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News :: Labor : Organizing |
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DC Million Worker March 2004 |
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by Sofia Jarrin
(No verified email address) |
19 Oct 2004
Modified: 07:12:24 PM |
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Monday, October 18th marked the date for an anti-war workers' mobilization in Washington DC. In the spirit of Minister Louis Farrakhan''s Black Nationalist rally 10 years ago, the Million Worker March predicted a crowd of as many as 100,000 but was able to gather only tens of thousands. |
 Million Worker March |
Monday, October 18th marked the date for an anti-war workers' mobilization in Washington DC. In the spirit of Minister Louis Farrakhan's Black Nationalist rally 10 years ago, the Million Worker March predicted a crowd of as many as 100,000 but was able to gather only tens of thousands.
Headed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10, the rally provided a ground for demands similar to those made by the anti-globalization movement: a national living wage, extending democracy to our economic structure, democratization of the media, protection of civil liberties, and the repeal of free trade agreements, among others. Speakers included Dick Gregory, Danny Glover, Martin Luther King III, and a number of trade union activists.
Organizers complained that authorities prevented about 30 buses from dropping off passengers near the memorial and redirected them to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, causing many to show up late or not at all. Low turnout was also blamed partially on disagreements between supporters of worker solidarity and those in the labor movement whose main focus is to remove George W. Bush from office.
Tensions arose when the AFL-CIO decided not to endorse the march. In a letter dated June 23, 2004, to all of its affiliated state federations and labor councils, the AFL-CIO had this to say regarding the "Million Worker March":
"We think it is absolutely crucial that we commit the efforts of our labor movement to removing George W. Bush from office--and electing candidates to Congress and at the state and local level who are committed to working family issues. We believe that the efforts of the entire labor
movement need to be focused on the election."
"We encourage our state federations, area councils and central labor councils not to sponsor or devote resources to the demonstration in Washington DC, but instead to remain focused on the election and to devote all mobilization efforts to the grass-roots political campaign effort between now and Election Day."
DC Indymedia Reports, "While there wasn't a million -- or even a march -- the good news is that folks like the Anarchist workers' contingent and the IWW and the Radical Cheerleaders combined with the large militant anti-war union presence at the Memorial to keep the joint jumpin'. Not a whole lotta' shuckin' for Kerry in THIS crowd."
On an interview in <i>Seven Oaks Magazine</i>, Clarence Thomas, an executive board member of ILWU Local 10, argued that it is essential that the demands of the working class and the poor be heard both during this election campaign and beyond. The ILWU, internationally, has endorsed John Kerry.
The march symbolically seemed to voice what is on everyone's minds, unionists and anarchists alike: this election is not about who wins, but how to ensure Bush fails to win. |
See also:
http://dc.indymedia.org/feature/display/107031/index.php
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