Pickets Target War Profiteers at Port of Oakland on May 19th

Pickets Target War Profiteers at Port of Oakland on May 19th

by Jonathan Nack

Protesters will descend on the Port of Oakland on Saturday, May 19th, to picket companies they charge are engaged in war profiteering. The picketing will begin early at 7 a.m. in the morning at the APL Terminal, 1579 Middle Harbor Road (see map below.)

Organizers accuse American President Lines (APL) and Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), which are both served by Eagle Marine Services, with war profiteering. Eagle Marine Services has a contract to run the Concord Naval Weapons Station which brings in $975 Million annually. Organizers also claim that the Port does $33 Billion in business a year, yet contributes nothing to local schools and social services.

The picket is called by the Port Action Committee, an ad hoc grouping of anti-war, labor, and community organizations. Port Action organized a rally on April 7th in front of the Port office building which commemorated the four year anniversary of the day Oakland police attacked non-violent anti-war protesters at the Port. (Oakland Tribune article
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/09/18393018.php )

The call for the Port picket has received endorsements from: Oakland Education Association; Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice; United for Peace & Justice, Bay Area; Oakland Green Party; Veterans for Peace; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace (LMNOP) (LMNOP); Northern California Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism; Ella Baker Center; Idriss Stelley Foundation; and Cindy Sheehan.

For more info contact PortAction [at] riseup.net.