley Adams, who is a YouTube figurehead for Joey Gibson’s fascistic “Patriot Prayer” outfit. She has been a constant presence at its rallies since it came on the scene in Portland on 29 April 2017. That same event was attended by Jeremy Christian, the Nazi who only a few weeks later murdered two men and nearly killed a third who came to the aid of two young Muslim women he was haranguing on a MAX train. These people are dangerous.

Adams was described just as a “Portland resident” in an article on #HimToo by National Public Radio, which has more than once given fascists a platform for their racist filth. In fact, she is a hard-core racist who put up a video of herself firing an automatic rifle to celebrate “white pride month.” Two weeks later she marched on June 30 with neo-Nazis while wearing a helmet with the slogan “It’s okay to be white.” The co-leader of the November 17 #HimToo event is Quincy Lee Franklin, a disciple of the white supremacist “Hell Shaking Street Preachers.” At a January 2018 march in Seattle he was spewing violent misogyny, yelling that “some women deserve rape.”

The #HimToo hashtag spread on the Internet around the Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. It was claimed that this all-round reactionary was supposedly the “victim” of #MeToo feminists, yet Kavanaugh’s record shows him to be a virulent anti-immigrant, anti-labor, anti-abortion bigot and sexist pig. The real aim of the #HimToo hatefest not to counter false accusations of sexual abuse, but to put women back “in their place.” Several Patriot Prayer thugs and their local Proud Boy allies have been charged with domestic violence, cyberstalking and assault against women.

Contrary to its lying propaganda, #HimToo crew is not defending free speech, due process or those unfairly accused. They are provocateurs who pose a clear and present danger to the rights of women, and a physical threat to all defenders of the oppressed. Class Struggle Workers – Portland calls to fight sexism and defend the rights of women. CSWP has mobilized labor defense of abortion rights and opposes discrimination against gays, lesbians or anyone on the basis of their sexuality. Today we call to bring out the power of labor to stop this woman-hating mob and defend women’s rights!

Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018
Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018

Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018
Union workers protest against fascist, anti-women #HimToo rally in Portland, 17 November 2018

4 de junio: ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland!

English version here.

Sindicalistas y defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes dicen 4 de junio: ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland! Después de las elecciones de noviembre pasado, los ataques racistas aumentaron enormemente. La lista de los que son blancos de ataques de los racistas incluye a inmigrantes, musulmanes y judíos, afroamericanos, latinoamericanos, lo mismo que a los defensores de los derechos la mujer, los gays y las lesbianas. Muchos de los ataques han sido encabezados por grupos de choque fascistas como el Ku Klux Klan y por bandas de supremacistas blancos de la “derecha alternativa” [alt-right]. A principios del mes, cientos de elementos de esta calaña realizaron un mitin frente a un monumento en Charlottesville, estado de Virginia homenajeando los estados “confederados”, defensores de la esclavitud, que fueron derrotados en la Guerra Civil norteamericana. Luego marcharon con antorchas a la manera de los nazis alemanes. Para el 10 de junio, los fascistas han anunciado que realizarán acciones ominosas contra los musulmanes en una veintena de ciudades alrededor del país. Ahora, algunas de estas bandas amenazan con montar una provocación racista en el centro de Portland, el domingo, 4 de junio. Fingen defender la libertad de expresión. ¡Mentira! Estos abusivos y asesinos racistas buscan aterrorizar a la población agrediendo a los más vulnerables. Cuando el grupo Patriot Prayer (rezo patriótico) y otros se presentaron en Portland el 29 de abril, lo hicieron blandiendo bates de béisbol y palos, mientras portaban cascos y alardeaban con la bandera de los esclavistas y de los terroristas del KKK. Ahora, un tal “Based Stickman”, así tildado por su afán de golpear salvajemente a palos a manifestantes, también va a presentarse en Portland. El veneno racista que estos desgraciados escupen desemboca en linchamientos. Hay que pararlos. Los fascistas son enemigos mortales de la clase obrera. Aplastarían a los sindicatos para imponer una dictadura ilimitada de los patrones. Por eso, sindicatos locales de Portland y de la región noroeste de Estados Unidos han decidido usar su poder para pararlos. El Local 10 del IUPAT (pintores), el Local 28 del IATSE (tramoyistas), el Local 1503 de los Carpinteros, el Local 483 de los Laborers, los docentes universitarios del Local 3544 de la AFT, el IWW de Seattle, los Roofers (techadores) de Los Angeles, junto con el Consejo Regional de Carpinteros del Noroeste y la AFT Oregon (sección estatal del sindicato magisterial) aprobaron en resoluciones su disposición a “unirse a la comunidad sindical y de lucha por la justicia social para movilizarse en contra del peligro que las provocaciones del KKK y otras organizaciones racistas y fascistas representan para todos nosotros.” Ya es hora de pasar de las palabras a la acción. Portland es de los trabajadores de todas las etnias y nacionalidades. Somos numerosos y tenemos el poder social que puede parar en seco a los racistas y fascistas. Actuemos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. ¡Todos y todas a la calle el 4 de junio! Domingo 4 de junio, 12:30 p.m. en punto Terry Schrunk Plaza SW 3rd Ave. y SW Madison St. Movilización para parar a los fascistas ¡Su provocación racista es una amenaza para todos nosotros! Sindicalistas de Portland Contra los Fascistas pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894
Haz clic aquí para descargar en formato PDF.

Sindicalistas y defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes dicen

4 de junio: ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland!

Después de las elecciones de noviembre pasado, los ataques racistas aumentaron enormemente. La lista de los que son blancos de ataques de los racistas incluye a inmigrantes, musulmanes y judíos, afroamericanos, latinoamericanos, lo mismo que a los defensores de los derechos la mujer, los gays y las lesbianas. Muchos de los ataques han sido encabezados por grupos de choque fascistas como el Ku Klux Klan y por bandas de supremacistas blancos de la “derecha alternativa” [alt-right]. A principios del mes, cientos de elementos de esta calaña realizaron un mitin frente a un monumento en Charlottesville, estado de Virginia homenajeando los estados “confederados”, defensores de la esclavitud, que fueron derrotados en la Guerra Civil norteamericana. Luego marcharon con antorchas a la manera de los nazis alemanes. Para el 10 de junio, los fascistas han anunciado que realizarán acciones ominosas contra los musulmanes en una veintena de ciudades alrededor del país.

Ahora, algunas de estas bandas amenazan con montar una provocación racista en el centro de Portland, el domingo, 4 de junio. Fingen defender la libertad de expresión. ¡Mentira! Estos abusivos y asesinos racistas buscan aterrorizar a la población agrediendo a los más vulnerables. Cuando el grupo Patriot Prayer (rezo patriótico) y otros se presentaron en Portland el 29 de abril, lo hicieron blandiendo bates de béisbol y palos, mientras portaban cascos y alardeaban con la bandera de los esclavistas y de los terroristas del KKK. Ahora, un tal “Based Stickman”, así tildado por su afán de golpear salvajemente a palos a manifestantes, también va a presentarse en Portland. El veneno racista que estos desgraciados escupen desemboca en linchamientos. Hay que pararlos.

Los fascistas son enemigos mortales de la clase obrera. Aplastarían a los sindicatos para imponer una dictadura ilimitada de los patrones. Por eso, sindicatos locales de Portland y de la región noroeste de Estados Unidos han decidido usar su poder para pararlos. El Local 10 del IUPAT (pintores), el Local 28 del IATSE (tramoyistas), el Local 1503 de los Carpinteros, el Local 483 de los Laborers, los docentes universitarios del Local 3544 de la AFT, el IWW de Seattle, los Roofers (techadores) de Los Angeles, junto con el Consejo Regional de Carpinteros del Noroeste y la AFT Oregon (sección estatal del sindicato magisterial) aprobaron en resoluciones su disposición a “unirse a la comunidad sindical y de lucha por la justicia social para movilizarse en contra del peligro que las provocaciones del KKK y otras organizaciones racistas y fascistas representan para todos nosotros.”

Ya es hora de pasar de las palabras a la acción. Portland es de los trabajadores de todas las etnias y nacionalidades. Somos numerosos y tenemos el poder social que puede parar en seco a los racistas y fascistas. Actuemos antes de que sea demasiado tarde. ¡Todos y todas a la calle el 4 de junio!

Domingo 4 de junio, 12:30 p.m. en punto
Terry Schrunk Plaza
SW 3rd Ave. y SW Madison St.

Movilización para parar a los fascistas
¡Su provocación racista es una amenaza para todos nosotros!

Sindicalistas de Portland Contra los Fascistas
pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894

página de Facebook

Horrible asesinato doble por un nazi antimusulmán

English version here.

 ¡Movilizar el poder de la clase obrera!
¡Fuera fascistas de Portland!

Es cuestión de vida o muerte
Es hora de definirse: ¡Todos a la calle el 4 de junio!

Declaración de la iniciativa sindical de Portland contra los fascistas

Menos de un mes después de la realización de un mitin racista en East Portland, y nueve días antes de la anunciada provocación fascista a realizarse en el centro de Portland, el mortífero terrorismo racista ha asestado un golpe en la ciudad. El asesino estuvo presente de manera prominente en el mitin racista del 29 de abril. Ahora, dos valerosos hombres que lo enfrentaron están muertos, y un tercero se encuentra herido de gravedad. Musulmanes y judíos, afroamericanos, asiático-americanos, latinos, junto con los defensores de los derechos de la mujer, los gays y las lesbianas: todos están en la mira de los racistas asesinos. Ya lo hemos dicho: las concentraciones fascistas son el punto de partida para el espantoso terror racista. Incumbe a nosotros, los trabajadores, parar a los fascistas ya.

Se ha convocado una movilización de sindicalistas y de las y los que se oponen al terrorismo racista para el domingo 4 de junio, para movilizar el poder de la clase obrera tras el llamado de ¡Fascistas fuera de Portland!

La tarde del viernes 26 de mayo, Jeremy Joseph Christian, un varón blanco de 35 años, comenzó a gritar insultos racistas y amenazas de muerte a dos jóvenes mujeres que se encontraron en el tren ligero MAX en el centro de Portland. Una de ellas es negra y la otra es una musulmana que portaba un velo (hiyab).

Cuando de manera heroica tres pasajeros del tren intentaron proteger a las mujeres, Christian sacó un cuchillo, los degolló y escapó en la parada Hollywood. Dos de los hombres murieron por las heridas sufridas, mientras que el tercero requirió cirugía por la gravedad de sus lesiones. Poco después, el atacante fue detenido por la policía y está acusado de homicidio agravado.

Christian es un fascista local bien conocido. Múltiples videos lo muestran amenazando a manifestantes durante el festival de odio en Montavilla Park en East Portland el 29 de abril. Ahora la misma organización con la que estaba entonces dice que pretende realizar una concentración provocadora en el centro de Portland a las 2 p.m. el domingo 4 de junio. Incluso están invitando a un violento provocador fascista tristemente célebre para hacer clara su amenaza.

A principios de la semana, antes del último ataque, activistas sindicales del área de Portland lanzaron un llamado urgente para una “Movilización para parar a los fascistas. ¡Su provocación racista es una amenaza para todos nosotros!” Los organizadores enfatizaron: “Fingen defender la libertad de expresión. ¡Mentira!…. El veneno racista que estos desgraciados escupen desemboca en linchamientos. Hay que pararlos”.

En los próximos días se dirá mucho acerca del estado mental aparentemente perturbado del asesino. Pero ¿qué era lo que lo motivaba para atacar a dos jóvenes mujeres, una negra y otra musulmana, al gritarles “¡Bájense del autobús y lárguense del país porque no pagan impuestos aquí!”? Se trata de un claro reflejo del racismo asesino que viene de Washington y que se intensifica en todo el país.

Hace un mes, la policía acompañó al fascista Christian alrededor del parque mientras hacía saludos nazis y amenazaba a los manifestantes. El Portland Mercury (27 de mayo) informa: “Unos cuantos oficiales de la policía presentes el 29 de abril parecían estar familiarizados con Christian, pero no se sintieron amenazados por él”. Al final de la marcha de los racistas, la ciudad les proveyó un autobús municipal para transportarlos de regreso.

La misma policía de Portland atacó la marcha anual del Primero de Mayo por los derechos de los inmigrantes con gas lacrimógeno y granadas aturdidoras, acusando a los “anarquistas” cuando fue la policía la que aterrorizaba a los manifestantes, entre los cuales arrestó a 25 personas. A pesar de la palabrería que sobre la “diversidad” y la “unidad” profieren el alcalde y los políticos de los partidos patronales, el hecho es que tanto ellos como su policía están protegiendo a los fascistas.

El área de Portland es bastión de un poderoso movimiento obrero construido sobre el principio de que “un golpe contra uno es un golpe contra todos”. Los fascistas son cuerpos de choque que buscan dividir, conquistar y derrotar a la clase obrera y destruir los derechos de todos nosotros. Para parar el letal terrorismo racista y fascista es necesario –ahora, no en un futuro indeterminado– movilizar el poder de la clase obrera.

Un día antes de los asesinatos de Portland, el ILWU, sindicato de los trabajadores portuarios, paró labores en Oakland, California, paralizando los muelles, para protestar en contra de unas horcas, que representan una amenaza de linchamiento, que aparecieron en una de las terminales más grandes. El Primero de Mayo de 2015, el Local 10 del ILWU paró el puerto y marchó hacia la alcaldía de Oakland para exigir el fin del terrorismo policíaco. Ese mismo día, sindicalistas del área de Portland marcharon tras una manta que decía: “Trabajadores contra los racistas asesinatos policíacos”.

Éste es el poder que debemos movilizar para parar a los fascistas en Portland. Hacemos un llamado a todos y cada uno a tomar partido y unirse a la movilización sindical/negra/inmigrante a las 12:30 p.m. el domingo, 4 de junio, en Terry Schrunk Plaza (SW Tercera Ave. y SW Madison) para impedir que los aspirantes a Hitler organicen más acciones de terror asesino. ¡Todos a la calle el 4 de junio! ¡Fuera fascistas de Portland!

–27 de mayo de 2017

Sindicalistas de Portland Contra los Fascistas
pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com
(503) 683-1894

Descargable en formato PDF aquí.

Hideous Double Murder by Muslim-Hating Nazi: All Out on June 4!

en español aquí

Mobilize Labor: Fascists Out of Portland

It’s A Matter of Life and Death

Take a Stand: Come Out on June 4

Statement by Portland Labor Against the Fascists

Less than a month after a race-hate rally was held in East Portland, and nine days before they plan to stage a fascist provocation downtown, murderous racist terror has struck in Portland. The murderer was prominently present at the April 29 racist rally. Now two brave men who stood up to him are dead, and a third was seriously wounded. Muslims and Jews, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, along with defenders of women’s, gay and lesbian rights: all are targeted by the murderous bigots. As we have emphasized: fascist rallies are a staging ground for hideous racist terror. It’s up to us, the working people, to stop the fascists now.

A mobilization of unionists and opponents of racist terror has been called for Sunday, June 4 to bring out labor’s power behind the call: Fascists Out of Portland!

On Friday afternoon, May 26, Jeremy Joseph Christian, a 35-year-old white man, began screaming racist insults and death threats at two young women he encountered on an MAX light rail train eastbound out of downtown Portland. One of the women is black and the other is a Muslim who was wearing a head scarf (hijab).

When three fellow passengers heroically sought to protect them, Christian drew a knife, slashed their throats, and escaped at the Hollywood transit stop. Two of the men died of their wounds, while a third required surgery for serious injuries. The attacker was taken into custody by police shortly after, and is charged with aggravated murder.

Christian is a well-known local fascist. Multiple videos show him menacing counter-demonstrators at a racist hate-fest in Montavilla Park in East Portland on April 29. Now the same outfit he was with then says it intends to stage a provocative rally in the center of downtown Portland at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 4. They’re even bringing in a notoriously violent fascist provocateur to make the threat clear.

Earlier this week, before the latest attack, Portland-area union activists issued an urgent call to “Mobilize to Stop the Fascists: Their Racist Provocation Is a Danger to Us All!” Organizers emphasized: “They pretend to defend ‘free speech.’ This is a lie… The poisonous race-hatred they spew out spawns lynchings. They must be stopped.

In the coming days much will be made of the killer’s apparently deranged mental state. But what possessed him to lash out against African American and Muslim young women, yelling “Get off the bus and get out of the country because you don’t pay taxes here”? This is clearly a reflection of the deadly racism coming out of Washington and escalating across the country.

A month ago, the police shepherded fascist Christian around the park as he gave Nazi salutes and threatened protesters. The Portland Mercury (27 May) reports: “A few Portland police officers on April 29 appeared to be familiar with Christian, but not threatened by him.” At the end of the racists’ march, the city provided a bus to take them back.

The same Portland police attacked the annual May Day immigrants’ rights march with tear gas and flash-bang grenades, blaming “anarchists” when it was the police who were terrorizing the marchers, arresting 25. Despite the talk of “diversity” and “unity” from the mayor and politicians of the bosses’ parties, the fact is they and their police are protecting the fascists.

The Portland area is home to a powerful labor movement built on the principle that “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The fascists are shock troops in the drive to divide, conquer and defeat the working class and destroy the rights of us all. To stop the deadly racist and fascist terror it is necessary – now, not at some indefinite future time – to mobilize the power of the working class.

The day before the Portland killings, ILWU longshoremen at the Port of Oakland, California walked off the job, paralyzing the docks to protest nooses, a threat of lynching, that were found at one of the largest terminals. On May Day 2015, ILWU Local 10 shut down the port and marched on Oakland city hall to demand an end to police terror. That same day Portland-area unionists marched behind a banner saying “Labor Against Racist Police Murder.”

This is the power we must bring out to stop the fascists in Portland. We urge one and all to take a stand and join the labor/black/immigrant mobilization at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 4 in Terry Schrunk Plaza (SW 3rd Ave. & SW Madison St.) to stop the would-be Hitlers from organizing more deadly terror. All out on June 4! Fascists out of Portland!

–May 27, 2017

Portland Labor Against the Fascists
pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894

printable PDF version

All Out on June 4: Fascists Out of Portland!

en español aquí

Labor, Immigrant Rights Defenders Say June 4: Fascists Out of Portland! Since the November election there has been huge rise in racist attacks. Immigrants, Muslims and Jews, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, as well as defenders of women’s, gay and lesbian rights and others on the bigots’ hit list have been targeted. Many of these assaults have been spearheaded by fascist action groups including the Ku Klux Klan and “alt-right” white supremacist gangs. Earlier this month, several hundred of them staged a racist rally at a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, imitating the German Nazis’ parades with flaming torches. On June 10, fascists have announced ominous anti-Muslim actions in more than 20 cities around the country. Now some of these outfits are threatening to stage a racist provocation in downtown Portland on Sunday, June 4. They pretend to defend “free speech.” This is a lie. These racist bullies and killers seek to terrorize the population by going after the most vulnerable. When “Patriot Prayer” and others showed up in Portland on April 29, they were brandishing baseball bats and heavy sticks, wearing helmets and flaunting the Confederate battle flag of the slave owners and KKK night riders. Now “Based Stickman”, who gets his name from swinging his stick at people plans to make an appearance as well. The poisonous race-hatred they spew out spawns lynchings. They must be stopped. Fascists are the deadly enemies of the working class. They would smash the unions and pave the way for an unfettered corporate dictatorship. That is why Portland-area labor has resolved to use our power to stop them. Painters (IUPAT) Local 10, IATSE Local 28, Carpenters 1503, Laborers Local 483, AFT Local 3544 (graduate teaching fellows) as well as Carpenters NW Regional Council and AFT Oregon have passed resolutions declaring their readiness to “join with the broader labor and social justice community in mobilizing against the clear and present danger that the provocations of racist and fascist organizations pose to us all.” Now is the time to put these resolutions into action. Portland belongs to the working people of all races and nationalities. We have the numbers and the power to stop the racists and fascists in their tracks: we must act before it’s too late. All out on June 4! Sunday June 4, 12:30 p.m. sharp Terry Schrunk Plaza SW 3rd Ave. & SW Madison St. Mobilize to Stop the Fascists Their Racist Provocation Is a Danger to Us All Portland Labor Against the Fascists pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 303-8278
Click for a printable file.

Labor, Immigrant Rights Defenders Say

June 4: Fascists Out of Portland!

Since the November election there has been huge rise in racist attacks. Immigrants, Muslims and Jews, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, as well as defenders of women’s, gay and lesbian rights and others on the bigots’ hit list have been targeted. Many of these assaults have been spearheaded by fascist action groups including the Ku Klux Klan and “alt-right” white supremacist gangs. Earlier this month, several hundred of them staged a racist rally at a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, imitating the German Nazis’ parades with flaming torches. On June 10, fascists have announced ominous anti-Muslim actions in more than 20 cities around the country.

Now some of these outfits are threatening to stage a racist provocation in downtown Portland on Sunday, June 4. They pretend to defend “free speech.” This is a lie. These racist bullies and killers seek to terrorize the population by going after the most vulnerable. When “Patriot Prayer” and others showed up in Portland on April 29, they were brandishing baseball bats and heavy sticks, wearing helmets and flaunting the Confederate battle flag of the slave owners and KKK night riders. Now “Based Stickman”, who gets his name from swinging his stick at people plans to make an appearance as well. The poisonous race-hatred they spew out spawns lynchings. They must be stopped.

Fascists are the deadly enemies of the working class. They would smash the unions and pave the way for an unfettered corporate dictatorship. That is why Portland-area labor has resolved to use our power to stop them. Painters (IUPAT) Local 10, IATSE Local 28, Carpenters 1503, Laborers Local 483, AFT Local 3544 (graduate teaching fellows) as well as Carpenters NW Regional Council and AFT Oregon have passed resolutions declaring their readiness to “join with the broader labor and social justice community in mobilizing against the clear and present danger that the provocations of racist and fascist organizations pose to us all.”

Now is the time to put these resolutions into action. Portland belongs to the working people of all races and nationalities. We have the numbers and the power to stop the racists and fascists in their tracks: we must act before it’s too late. All out on June 4!

Sunday June 4, 12:30 p.m. sharp

Terry Schrunk Plaza, SW 3rd Ave. & SW Madison St.

Mobilize to Stop the Fascists
Their Racist Provocation Is a Danger to Us All!

Portland Labor Against the Fascists

pdxlaboragainstfascists@gmail.com (503) 683-1894

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