AFT Backs Israel's war, raises dues

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

My friends on staff at AFT tell me that the AFT passed a motion supporting 
what AFT calls Israel's response to Hezbollah aggression, etc. That appears 
to put AFT right in line with the US State Department, and George Bush (and 
much of the Democratic party too).

The vote, according to my friends, appears to be much closer than the 
NEA  3 to 1 decision at their RA to not discuss the Middle East wars at 
all. It is hard to tell from a phone call, but the impression I have is 
that the AFT vote was quite close, maybe even deliberately miscounted by 
the leadership---which is usually unnecessary in AFT since dissension is 
hardly tolerated in the union.

AFT has long had well-known connections to the U.S. State Department, and 
the CIA (through AFT leadership in the National Endowment for Democracy, 
the American Institute for Free Labor Development, etc) and AFT bosses have 
long played a key role in the ongoing relationship of the entire AFL-CIO 
with the CIA. Even today, the AFL-CIO spends about 50% of its dues income 
outside the United States, usually seeking to destroy indigenous trade 
union and people's movements in other nations. Most recently, the 
AFL-CIO-NED was instrumental in the effort to overthrow the elected 
government of Venezuela.

Do not take my word for this stuff, nor my own research. Look for work by 
Kim Scipes, Paul Buhle, Jack Scott, and many others. It is not a conspiracy 
theory, but a recognition of the confluence of interests between US union 
bosses, the US government, and US business. The AFL-CIO unions believe, and 
have always believed, that workers in the US will do better if workers 
elsewhere do worse, following closely to the same line that they adopted in 
the US, that is, white workers will do better if black workers do worse.

While this racism and nationalism may be true (that is, it works) for the 
union leaders, who are relatively well paid, it is against the interest of 
the mass of rank and file workers in the unions, including school workers, 
who have much more in common with, for example, an Iraqi or Israeli or 
Lebanese teacher, than they do with George Bush or Ted Kennedy: millionaires.

The union leaders betray the people they claim to represent, us, serving as 
Quislings in our ranks, in exchange for the opportunity to try to behave 
like bosses, to win income and opportunities that are denied to the rank 
and file. They systematically, deliberately, disorganize and mislead us, 
offering our potential militancy as a bargaining chip for their own 
benefit. They live off the fruits of US imperialism which is necessarily 
born from US warmaking---and they know it. That is why they support the 
many endless wars that capitalism has to offer---and it has nothing but war 
to offer.

The AFT-AFL-CIO--CIA links are pretty commonly known and accepted.

What is not so well known is the NEA's role in all of this. NEA is involved 
through the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs,  a 
branch of the National Endowment for Democracy. NEA signed on to that in 1984.

AFT also voted to raise member dues about 14 dollars per month.

Justice demands new kinds of organizations.

best r