This cheered me up this morning:
Protesters interrupted a speech by Sunoco Inc. chairman and chief executive Lynn L. Elsenhans at a luncheon at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown on Thursday afternoon.
The head of the Philadelphia oil refiner and marketer was being honored by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce with its Paradigm Award, given to a businesswoman whose accomplishments are seen as a model of success.
It’s rare for protesters to crash usually staid chamber of commerce events. But then, few Paradigm Award winners have enacted such sweeping changes through their organizations as Elsenhans has since becoming CEO in August 2008. She sold its chemicals business, closed or sold three of its five refineries, laid off hundreds of workers, and announced plans to spin off its SunCoke Energy business.
As Elsenhans, 54, began her speech, several protesters who had been seated in the ballroom stood and walked toward the lectern, carrying a sign that read “Real Leaders Don’t Destroy Families.” Another addressed the audience of about 750 people by asking, “Does anyone see a leader here?”
Elsenhans remained silent as the protesters, who later identified themselves as being from Philadelphia Jobs With Justice, a group that advocates on behalf of workers’ rights, were escorted from the ballroom.
When she resumed, her remarks centered on the need for women in the workplace to identify mentors, embrace change, take risks, persevere, and give back to others. Her speech was interrupted several more times as individual protesters, usually women, stood and talked to the crowd about layoffs and the loss of health benefits at Sunoco.
Gwen Snyder, executive director of Philadelphia Jobs With Justice, said at least 13 activists with her organization as well as Student Labor Action Project members from Temple University and Swarthmore College paid $125 per ticket to attend the chamber lunch. “We respect female leadership,” she said. “She may be a leader, but not the right kind.”
Members of the unions representing Sunoco refinery workers in South Philadelphia and Marcus Hook demonstrated for an hour outside the Marriott. Jim Savage, president of United Steelworkers Local 10-1, said he found it outrageous that anybody would honor Elsenhans for actions that have led to longer unemployment lines and a diminished tax base.
[…]
Immediately after the speech, chamber president Rob Wonderling told the audience: “We believe in free enterprise. We believe in free speech when exercised with civility. In our 2011 Paradigm Award winner, you saw civility in action.”
Uh, Rob? There are Supreme Court rulings to the contrary, and if the Chamber continues to attack workers and destroys our lives, you should expect to hear a lot more free speech — civil or not.
There’s only one war the US is currently involved in that matters. The war against the American people being waged by Corporate plutocrats and their Libertarian and Rethuglican enablers. Make no mistake more Americans are dying in this war than the wars for Corporate supremacy in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya. Dying every day from poverty, neglect and outright hostility of the Republican party. They just let starvation and lack of health care do the job rather that GE’s bombs (although it’s only a matter of time before those are employed here as well). Civil war is being waged in America, willfully ignored by complicit media.