[lbo-talk] Report from occupy Oakland

[Carrol Cox]

It has been a very long time since unions, with the exception of scattered
locals, have been at the forefront of militant political action. It really
can't be expected of them. That an attempt at a general strike has now been
made is all to the good. Instant Revolution, as Ian notes, is hardly on the
agenda.

Carrol

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of 123hop at comcast.net
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2011 9:41 PM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Report from occupy Oakland

I'm not sure what's going on with the unions. You have to understand that
the teachers have been under intense full blown attack for a solid twelve
years, the turn over is horrendous, and it's going from bad to worse. The
woman who is president of the union told me she has never seen the teachers
more demoralized. 

Specifically in Oakland, they are in the middle of ongoing school closures
and charterizing -- it is a desperate situation.

And then, honestly, I don't know how many people OO can mobilize. At its
height, it's something like 1000. So. I don't know.

But yeah, feeble. Or rather, premature. 

Joanna

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Smith" <mjs at smithbowen.net> 
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org 
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2011 7:28:52 PM 
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Report from occupy Oakland 

On Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:17:17 +0000 (UTC) 
123hop at comcast.net wrote: 


> > There's a general strike announced for Wednesday. Unfortunately, 
> > the major unions are only marginally supporting it. Here's the 
> > teachers' union announcement: 
> > 
> > "In a unanimous vote tonight, the OEA Executive Board endorsed 
> > Occupy Oakland's November 2 "General Strike/Mass Day of Action" and 
> > is urging members to participate in a variety of ways, including 
> > taking personal leave to join actions at Frank Ogawa Plaza, doing 
> > informational picketing at school sites, and holding teach-ins on 
> > the history of general strikes and organizing for economic 
> > justice." 

Ugh. That's pretty feeble, isn't it? 

-- 
-- 

Michael J. Smith 
mjs at smithbowen.net 

http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org 
http://www.cars-suck.org 
http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com 

"I think the American people want a solemn ass 
as a President, and I think I will go along with them." 

-- Barack Obama 

(Okay, okay, it was really Calvin Coolidge.) 
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