1). “Roofers Local 36 2nd demonstration against the US-NATO / Russia war in Ukraine”, Mar 19, 2023, Video of a talk on March 17,2023 by Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith, of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, duration of video 9:18, Jubilee Shine, at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_neaUV_2Xzg >
2). “Roofers Local 36 demands the end of the Russian attack now and NATO should be dissolved now.” Mar 29, 2022, Video of a talk on March 17,2022 by Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith, of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, duration of video17:33, Jubilee Shine, at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UylkKg5HTKY >
Introduction by dmorista: These demonstrations and both talks, by Cliff Smith, Local 36 Business Manager of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers in Los Angeles, get right to the heart of the matter concerning the U.S. / NATO Proxy War against Russia being fought out in Ukraine. Both demonstrations and talks were held across the street from the Los Angeles City Hall. Clearly these events did not have much impact nationally. Smith is a dissident figure in Los Angeles and Southern California politics. He has run for LA City Council and frequently speaks out and comments on various issues.
This particular Roofer’s Union is affiliated with the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) a true leftist labor organization that has over 100 million members worldwide. The extreme repression of labor organizing by the profoundly right-wing U.S. ruling class has kept the WFTU from even being known about inside the United States. Smith, speaking for the membership of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers criticizes both the AFL-CIO and the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) for caving in to the U.S. / NATO Imperialist Ruling Class and giving them some Left Cover for this latest war.
Spread the word about these videos and let us know about any others. Resistance to horrific wars starts out small in the U.S., but can grow to large and influential proportions under the right circumstances.
1). “Roofers Local 36 2nd demonstration against the US-NATO / Russia war in Ukraine”, Mar 19, 2023, Video of a talk on March 17,2023 by Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith, of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, duration of video 9:18, Jubilee Shine, at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_neaUV_2Xzg >
(This is an image of the link to watch the Youtube of the small Roofer’s Union demonstration and talk by Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith. This was the second such demonstration and talk by Smith that took place just last Friday, March 17, 2023. To watch this video go to < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_neaUV_2Xzg >)
Statement by Local 36:
United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith 17 March 2023 End the NATO / Russia war in Ukraine! The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, Local 36, held a demonstration Friday, March 17 at Los Angeles City Hall to demand U.S. withdrawal from NATO and the end of the NATO / Russia war in Ukraine. Local 36 held the first demonstration against the imperialist war March 17, 2022. The NATO / Russia war has intensified through U.S. military spending upwards of $46 billion taken from the public treasury. Beyond the devastation of Ukraine, the impact has been felt worldwide in increasing energy and food costs, leading to interest rate hikes and now bank failures and economic crisis. Russia must end the attack. NATO must dissolve. The U.S. must end all foreign military involvement and interference. Immediate substantial talks must be held.
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2). “Roofers Local 36 demands the end of the Russian attack now and NATO should be dissolved now.” Mar 29, 2022, Video of a talk on March 17,2022 by Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith, of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, duration of video17:33, Jubilee Shine, at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UylkKg5HTKY >
(This is an image of the link to watch the Youtube of the small Roofer’s Union demonstration and talk by Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith. This was the first demonstration and talk by Smith from just over a year ago. To actually watch this video go to < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UylkKg5HTKY >)
Statement from a year ago by Local 36:
Roofers Local 36 demands the end of the war in Ukraine now. The Russian attack should stop now, the NATO should be dissolved now and a substantial dialogue must be held.
NO TO THE IMPERIALIST WAR
NO U.S. INVOLVEMENT
No U.S. soldiers outside the country's borders
Close all foreign US-NATO military bases
Workers must and will intensify the struggle for disengagement from NATO and US imperialist alliances.
As workers and trade unionists, the members of the Roofers and Waterproofers Union Local 36 stand with the workers in the Ukraine and in Russia. Workers are internationalist. We are workers wherever we are. We will never be pulled into a war of one group of capitalists fighting another group of capitalists. Let the capitalists fight their own wars. The international working class fights only for the interests of the international working class, against monopoly capitalism and imperialism.
Capitalist Russia’s incursion into Ukraine is not in the interests of any workers, not the Ukrainian workers and not the Russian workers. The Russian attack must stop now.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed in 1949 as a capitalist reaction to the Soviet Union’s victory over fascism. The same year 1949 that the American CIO, now with the AFL-CIO, withdrew from the World Federation of Trade Unions, under cold war government pressure to split the international working class as part of the Red Scare terror.
Roofers Local 36 in 2016 became the first U.S. trade union to join the WFTU since 1949, representing the American Labor movement in the only democratic, militant, class-oriented International Labor Federation, representing over 100 million union members in 130 countries.
But the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. What is the purpose of NATO? It must be dissolved now. NATO is nothing but an offensive military operation, an instrument of monopoly capital and imperialism. It is the enemy of the working class. NATO has launched wars against Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan. It dropped thousands of bombs on Serbia in Europe. None of these countries attacked any NATO country. NATO serves no peacekeeping or democratic objective.
No U.S. military resources, weapons or finances must be sent to the Ukraine or any other country. All U.S. foreign bases must be closed and all U.S. soldiers returned home now. The business of imperialism must end. This is the first task of the working class and all democratic forces. We cannot pass the Build Back Better Act, or the PRO Act and our government sends billions of dollars to interfere with other nations’ political development. We cannot eliminate student loan debt, or enact universal Pre-K, or free public college education, or universal health care, or the right to housing, but billions of U.S. working class tax dollars are spent on bloody military adventures like the 20 year war against Afghanistan.
NO to the No Fly Zone in the Ukraine. We oppose any capitalist war against Russia. No to sanctions against the Russian people which only hurt workers.
Only international solidarity among workers can finally resolve this conflict and all conflicts. The unity of the international working class is the foundation for peace, democracy and prosperity.
And finally we repudiate the jingoist positions of the AFL-CIO and ITUC placing singular blame on Putin and Russia for this ongoing conflict. This chauvinistic blind eye to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is intended specifically to split and weaken the labor movement. To make workers from the U.S. fight workers from Russia for the interests of the ruling class of monopoly capitalism.
The first sentence of the Preamble to the Constitution and ByLaws of Local 36 states, “It has been fully demonstrated by experience that organization and unity of action among working men and women is imperative and essential to combat the encroachment of organized and consolidated capital.” The AFL-CIO has forgotten this experience and sold out the Labor movement. We can measure by the constant decline in Union membership since 1949 the encroachment of organized and consolidated capital.
We call on the AFL-CIO and ITUC to join with the WFTU and unite the workers of the world. We have nothing to lose but our chains!
March 17, 2022, Los Angeles City Hall
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