Peaceful Activism: Judge forces peaceful protest to end under threats
Peaceful Activism: Re: Judge forces peaceful protest to end under threats
What you can do: You can show love and support for your union brothers and sisters with a donation and/or letter of support. Letters or donations can be mailed to the MEA Crisis Fund, c/o MEA President Elaine Hanson, Pilchuck UniServ Council, 2500 Hewitt Ave., Suite 100, Everett, WA 98201. Notes also can be faxed to 425-339-2147 or e-mailed to Elaine Hanson at mea@premier1.net.
[Summarization of an email sent to Elaine Hanson today]
Dear Elaine Hanson, and to all the members of the Marysville Education
Association,
Greetings. I am a contributor to a website known as "LFH & NIIVAAAA,
Dear Family Welcome Home." The name LFH & NIIVAAAA is an abbreviation.
It stands for Love, Feeding the Hungry & Nonviolent, Individual &
International Volunteers Who Are Autonomous Activists of Altruism for All
People, Animals, Plants and Planets in the Name of Love.
I read about the judge ordering your Union back to work today in the
several newspapers. I believe that what happened
to your union is a story that deserves far greater attention from the
perspective of people who desire to encourage unity among people
worldwide. That is the type of people who maintain our website.
I have read your views on your wonderful website located at
http://www.premier1.net/~mea/
. Thus far, I have also read the
below three news articles about the strike,
which are located at the below links:
#1. http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1032597p-7247953c.html
#2. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/144761_students21.html
#3. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2001771027_marysville21m.html
Particularly disturbing was the article at link #2 in which the journalist seems to
primarily focus on students who are upset about the teacher's strike.
Even more disturbing, was the Judge's remarks who belittles the entire
strike with the below comments:
"Krese told teachers to return to work under the conditions of their
previous contract, and for both sides to bargain in good faith for a new
one. She promised to enforce monetary and possibly criminal sanctions on
teachers who disobey her order, and said it's "time for all of the adults
to grow up and look at their obligations to these children." Hanson
continues to blame the strike on the School Board."
Your strike was longest teacher's strike in Washington state history. For the
judge to force your union back to work is one thing, but for the judge to force you
back to work with such belittling statements that dismiss your brave and
dedicated group as adults who need "to grow up" is disgraceful. It only
encourages people who oppress employees to continue doing so around the world.
The judge tells you to look at your obligations to the children. It is evident that the
extremely well paid judge is talking about short range obligations. By striking for better
treatment you are fulfilling your obligation to the children. That is your obligation
to teach them that receiving better treatment does not come without sacrifice.
If you as teachers, and if all people don't start educating children as to that fact,
there won't be anything left by the time they figure it out on their own.
What was most disturbing was this part of the article found at link
#3.:
"A parents group called "Tired of the Strike" started the court battle
between the school district and the MEA when it sought an injunction
against the two groups Oct. 6. A week later, a school-district attorney
sought a similar injunction. "
There seem to be far too many outspoken people interested in ending the
strike for reasons which primarily focus on the 'here and now'. At stake is
the world's ability to conduct effective non-violent protests. It boggles the mind that
the school district would offer you a contract that has no pay raises for three
years. As if inflation will stop for three years. As if the sky rocketing medical bills
will stop increasing for three years. We would like help you have your voices heard.
If the judge can simply force your union back to work, under threat of
monetary and possibly criminal sanctions that not only discourages other unions
across the country from striking for better
treatment, but it also encourages the employers at any business and
School Boards all across the country to simply "wait out the strike"
because they know they can get a judge to force people back to work.
Recently, in Portland, Oregon,n the Portland teacher's union, which has
never gone on strike, chose to accept a contract that makes them work
for free for 10 days, rather than try to get a better contract. That was
a grim day in history to see teachers, one of our society's most treasured
resources, have to work for free for ten days, like slaves, even though the
local government admitted to making 'budget mistakes' which caused these
budget cuts. Budget cuts which were in addition to the fact that Portland,
Oregon already has the shortest school year in the country due to budget cuts.
This is also relevant because currently California is experiencing not only the 7,000
grocery store union member strike against
Kroger Co.'s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.'s Vons, Pavillions and Albertsons grocery stores
because those employers are attempting to completely terminate health benefits
to some of the lowest paid workers in America. Those grocery stores have
stated that they will not give a better contract because they have to trim their costs
so that hey can be more like Wal-mart which is probably the most famous
anti-union franchise in the country. In addition, more than 2,200
Amalgamated Transit Union members, Metro Transit Authority (MTA) mechanics,
walked off the job. More than 6,000 MTA drivers went on strike in a beautiful display of solidarity
by refusing to cross their picket lines. In a smaller labor problem, an Orange
County Superior Court judge ruled that eleven sheriff's
deputies of Los Angeles County who recently were part of an alleged
"sickout" might be charged with contempt of court.
The reason I am writing to you is because our website would like to
publish an independent publication known as a "zine-magazine", in which we will
focus directly on the struggle of your union. We would like members of
your teacher's union to simply send us their thoughts, opinions, rants,
frustrations and personal suffering regarding the union strike. They may submit their
writings anonymously. We will not edit (outside of spell checking) any of
the submitted articles. We will most certainly not publish any opinions
of anyone who attempts to make your union look bad in any way. We are not
a news service that pretends to deliver balanced viewpoints while accepting money from
influential advertisers and favors from other individuals. The only advertisements on
our website are from the free-of-charge message board service that we use
and the free-of-charge weblog we use. We do not get paid for that.
Although our publication will be a new, independent, ad free, zine, it will be
widely distributed. A few of the zine libraries across the world we will
send it to are located at this link:
http://www.zinebook.com/resource/libes.html
There are three ways that teachers can submit their thoughts to us:
#1. Place it on any of our message boards which are located on our
website at http://dearfamilywelcomehome.net
.
The direct link to the message section of each of those message baords are below:
- CCC# 2-002
http://sherwoodforest.proboards12.com/index.cgi?board=LoveAnylength&action=post&num=1066509376&start=0
or
- http://amazingforums.com/forum2/LOVE4ALL/post.html
#2. Send it by email to me at info@DearFamilyWelcomeHome.net
#3. There is a third option. I urge you to consider doing the fourth option
in addition to one of the above two. Please encourage your teachers to create a
blog. A blog is an online journal, or weblog.
You can do so, free of charge at http://new.blogger.com
.
Each one of your teacher's can create their own blog, or all of the teachers can contribute
to one ongoing blog. The link to your blog will be placed onto our webpage.
It is important to know that we only accept copyleft material, which enables other people to publish it free of charge around the country, without authorization, nor monetary payment to the original author.
Please feel free to forward this to all of your union members. Some of your members may view this strike as simply a strike that you had. But the truth is that we are living in an age when we are witnessing the death of unions and the death of people speaking up for being treated better. At stake is not only every person's ability to engage in peaceful, effective protest, but at stake is every person's ability to be free from unmasked "oppression made legal".
Thank you for taking a stand. Our love is with you.
[End of excerpt]
posted by folks @ LFH & NIIVAAAA, Dear Family, Welcome Home
P.S.
Below are the lyrics to the song "Come Along" by Titiyo:
"Play with it while you have hands
Dust settles, cities turn to sand
Trespassing this is their land
Time flies, make a statement, take a stand
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
And I'll ease your pain
Come along, come along with me
And let's seize this day
Come along, come along with me
Stay out stay clear but stay close
Friends, foes, God only knows
Let's be the thorn on the rose
Time flies, make a statement, strike a pose
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
And I'll ease your pain
Come along, come along with me
And let's seize this day
Oh, come along with me
Time flies, make a statement, take a stand (3x)
Time flies, take your chance
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
And I'll ease your pain
Come along, come along with me
And let's seize this day
Oh, come along with me"
=======================================
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance and promote understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This notice is also found at the bottom of each article on the common dreams website located at http://www.commondreams.org .
What you can do: You can show love and support for your union brothers and sisters with a donation and/or letter of support. Letters or donations can be mailed to the MEA Crisis Fund, c/o MEA President Elaine Hanson, Pilchuck UniServ Council, 2500 Hewitt Ave., Suite 100, Everett, WA 98201. Notes also can be faxed to 425-339-2147 or e-mailed to Elaine Hanson at mea@premier1.net.
[Summarization of an email sent to Elaine Hanson today]
Dear Elaine Hanson, and to all the members of the Marysville Education
Association,
Greetings. I am a contributor to a website known as "LFH & NIIVAAAA,
Dear Family Welcome Home." The name LFH & NIIVAAAA is an abbreviation.
It stands for Love, Feeding the Hungry & Nonviolent, Individual &
International Volunteers Who Are Autonomous Activists of Altruism for All
People, Animals, Plants and Planets in the Name of Love.
I read about the judge ordering your Union back to work today in the
several newspapers. I believe that what happened
to your union is a story that deserves far greater attention from the
perspective of people who desire to encourage unity among people
worldwide. That is the type of people who maintain our website.
I have read your views on your wonderful website located at
http://www.premier1.net/~mea/
. Thus far, I have also read the
below three news articles about the strike,
which are located at the below links:
#1. http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1032597p-7247953c.html
#2. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/144761_students21.html
#3. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2001771027_marysville21m.html
Particularly disturbing was the article at link #2 in which the journalist seems to
primarily focus on students who are upset about the teacher's strike.
Even more disturbing, was the Judge's remarks who belittles the entire
strike with the below comments:
"Krese told teachers to return to work under the conditions of their
previous contract, and for both sides to bargain in good faith for a new
one. She promised to enforce monetary and possibly criminal sanctions on
teachers who disobey her order, and said it's "time for all of the adults
to grow up and look at their obligations to these children." Hanson
continues to blame the strike on the School Board."
Your strike was longest teacher's strike in Washington state history. For the
judge to force your union back to work is one thing, but for the judge to force you
back to work with such belittling statements that dismiss your brave and
dedicated group as adults who need "to grow up" is disgraceful. It only
encourages people who oppress employees to continue doing so around the world.
The judge tells you to look at your obligations to the children. It is evident that the
extremely well paid judge is talking about short range obligations. By striking for better
treatment you are fulfilling your obligation to the children. That is your obligation
to teach them that receiving better treatment does not come without sacrifice.
If you as teachers, and if all people don't start educating children as to that fact,
there won't be anything left by the time they figure it out on their own.
What was most disturbing was this part of the article found at link
#3.:
"A parents group called "Tired of the Strike" started the court battle
between the school district and the MEA when it sought an injunction
against the two groups Oct. 6. A week later, a school-district attorney
sought a similar injunction. "
There seem to be far too many outspoken people interested in ending the
strike for reasons which primarily focus on the 'here and now'. At stake is
the world's ability to conduct effective non-violent protests. It boggles the mind that
the school district would offer you a contract that has no pay raises for three
years. As if inflation will stop for three years. As if the sky rocketing medical bills
will stop increasing for three years. We would like help you have your voices heard.
If the judge can simply force your union back to work, under threat of
monetary and possibly criminal sanctions that not only discourages other unions
across the country from striking for better
treatment, but it also encourages the employers at any business and
School Boards all across the country to simply "wait out the strike"
because they know they can get a judge to force people back to work.
Recently, in Portland, Oregon,n the Portland teacher's union, which has
never gone on strike, chose to accept a contract that makes them work
for free for 10 days, rather than try to get a better contract. That was
a grim day in history to see teachers, one of our society's most treasured
resources, have to work for free for ten days, like slaves, even though the
local government admitted to making 'budget mistakes' which caused these
budget cuts. Budget cuts which were in addition to the fact that Portland,
Oregon already has the shortest school year in the country due to budget cuts.
This is also relevant because currently California is experiencing not only the 7,000
grocery store union member strike against
Kroger Co.'s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.'s Vons, Pavillions and Albertsons grocery stores
because those employers are attempting to completely terminate health benefits
to some of the lowest paid workers in America. Those grocery stores have
stated that they will not give a better contract because they have to trim their costs
so that hey can be more like Wal-mart which is probably the most famous
anti-union franchise in the country. In addition, more than 2,200
Amalgamated Transit Union members, Metro Transit Authority (MTA) mechanics,
walked off the job. More than 6,000 MTA drivers went on strike in a beautiful display of solidarity
by refusing to cross their picket lines. In a smaller labor problem, an Orange
County Superior Court judge ruled that eleven sheriff's
deputies of Los Angeles County who recently were part of an alleged
"sickout" might be charged with contempt of court.
The reason I am writing to you is because our website would like to
publish an independent publication known as a "zine-magazine", in which we will
focus directly on the struggle of your union. We would like members of
your teacher's union to simply send us their thoughts, opinions, rants,
frustrations and personal suffering regarding the union strike. They may submit their
writings anonymously. We will not edit (outside of spell checking) any of
the submitted articles. We will most certainly not publish any opinions
of anyone who attempts to make your union look bad in any way. We are not
a news service that pretends to deliver balanced viewpoints while accepting money from
influential advertisers and favors from other individuals. The only advertisements on
our website are from the free-of-charge message board service that we use
and the free-of-charge weblog we use. We do not get paid for that.
Although our publication will be a new, independent, ad free, zine, it will be
widely distributed. A few of the zine libraries across the world we will
send it to are located at this link:
http://www.zinebook.com/resource/libes.html
There are three ways that teachers can submit their thoughts to us:
#1. Place it on any of our message boards which are located on our
website at http://dearfamilywelcomehome.net
.
The direct link to the message section of each of those message baords are below:
- CCC# 2-002
http://sherwoodforest.proboards12.com/index.cgi?board=LoveAnylength&action=post&num=1066509376&start=0
or
- http://amazingforums.com/forum2/LOVE4ALL/post.html
#2. Send it by email to me at info@DearFamilyWelcomeHome.net
#3. There is a third option. I urge you to consider doing the fourth option
in addition to one of the above two. Please encourage your teachers to create a
blog. A blog is an online journal, or weblog.
You can do so, free of charge at http://new.blogger.com
.
Each one of your teacher's can create their own blog, or all of the teachers can contribute
to one ongoing blog. The link to your blog will be placed onto our webpage.
It is important to know that we only accept copyleft material, which enables other people to publish it free of charge around the country, without authorization, nor monetary payment to the original author.
Please feel free to forward this to all of your union members. Some of your members may view this strike as simply a strike that you had. But the truth is that we are living in an age when we are witnessing the death of unions and the death of people speaking up for being treated better. At stake is not only every person's ability to engage in peaceful, effective protest, but at stake is every person's ability to be free from unmasked "oppression made legal".
Thank you for taking a stand. Our love is with you.
[End of excerpt]
posted by folks @ LFH & NIIVAAAA, Dear Family, Welcome Home
P.S.
Below are the lyrics to the song "Come Along" by Titiyo:
"Play with it while you have hands
Dust settles, cities turn to sand
Trespassing this is their land
Time flies, make a statement, take a stand
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
And I'll ease your pain
Come along, come along with me
And let's seize this day
Come along, come along with me
Stay out stay clear but stay close
Friends, foes, God only knows
Let's be the thorn on the rose
Time flies, make a statement, strike a pose
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
And I'll ease your pain
Come along, come along with me
And let's seize this day
Oh, come along with me
Time flies, make a statement, take a stand (3x)
Time flies, take your chance
Come along now, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along, come along with me
Come along now, come along and you'll see
What it's like to be free
Come along now, come along with me
And I'll ease your pain
Come along, come along with me
And let's seize this day
Oh, come along with me"
=======================================
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance and promote understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. This notice is also found at the bottom of each article on the common dreams website located at http://www.commondreams.org .