Nov 5, 2016 — On October 29-30, amidst escalating police violence, rank-and-file union members from around the U.S. established an ongoing Union Camp in support of indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

The Labor For Standing Rock delegation grew out of Labor for Palestine’s online petition (with more than 13,000 signers to date) calling on the AFL-CIO to end its support for DAPL, and support indigenous rights. Subsequent delegations of union members are mobilizing for Union Camp.

Here, Labor for Standing Rock co-founder Michael Letwin, public defender in New York and former president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW 2325, provides some historical background for actions taking place in Standing Rock.

=====
To keep the momentum rolling, please:

Support Labor for Standing Rock by clicking here: https://www.gofundme.com/LaborStandingRock

Fri Dec 9 – 11, 2016 
Tougaloo College, Tougaloo MS
(drive or fly to Jackson, MS)

For more information: http://nepajac.org/SHROCConference.htm
or call 601-956-9991 or email: jaribu.hill@gmail.com

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), https://www.unacpeace.org/, has joined with hundreds of organizations, prominent individuals and others to form the “Hands off Syria Coalition.”  Please click the link below to join the coalition and read the points of unity.

Please click here to add your name in support of the Hands off Syria Coalition

for a statement of the Coalition’s points of unity including a partial list of organization supporters in pdf form, please click here: http://nepajac.org/syriacoalitionstatement.pdf

Save the Date. The next UNAC conference will be on the weekend of April 21 – 23, 2017 in Richmond, VA. Please make a contribution to UNAC:  https://www.unacpeace.org/donate.html

Sept. 7 march in NYC from Union Square to Times Square.

25th Annual People’s Thanksgiving Dinner
Saturday, November 19th, 2016

4:00 – 8:00 pm

Dinner at 5:00, Program at 5:30

Location: Teamster City, Basement Level, 300 S. Ashland

Brothers and sisters –

We are excited to announce our special guest:

Standing Rock Sioux Historian, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard

With introductory remarks by Chicago’s own Rasmea Odeh

We’ll also present our annual awards to honor local activists Aislinn Pulley of Black Lives Matter; Michael Brunson, CTU Recording Secretary and head of the CTU Black Caucus; Dave Bernt of Teamsters United; and Juan Rojas and Cassie Robledo, who helped Shut Down Trump at UIC this spring.

Musical performances by KoStar

And an activity for children that teaches them about the struggles of indigenous people from Standing Rock to the Philippines

In these last months of 2016, it’s hard to miss that there are two things happening in the U.S.

First, there is a continued outpouring of protest coming from people suffering under racist, national oppression. The movement against police crimes continues, and with each murder of another unarmed Black or Latino person, the protests are growing. In North Dakota, the largest mobilization of Native Americans in over a century continues to stop the Dakota Access Pipe Line (DAPL) from carrying tar sands oil across indigenous lands and waters.

Second, the presidential elections reveal the crisis in the money-dominated two-party system. Wall Street’s candidate, Hillary Clinton, a war hawk, is running against a misogynist, racist, reality TV star, Donald Trump. Dissatisfaction with the status quo campaign of Clinton led to Bernie Sanders receiving 12 million votes in the primary. The racist base of the Republican Party pushed Trump into the nomination, leading to a massive movement to stop him. Nothing better expresses the urge to defeat Trump than the protest of 5000 led by students at UIC that confronted the hate show he brought to Chicago in March. It was clear that people rejected him, as we expect him to be on Election Day.

After the elections, we know that the coming years will feature a government with an austerity agenda, with continued attacks on working people and the poor, immigrants and the undocumented, Arabs and Muslims, and the racially and nationally oppressed. It is clear to everyone that the next administration will be militarily more aggressive.

What we need to do is to build and strengthen the people’s movements, including a revived, rank and file led labor movement. The best local example in the country of class struggle unionism is the Chicago Teachers Union, and nationally, the reform movement in the Teamsters. Movements of working people are our real hope.

We invite you to join us at the People’s Thanksgiving, where we’ll recognize those movements and activists that have inspired us this past year.

In struggle –

Joe Iosbaker, Freedom Road Socialist Organization
25th Annual People’s Thanksgiving Dinner
Fundraiser for Fight Back! /¡Lucha y Resiste! Newspaper
Hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Saturday, November 19th, 2016
4:00 – 8:00 pm
Dinner at 5:00 pm, Program at 5:30
Location: Teamster City, Basement Level, 300 S. Ashland
Tickets: $30
Please RSVP
Includes dinner. $5 for little children & the unemployed. Cash Bar.
To order tickets, and if you need childcare, email joeiosbaker@gmail.com

https://www.youcaring.com/uaine-461402

Please help United American Indians of New England defray costs for our current Indigenous Peoples Day initiatives (IndigenousPeoplesDayMA) and other upcoming events including National Day of Mourning 2016. Every donation is greatly appreciated, especially since we are all volunteers! By the way, the total amount raised that appears on youcaring is a rolling total from 2015.
(Please note that we are not a tax-deductible 501c3 charity and are not incorporated.  If you wish to make a contribution from a donor-advised fund, please contact us directly at info@uaine.org for fiscal sponsor information.)
Thank you!

47th National Day of Mourning: November 24, 2016
12:00 noon
Coles Hill Plymouth, MA

http://www.uaine.org/