Re: AFT Backs Israel's war, raises dues

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

First, I am cooking here, and working on a response to "Tommy"s very good 
challenge about Israel, the AFT, Nea, etc. So, I am not ignoring that.

Just to quickly answer Estaban's question,

See the work, online, of Paul Buhle, Kim Scipes, and my own work as well. 
Google a bit.

Here are just a couple of many linkes 
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45b/098.html
http://www.wpunj.edu/newpol/issue23/buhle23.htm

I think I first became truly aware of the connection of US intelligence 
agencies and the unions when I was working with AFSCME leader Jerry Wurf. 
Wurf was elected to be President of AFSCME as a reformer (he was hardly a 
reformer), but when he was elected, he went to enter the AFSCME offices in 
DC. He said he found the building locked down and guarded. It had been 
locked down by the FBI who told him that they needed to get their, and the 
CIA's , files out of there.

AFL support for US intelligence agencies , and close cooperation, came as 
early as WWI, when the AFL supported the imperialist nightmare, and worked 
against, for example, the Industrial Workers of the World in the US, 
turning them in to the cops, etc.

Jack Scott wrote a fine, but hard to find book, about all this "Yankee 
Unions Go Home."

CIA defector Phil Agee, now in Cuba, wrote a great deal about it.

It is a fact that the AFL-CIo spends nearly 1/2 their dues income outside 
the US. They admit it. They claim it is better than before, but it is not.

I will have to answer Susan's question later as well. It is just too hot to 
think here. Off to the library. Hope it is not privatized, charging for entry.

best r


At 11:57 AM 7/22/2006 -0700, you wrote:
> In the message from Rich Gibson the stated the following:
>
> > The AFT-AFL-CIO--CIA links are pretty commonly known and accepted.
>
> I would like to know more about this connection.  Can I get some links to 
> sources etc.
> Thanks,
> Esteban Diaz
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>
> Date: Saturday, July 22, 2006 11:47 am
> Subject: Re: [ca-resisters] AFT Backs Israel's war, raises dues
> To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
>
> > I dont get the logic. If labor is cheap other places, capital will
> > leave the US. If workers get paid the same everywhere in the world,
> > theres no reason to export jobs and workers here will do better.
> > What
> > am I missing?
> > Susan
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
> > > Date: Fri Jul 21, 2006  7:02:13 PM US/Pacific
> > > To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> > > Subject: [ca-resisters] AFT Backs Israel's war, raises dues
> > > Reply-To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> > >
> > > 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
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------
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> >