[Media-watch] Us media suppress unions' opposition to war

Tim Gopsill TimG at nuj.org.uk
Thu Jul 22 10:56:04 BST 2004


 from New York trade union anti-war site



	Message: 1        
	   Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:36:41 -0000
	   From: NYCLAW
	Subject: LABOR STATEMENTS:  Media Blackout on Antiwar Labor
	
	http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=
	235&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
	
	Media Blackout: Media Blackout Story of U.S. Labor Opposition to Iraq
	War
	Posted by : DavidSwanson on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 06:55 AM   
	  
	By David Swanson, http://ILCAonline.org
	Part of the Media Blackout series on underreported labor stories
	
	Recently the two biggest stories in the U.S. news media have been the
	war in Iraq and the presidential election campaign. Labor unions have
	been part of a number of major stories on the presidential campaign,
	especially stories about Senator Kerry's selection of John Edwards as
	a running mate.
	
	But labor has not been part of stories on the war. There was some
	reason for that up until a few weeks ago. The AFL-CIO has not taken a
	position on the war, and most of the international unions have
	followed suit. That changed at the conventions last month in
	California of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the
	American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
	(AFSCME). Kerry spoke at both conventions, and his speeches received
	significant media coverage.
	
	What did not receive coverage and should have was that both SEIU and
	AFSCME passed resolutions at their conventions supporting the
	immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. These strongly worded
	resolutions passed by two of the largest, most politically active
	labor unions in the country -- two unions that have received
	substantial coverage from national political reporters on other
	stories -- were quickly followed by passage on July 13 of a similar
	resolution by the California Labor Federation, the largest state
	federation within the AFL-CIO. Together, these three organizations
	represent close to 5 million union members. Other union conventions
	will be addressing the issue throughout the summer, a remarkable
	development and a striking contrast to labor's behavior during the
	Vietnam War.
	
	It should be noted that other unions, both internationals and locals,
	have led the way on this issue, including the International Longshore
	and Warehouse Union (ILWU) which took a strong stance against the war
	at its May 2003 International Convention, and later backed that up
	with a resolution in support of Iraqi workers' right to organize. The
	ILCA passed a resolution in support of Iraqi workers' right to
	organize in November 2003.
	
	Extensive Nexis searching on July 17 turned up virtually no coverage
	during the past 60 days of U.S. labor opposition to the war. The few
	exceptions: a story in the Nation Magazine by independent labor
	reporter/photographer David Bacon touched on the topic. An Associated
	Press story from the AFSCME convention covered a speech by a U.S.
	soldier formerly held prisoner in Iraq but made no mention of AFSCME's
	resolution, and the soldier was not opposed to the war. Oh, and Fox
	News (Special Report With Brit Hume) on July 3 mentioned an
	organization that's rather hard to find in corporate media: U.S. Labor
	Against the War (a large and active coalition of unions opposed to the
	war) -- but the point of briefly mentioning USLAW was to accuse it and
	other "Bush-hating" groups of planning to "sabotage the Republican
	Convention."
	
	It's not that media have entirely refused to inform the public of this
	story, it's just that the outlets doing so are neither well funded nor
	tracked by Nexis. Google searches turn up stories on the
	ILCAonline.org website from the ILCA, from Press Associates
	Incorporated (a wire service used by many labor papers), and from
	AFSCME, as well as stories from FrontPageMag.com, Zmag.org, People's
	Weekly World, Workday Minnesota, Socialist Worker, Workers' World,
	Labor Educator, Under News, Anti-Imperialism, and many other labor and
	alternative online publications, discussion lists, and blogs.
	
	The story of US labor opposition to the war appears to be a prime
	example of the corporate media's blackout of labor's issues, and yet
	another argument for devoting our energies to building stronger labor
	media.
	
	Details on Nexis searches performed:
	1. ("organized labor" w/s Iraq) AND (Iraq w/3 war) = five articles,
	none relevant
	2. ("labor union" w/s Iraq) AND (Iraq w/3 war) = 15 articles, none
	relevant
	3. "labor union" w/s Iraq = 45 articles, including the Nation and AP
	stories mentioned above but nothing else related
	4. USLAW = two articles, one unrelated and the other the same Nation
	article
	5. "labor against" AND war = 31 articles, including the Nation article
	again and the Fox News story mentioned above
	6. AFSCME AND Iraq = 24 articles, none relevant
	7. SEIU AND Iraq = 22 articles, none relevant
	8. "California Labor Federation" = 46 articles, none relevant
	
	David Swanson is Media Coordinator for the International Labor
	Communications Association (ILCA) at http://ILCAonline.org
	
	
	
	
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	Message: 2        
	   Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:26:31 -0000
	   From: NYCLAW
	Subject: Protest at DNC--7.25 (ANSWER)
	
	AN OPEN APPEAL TO THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT
	
	BUSH & KERRY MUST BE TOLD
	BRING THE TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ NOW!
	
	RALLY AND MARCH AT THE DNC
	Sunday JULY 25, Boston Commons, 12 noon
	
	A HISTORIC CHALLANGE FOR OUR MOVEMENT. Democratic Party
	Presidential Candidate John Kerry has made it as clear as
	day that he supports the continued occupation of Iraq by
	upwards of 140 thousand U.S. troops and a smaller number
	of troops from other countries, indefinitely. Kerry has
	said that he is prepared to send more U.S. troops to Iraq
	
	and Afganistan. He supports the criminal apartheid wall
	that is imprisoning the Palestinian people. He supports
	Bush's kidnapping of President Jean-Bertrand Aristede of
	Haiti, and the occupation of that country by U.S. troops.
	He has vowed to continue Bush's war and do a better job
	off pulling in "our allies".
	
	Now is not the time to hesitate. Those of us who have been
	marching against Bush's wars for almost 2 and one half
	years must not allow misplaced concerns over not doing
	anything that might hurt Kerry and help Bush keeps us
	from bringing a strong, and defiant anti-war message to
	the streets of Boston during the DNC.
	
	IF we are not out in force at both the DNC AND the RNC we
	will send a dangerous message that we will surely regret.
	The message? Kerry has tamed and gagged the anti-war
	voices, just as he effectively stopped the Kucinich
	forces from calling for the troops to be brought home now.
	
	We must converge on Boston at the major anti-war rally on
	Sunday July 25 sponsered by International ANSWER and many
	others, to scream at the top of our voices that niether of
	the pro-war candidates have a pass from us to keep the
	troops in Iraq for 6 more years are 6 more months.
	
	Join us to say:
	Bring the troops home now!
	
	The week of protest will kick off with a permitted rally
	in Boston Common on Sunday, July 25 at 12 noon, to be
	followed by a march on the Fleet Center, site of the DNC.
	
	for more information, call (617) 522-6626
	www.answerboston.org
	info at answerboston.org
	 
	
	
	March on the DNC!
	Sunday, July 25
	call the 617-522-66226
	www.iacboston for more information
	
	
	Iraq War Crimes Tribunal
	Thursday, August 26
	call 212-633-6646 for more information
	www.PeopleJudgeBush.org for more information
	
	http://www.iacenter.org
	iacenter at iacenter.org
	
	
	
	
	________________________________________________________________________
	________________________________________________________________________
	
	
	
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