We are sending all of our support, love and solidarity to the Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon workers in their fight for a union and for workers power.
Trust us, we know how brutal warehouse conditions are: the impossible quotas and pressure to keep up; the lack of safety and concern for workers who are risking their lives during this pandemic without hazard pay; the constant monitoring of our every move; breaks that are way too short and bathrooms that are way too far; and so much more.
Like Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement, Bessemer workers are leading the way.
We salute your courage given everything that the company has done to discourage, intimidate and stop workers from having a fair vote. Shame on you, Amazon, that you would oppose mail-in votes.
Win or lose, no one will forget this battle against workplace injustice.
What will be remembered, Jeff Bezos, is your greed and callousness during this pandemic.
You made thirteen billion dollars ($13,000,000,000) in one day after the pandemic caused Amazon’s stock price to surge. This set a record for the largest single-day increase in individual wealth ever recorded. Yes, corona cash has been good for you, Bezos, despite the fact that 20,000 workers have tested positive, and that you withdrew hazard pay while you were cashing in.
You could have taken that one day corona windfall and paid all 876,000 Amazon workers each a $105,000 bonus.
The Alabama workers’ battle is truly a fight between David and Goliath, which is taking place in the birthplace of the civil rights movement. We must all pick a side; as the union song goes, “Which side are you on?”
We urge everyone to pick the side of the Bessemer, Alabama, workers!
Facebook shuts down community, women’s groups and activists’ pages without cause
Groups announce campaign to restore pages and to fight censorship
On Friday, January 22, 2021, Facebook disabled the main pages of two major community organizations, Peoples Power Assembly and Women In Struggle / Mujeres En Lucha, and activists around the country who have played roles in either group, extending it’s purge to Puerto Rican activist Berta Joubert-Ceci; Greg Butterfield, Struggle La Lucha writer; Cheryl La Bash, co-chair, National Network on Cuba; Maggie Vascassenno, Los Angeles Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice; and others.
It also included PPA page editor Charlene Lady J. Jenkins, a founder of “What’s Up Baltimore,” whose Baltimore grassroots network was shut down as a result.
In addition, 16 individual activists’ profiles were disabled, which means that close to a dozen other progressive pages and groups were frozen when their administrators were disabled, including: the Baltimore Harriet Tubman Solidarity Center, ICE Out of Baltimore, Prisoners Solidarity Committee, Youth Against War & Racism, and Baltimore and Maryland Amazon Workers.
Sharon Black stated: “Facebook’s disabling of pages and the accounts of major activists who have not violated community standards is meant to silence and censor our voices. The Peoples Power Assembly has played a significant role in the Baltimore Black Lives Matter protests in the summer and more recently opposing Trump’s effort to overturn the election. On Dr. King Jr.’s birthday holiday, we held a car caravan to Jessup Correctional Institute and the Howard County Immigrant Detention Center to demand justice for prisoners and detainees.”
Berta Joubert-Ceci, founder of the Women’s Fightback National Network/Red Nacional de Mujeres en Lucha and Women In Struggle, stated, “It is appalling — the cowardice of Facebook in silencing the voices of women and progressive people who struggle for justice and a better life for all.” Joubert-Ceci is also an organizer of the International Peoples’ Tribunal on U.S. Colonial Crimes in Puerto Rico. Her personal page used to connect with the Puerto Rican movement was deleted along with Women In Struggle.
Attorney Summerfield concluded, “We intend to fight this! This includes waging a public campaign to demand that the pages of all activists and the groups they represent are reactivated. We intend to use every avenue at our disposal, including legal remedies, to stop the censorship of voices that are too often marginalized.”
Email: ZUCK@FB.com; info@support.facebook.com and zuckerberg@fb.com.
Phone: 650-543-4800 or 650-308-7300
press@osbadmin.com
Tell Facebook: Stop silencing the voices of community, workers, anti-racists, BIPOC, women’s, anti-war and socialist groups. Restore all the pages: Peoples Power Assembly, Women In Struggle / Mujeres En Lucha, and all of the activists impacted and the pages they administer. This includes: Sharon Black, Berta Joubert Ceci, Cheryl LaBash, Greg Butterfield, Maggie Vascassenno, Rasika Ruwanpathirana, Andre Powell, Elizabeth Toledo, Steven Ceci, Lallan Schoenstein, Charlene Lady J Jenkins, Alec Zomerfeld, Andrew Cancon, Miranda Etel, David Card, and Ian Andrew Schlakman.
The Peoples Power Assembly will hold a rally and car caravan on Monday, January 18, 12 noon, gathering at 2011 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (car caravan will leave at 1 pm sharp) and travel to Jessup Correctional Institute and ICE detention center to demand justice for those behind bars.
We will also hold a virtual speak out before the caravan and at different intervals during the day. If you would like to be a part of the speak out please email us at PeoplesPowerAssemblyHour@gmail.com or call 410-218-4835 so that we can record your statement. We will play as many as possible on January 18.
The ugly and vicious racist coup attempt by Trump and his fascist followers, is not over. Many of these same groups are planning actions at local state capitols and again in Washington D.C. on January 17, on the Dr. King Jr. holiday weekend, leading up to the January 20 Inauguration.
Trump’s fascist movement is a threat to all workers and is particularly aimed at overturning the movement against racism and police terror.
It is critical that we mobilize on Dr. King Jr. weekend, in whatever way is possible — car caravans, socially distancing protests, sick outs, strikes — in our cities and towns. We must send a clear message that the majority of workers and poor are deeply and actively opposed to the confederate flag waving mob that seeks to turn history back.
We will not let them define this weekend. Let’s build a massive car caravan.
Please donate to make this weekend a success: DONATE HERE or donate Venmo@SolidarityCenter
The Peoples Power Assembly wishes everyone love and solidarity during this holiday season. Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas! Thank you all for your hard work, perseverance & support during 2020. We will remain strong and united as we look forward to a new year of struggle in 2021.
The Peoples Power Assembly’s Facebook page, along with the November 4, “If Trump steals the election and people’s mandate protest” were illegally shut down hampering our ability to organize doing irreparable harm to the organization. In addition, 15 organizers were singled out also.
Below is our statement. Please help us by disseminating this widely.
Make sure that November 4th March and car caravan are a success. Please get the word out since we are now hampered. Please donate if you are able to help us with March and legal costs as we will be pursuing every avenue to defend our democratic rights. Venmo@SolidarityCenter and DONATE HERE
Please sign up to get emergency emails alerts as this may be our only way of communicating with our members and friends in this period. SIGN UP HERE
In Solidarity,
Andre Powell, Sharon Black, Rev Annie Chambers
For People’s Power Assembly
———————————————————————
Statement and News Release from the People’s Power Assembly:
Facebook illegally shuts down support of “If Trump steals the election” November 4 protest
On the evening of 10/28/20, 15 organizers who were affiliated with the Baltimore March and Car Caravan for November 4, had their Facebook pages disabled; all were administrators or editors on various Facebook pages that endorsed the action including: Peoples Power Assembly, Youth Against War & Racism, Prisoner’s Solidarity Committee, Women In Struggle/ Mujeres En Lucha, and Struggle La Lucha. This action effectively locked down all of these pages denying thousands of members their constitutional rights.
The Peoples Power Assembly page which has over 11,000 followers was shut down along with several other pages affiliated with the event.
Prior to this lockout, the Peoples Power Assembly’s main phone was barraged with harassing calls from Trump supporters and calls from the Department of Homeland Security connected to the Baltimore federal courthouse.
Some of the above groups including Struggle La Lucha and Women In Struggle are national and have been targeted.
It is important to note that the PPA in Baltimore has led protests of thousands of people since Spring demanding justice against racism and police terror. There can be no mistake that these actions are an effort to silence that movement.
Sharon Black, an organizer with the Peoples Power Assembly, stated:
“We take these attacks very seriously, they are a violation of our constitutional rights and are a blatant attempt to shut down organizing for the November 4th march and car caravan in opposition to the possibility of Trump stealing the upcoming election.
It is also an attempt to silence a “Peoples Mandate” which calls for jobs or income now, stimulus for workers, not billionaires; and end to racism and police terror, community control now; health care for all; no evictions, foreclosures, or utility shutoffs; safe work conditions and hazard pay; no wars or sanction, feed the people not the Pentagon.
This unconstitutional and undemocratic attack on our movement is a threat to activists and the general community everywhere and we are monitoring this closely to see if these attacks become more widespread as we get closer to the election.
At present we will mobilize mass support both locally and nationally against these illegal attacks and also seek legal remedies.
Our movement is united and strong and will not be deterred or defeated.”
The Peoples Power Assembly is calling a Press Conference, Friday, October 30, 2020, 12 noon outside of our offices in front of 2011 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, rain or shine.
This may be the first time that a U.S. president has said he won’t accept the result of the vote, indicating that there will be no peaceful transition. This is not an idle threat. Trump has his own paramilitary police, Homeland Security, the support of the most virulent and reactionary police departments, and a myriad of violent, racist, vigilante-type groups.
At the Sept. 29 debate, after the moderator suggested condemning the Proud Boys, a far-right, violently racist group, Trump declared: “Proud Boys: stand back and stand by,” acknowledging he was their leader.
Later in the debate, Trump refused to say he would abide by the results of the election. He declined to tell his supporters to remain calm or avoid violence. “If I see tens of thousands of ballots, I can’t go along with that,” he said, urging his supporters to go to the polls and “watch very carefully.”
What can we do if there is an attempted coup, an outright coup or an effort to sabotage the vote? The people must prepare.
We are the people: Low-wage workers who are at the frontlines, risking our lives, whether we are grocery workers, bus drivers or Amazon warehouse workers; those of us in the streets protesting for Black Lives Matter and community control of police; those of us in the community facing evictions, foreclosures and utility shut-offs; students and youth concerned with catastrophic climate change and unsafe school reopening; healthcare workers and teachers sacrificing for our patients and students; Black, Brown and Indigenous communities along with seniors disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Our lives are at stake.
We must act to protect people’s rights! Every vote counts and we will not accept a stolen election, no matter what form it takes, whether it’s stolen through a Supreme Court decision, the undemocratic Electoral College, or violence by the far right forces backing Trump.
If the election is stolen, from Nov. 3, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021, it will be time for us to be in the streets in such large numbers that the system cannot run. Call in sick! Occupy the streets! March and picket at Federal Buildings, banks and businesses, and other suitable targets in your city, state or county. Organize civil disobedience. Urge your union to prepare for sick-outs and strikes.
November 3 (Election Day): physical voting at the polls. Join local groups like People’s Committees to Defend Democratic Rights or other local efforts to stop any intimidation by right-wing armed groups. Help escort Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQ2S people and seniors to the polls to guarantee their safety.
November 4: Support the call by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression Post-Election Protest for a Peoples Mandate for national day-after demonstrations.
During this period paper ballots will be counted. At any point the Supreme Court, consisting of just nine judges, may step in as it did in the 2000 election to undemocratically decide the direction of the elections.
December 8 marks the end of the “safe harbor” period for states to determine that election results will not be challenged in Congress. On December 14, Electoral College delegates cast their ballots on a state level. On January 6, 2021, Congress meets to count the Electoral College and declares a winner.
January 20, 2021 (Inauguration Day): Regardless of the outcome, we must continue to press for the demands that people need and want — Black Lives Matter, stopping police and ICE terror, healthcare for all, cancel rent & stop evictions and foreclosures, workers’ rights and safety on the job, jobs or income for all, no war or sanctions.
Please sign onto this call and begin to organize in your area.
The Peoples Power Assembly will be traveling to Washington D.C. to participate. We will be leaving the Harriet Tubman Solidarity Center at 10 am sharp and returning by 4 pm. If you would like to reserve a seat call us at 410-218-4835.
This may be the first time that a U.S. president has said he won’t accept the result of the vote, indicating that there will be no peaceful transition. This is not an idle threat. Trump has his own paramilitary police, Homeland Security, the support of the most virulent and reactionary police departments, and a myriad of violent, racist, vigilante-type groups.
At the Sept. 29 debate, after the moderator suggested condemning the Proud Boys, a far-right, violently racist group, Trump declared: “Proud Boys: stand back and stand by,” acknowledging he was their leader.
Later in the debate, Trump refused to say he would abide by the results of the election. He declined to tell his supporters to remain calm or avoid violence. “If I see tens of thousands of ballots, I can’t go along with that,” he said, urging his supporters to go to the polls and “watch very carefully.”
What can we do if there is an attempted coup, an outright coup or an effort to sabotage the vote? The people must prepare.
We are the people: Low-wage workers who are at the frontlines, risking our lives, whether we are grocery workers, bus drivers or Amazon warehouse workers; those of us in the streets protesting for Black Lives Matter and community control of police; those of us in the community facing evictions, foreclosures and utility shut-offs; students and youth concerned with catastrophic climate change and unsafe school reopening; healthcare workers and teachers sacrificing for our patients and students; Black, Brown and Indigenous communities along with seniors disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Our lives are at stake.
We must act to protect people’s rights! Every vote counts and we will not accept a stolen election, no matter what form it takes, whether it’s stolen through a Supreme Court decision, the undemocratic Electoral College, or violence by the far right forces backing Trump.
If the election is stolen, from Nov. 3, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021, it will be time for us to be in the streets in such large numbers that the system cannot run. Call in sick! Occupy the streets! March and picket at Federal Buildings, banks and businesses, and other suitable targets in your city, state or county. Organize civil disobedience. Urge your union to prepare for sick-outs and strikes.
November 3 (Election Day): physical voting at the polls. Join local groups like People’s Committees to Defend Democratic Rights or other local efforts to stop any intimidation by right-wing armed groups. Help escort Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQ2S people and seniors to the polls to guarantee their safety.
November 4: Support the call by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression Post-Election Protest for a Peoples Mandate for national day after demonstrations.
During this period paper ballots will be counted. At any point the Supreme Court, consisting of just nine judges, may step in as it did in the 2000 election to undemocratically decide the direction of the elections.
December 8, marks the end of the “safe harbor” period for states to determine that election results will not be challenged in Congress. On December 14, Electoral College delegates cast their ballots on a state level. On January 6, 2020 Congress meets to count the Electoral College and declares a winner.
January 20, 2021 (Inauguration Day): Regardless of the outcome, we must continue to press for the demands that people need and want — Black Lives Matter, stopping police and ICE terror, healthcare for all, cancel rent & stop evictions and foreclosures, workers’ rights and safety on the job, jobs or income for all, no war or sanctions.
Please sign onto this call and begin to organize in your area.
Join us this Saturday for a massive emergency community car caravan & March to express our outrage and heartbreak at the failure to indict the Louisville police responsible for shooting Breonna Taylor to death. Solidarity with the people of Louisville. Black women’s lives do matter!
If you missed the incredible program marking the anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, you have a chance to watch it on VIDEO . Featuring never-seen footage of Tom Soto, one of the original observers at Attica and the premiere of “Give Us the Freedom” featuring a prisoner from inside Vaughn prison explaining the conditions that led to the rebellion in Delaware.
