Ali Shaheed Muhammad

I was so happy to see that u were coming to Sweden but then i realized u are playing at Berns. There’s a union boycott of the place because thy exploited some immigrant workers without papers. Pleeease change the venue!

I love your music and your lyrics but I simply will not come and see you at Berns in Stockholm. That company has for too long run an exploitative business abusing especially Latino workers, who, at every attempt of unionizing, have been laid off. This conflict has got some racist undertones right now, with Berns getting backed by Alliansen, the Swedish equivalent of the GOP, and on several instances lashing out against so called “illegal immigrants” and the right to unionize, a fundament of Swedish law.

If you play at Berns you would give them a credibility they should have lost long ago. Swedish hiphop-artists are all boycotting them and you would be one of the few non-whites in all of the venue.

Please, DO NOT play at Berns, choose another venue!

Here is a statement from SAC, the union of the laid-off workers:

Dear comrades,

We write to you with a call for international solidarity. The syndicalist union SAC in Sweden is involved in the biggest blockade struggle for at least the last ten years in Sweden. Hundreds of people have been involved in the picket lines two times a week since 26/2. The company that we are in conflict with is Berns Salonger, owned by the British concern London Regional.

We beg of you to help us in this fight. [...]

In Sweden we right now face a media offensive by right wing politicians and capitalists roaring out that we are nothing else than a mafia and a mob with the only aim to take money from the companies. Our classic blockades are critized as being nothing else than mafia tactics.

Background

A large and fashionable night club/restaurant/hotel has for ten years put into practice using staffing companies for the cleaning of the vast buildings. Newly arrived immigrants, both with and without certificate of residence have been given illegal wages far below standard for a 7 day working week and often 22 hour shifts.

Three times SAC has demanded legal wages and that our undocumented members get all their wages, that the work hours should be humane etc. The result of each struggle (won by blockades of the night club) has been that Berns bosses have moved the janitors from one staffing company to another. Our members have worked at Berns, supervised by Berns work leaders for up to seven years and for three different companies. All the time, conditions have been criminal. We claim that Berns has a responsibility for these people, from Bolivia, Peru, Mongolia and Chile, since they have moved them from one staffing company to another only to avoid responsibility for their exploitation.

Now the latest of the links in the chain Berns has organized, the staffing company NCA, has fired all the janitors at Berns hotel because of economic problems. Berns still needs cleaning. Berns has used the situation to pick out a few janitors and offered them continued work, but all syndicalists have been left without work. Berns has done this even though the syndicalists have worked for a longer time at Berns and on the most work hours.

Norway has a law of ”solidarity responsibility” stating that companies have vast responsibility for their subcontractors. This is not so in Sweden. The question about precarious, unsafe labour and exploitation of undocumented comrades is an international question.

Mr. Ali how you doin? I dont know if you remember me, I was signed to Hollywood Records,Disney back in 1999, 2000 under the group named SoulBone. We came to your crib in W.Orange to work on our album. Anyway, its good to hear your still doin your thing. Long story short the other member in my group quit on me after our album was finished. I think he got scared. I got into acting for a few years and ended up on E.R. and CSI Miami to name a few. I have taken the last few years off to raise my 2 sons but now that they are older I have gotten back into writing and recording. I built a studio at my house and got protools. I am currently putting together some music to perform at Coachella Fest out here in Cali. I would LOVE to get a track from you for the show. I have written over 200 songs and I’m sure one of them will fit. I have a few songs on Itunes, MySpace Music and my Facebook page. When you get a free moment please check me out. I’d love to get your feedback. Again great to see your still doing well with your music. I never got a chance to thank you for all your help and good vibes. Take care. I hope to hear from you soon.
Peace and Blessings,
Grant Age Broadway

yaaay!!! Can’t wait