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Open letter to Organizing Group to Say No to NED

The Chicago General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World has NOT endorsed the Organizing Group to Say No to NED.
From: Chicago General Membership Branch
Industrial Workers of the World
P.O. Box 18387
Chicago, IL 60618
chicago (at) iww.org

July 9, 2005

Friends,
At our June Branch meeting a member proposed a motion to endorse the Organizing Group to Say No to the NED. We decided to table the motion to our July meeting in order to investigate what this group was and what endorsement would mean in terms of obligations. We elected a delegate to attend the next meeting of the Organizing Group to get more information so that we could make an informed decision.
At our July 3 Branch meeting, when we took the motion off the table for discussion, we were confronted with the unfortunate fact that a leaflet had already been issued listing the name of the Industrial Workers of the World (not even the Chicago GMB, mind you, but the entire organization!) as a sponsor when, in fact, we had not endorsed the initiative. Our members were rightly angered by this unauthorized use of the name of our organization and it was the main reason that the motion to endorse was overwhelmingly voted down.
This action should in no way be construed as an endorsement of the NED or the AFL-CIA's pro-capitalist domestic and foreign policy agenda, something that the IWW has been fighting against for a century. It is, however, a protest against the practice, whether deliberate or erroneous, of using the name of our organization without our explicit permission!
We realize that it is too late to undo what has been done. However, we expect that new issues of any leaflets on this matter will not include the name of the IWW or the Chicago GMB.

In Solidarity and Struggle,
Michael J. Hargis
Secretary of the Chicago GMB-IWW

p.s. We will be publishing a copy of this letter to Indymedia to inform the public so as to set the record straight.
 
 

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