Food for - Thought

To illustrate the stark difference between those so many believe to be "they" and those they consider to be "we."  Let us as AMERICAN MTs think: 

"… why the Central Americans… at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles had always been “on board” in terms of active grassroots participation in their local union, in contrast with non-immigrant workers who viewed the union as a sort of utility, with a bill (dues) that came once a month, but not a collective. …El Salvadoran…said that people involved in the lead-up to the civil war of the 1980s were genuinely politicized, engaged in their world. Those Salvadorans who came to the U.S. wouldn’t have set that participatory approach aside; to be involved in one’s union was only natural. And, after all, as members of a union, they expected “to act collectively.”…"

-AND-

“Workers at Mercy Hospital in France, who were afraid that patients would go untreated if they went on strike, instead refused to file the billing slips for drugs, lab tests, treatments, and therapy. As a result, the patients got better care (since time was being spent caring for them instead of doing paperwork), for free. The hospital’s income was cut in half, and panic-stricken administrators gave in to all of the workers’ demands after three days.”

May Day 2012 – A Declaration of Solidarity from Occupy Oklahoma

On 05, Apr 2012 |

WHEREAS, May 1st is officially recognized worldwide as International Workers’ Day, a holiday originating in response to the Haymarket Massacre of 1886 in Chicago, where workers were fighting for the eight hour workday;

WHEREAS, the people of the world have risen against economic inequality, social domination, financial exploitation, government corruption, and iron-fisted authoritarianism in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Greece, and elsewhere;

WHEREAS, this working class movement has observed unchecked corporate power redefining the natural world as a body of resources to be exploited to serve their purposes and interests;

WHEREAS, the physical and economic assault of governments worldwide upon their peoples constitutes an attack on the principles of self-determination and democracy;

WHEREAS, corporate interests and the politicians they control continue to spread aggression in Washington DC, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and multitudinous countries of the world;

WHEREAS, our solidarity with the workers of the world constitutes our inalienable right to freedom of association;

WHEREAS, a call is growing for an international mass action to honor the struggles and sacrifices of working peoples around the world;

WHEREAS, isolated efforts at reform have failed to stem the growing tide of corporate power and the harm it causes to the working class;

WHEREAS, we recognize in the General Strike a powerful tool in the battle for democracy, a furtherance of social and economic conditions, and the provisions of education and healthcare;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Assembly of Occupy Oklahoma endorses the General Strike of May Day 2012, including work stoppages, street demonstrations, sick-outs, and other solidarity actions;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Assembly of Occupy Oklahoma urges its constituent members to stand in solidarity in a “Day without Workers,” supporting a boycott of shopping, work, and school-related activities as part of May Day observances.

This resolution has been endorsed by:
The General Assembly of Occupy Oklahoma
Occupy Norman (University of Oklahoma)
Occupy Tulsa
Occupy OKC
Occupy Shawnee (Oklahoma)