Tidbits for November 28, 2011

1. ILWU and the call for third party protests
2. Ecosocialism 
3. Finiah Union conclude agreements
4. Re: An Israeli Dove in Jewish America
5. Re: "J. Edgar" - Another Review - Movie Should be Called
"Sympathy for the Devil"

===

1.

ILWU clarifies position regarding third-party protests
at ports

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (November 22, 2011)


In response to recent third-party announcements that
community activists will attempt to shut down various
West Coast marine terminals on December 12, 2011, the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) sent
a memo to its 15,000 longshore members and leaders
emphasizing the union'sinternal democratic process and
stating its rejection of third-party calls for job
actions that have not been sanctioned by its Officers
or voted on by member representatives.

The memo stated in part, "To be clear, the ILWU, the
Coast Longshore Division, and Local 21 are not
coordinating independently or in conjunction with any
self-proclaimed organization or group to shut down any
port or terminal, particularly as it relates to our
dispute with EGT in Longview."

"The ILWU shares the Occupy Wall Street movement's
concerns about corporate abuses and the future of the
middle class, but we must be clear that any actions
organized by outside groups, including the proposed
December 12 shutdown of various terminals on the West
Coast, have not been vetted by our union's
democratically led process," said Robert McEllrath,
ILWU International President. "Only ILWU members or
their elected representatives can authorize job actions
on behalf of the union, and any decisions made by
groups outside of the union's democratic process do not
hold water, regardless of the intent."

Several announcements have been made by online
activists claiming that they intend to shut down
terminals in support of the ILWU's primary dispute with
EGT, a multinational grain export terminal in Longview,
WA, that broke off talks with the ILWU after nine
months of negotiations.

"The ILWU has received strong public support as people
find out about multinational EGT's attempts to
undermine American working conditions," said Leal
Sundet, ILWU Coast Committeeman. "While people are
inspired to support the fight for good jobs at EGT, the
fact remains that our plan to reach an agreement with
EGT is led solely by the longshore workers who have
worked grain on the West Coast for the past eight
decades."

The ILWU represents 50,000 men and women on the docks
and in warehouses and other industries in California,
Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. 


===
2.
Report from South Africa & Announcing the launch of
Ecosocialist Horizons! 
Date: 	November 28, 2011


Dear friends, Greetings from Durban, South Africa! As
many of you know, I am here with thousands of people
from all over the world who have gathered around the
17th meeting convened by the United Nations on climate
change. There are two things about this meeting about
that just about everyone agrees on. Together, they make
for a deadly paradox of epic proportions: 

1. Given the
current level and growth of greenhouse gas emissions,
the Durban talks are the last chance for the
governments of the world to stabilize climate change
below 2 degrees celsius. It is scientifically well
established that a 2 degree increase will result in
hundreds of millions of deaths worldwide. 

2. Political
commentators across the spectrum, from ultra right to
radical left, are pretty much agreed that the Durban
talks will fail. While there is controversy over the
precise otucome of the talks and the nature of the
failue to come, it is basically accepted in mainstream
discourse that global governance, when it comes to
climate change, has lost legitimacy. In light of these
realities, an international climate justice movement
has converged in Durban, both to challenge the UN
process and delegates (from both the inside and the
outside), and to strategize about what is to be done.
At this historic moment, I am very excited to announce
the launch of a new organization, of which I am a
co-founder, called Ecosocialist Horizons. Over the next
two weeks, our small delegation will be participating
in the mobilizations, teach-ins, forums and debates
that are part of this convergence of the climate
justice movement. You will be able to read my
semi-regular reports on the Ecosocialist Horizons
website here: http://ecosocialisthorizons.com/durban/
Spread the word! Stay tuned! Amandla! Quincy Saul

===
3.
Finnish unions, employers approve 2-yr pact

(AP) - 11 hours ago

HELSINKI (AP) -- Finnish trade unions and employers
organizations on Monday signed a two-year labor
contract that raises wages by some 4.3 percent for more
than 2 million people, or 94 percent of the country's
working population.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen described the
deal as "historic," saying that stability in the labor
market was crucial in the current European financial
crisis, especially for Finland's highly
export-dependent economy.

"This was important for Finland. Last year, we were
already aware that this autumn would be a very unstable
time," Katainen told reporters. "That's why the
government was very resolute in encouraging the labor
market to reach agreement on the pact."

The government says it will supplement the pact with
measures to promote economic growth and investments and
by helping workers with tax cuts, higher unemployment
pay and benefits for part-time workers.

The agreement was reached after weeks of tough talks
that threatened to break down and likely would have
caused nationwide strikes. The central trade union
organization and employers federation had outlined a
framework for the pact on Oct. 13 that requited
approval from major unions and management.

Centralized labor contracts were common in Finland for
decades until 2007, when employers and union members
began favoring agreements at local level. However, this
year they have returned to national negotiations.

Copyright (c) 2011 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. 


==========

4. Re: An Israeli Dove in Jewish America

Gershom Gorenberg has some stimulating observations: "...an
Israeli dove visiting Jewish North America can still feel
that he's stumbled into a constricted, out-of-joint
alternate universe." The irony he misses is that while
Israelis have a dialogue more reflective of reality than we
have in the U.S., the views he considers "extreme" are the
ones that are Israeli government policy, regardless of how
much more credence is enjoyed by "moderates."

Another thought-provoking comment, on the role of Holocaust
trauma: "...for most Jews living today in America, the
trauma is a taught memory, passed on by previous
generations, out of sync with their current condition. And
seeing Israel as the symbol of victimhood is discordant:
Zionism was a rebellion against Jewish powerlessness, and
present-day Israel testifies to the rebellion's success."

There is an unspoken divide between what is popularly
considered "Zionism" and the political movement of that
name. Before 1949, Zionism was one among many political
trends among U.S. Jews. Post-WWII Holocaust guilt had
something to do with Zionism's rise to dominance as a merger
of support for Israel with Jewish identity. But so did the
1950s suppression of three other trends - Social Democracy,
Communism, and New Deal liberalism - which climaxed in the
execution of two Jews who symbolized the prewar politics so
feared by Cold Warriors.

Unlike just about everybody else in the world, Israel's
kneejerk supporters miss the fatal "internal contradiction"
of Zionism - who wins, who loses. This blindspot colors the
discourse on Israel and Palestine here, and it will take
more than "moderate criticism" to cut through it. But as
Gorenberg demonstrates, we have a ways to go.

ethan young

==========
5.
Re: "J. Edgar" - Another Review - Movie Should be Called
"Sympathy for the Devil"

Clint Eastwood's new film, "J. Edgar," could have been
subtitled "Sympathy for the Devil." It is, as the NY Times
said, "a fascinating psychological portrait" of long-time
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover; it is also wrapped in a
political lie.

The movie is a love song to the FBI, and portrays Hoover as
a headstrong, uptight and vain, but basically sympathetic
visionary who modernized the national police organization
into an effective force for law and order.  From 1919
through Prohibition, it shows the FBI fighting violent
Communists and radicals, and machinegun-toting gangsters.
Hoover's personal torments and relationships are handled
sensitively, and there, the acting is top-notch.  His true
public role is distorted by a very simple technique: his
"enemies" (Communists and Depression-era gangsters) are
demonized, and the historical, real-life victims of Hoover's
right-wing, repressive policies are ignored.  An ambiguous
portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King comes out of nowhere, and
only confuses Hoover's vicious racist policies.  The only
radical activist actually shown, Emma Goldman in 1919, is
portrayed as a strident, stone-faced terrorist.  "The
terrorists got, and will get what they deserve," the movie
implies.  Goldman and the "radicals" of 100 years ago were
the moral ancestors of today's terrorists, Eastwood asks us
to believe; "the FBI is our protector against such violence,
even if its methods are sometimes hard-edged."  Dirty Harry
on a national scale.

Hoover is "humanized" when he objects, early on in the
movie, to excessive kicking by his agents of a helpless,
suspected radical lying on the ground. A little kicking was
o.k.; excessive kicking upsets him.  Hoover is again
"humanized" when he dismisses Joseph McCarthy as an
"opportunist"; there is no mention of the FBI's disgraceful
leading role in the post-World War II right-wing anti-
Communist witch hunt called "McCarthyism."

The personal story is compelling; the public story of the
FBI is sometimes jumbled, and as a result feels both short-
changed and too long.

Hoover gets pity, sympathy, and respect in this movie; even
his homophobic FBI policies are ignored as his homoerotic
intimate love relationship is explored.  Again and again the
movie obscures the actual effects and victims of his public
role.

That "J. Edgar" was written by Dustin Lance Black,  the same
man who wrote the recent stirring film about Harvey Milk, is
a real-life mystery as fascinating as anything in "J.
Edgar."  Someday a movie will be made about Hoover which
explores his public role in as much depth and complexity as
his personal torment. "J. Edgar" is not that movie.

Paul Leavin

==========

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