Steve Gillis
Steve Gillis
Open Letter from RWU to the President
In November 2022 Steve Gillis signed the Open Letter from RWU to the President .
March on Wall Street
On April 3 2008 Steve Gillis, Vice President, of USWA Local 8751, Boston, MA endorsed a Bail Out the People Movement organized "March on Wall Street" ;
- Because we must demand that the needs of the people come before the greed of the super rich. Millions are jobless and homeless, and millions more will be living on the streets if the government continues to waste trillions of dollars on saving wealthy bankers instead of saving people.[1]
Hands off Venezuela!
In May 2005 Hands off Venezuela! circulated an internet petition: "from American trade unionists and workers to the appeal to the U.S. government to stay out of Venezuela." Steve Gillis of USWA, the Local 8751 and President of the Boston School Bus Union endorsed the petition.[2]
Workers World
Steve Gillis contributed an article "Boston: This is what a police state looks like" to the Workers World of April 23, 2013.
Anti-Israel rally
According to Party for Socialism and Liberation supporters Daniel Marion, Saffronia Clark and Lev Kendrick, April 2 2018, at 6:30 P.M. more than 50 people gathered at Copley Square to denounce the ongoing violence of Zionist settler colonialism and occupation in Palestine
The speakout was called by the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism ANSWER Coalition, and was joined by a number of local and national pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist organizations, including Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, Nerturei Karta International: Orthodox Jews United Against Zionism, and Workers World Party.
Hersch Rothmel of the ANSWER Coalition emceed the event and started the speakout by listing the names of the 18 Palestinians killed, followed by a moment of silence, before a series of speakers took turns denouncing Friday’s killings and the broader violence of Israeli colonialism and occupation.
Nino Brown, also of the ANSWER Coalition, spoke about the role that U.S. imperialism plays in keeping the settler state of Israel afloat.
Steve Gillis of WWP was also quick to make the connection between the U.S. and Israel. Nancy Murray spoke at the rally on behalf of the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, an organization that focuses on Israel’s use of water as “a weapon against the Palestinian people — what we could call ‘water apartheid.’”
Also present was Rabbi Davod Feldman and other members of the Nerturei Karta International, who came all the way from New York to support the rally.[3]
Haiti delegation
On May 18th 2004 , a 21-year-old truck driver was on a shopping trip for his mother, when the bus he was on wasstopped at a police checkpoint in Portail St. Joseph in Haiti. Police let all the women off the bus and arrestedall the men, without warrant and without charge.The next day this man, who asked that his name not be revealed, saw a judge, who sent him to see aprosecutor. The prosecutor told him he would send his case to another judge to decide whether to hold trial orrelease him. He has not heard from anyone since, and as of Sept. 4 was still locked up in the National Penitentiary at Port-au-Prince. He says he still doesn't know why he's in prison.
This is just one of countless stories delegates on a four-day fact-finding delegation in Haiti heard about thedeteriorating human rights situation in that country.From Sept. 3-6, delegates from both coasts of the United States met with political prisoners, internal exiles, women's groups and labor leaders, who all told of a worsening of conditions since the Feb. 29 U.S. "coup-knapping" of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.The Caribbean nation is now occupied by a United Nations "peacekeeping" force dominated by the U.S. and France. Josue Renaud of the New England Coalition for Human Rights in Haiti, a member of the delegation, told Workers World: "We are very concerned about the situation of these political prisoners, including Sò Anne, Neptune and Evert, arrested without warrants, under false charges. The government needs to release themimmediately.
"Kim Ives of Haiti Progres and the Haiti Support Network said, "Our visit helped reveal the depth and breadthof repression in Haiti today. The mainstream press, if they mention Haiti's political prisoners at all, focus juston two: constitutional Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and Lavalas activist So Anne. Our delegation revealed thatthere are scores of prisoners in the National Penitentiary alone, not to mention the other prisons around thecountry."We also uncovered that the problem of internal exile is much more prevalent than generally known. We learned that violence ranging from targeted killings to government-incited gang wars is driving thousandsfrom their homes.
"Also participating in the delegation were Haitian journalist Robert Benjamin, Catholic activist Kathy Boylan,radio program hosts Karine Jean-Pierre and Joseph Chery, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, SteelWorkers Local 8751 President Steve Gillis, filmmaker Katherine Kean, Haitian unionist Ray LaForest, former U.S. Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood and LeiLani Dowell, who represented the International Action Center.
The delegation met with approximately 35 political prisoners, including Annette "SÒ Anne" Auguste, well-known Haitian singer and Lavalas activist; Prime Minister Yvon Neptune; and Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Evert.[4]