Activists declare first victory as Israeli ship delays docking at Oakland

Charlotte Silver Activism and BDS Beat 16 August 2014

Nidal El-Khairy

San Francisco Bay Area Palestine activists have declared their first victory in attempting to prevent the offloading of an Israeli cargo vessel at the Oakland Port.

Originally planning to show up at 5:00am Saturday morning to block the ship, activists sent word out late last night that the meeting time had been moved up to 3:00pm, as the ship had delayed its arrival at Oakland in an apparent attempt to avoid the protest. 

Activist Mohamed Shehk told The Electronic Intifada that the organizers have been tracking the vessel Zim Piraeus and realized last night that it had stopped before reaching its Oakland destination, spending the night at sea.

“This delay is seen as a victory for us. It shows how much Zim is trying to avoid our protest, and it shows how effective we can be when we can organize these types of actions,” Shehk said.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services is the Israeli international maritime shipping line.

A Zim Lines ship docks every Friday night around 9:00pm at the Oakland port for an early morning offload. Activists have been working with members of the local chapter of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) and hope that port workers will agree not to offload the Israeli cargo.

Of significance, the ILWU Local 10 is currently negotiating a new contract, the previous one having expired 1 July 2014. This means that ILWU Local 10 could potentially engage in a strike without breaking the rules of a contract.

In 2010, when activists successfully prevented the offloading of a Zim Lines ship in an historic first, Local 10 relied on the port’s arbitrator to declare the working conditions unsafe. According to longtime rank and file union member Clarence Thomas, there is currently no contractual language which would allow for an arbitrator to be called in: “I expect the rank and file to respect the picket line, as we have done of picket lines since the 1930s.” 

ILWU has a long history of refusing to load ships from countries engaging in gross violations of human rights. In the 1930s, West Coast dockworkers refused to load and offload ships belonging to Italy after they invaded Ethiopia, and Japan after it invaded Manchuria.

In 1978 and 1980, ILWU refused to load military cargo headed for Chile and El Salvador respectively. And in 1984, the union refused to unload a South African ship for eleven straight days.

The terminal at which Zim Lines docks is owned by Stevedoring Services of America — which has been in protracted negotiations with ILWU Local 10 since last May.

Speaking as a rank and file member of the ILWU Local 10, Thomas emphasized that organizing at the ports in solidarity with Palestinians is essential given that Israel has foreclosed on any opportunity for Palestinians to engage in international trade through its ports.

“As a longshoreman, I know how critical international trade is to the economy,” he said. “I think it is an appropriate action against those who have prevented the self-determination of the Palestinian people and to show solidarity with the people of Gaza.”

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Comments

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Charlene Port replied on

Bless all you who worked and protested so hard for Gaza and keeping the Israeli boat from docking. Please be careful they are sneaky and when they think no one is looking they will try it again. GOD BLESS YOU ALL

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Russell Ward replied on

Today at the port Oakland, it felt like an historic moment. It felt like a new frontier of global action against Israeli injustice was opened up. It felt like the message that the thousands of us were sending out would not just reach the Israeli government but would reach unions and workers around the world. People do have the power... that was the message of the member of the longshoreman's union who speaks in the video. He had been involved with the successful blockade of ships from apartheid South Africa and he inspired in us all a belief this bloackade can work just as well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

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maggie replied on

Good work, guys. Good work. This is what Israel must learn to expect: well expressed and loud disapproval of their behavior by decent people. Anything that hits Israel negatively in publicity and in financial pain is a very good thing indeed.

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Malek Ali replied on

What the heck?? So did the ship unload its cargo or no?!

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nicholas cort replied on

Great, if you are successful why not promote this action throughout the world at various times and continue to do so at other ports in the US. The whole world shoud show solidarity with the Palestinean people.

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pete replied on

It almost seems like the United States is finally starting to get sick of Israels bullshit . Is the congress and senate finally growing a set of balls. President Obama is the first president since JFK to stand up to Israel. Hope he doesn't die in a "accident". Those who challenge Israel have a long list of fatal accidents

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Hugh Ekeberg replied on

All praise to the conscientious members of the union and activists doing this great work. It is indeed fitting that Israel be denied port access whilst Palestine is denied a port.

Interesting that nothing about this seems to have surfaced through other media media organisations.

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Michael replied on

I agree it was a good idea, and completely peaceful. But it seems the US public don't agree, have a read of the comments with the story below, seems that they prefer violence to peace. Then again it is the times of Israel, and no one is as biased as they are.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/p...

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Rebecca Johnston replied on

U.S. thinks it's GREAT!!! All these decades with no say about our taxes going to Israel!!!! Finally we can say NO! WE DON'T SUPPORT APARTHEID AND GENOCIDE, THIEVES! YOU ARE ALONE, ZIONISTS!

Charlotte Silver

Charlotte Silver's picture

Charlotte Silver is an independent journalist and regular writer for The Electronic Intifada. She is based in Oakland, California and has reported from Palestine since 2010. Follow her on Twitter @CharESilver.