The central demand of the action is to drop all the charges against the Charleston Five--members of International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422 who are facing frame-up charges of "riot" that could carry up to 10 years in prison. Their crime? They took part in a mass picket against union-busting moves by the shipping bosses on Jan. 20, 2000, in Charleston, South Carolina. The state, county, and local authorities mobilized 600 cops who brutally assaulted the union members, injuring several workers. The thugs in blue who rioted against the longshoremen have never been charged, of course.

These workers who stood up for their rights, in the face of police decked out in riot gear, are part of the increasingly staunch resistance that toilers throughout the United States are putting up in face of the employers' attacks on our living and working conditions. Their fight is also a reflection of the beginnings of a social movement among Black workers and farmers against the racism that is endemic to American capitalism. Just days before the police assault on the Charleston dockworkers, tens of thousands of people rallied in Columbia to demand that the South Carolina state government stop flying the Confederate battle flag over the capitol. Members of ILA Local 1422, the big majority of whom are Black, had organized buses to this action.

The police riot against the longshoremen, and the attempt by the state government to jail the cops' victims, provide a glimpse of what the U.S. rulers mean when they call for measures against "domestic terrorism." They are preparing to take on workers who stand up for their rights against the bosses, farmers who defend their land against foreclosure and demand a living wage, protesters against police brutality, and other such "troublemakers."

The Charleston Five and other members of the ILA have been speaking across the country to explain their fight and win support. They have gotten a serious hearing from Atlanta to San Francisco to New York among workers, students, and others who recognize the high stakes in this fight.

The June 9 rally in Columbia offers a chance to stand together and be counted. Supporters of the defense effort from Georgia to Delaware to Michigan are organizing buses to go. We encourage Militant readers to join them in building this action.  
 
 
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