[Nyclocal] Report back- Peace Conference/MLK Day Actions

[Kristin Schall]

Comrades,

I have been very busy during this extended (for some of us) weekend.   On
Saturday I made the long trek from Brooklyn to Newark New Jersey for the
People's Peace Conference.  While the turn out to the conference was fairly
low it seemed to me to be worth while for us to have a table as we were the
only socialist organization present with the exception of Worker's World who
had a tiny table in the back which was often unstaffed.  We were able to
give out some copies of the upcoming issue of the Socialist (which Greg made
copies of to make sure we had some on hand) and collect a few signatures
towards getting our presidential candidates on the ballot in New Jersey.

Today I woke up early and headed into Manhattan to attend two actions.  The
first was the IWW march; This started at 33rd St. in front of the Starbucks
regional headquarters.  There was a very nice turnout considering the
freezing temperatures.  We stayed in front of the Starbucks for about an
hour.  The IWW handed out literature about Starbucks' union busting and we
all participated in pro-union chants accompanied by a marching band!  From
Starbucks we marched several blocks to Wild Edibles, a top zagat rated Fish
market which pays less than minimum wage and has fired many workers for
attempting to organize.  It was here that the action got interesting.  When
we were there for a little while the owner and his lawyer showed up and
called the police on us, who did nothing to interfere with our rally.  Since
the owner was present this rally seemed particularly effective and through
the lack of interference by the police the owner was at least showed that
there is nothing he can do about his store being picketed at.  We stayed in
front of the store until around 1pm at which time we ended with a rousing
rendition of Solidarity Forever and some of us headed over to the IAC
anti-racism march.

The IAC march was a typical NYPD permited march with droning chants and
legally closed streets.  Not much to really report from this one.

~Kristin

PS- I put fliers for both the February film and the healthcare merger in the
mail room of my building and people have been taking them.
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