ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

great post, Didj...and much gratitude to the dock workers for their courage! i'm always thrilled when people make the connection and discover in themselves an ability and willingness to take courageous action.

from Common Dreams:

“We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq,” said union President Bob McEllrath.

The shutdown occurs as the dockworkers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, near the expiration of their contact with the Pacific Maritime Assn. The Maritime Assn. claims the shutdown is a violation of the dockworkers’ contract, and an arbitrator had already considered the planned shutdown and ordered the union to go to work today.

May 1st is known by some as International Workers Day, a day of solidarity among workers made popular by communists and anarchists.

Dockworkers protesting the war on MayDay? LOL!

I just learned that today is also apparently International Prayer Day!

Lisa, thanks for highlighting the other activity today (even though I love May Day too!). Prayer is part of my daily life and I think it is fantastic to demonstrate its importance, but I wouldn't be able to participate in today's National Day of Prayer because I'd want to see something more inclusive. Prayer occurs in many, if not most, religions.

As my friend Nacho wrote, "The National Day of Prayer is primarily organized and planned by a single-perspective group (the National Day of Prayer Task Force, headed by none other than Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson) that has framed the event in less than inclusive terms" and that "activities carried out will be "conducted solely by Christians while those with differing beliefs are welcome to attend."

Here's a real LOL: "International Prayer Day," another attempt by the reactionary right to obliterate and render into oblivion the very real, and reviving, international symbolism of May 1, the real Labor Day all over the world.

In this country, the fear of "communism" led us to something as stupid as "freedom fries," the movement of Labor Day to September and the rendering of it into something that lacks any meaning or significance.

Kudos to the dockworkers for their standdown. "Johnny Chingas" apparently believes in slavery - how else would he cite an "arbitrator's" order as something that could be a reason people must work on a particular day? Are we obligated to work now when "ordered" to do so?

The decimation of the labor movement in this country, starting with what was done to Eugene Debs in the early part of last century, and ending with the 30-year assault started by Ronald Reagan, continuing through today, is a huge reason why we find ourselves in the sorry situation we are in today. Today's reactionaries, just as yesterday's, aren't smart enough to see that decimating the middle class is not in their own interests. The question for them as well as us is, will we be lucky enough to have an FDR appear at the right time - now! - to save us all?

Or are we headed toward martial law as the last, desperate sputter of the reactionaries now in charge, before final, and impending, collapse?

communists, Johnny, really? how very Cold War of you. don't you know we're supposed to fear and hate terrorists now?

if you work less than 14 hours a day and less than seven days a week, thank the labor movement and May Day.

The history of International Workers' Day

All over the world, May Day continues to symbolize the international struggle of the working class against the capitalist system. It is a day when workers can raise their class demands for unity and against racism, imperialist war, national chauvinism and the entire ruling class. The legacy of May Day provides optimism for future struggles to come.