AGITPROP NEWS: RESIST the WALLS of APARTHEID

["Alewitz, Mike (Dept. of Art)" <ALEWITZM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Please Post and Distribute:



LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
AGITPROP NEWS: 6.10.3



RESIST the WALLS of APARTHEID 
with MURALS of INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Join the LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT in Palestine/Israel



While Bush, Sharon, and Abu Mazen were toasting peace in Aqaba, US-made Israeli 
tanks rolled into Palestinian villages and bulldozers continued to demolish 
Palestinian homes and offices. Israeli snipers continue to pick off Palestinian 
youth. The relentless construction of "security" highways, housing 
developments, and military outposts - all designed to further dismember the 
West Bank and render it economically unviable-has continued unabated. 

Sharon's "apartheid wall," that separates Palestinian villagers from their 
agricultural fields - and creates a legal pretext for the confiscation of their 
land -  continues to snake southward.  Israeli plans for the construction of 
maquiladora-type sweatshops between the wall and the '67 borders remain in 
place.  Tens of thousands of Palestinian workers are still prevented from going 
to their jobs in Israel by closures, curfews, checkpoints, and direct military 
siege.  Official unemployment in the occupied territories remains at over 50%.


The Cost of the Occupation Inside Israel

The Israeli government is implementing a neo-liberal austerity plan that cuts 
social benefits while allocating greater funds for the occupation.  In 
response, public workers mobilized in May for a general strike against these 
austerity measures - and conducted the largest demonstration against social 
cutbacks in their history. This fight-back, along with the anti-war sentiments 
of working-class youth forced to fight in the territories, may soon weaken the 
hold of the Israeli state on the hearts and minds of workers.  That Israel's 
rulers fear such a shift in sentiment is made evident by a recent escalation in 
their harassment of peace activists.

Israeli employers are attempting to prevent the development of working class 
unity by crude policies of divide and rule. Near the bottom of the economic 
ladder are the Palestinian and other Arab workers who live inside Israel, and 
the "foreign" workers whom Israeli employers are recruiting to replace them.  
While discriminating against Israeli Arabs in hiring, employers have brought in 
over 200,000 workers from Romania, Thailand, China, and other impoverished 
parts of the globe. These workers slave for sweatshop wages and hours, 
undermining the standard of living for all. 

Made in the USA

It has become increasingly clear that the imperial adventures of Bush & Co. in 
the Middle East have little to do with promoting democracy and economic 
justice. The U.S. occupation of Iraq and the U.S. subsidy of the Israeli 
occupation of Palestinian lands are being revealed as key components of the 
Bush-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz plan to reshape the map of the Middle East to suit US. 
corporate interests.  

It is up to all of us to help develop an alternative working class vision for 
peace and justice in the region.  As part of that process, we invite you to 
join the Labor Art and Mural Project in a solidarity exchange and fact-finding 
labor delegation to Palestine/Israel.


Visions of Solidarity Between US, Palestinian and Israeli workers

From July 25 - August 21,  Mike Alewitz, LaMP Artistic Director,  will travel 
to Palestine/Israel and create three murals.   The first mural will be painted 
at the Beit Jibrin Cultural Center-Handala in a refugee camp in occupied 
Bethlehem. Activists here have initiated outstanding international cultural 
exchanges for the Palestinian youth they serve. 

The second mural site will be near the Worker's Advice Center (WAC) in 
Nazareth.  The WAC recently organized 500 Arab workers in a successful 
challenge to discriminatory hiring practices in the Israeli construction 
industry. 

The trip will culminate in the creation of a third mural that will adorn the 
wall of a new Rachel Corrie Peace Center.  The center is to be built by 
international volunteers, Palestinian construction workers, and Israeli peace 
activists on the site of a demolished Palestinian house in East Jerusalem.  

At each mural site, Mike will also present slide shows to artists and workers 
about his U.S. labor murals and discuss the growing North American labor 
opposition to Bush's war plans. 

In order to complete these projects, we need to raise approximately $6000 for 
travel costs, accommodations and materials.  We appeal to you, your local, 
district, or national union organization to help us assemble these funds.  A 
donation of any size will be appreciated. Unions or groups that contribute $250 
or more will have their contribution acknowledged on one of the murals. 

Join Us on the Delegation to Palestine/Israel!

In conjunction with the creation of these works, LaMP invites you to join a 
delegation of unionists, artists and activists to share in this exchange of 
solidarity from August 10-22.  

Participants will join a solidarity camp for international activists in East 
Jerusalem and participate in the construction of the Rachel Corrie Peace 
Center. Delegates will reside at the camp, have meals provided and participate 
in a series of political tours that will reveal the Israeli government's plans 
for a "matrix of control" over any future Palestinian state. 

Participants are also invited to a series of meetings with the Palestinian 
General Federation of Trade Unions, the Democratic Workers Rights Center, the 
Workers Advice Center, the Alternative Information Center, and the writers of 
Between the Lines.  Topics will include the history of the Arab labor movement 
and the challenges to organizing workers in the current climate of repression.  
(Costs will be approximately $650 pp. plus airfare)

The mural painting and activities of the labor delegation will be documented by 
the independent filmmaker Sean Geary.  Through our varied activities, the 
delegation will make an important contribution to the education of U.S. trade 
unionists about workers' struggles in the Middle East.  Help us to say-

-The Road to Peace Must Be Paved by International Labor Solidarity!



_________________________________________


Reply to:  gauvreau@xxxxxxx

Chris Gauvreau, Director, 
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT



___ I/ My organization would like to sponsor the project

___ I would like to join the delegation.

___ I would like a speaker to come to my school/ union/ organization.

___ Enclosed is a donation for $________.               

___ I would like more information.


Name: __________________________________

Email: __________________________________

Address: ________________________________

Zip:____________________________________

Phone: _________________________________ 

Organization:_____________________________







LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
c/o Department of Art
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, Connecticut 06050

Phone: 860.832.2359
________________________________________

MIKE ALEWITZ

Department of Art
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, Connecticut 06050

Office: 860.832.2359/ Mobile: 860.518.4046

________________________________________