Israeli Ship Picketed in Oakland, CA

I just returned from the Port of Oakland where there was a picket line hoping to prevent the unloading of an Israeli ship by members of the ILWU. The idea is that the Longshoremen could refuse to cross on the grounds of safety if there were enough people.  The picket was called by the  Labor / Community Committee in Solidarity with the People of Palestine, I'm not sure exactly who that is but a number of groups obviously.

I do not know how successful the picket was but I saw some Longshoremen standing around debating whether to go to work.  They were not involved in the picket in any way to my knowledge.  I shot a little video that I have added here.

The picket line was spirited and well attended but very few new faces there.  As I wrote on this blog a few weeks ago the politics of the event were too narrow.  There were the usual chants about free Palestine and end the Gaza blockade but when this sort of event is limited in this way there is very little to attract rank and file workers or fresh layers in to the struggle. An event like this could be a springboard to the rest of the US working class that is facing an unprecedented crisis. Still, the picket line was quite large and hopefully the Longshoremen were able to honor it.