Saturday June 9, 2007 7:30 PM Community/Labor Solidarity Forum United Teachers Los Angeles
Sunday June 10, 2007; Arlington West
<> Saturday, June 9, 2007
Community Solidarity Forum
United Teachers Los Angeles
UTLA Headquarters
The community forum, hosted at UTLA headquarters, was the largest of the events on the Los Angeles leg of the Iraqi Labor Solidarity Tour. In addition to the featured speakers, the audience heard from Military Families Speak Out and Iraq Veterans Against the War. L.A. USLAW member and a retired member of UTLA, Emma Rosenthal read “Poem at the Break of War” which she wrote on the night the current war first broke out. The meeting ended, after a lengthy question and answer period, with LAUSLAW member, Lenny Potash, Exec. Bd. member AFSCME Retiree Chapter 36 leading the assembly in the chorus of Solidarity Forever.
Overall, the Los Angeles leg of the tour raised over $4000 towards labor organizing in Iraq.
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Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Omar Jubran (interpreter)
Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers , Omar Jubran (interpreter,)
Hameed Saba (interpreter,) Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers, Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Omar Jubran (interpreter)
Pat Aliso, Military Families Speak Out- O.C., Rosanna Cambron, Military Families Speak Out-L.A, Don White, CISPES and Committee to End Israeli Apartheid-SC, Marci Winograd, Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles
Jabbar Magruder, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Cameron White, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Marci Winograd, Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles
Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers, Hameed Saba (interpreter,) Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Cameron White, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Jabbar Magruder, Iraq Veterans Against the War.
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Abid Khalaf (interpreter), Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers, Hameed Saba (interpreter,) Omar Jubran (interpreter,) Emma Rosenthal, Café Intifada, L.A. Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee, Marcie Winograd, Progressive Democrats-Los Angeles. Photo by Tom McKenzie, Los Angeles U.S. Labor Against the War.
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Emma Rosenthal, Café Intifada, L.A. Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee, photo by Tom McKenszie
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Don White makes the pitch (Don White, CISPES and Committee to End Israeli Apartheid-SC)
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Tom McKenzie, Los Angeles U.S. Labor Against the War, Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Andy Griggs, U.S. Labor Against the War
Solidarity Forever led by Lenny Potash, Exec. Bd. member AFSCME Retiree Chapter 36, AFSCME Council 36-retired. L.A. U.S. Labor Against the War
Sunday, June 10, 2007
8:30 AM
Arlington West Visit
Arlington West, Santa Monica Beach, by the Pier
Every Sunday, on the beach on the north side of the pier, often starting as early as 3 am, Veterans Against the War set out crosses, stars of David and crescents to represent the U.S. military casualties of the war in Iraq. This display has been named, “Arlington West.” As Southern Californians come to the beach to play in the sand, swim, surf, sunbathe, walk on the pier and eat in the restaurants they are confronted with what has grown into a large monument, reminding us all, that while we play, we are a country at war, both here and at home, against the wills of the people of the United States and the people of Iraq.
As the project has grown, the vets have had to substitute red stars for every ten deaths. A sign at the walkway from the pier acknowledges that were the vets to set out crosses for the Iraqi dead, they would fill the entire beach.
Over time, visitors to the pier and to Arlington West have labeled the crosses with the names of loved ones killed in the adventures of empire. These personal tributes include flags, rosaries and other mementos for those who have died. The vets maintain these items in folders which are positioned in front of each cross then the items are removed and placed on each marker, collected at the end of the day and stored in the folders, in large plastic bins until the next Sunday.
The Iraqi Labor Solidarity Tour visited Arlington West at 8:30 in the morning and the set up was very much under way, but still very much in progress. Faleh and Hashmeya were able to meet with the vets, drape Casey Sheehan’s cross and help arrange crosses, crescents and stars in the sand.
This display and the labor of love and commitment is overwhelming. It is a growing monument to loss and grief and death; containing in the devotion of the vets, the vision of a very different future.
The love that goes into this weekly ritual, this enormous commitment, this devotion of illumination should be enough. This much work, one would think, would be sufficient to bring about a very different world.
Idris J. Al-Oboudi, (interpreter,) Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers speaking with volunteers and activists who assemble Arlington West every Sunday
Kathleen Hernandez, Veterans for Peace
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Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers and Jill Newman, Los Angeles artist and educator
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Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers and Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions installing crosses at Arlington West
Andy Griggs, US Labor Against the War, Kathleen Hernandez, Veterans for Peace, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President Electrical Utility Workers Union, General Federation of Iraqi Workers, Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary Southern Oil Company Union, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, Idris J. Al-Oboudi, (interpreter,) Abid Khalaf (interpreter)
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Photo by Emma Rosenthal: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
Photo by Emma Rosenthal: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
Photo by Emma Rosentha: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
<> Photo by Emma Rosenthal: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
Photo by Emma Rosenthal: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
<><> Photo by Emma Rosenthal: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
Photo by Emma Rosenthal: ©2007 Emma Rosenthal All Rights Reserved
¡Cafe Intifada! -Uniting Art With Critical Consciousness 