Photo via Twitter
Only a handful of activists showed up to Block the boat in Vancouver |
In a four-day standoff pitting human rights groups and organized
labor against Israeli shipping giant Zim, the giant was defeated today in
Vancouver, Canada.
The huge container ship Zim Djibouti first docked at the high-tech
Deltaport facility on September 5, only to discover that the workers had agreed
to respect a picket line set up by human rights advocates. The coalition of
picketers, under the name Block the Boat Vancouver, were trying to
prevent the unloading and loading of the ship, as a solidarity protest against
Israel's 47-year blockade of the port of Gaza and the recent Israeli sttack on
Gaza that killed more than 2000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, as well as 72
Israelis, almost all soldiers.
The ship then returned to open water along the Pacific coast and
stayed there several days, until midnight last night. At that time it set
course for Port Angeles, on the US side of the passage to Vancouver. By
unloading at an unexpected US port, the company apparently hoped to circumvent
the blockade.
It didn't work. Perhaps the logistics of arranging passage by land
through another country for the hazardous cargo on board was too much, or
perhaps the docking facilities were inadequate for the huge ship, but it turned
back and returned to the open sea. At the time of this report, it has still
failed to declare a new destination and arrival time.
This is a huge victory for the Vancouver coalition, undoubtedly
costing Zim enormous sums in fuel, delays, and having to carry excess cargo to
unintended destinations, impeding the other operations. It also continues the
string of Block the Boat actions at ports on the US west coast that began with
the August picket in Oakland, California of another Zim ship that ended with
similar results.
Let's all congratulate Vancouver and encourage ports all over the
world to refuse Israeli ships and ships from Israeli companies. Customers will
have to think twice about using an Israeli line for their cargo, as delivery
becomes less certain. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a world wide
campaign against Zim and all other Israeli shipping, until Israel
reconsiders its policy of blocking all shipping to and from Gaza.
We apologize for erroneous information in the item below. Although the sequence of the boat actions is correct, there was no picket line or blockade. Instead, the organizers provided information to the union, ILWU Local 502, and its members, including flyers distributed at the Deltaport facility. Beyond that, we have no information on how and why the ship was turned away, but it seems probable that it was on the basis of a union decision.
Currently, after trying to dock at Port Angeles, the ship has
returned to a stationary position off the coast of British Columbia, and is
listing a destination of Vancouver but an ETA that has already passed.
Please accept our regrets for the false information.
To the lying, scheming (just until they are caught in the act) Free Palestine Movement, I have just this to say about your alleged "victory" at the Port of Vancouver.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
4 comments:
I prefer the SCREW PAL-E-SWINE movement.
Can Zim sue the various activist groups for interference with business relations?
I hope you cunts enjoy the free college money for the hasbara and being complicit in war crimes. History won't remember you kindly.
Free money? I assume the check has been in the mail since 2008since we have yet to see a cent.
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