I’m on strike today in Syracuse, NY in solidarity with the general strike called in Oakland, California. When I read of the call to blockade the Port of Oakland as part of the general strike, I remembered a long history of anti-war blockades that have taken place here, with the support of Longshore workers, to stop US wars in Viet Nam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan. As happened last week at Oscar Grant Plaza, police forces responded to these protests with massive force. This evening, I went to court to witness the trial of the Hancock 38. Some of the 38 people arrested on April, 22, 2011 will be tried for blocking the entrance to Hancock Field to protest the Reaper drones that are piloted from the Air National Guard base near my home. Reaper drones are armed with missiles that are savaging the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.
The power of the blockade is the power of stopping violence. There are other ways in which people come together to end state violence and impunity. It is significant that Occupy Oakland renamed the plaza they claimed after Oscar Grant. His death at the hands of the BART transportation police captures the stunning disregard for the lives of young Black men and other young people of color. His murder while waiting for the last train before midnight on a New Year’s Eve also captures the failure of public infrastructures to meet the needs of residents of the city, whether due to political recalcitrance or budget cuts.
I am on strike to write and reclaim my power to remember and share struggles between places that may not seem connected. The solidarity I see binding Oakland and Syracuse at this very moment is this shared undercurrent of opposition to far-away wars that are made from the places in which we live. Part of retaking and reshaping our cities means ending the military occupations of our cities and other people’s homelands. I want to connect some of the undercurrents of opposition to war, border militarization, and police occupations that are killing peoples and lands, separating families, and killing futures.
The power of the blockade is the power of stopping violence. There are other ways in which people come together to end state violence and impunity. It is significant that Occupy Oakland renamed the plaza they claimed after Oscar Grant. His death at the hands of the BART transportation police captures the stunning disregard for the lives of young Black men and other young people of color. His murder while waiting for the last train before midnight on a New Year’s Eve also captures the failure of public infrastructures to meet the needs of residents of the city, whether due to political recalcitrance or budget cuts.
I am on strike to write and reclaim my power to remember and share struggles between places that may not seem connected. The solidarity I see binding Oakland and Syracuse at this very moment is this shared undercurrent of opposition to far-away wars that are made from the places in which we live. Part of retaking and reshaping our cities means ending the military occupations of our cities and other people’s homelands. I want to connect some of the undercurrents of opposition to war, border militarization, and police occupations that are killing peoples and lands, separating families, and killing futures.
