Washington

‘River To The Sea’ Walk In Seattle

June 7, 2024 Jim McMahan, Workers' World. Resist! Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Seattle, Walk, Washington

A 25-mile “From the River to the Sea” walk for Gaza was held May 26 in Seattle. Hundreds marched the distance with signs and banners as Gazans fight against genocide perpetrated by Israel using U.S.-supplied weapons. Participants denounced the brutal assault and bombings of Rafah and the rest of Gaza and Palestine, chanting and singing most of the way. Along the route, many people joined those who walked the entire distance. The demonstration started at a park near Sea-Tac airport and marched all the way through downtown Seattle to the Salish Sea (aka Puget Sound) in the north end.

What Cities Can Learn From Seattle’s Racial And Social Justice Law

May 6, 2024 Serin Houston and Dan Trudeau, Next City. Create! Race, Racial Justice, Racism, Seattle, Social Justice, Washington

The right-wing political campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion policies taking place in several states across the U.S. has called into question the nation’s commitment to achieving racial equality. In this landscape, Seattle is marking a milestone of sorts – the first anniversary of adopting its Race and Social Justice Initiative ordinance. This ordinance, signed into law in April 2023, places the Race and Social Justice Initiative under the Seattle Office of Civil Rights and states that all departments in city government are responsible for “implementing change toward ending institutional racism,” which is defined in Seattle as “policies, practices, procedures, and culture of an institution or system that work better for white people and cause harm to people of color, often inadvertently or unintentionally.”

Rage Over Gaza: Washington Will Pay For Its Support Of Israel

January 4, 2024 Ramzy Baroud, MintPress News. Educate! Gaza, Israel, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, Washington

A famous quote by Franz Kafka says, “Every thing you love is very likely to be lost, but in the end, love will return in a different way.” The same principle, I believe, applies to any other powerful feeling, including resentment, hate, anger, even rage. American officials should know this well as they continue to support Israel with billions of dollars of military and economic aid and anything and everything that would allow Israel to continue with its genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. The Arabs, the Muslims – in fact, the whole world – are watching, listening, reading, and are getting angrier by the day at the direct American role in facilitating the Gaza bloodbath.

In Washington State, Prison Closure Divides Abolitionist Community

December 31, 2023 Raymond Williams, Scheer Post. Strategize! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Decarceration, Prison abolition, Washington

I board the transport in an orange jumpsuit, shackled and cuffed at the waist, one of many prisoners in exodus from the Washington State Reformatory. The rattling of our chains fills the cabin as we find places to sit. I slide into a seat with a small window high on the wall next to me—the coveted seat with a “view.” Nervous chatter ensues as we wait to be shipped to the next prison. In 2021, during the pandemic, the Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC), experienced a steep decrease in prison admissions (and therefore a great loss of revenue). In response, the department announced it would close the Washington State Reformatory (WSR), the oldest unit in the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe, Washington.

The Next Target For Protests Against Israel: Ports

November 9, 2023 Kim Kelly, In These Times. Resist! California, Israel, Palestine, Ports, Spain, Washington

About 100 protesters arrived at the Port of Tacoma at 5 a.m. on Monday determined to block any efforts to load cargo onto the Cape Orlando, a ship the activists thought could be transporting weapons to Israel. They chanted “Free, free Palestine!” and by 6 a.m. the group had grown by hundreds more. “We are here today because we are blocking a military vessel that has come from the Oakland dock up to Tacoma,” said Bissan Barghouti of the group Samidoun Seattle, according to The Seattle Times. Guy Oron, a reporter with Real Change News, tweeted that “Protesters split up into four pickets in an effort to prevent longshoremen from starting their shift.” “Heavy police presence; U.S. Coast Guard has reportedly planned for the protest.

Protesters Block US Military Ship Allegedly Carrying Weapons For Israel

November 7, 2023 Hilary Beaumont, Al Jazeera. Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Israel, Palestine, Ports, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism, Washington

Under dark skies and steady rain, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied at the Port of Tacoma, in Washington state, to block a military supply vessel they believe will carry weapons from the United States to Israel. There, they fear any weaponry on board will be used in Israel’s ongoing campaign against the Gaza Strip, where more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed. “We want a ceasefire now. We want people to stop getting murdered now. We want a real examination and action on US foreign policy and US funding to Israel,” said Wassim Hage, one of the protesters at the Tacoma rally.

Washington’s OFAC Licenses Prevent CITGO’s Auction

October 22, 2023 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! CITGO, US Sanctions, Venezuela, Washington

Venezuelan Vice Minister for Anti-Blockade Policies William Castillo explained that as a consequence of the decisions announced by the United States Department of the Treasury regarding sanctions against Venezuelan Oil, the auction of the Venezuelan company CITGO planned for 2024 has been prevented. Castillo said to Últimas Noticias this Thursday, October 19, that the decision extends the prohibition on the sale of PDVSA bonds that are tied to CITGO. “That is very important because it has implications for the auction. While it is in force, and is extended until January, the CITGO auction cannot be held,” he added.

‘Mutiny Brewing’ Inside State Department Over Israel-Palestine

October 21, 2023 Akbar Shahid Ahmed, HuffPost. Resist! Israel, Israeli Apartheid, Joe Biden, Palestine, State Department, Washington

Morale is low, and some staffers are preparing to formally express their opposition to President Joe Biden's approach, officials told HuffPost.

Decency Becomes Indecent

October 18, 2023 Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News. Educate! Israel, Palestine, War crimes, Wars and Militarism, Washington

There have been many, very many singular moments among America’s purported leaders and assorted officials and commentators since Hamas staged its daring assault on southern Israel on the morning of Oct. 7. Let us consider a few of these moments and draw some conclusions. Let us look closely at what is being said and what the American public is now urged to think and accept as Israeli forces prosecute a campaign against Gaza’s 2.1 million people so extreme as to suggest ethnic cleansing is, as many have long argued, the ultimate Israeli project. “Well, there have been some members of Congress who have called for a ceasefire, and they have not gone as far as backing the administration’s call for support for Israel.”

Biggest Health Worker Strike In United States History Begins

October 4, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! California, Colorado, Healthcare workers, Kaiser Permanente, Oregon, Staffing, Strikes, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., Worker Rights and Jobs

On October 4, 75,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities in several US states are set to go on strike for three days following the breakdown of contract negotiations last week. A coalition of several unions representing health workers in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, and Washington, DC is battling the nonprofit health giant for safe staffing levels, cost of living pay increases, and against a two-tier pay system that Kaiser is trying to introduce. The largest union in the coalition is Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-United Healthcare Workers West (UHW) with 57,443 members, but the coalition also includes Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 30, SEIU Local 49, OPEIU Local 2 and others.

Southern Washington Educators Are On Strike

September 9, 2023 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. Resist! Education, Strike, Teachers, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

A huge picket line stretched nearly a half mile around the Washington State Evergreen Public Schools headquarters on Sept. 1. It was the first day of school, and 1,500 educators from Evergreen County, on the third day of their strike, were joined by 450 Camas County educators who had been out since Aug 28. Evergreen School District No. 114 is a public school district in the state’s Clark County, and serves the city of Vancouver, Washington. Passing cars honked, and chants rose from a sea of red Tee-shirt-wearing teachers, all carrying strike signs reading “Evergreen Education Association: ON STRIKE!” Numerous local area businesses put up signs in their windows supporting the educators’ strike.

Camas Teachers Go On Strike; Battle Ground And Evergreen Could Follow

August 28, 2023 Anthony Macuk, KGW. Resist! Education, Strikes, Unions, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

Camas, Washington - Hundreds of teachers in the Camas School District officially went on strike around 9 a.m. Monday morning, cancelling what would have otherwise been the first day of the school year. The union representing Camas School District teachers announced Sunday evening that it would follow through on plans to strike and confirmed there would be no classes on Monday. The announcement came after a last-ditch round of bargaining on Sunday, which the Camas Education Association said ended when "the district refused to make commitments to reasonable class sizes or equitable funding for music, PE, and libraries."

How Washington State Can Protect Workers At Oil Refineries

August 22, 2023 Tom Conway, Nation Of Change. Create! Oil and Gas, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs, Workplace Safety

The grief hits Scott Campbell like a ton of bricks every time he walks into the union hall and sees the memorial to the fallen workers. Seven members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union reported for their shifts at the former Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington, on April 2, 2010, and never drove back out. They perished when a decades-old, structurally deficient piece of equipment called a heat exchanger exploded and caught fire in one of the worst industrial incidents in state history. Campbell and other members of USW Local 12-591 pay tribute to the seven with a laser focus on safety at the refinery, currently owned by Marathon.

Healthcare Workers Picket At 50 Facilities In Fight For New Contracts

August 6, 2023 Michael Sainato, The Guardian. Resist! California, Colorado, Health Care, Kaiser Permanente, Oregon, Pickets, Unions, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

Unions representing more than 85,000 healthcare workers have held pickets at 50 facilities across California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado amid new contract negotiations as their current union contracts are set to expire on 30 September. The negotiations at Kaiser Permanente are the third largest set of contract negotiations in the US in 2023, behind the 340,000 workers at UPS who will be voting on a tentative agreement this month that was reached days before planned strike action, and 150,000 autoworkers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis whose contracts are set to expire on 14 September.

How To Create A Debt Co-Op To Take Back Your Student Loans

July 15, 2023 Salish Sea Cooperative Finance, Erika Lundahl and John Beatty, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Education, Student Debt, Washington

The day we refinanced our first student loan, four debt cooperative members met for coffee and eggs at a greasy spoon at 8 a.m. to prepare the paperwork. Together, we all went to the bank, got the cashier’s check, printed the letter, and put it in the mail, and it was elating. So elating, in fact, that residents of downtown Seattle looked concerned as four grown adults let out shouts of joy outside a perfectly average post office after doing a seemingly simple task. But the task was anything but simple—and we had done it together. Like an untold number of ideas throughout human history, the nuts and bolts of what would become Salish Sea Cooperative Finance (SSCoFi)—a cooperative built to address the student debt crisis—were hammered out over nachos and beer.

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