We are the ones we have been waiting for.

This morning we shut down the port of Oakland. The ships that had supplies bound for Iraq sat idle.

At 6:30 am group of various antiwar activists, teachers, and union members went to the SSA Terminal at the port of Oakland. Lucky for me, it was only a 10 minute bike ride from my house. I was part of Bay Rising Affinity Group (BRAG!) - that’s us with the giant dove - and was rockin with UCLA and Bay SDSers. We set up a picket line, which the Longhshoremen Union (ILWU), had agreed not to cross.

Why? SSA (Stevedoring Services of America) has profited in an ugly way from the war in Iraq– privatizing Iraq’s main port in a no bid Halliburton-style deal, and has led efforts to bust the ILWU locally. And, it was at the gates of SSA that peaceful protesters were attacked by police on April 7, 2003.

After a couple hours the Union Arbitrators showed up. It is their job to determine if our picket is legal or not. If it’s legal, then the workers get to go home and still get paid time and a half. If it’s not, then the union is supposed to cross it. The arbitrators ruled against us.

In a staggering act of solidarity, the ILWU decided to STILL refuse to cross it. The workers upheld our picket and all went home - knowing that it would mean losing the time and a half weekend pay. It was a huge victory and a huge demonstration of the power of community support and unity. We had successfully shut down the port for that day with only about 100 people and no arrests.

The next shift was slated for 6pm. Activists that were able committed to returning in the evening (I couldn’t come back). Organizers went back to the port….and we won again. Those ships aren’t going anywhere.

Jonathan Knack, from the Port Action Committee explained it this way:
Key to our success yesterday were too unions - ILWU local 10 and the Oakland teacher’s union, the Oakland Education Association (OEA). The OEA played a major role in the Port Action Committee and were very important in lining up the political support we needed from local elected officials. As a result, numerous elected officials, including Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums expressed their support.

The political and policing situation that existed yesterday was a naturally a product of many years of struggle. After the police
brutality of April 7, 2003, the community forced the City Counsel to promulgate a new set of protocols for the Oakland police for their tactics in dealing with crowd control at non-violent political protests. This was in large measure due to successful law suits against the City by the ILWU and protesters which cost the City millions of dollars to settle.

Port Action will be working on how we can turn our one day success into a sustained campaign

If we really want to do all we can to end this war and shift spending from the war machine to schools and social services, actions like these are going to be critical. For them to be successful, they need to be carefully organized. We spent months laying the groundwork for this. And our tactics on the picket line were smart. Had we done certain things, the police would have moved to shut us down. And if the picket line had been shut down, the workers probably would have had to report for work.

The majority of the population in this country wants to stop the war in Iraq. They want to be heard and felt , but are frustrated and confused about how to accomplish that. Given the chance, they will seize the opportunity. One longshore worker told me yesterday, “[w]e have to stop this war. I’m a third generation longshoreman. My family has children in the Oakland schools. If they think I’m crossing this picket line, they’re crazy.” The task of organizers is to figure out how to allow them to express themselves and have an impact. Ports and other shipping facilities are a weak spot in the War Machine, because people can impact
the flow of material. In other locales, organizers may find their are other weak spots that can be the focus of direct action.

for more information see:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/05/13/18415810.php

Youtube Video Here:
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdJJq9lXdCU

The sun hadn’t risen yet. After circling once under the cover of darkness, our van and truck pulled up to Chevron’s world headquarters. Our affinity group (Bay Rising Affinity Group aka BRAG!), burst out of the van and deployed our barrels, lock boxes, and bodies. The cops were waiting for us, but for some reason when we hopped out of the van, they ran the opposite direction. We locked our arms into place.

Our barricade and occupation of Chevron’s entrance was in place in less than 60 seconds. We completely shut down the main entrance to Chevron’s International HQ. Initially we were worried that we wouldn’t have enough bodies to cross the whole 6 lanes of the entrance - but lucky for us, even though we didn’t reach the other side (at first!), the cops completely shut down the rest of it for us!

Police accumulated and we were told that a call had been made to the special unit that had the saws to cut us out of the barrels. As we wondered how long we would be able to hold the space, people started arriving.

First it was our friends with bright banners and puppet heads. Then it was the Tug-of-Oil-War affinity group, complete with costumes for subsequent street theater. Then people from local communities that have been devastated by Chevron’s refineries in Richmond. Soon we had over 100+ people with bright signs and loud voices. Groups representin’ included Bay Rising affinity group, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS), Communities for a Better Environment, AmazonWatch, US Labor Against the War, Bay Area Labor Comittee for Peace & Justice, Oil Change International, Global Exchange, West County Toxics Coalition, Tug of Oil War, Failure to Disperse, and Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

We chose Chevron for a lot of reasons. We wanted to step it up with nonviolent direct action and begin to target war profiteering corporations, as they are a strategic pillar along with recruitment centers and other direct military targets. We wanted to help draw the link for the public between CLIMATE CHANGE and WAR, with OIL at the center. We also wanted to highlight (one of the) the real reasons we are at war: the Iraqi Oil Law is being rammed through Iraq’s parliament as I write this. It’s a law that was drafted by the Bush administration in English, and it would literally give the oil underneath Iraq to American corporations. Companies like Chevron would outright OWN 2/3 of the oil underneath Iraq for the next generation if this goes through. The Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions and a coalition of Iraqi Parliamentarians have asked for international solidarity and support. They want us to resist these companies and this law in our own countries, where we have the most power to do so. So we’re leveraging our own power and privilege as American citizens to jam up the gears of the War Machine to give Iraqis a little bit more breathing space to organize.

We were working with local affected communities and organizers who have been campaigning against Chevron for a long time now. Leila Salazar-Lopez, a new RAN campaigner, longtime Bay Area activist, and former organizer with AmazonWatch, said that after years of going after Chevron she knew their PR guy pretty well. Usually at demonstrations he is calm, collected, and professional. At this action, he was going bonkers. Dude was pacing back and forth, getting all bent out of shape and freaking out; Chevron knew we had clear and concise messaging, and roughly a gazillion (maybe even two gazillion) TV cameras on us. See the bottom of this post for media links.

So they decided that it would make them look WAY worse if they let the cops arrest us. So to all our surprise, we held the entire space and shut down their entrance for the whole time. And at the end of the day we walked away without going to jail.

A SWAT team cop told Matt “you know, you guys are really well organized. You run a tight ship. I can respect that!”

It was fun: a bunch of kids who had gotten trained in nonviolent direct action (NVDA) at the demonstration the day prior came and locked down with us, extending our barricade all the way to the second entrance. A group of folks held a funeral procession for “the last ice cube on earth”, and Larry the clown hammed it up as a fabulous preacher. There was a tug-of-oil-war with “the people” dressed in Robbin Hood costumes, and “Chevron Execs” dressed as…Chevron Execs (guess who won). The Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane folks came, and danced dressed as the Bush admin. People sang beautiful songs. Amazing local folks spoke passionately about the Environmental destruction happening right next to us. Amazing women from the Philippines spoke about Chevron destroying their communities. I got force-fed chocolate by Jodie. I also got to wear a diaper. It was a good day.

(tug of oil war)

(Jessica Tovar, organizer with Communities for a Better Environment)

We got tons of media and feedback. This is my favorite message we got:

Dear peace organization,

We have analyzed your group’s activity and deeply respect the bravely rendered dramatizations regarding criminal and exploitative business practices, but it may not be in the best interest and full effectivity of your communications to make corporate executives and Chevron employees look so sexy. We may have available some mechanical slimy toads in our production studio warehouses, should you need to represent Chevron employees in the future, please feel free to contact us.

This action is part of the trajectory of people stepping it up with NVDA and civil disobedience against the war. SDS alone has had dozens of coordinated actions across the country in the last week, resulting in arrests, media, and base building for a rejuvenated anti-imperialist anti-war movement. Over 5,000 students across the country participated in actions over the last 4 days. Across the country we’re connecting this war to the other imperial wars for Empire that our country is engaging in - including the wars inside our own borders against women, people of color, poor people, and queer folks. We’re connecting the mad drive for oil with the impending climate chaos that is looming over our heads across the planet. We’re seeing that people dying as the result of Hurricane Katrina are directly connected to the same system that is murdering children in Iraq.

Here are some more photos of the action:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37274909@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sockrebel/sets/72157600011850193/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/losinghand/sets/72157600009879574/
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/03/19/18379360.php

The best TV and print coverage isn’t available online, but here is a smattering of the media coverage we got:

TV:

CBS
http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_078113411.html

ABC
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5133091

NBC
http://www.nbc11.com/news/11294275/detail.html

The Contra-Costa Times made a slideshow with audio!
http://bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/cct/multimedia/flash/chevronprotest/index.html

PRINT:

Contra-Costa Times
(the actual print version is totally different and much more extensive. Not sure why the e-version is like this… )
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/16934674.htm

SF Bay Guardian
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?page=2&entry_id=3159&catid=&volume_id=254&issue_id=287&volume_num=41&issue_num=25

SFBG again
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2007/03/protesting_chevron.html

New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/us/20vigils.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

SF Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/19/BAG2EONS7L4.DTL

NBC Print
http://www.nbc11.com/news/11294275/detail.html

Inside Bay Area
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_5477544

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topics/San+Ramon

INTERNET:

Indymedia
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/03/20/18379716.php

It’s Getting Hot in Here
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/1226

Rising Tide
http://risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/

The Argus / MediaNews
www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_5472028

Aid and Abet blog
http://jenangel.wordpress.com/

RADIO:

KPFA NEWS
(Beautiful live recording includes interviews with Jessica Tovar of Communities for a Better Environment, Michael Eisenscher of US Labor Against the War. It starts about 16 minutes into the news)
http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=19261

FLASHPOINTS:
(Live interviews with Sam, Antonia and an in depth in-studio interview with Leila Salazar. It comes about 2/3 of the way through the show, so you can forward to it).
http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20070319-Mon1700.mp3

(labor against the war)

(herb)

(funeral)

(extending the barricade)

(after unlocking)

(leila doing media)

(david solnit rocks the mic)

(adrienne)

For more info on the Iraqi Oil Theft Law, Labor, and Environmental Justice check these links:

Are U.S. Oil Companies Going to “Win” the Iraq War?

Iraqi unions attack plans for foreign company control of oil

The Price of Oil

The Bush Agenda

Iraqi journalists union demands apology for raid on headquarters in Baghdad; U.S. military denies involvement
The Associated Press, February 24, 2007

Official Statement on American raids on the General Federation of Iraqi Workers headquarters in Baghdad
February 28, 2007

UK Hands Off Iraqi Oil Coalition

General Union of Oil Employees in Basra, Iraq

Communities for a Better Environment

US Labor Against the War

Please Circulate Widely:

4 Years of War for Oil — Enough! Basta!

End Chevron’s Oil Crimes from Richmond to Iraq

STOP THE IRAQ OIL THEFT LAW!

1. NO BLOOD OR OIL!
2. CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!
3. TO STOP WAR, END EMPIRE!

MON MARCH 19, 7-11am

Protest, Rally, & Nonviolent Direct Action
Chevron World Headquarters
San Ramon, CA

6001 Bollinger Canyon Road at Sunset, just east of Hwy 680
(From Walnut Creek BART: a short ride on County Connection shuttle 121, or flat 12 mile bike ride: we’re also working on providing transportation.)

We encourage you to wear Red.

For nonviolent direct action preparation, transportation, to get involved and for more info:
www.MySpace.com/ProtestChevron

1: OIL

EXPOSE THE OIL AGENDA BEHIND THE WAR

It’s simple: Before the war U.S. and British oil companies were all but shut out of Iraq’s oil. Now, they’re getting ready to take control of it and Chevron’s at the front of the pack. Within a year of the invasion, Chevron’s profits nearly doubled, and each year since then, Chevron has set new record profits, with 2006 the company’s most profitable year ever. Those profits have been driven by Iraqi oil, which Chevron refines in Richmond.

HANDS OFF IRAQI OIL!

We join activists from across Europe and the U.S. who, on March 18 & 19, will demand that Big Oil and our governments get their “Hands Off Iraqi Oil!” We will expose the Iraqi Oil Theft Law that would turn Iraq’s oil over to foreign oil companies including Chevron.

WHAT IS “THE IRAQ OIL THEFT LAW”?

The brainchild of the Bush administration and U.S. oil companies, a new oil law nearing passage in Iraq would radically transform Iraq from a nationalized oil system all but closed to U.S. oil companies, to a commercialized system, all-but-privatized, and open to private foreign corporate control.

Iraqi Trade Unions Unite to Oppose Undemocratic Oil Law

In a joint statement Iraq’s five trade union federations rejected “the handing of control over oil to foreign companies, whose aim is to make big profits at the expense of the Iraqi people, and to rob the national wealth, according to long-term, unfair contracts, that undermine the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of the Iraqi people”.

“The Iraqi people refuse to allow the future of oil to be decided behind closed doors.”

Support real democracy in Iraq. End the US occupation of Iraq.

Defeat the oil theft law. Hands off Iraqi oil.

2: CLIMATE

WE DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!

With just 4% of the world’s population, we in the US release 25% of all global carbon emissions. Oil and oil-driven consumption are a primary cause of greenhouse gas pollutants which fuel climate crisis. Chevron is the 2nd largest oil company in the U.S. and the 5th largest in the world.

Chevron sabotages domestic efforts to transition to a green economy and refuses to invest in any significant way in alternative forms of green energy.

WE DEMAND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE NOW!

Chevron poisons local communities from Richmond, to Ecuador and Nigeria. The Chevron refinery in Richmond spews a deadly array of toxins into the air, water, and land, including cancer-causing dioxins, on the largely African American, South East Asian, and Latino communities. The refinery and plant have had hundreds of accidents, including fires, spills, leaks, explosions, toxic gas releases, flaring, and air contaminations causing severe illness, including asthma and deadly cancers, for the people of Richmond. The people of Richmond are fighting back and demanding that Chevron clean up or get out.

We need to imagine a world without Chevron, its oil, and its climate chaos.

3: EMPIRE

WE RECOGNIZE THAT TO STOP WAR, WE MUST END EMPIRE.

To end current and future U.S. wars and occupations, to stop climate chaos, to increase democracy and human rights at home, to redirect resources to urgent human and environmental needs, to take apart a global economic and political system that benefits mega corporations at the expense of the planet, we must change the underlying U.S. government policies of empire.

“Empire” is now used by both critics and advocates to describe the unparalleled U.S. system of economic, political, cultural, and military domination. We pay a high price to live in an Empire, including $441 billion a year on a military of over 2 1/2 million soldiers with more than 700 bases spread across 130 countries fighting ever-increasing wars to feed the Empire and expand its control.

To Stop Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, etc. etc. etc., we must end Empire!

PLEASE JOIN US!
http://www.myspace.com/protestchevron