There is something that
happens to an individual when they spend time on a picket line or marching or
any other action born out of concerted activity by ordinary people. Whether it
be workers organizing, or any sort of community cause activism. There is a
spirit that infects you like a crazed fever. It is more potent then any drug,
or religion. A spirit that baptizes anyone that dares to act... to be… to do…to
engage… to show up. The spirit is called self-empowerment. It finds everyday ordinary people when they stand together in solidarity. It can only be attained through
action. It isn’t something you can just observe or theorize or read in a book.
Empowerment requires action just as solidarity requires that you show up.
I first experienced this in
2005 as a brand new Casual Longshoreman, when thousands of people filled the
streets of downtown Seattle marching against the North American Free Trade
Agreement. I was 21 years old and got on a charter bus to Seattle with a
belligerent pack of old Longshoremen, none of whom I knew at this time. I
remember the energy and tension coursing through my veins walking by Niketown
surrounded by mounted police on horseback, hearing someone on a bullhorn yell
“Power” and hearing the booming roar of thousands of people respond with
“POWER” and feeling the ground shake as it echoed off the buildings and sky
bridges. “Power to the workers” “POWER TO THE WORKERS” came the singing
refrain.
Last year when Occupy Wall Street
started I followed it on the news and social media intently from the get go. I
remember my buddy Zack had just moved back a week or so before. He was also a
casual longshoreman who had been studying in Denver and upon returning
immediately fell in with the Occupy Seattle camp. I would get regular first
hand updates about the crazy marches and police resistance they were
experiencing. A touring band was in town that I had booked at a local venue the
night before and they were staying at my house. We were having a discussion
about Occupy and I remembered that Tacoma of all places had formed an Occupy Movement
and was having a big march in downtown that day. The band and I had a few hours
to kill so we parked up in hilltop and just followed the sound until we met up
with the march. You could hear it from a mile away. Just this ambiguous,
indiscriminate wall of noise coming from everywhere. We rounded the corner onto
Pacific Avenue somewhere around 11th street and this swarming mass
of energetic people had surrounded a downtown bank. A Veteran soldier in full
army uniform waving an American flag, had climbed to the top of a wall as five
or 600 voices consumed the plaza. Banners, flags, chanting filled
the air. The march continued through downtown and rallied at various points
near the museums and University of Washington campus. Ending in a large plaza
where the more radical nucleus of the bunch declared, that following the rally
they would begin the occupation of an unnamed downtown park as home base for
Occupy Tacoma and hoped to see people down there. About a week went by before I
borrowed a tent and went and joined that strange society.
Something happened there that
can never be taken away from any of the participants. People who had never had
a voice were empowered. People whose position was never considered were
suddenly participants in the shaping of provisional codes of respect and
tolerance. True, Direct Democracy existed, somewhat tediously as the camp grew,
but all participants found their voice. More importantly, a really cool tactic
called the human microphone was used where the group repeats the speaker’s
words in unison, completely eliminating the power dynamic of somebody on a
podium speaking through an amplified device. “who ever speaks the loudest gets
heard” didn’t apply here. Every bodies voice was heard with equal and
deliberate power and clarity.
Today, I went to a solidarity
action in Federal Way for Walmart “associates” who have walked off the job.
They are trying to organize within a union advocacy group called Our Walmart.
Over the last month, workers all over the country have walked out of Walmart
warehouses and stores. Including a large mobilization of “associates” to the
Walmart Headquarters in Arkansas just weeks ago. In California, warehouse
workers marched for 6 days straight with signs bearing their grievances. They
marched from the Inland Empire to Los Angeles. Workers at stores all over the
country have walked off the job, went on strike, sought union representation
and have been met with retaliation, firings, cut backs and the usual corporate
bullshit that has been suppressing worker organization in this country since the
civil war.
Our Walmart has called for a
nationwide strike next week on Thanksgiving and Black Friday in response to the
firings and retaliations against workers over the last few weeks. What was
really inspiring about this solidarity rally was that the workers themselves,
voted and called for this solidarity action a week before the planned action.
It wasn’t a parent organization guiding the workers. It was empowered workers
calling for the community to support them in a solidarity action they
orchestrated themselves. There was a really powerful moment, in the middle of
this street that the rally had blocked off in front of a Walmart store, where
all the striking workers came forward and said their name and what store they
were from. From the sideline I saw a Walmart worker who was hesitant to join
her fellow workers, probably out of fear of reprisal, and another worker held
her hand and they went up together. The workers called for us to march on the
Walmart to provide information and leaflets to customers. We surrounded the entrance, easily
100 of us with flyers and leaflets about the Black Friday action. I saw
customers turn away from the store after the picket was explained to them with
expressions of solidarity. I saw ordinary Walmart workers leading the march.
Leading chants. Energizing the crowd. I saw the striking Walmart workers enter
their own store and chant in the front lobby while being repressed by security
and management. They later shared on a microphone that they were forbidden to
enter their own store unless they had their worker badges. So all the customers
have worker badges too? All of this energy came with a soundtrack… The Anti
Fascist Marching Band comprised of a Dixieland style ensemble with trombone,
clarinet, a booming bass drum and various other percussion. They just added to
the absurdity and fun energy of the day.
A worker named Mary got up to
speak and said she had worked there for 13 years. She hit the nail right on
the head when she said, “this is about human rights. It’s about dignity and
respect.” I don’t know how conscious she is of the broader context that her and
her comrade’s struggle is framed in… but when worker’s rights are uplifted,
especially through their own empowerment and demand to be recognized… human
rights are proportionately uplifted. Say it out loud with me… “WORKER’S RIGHTS…
ARE…HUMAN RIGHTS.” Feels good doesn’t it? So if we believe this… when we see
these kinds of struggles and movements, we should support them, even if it’s as simple as
spreading the word not to shop at a place that is being picketed. This doesn’t
just have to be framed in the union context. Workers are workers the world
over, whether they are union or not. It should be the fundamental core mission
of all workers to empower one another…monetarily, through fighting together for
good, living wages and benefits or the right to organize or seek union
representation (one of the few rights the NLRA actually grants us, even though
the rest of that bullshit legislation is weighted against us.) When ordinary
people become empowered they do big things. Even after all the news cameras
packed up and left and all the different supporters and organizations had dissipated,
the actual striking workers carpooled and marched to a second Federal Way store
down the street. An action they decided on right then and there in the moment.
When ordinary people become empowered… they do big things.
The Boeing Machinists
presented a check for $2000 today to the Our Walmart Strike Fund. Walmart
workers are just like you and me. They have families and houses and they are
taking a huge brave step in the midst of corporate retaliation to inspire their
fellow workers to act and to organize. All of us that belong to unions, credit
unions or community organizations should enquire about generating funds for
these folks. You can donate money to their strike fund here to provide monetary
support for food and necessities while these workers are off the job.
You can tell everyone you know
and spread the word with social media using these links about Direct Actions
taking place at Walmart stores around the country on Thanksgiving and Black
Friday.
You can and should choose
other places besides Walmart to INVEST your money. Or, you can show up and be
empowered by the raw human energy of a picket line. Real working people are
putting it on the line right now so that next Thursday evening starting at 8pm
and all day Black Friday, the corporate robber barons will hear their voices
loud and clear. Friday morning I urge you to bring a thermos, wear a coat,
drive to Walmart with your friends, co workers or family and get baptized in
the human spirit.
Solidarity.
Workers of the world unite!
