PHILOSOPHER SEED

PhilosopherSeed – Labor

(New Content posted 01/29/05)
National Day Of Action.
On Thursday, January 27, 2005, a Vigil and Press Conference was held at Terry Schrunk Plaza in Portland Oregon to draw attention to a steady increase in violent attacks, civil rights abuses and workplace rights abuses against Day Workers in this country. This Portland event was one of many such actions taking place around the country.
Before the Press Conference, 14 candles and 14 crosses were handed out to the gathering representing 14 documented incidents of violence directed at day laborers. According to information distributed in the media packet, these were only a few of the examples of hostility directed at day laborers across the country. During this vigil, 14 people from the community read one incident each from one of 14 different areas of the United States. This reading was in both Spanish and English.
Some examples of the abuses:
In Jacksonville Florida, two day laborers lay dead after 27 robberies and attacks in the last three months. Many of the attacks were brutally violent with multiple victims. In Canton, Georgia, on at least two occasions, high school students offered day laborers work, drove them away from the corner, cruelly beat them, and robbed them of their salaries. In Portland, Oregon, two day laborers die in the past two weeks. One of them in a work accident, and the other one is still under investigation. In San Diego, California, workers were robbed while waiting for work on the corner.
From the Media Packet literature:
“In many municipalities day laborers were victims of robberies, violent assaults, and in some cases murders. In others, day laborers experienced massive civil rights violations as local police harassed, arrested, and imprisoned workers merely for seeking work in public, in blatant disregard for the Constitutional rights. In most neighborhoods where day laborers congregate to solicit employment throughout the country, they experience high rates of unpaid wage incidents, discrimination, and other law violations committed by abusive employers.”
“A significant number of these brutal attacks were racially motivated crimes and mistreatment. Initially, reports of criminal activity against day laborers appeared to be random and sporadic, but as reports continue to surface, workers and advocates begin to detect an alarming trend of escalating violence.”
“Day laborers represent the face of the immigrant community and the working poor. As they stand on corners seeking work, their labor is accepted but their physical presence is not. Each instance of abuse against day laborers further disenfranchises a group of people who are already the most disenfranchised among us.” This reading of the 14 incidents is featured in an 8 minute video:
DSL/CABLE Stream
56K Stream
After the Vigil, a Press Conference was held,, during which several members of the community spoke out against the abuses and the need for the community to join together and repudiate such actions. This is an an 18 minute audio file from that Conference..
Press Conference
This event was put together by VOZ, Workers Rights Education Project. whose mission is to secure and protect immigrant workers’ rights through education, leadership development and community organizing. They can be reached by phone at 503-233-6787.

(New Content posted 04/14/04)
AUDIO FILE: TWO SPEAKERS FROM COLOMBIA
On April 6, 2004 two speakers from COlombia appeared at Portland State University to discuss the conditions in their country. Luis Cardona, of SINALTRAINAL, the Coke Workers Union; and Miguel Cifuentes, of the Cimatarra River Valley Peasant Association.
From the flyer for the event:
“Colombia is the deadliest country in the world to be a union organizer. Half of the grads of the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning Georgia now go to one country: Colombia. Colombia is one of five main U.S. military aid targets in the world, where there is a 40-year old civil war as well as the Bush Administration’s Drug War.”
Some articles from Indymedia on this issue:
International Boycott of Coke Launched
Coca-Cola boycott launched after killings at Colombian plants
Boycott/Girlcott Coca Cola
This audio file is 20 minutes in length
Miguel Cifuentes
This audio file is 35 minutes in length
Luis Cardona

(New Content posted 04/22/04)
AUDIO FILE: THE NEW U.S. INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA
On March 24, 2004, at PSU, speakers from NW Haitian Association, Bolivian Circle of Oregon and PCASC/CBLOC described the U. S. role in the recent coup in Haiti, efforts to destabilize Venezuela, and an overview of US intervention in Latin America.
After an introduction by Alder, Gunnar and Xiomara Gunderson of the Bolivian Circle of Oregon spoke about Venezuela. Xiomara stated that she has been motivated to speak out because the Media has not been giving correct analysis of what is taking place in her country. She then turns the mike over to Gunnar, who begins by giving a little history of the area. Both speakers then take turns relaying information for about a total of 16 minutes.
Taped and edited by audiopol.
On Venezuela
Next, Talisma, after giving a little history of Haiti, spoke for a total of 18 minutes about recent US intervention in that country.
Talisma
Last, Chris Ferlazo of Portland Jobs with Justicespoke for about 20 minutes.
Chris Ferlazo

(New Content posted 11/15/03)
AUDIO FILE: THE SALVADORAN STRUGGLE AGAINST FREE TRADE
On November 10, 2003, at SEIU Local 49 in Portland, Sara Quintanilla (an electrical worker and Secretary General of her union local) spoke about her union’s struggle to halt privatization and defeat the Bush Corporate Globalization agenda from taking over El Salvador and all of Latin America.
In spite of international protests and condemnations, the Bush administration hopes to complete the Central American Free Trade Agreement, (CAFTA) negotiations by December 2003. In order to pave the way for CAFTA the right-wing Salvadoran government wants to privatize healthcare, electricity, water, and education. The government has been trying to dismantle the unions, reduce wages, and abuse human rights, but the people of El Salvador and Central America are saying NO! And are calling on our solidarity to support their struggle against CAFTA and the FTAA.
In this audio file Sarah begins by discussing the impact that the privatization of telecommunications and energy have had. “Energy has not been completely privatized yet, that is, only the distribution of energy has been privatized at this time. What has happened with the privatization of telecommunications and the partial privatizastion of energy, there has been an increase of poverty in El Salvador, and of course an increase in the wealth of transnational corporations.”
She also speaks about immigration to the United States. “Another phenomenon is the increased immigration to this country. And within the immigration there is an additional problem of the disintegration of family.
Also, unemployment is a big problem. Since the year 1998 there have been more than 25,000 workers layed off. Sarah says that she is an example of this, having been layed off over a year ago. She continues, testifying to government repression against all the union members in the country. “Repression against our union began in 2001, and just since Friday August 31, there have been 55 people fired. The majority of those who have been fired are union leaders or members who are affiliated with our union. Our government is a major violator of labor rights.”
This presentation was sponsored by Portland Cross Border Labor Organizing Coalition, Portland Central American Solidarity Committee and the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador.
Portland Jobs with Justice
This file is 18 and 1/2 minutes in length.
Sarah Quintanilla

(New Content posted 10/18/03
AUDIO FILE: KILLERCOKE, A PRESENTATION BY JUAN CARLOS GALVIS
Juan Carlos Galvis is Vice President of SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian national food & beverage workers union, and President of the CUT, the Colombian national trade union confederation, in the town of Barrancabermeja. He is also a worker at the local Coca-Cola bottling plant. He is traveling in this country to bring attention to the human rights abuses being committed by Coca Cola in Colombia. These abuses include kidnapping and assasination.
Juan is also a human rights advocate and leader of the local coalition “Space for Human Rights Workers of Magdalena Medio.” Barrancabermeja is one of the areas in Colombia with the highest amounts of paramilitary violence, and as a result of this, Juan Carlos has survived numerous death threats and actual assassination attempts against his life, the most recent occurring on August 22, 2003. Juan Carlos is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Coca-Cola filed in US Federal Courts evidence linking the Coca-Cola with the paramilitary groups that have threatened him because of his outspoken commitment to labor and human rights.
Friday evening, October 17, 2003, Juan spoke at the Musicians Union Hall in Portland Oregon, one of the presentations he has given in the Portland area this week.This is a 37 minute audio file of that presentation, given in Spanish with English translation
A boycott against Coca Cola has been called because of their activities in Colombia. And, according to Galvis, this multi national corporation has demonstrated the same lack of concern for human welfare in many other countries, and in India has snatched up water supplies and refused to allow local people access. Coca Cola has launched a public relations campaign to fight the boycott, and just today I discovered that they have taken a website named killercoke.COM, mimicing the activist killercoke.org.
Campaign Against Coca Cola
An excellent report and commentary on this presentation by Galvis was posted to Portland Indymedia:
Portland Indymedia Report

(New Content posted 11/29/02)
AUDIO FILE: COMMUNITIES IN RESISTANCE
Tuesday evening, November 26, 2002, at the Friends Meeting House in Portland, Afro Colombian citizen Clemencia Carabali Rodallega spoke with great intelligence and emotion about her country.
Her presentation, translated by Natalia Cardona, staff member in the Peace Building unit of American Friends Service Committee, was part of tour being conducted to inform the American public of the situation in Colombia. Clemenica spoke about the civil war, the guerillas, the para militaries, the drug trafficers. She related all these to the particular plight of the Afro Colombia population which make up a significant percentage of the population of 40,000,000 people, and who don’t have title to their ancestral lands.
Since childhood Clemencia has been participating in community activities. She is the founding member of the Municipal Women’s Association (ASOM) which works in partnership with the Process for Black Communities (PCN). Founded in 1993, the PCN is a network of 120 local organizations created to help Afro-Colombians maintain control of their ancestoral lands, as well as recognition of their culture and ethnic identity. The PCN also challenges national privatization, exploitation of natural resources and infrastructure development in the vast rainforest region of the Colombian Pacific Coast. The Municipal Women’s Asssociation in collaboration with the PCN works to assert and defend the social and legal rights of colombian women of African descent, as well as to achieve better living conditions for them.
Contact for American Friends Service Committee is Martin Gonzalez, at 503-230-9427
(*Note. Los Angeles Indymedia has a Feature on this issue on 11/21/01 entitled, “Plan Colombia: Cashing in on the Drug War Failure.” The Feature is replete with information, as well as links to other sources. It also contains a 20 minute interview with Manuel Rozental of the Canada Colombia Solidarity Campaign on the effects of Plan Colombia and the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) on indiginous people. A ton of good information in one spot. Thank you la indymedia.)
Another audio file from Ramon Alcevo, who also spoke in Portland recently. About 30 minutes.
The Clemencia file is about 30 minutes in length.
Clemencia Carabali Rodallega

(New Content posted 7/18/02)
COLOMBIA UNIONS IN CRISIS.
Dangerous Country for Union Organizers
Colombia has long been the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists with almost 4,000 murdered in the past 15 years. Last year 201 union members were killed, 90% of those murdered in the entire rest of the world. Most of the killings have been attributed to right-wing paramilitaries who are well known for murdering, abducting and torturing trade union leaders. Much of the violence against trade unionists in Colombia is directed at leaders of unions at multinational firms, including the Coca-Cola company.
On July 18, 2002, two speakers from the Committee for a New Colombia (CNC) spoke in Portland Oregon.
The first, Nathalie Alsop, a student, poet, and activist, is a member of CNC, working to promote a lasting peace in Colombia. She is currently involved with progressive student projects at San Francisco State University and the City College of San Francisco. Nathalie works for the International Action Center training interns in grassroots organizing. 6 minutes in length.

Nathalie Alsop

The second speaker, Ramon Acevedo, was forced to leave Colombia with his mother and sisters after a heightened period of state repression in 1986. He is a co-founder of CNC, a San Francisco based activist organization created to educate and campaign against U.S. intervention in Colombia. He has organized teach-ins, a guest speaker at many universities, produced photo exhibits documenting Colombian life and is a representative for CNC at international conferences working to build a solidarity movement with the Colombian people. Ramon recently returned from Colombia after attending a nationwide Colombian Student Conference. 24 1/2 minutes in length.

Ramon Acevedo

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