INDEPENDENT POLITICS! Dialogue, Debate and Developments Toward a Progressive Alternative

VOLUME 2 NUMBER 3 $3.00 FALL/WINTER 2007

THE VISION ISSUE

Participants at World Social Forum in January, '06 in Caracas, Venezuela.

IN THIS ISSUE NEED NEW PEACE & FREDOM PARTY FROM THE EDITOR ADVANCES SOCIALIST VISION Here we are – December 2007 facing an election BY MARSHA FEINLAND year and knowing that many of our progressive broth- AND TOM CONDIT ers and sisters –despite how committed they are to We in the Peace and Freedom Party share a socialist vision. To quote deep, radical and revolutionary change – will “settle’ yet from the preamble to our platform: “We organize toward a world where gain to vote for candidates that we all know fall tragi- cooperation replaces competition, a world where all people are well fed, cally short of the kind of elected leaders needed to clothed and housed; where all women and men have equal status; where all individuals may freely endeavor to fulfill their own talents and desires; a champion the reforms and transformation essential for world of freedom and peace where every community retains its cultural real justice, genuine democracy with sustained eco- integrity and lives with all others in harmony.” nomic and environmental health sorely missing from Because we are committed to socialism, we reject the market “solutions” the US and our planet. that both the Democrats and the Republicans offer to fix problems the mar- ket created in the first place. It sounds like an impossible dream to organize Now our progressive allies will have many very logi- ourselves — workers, poor people, people of all colors and nationalities — to cal reasons for their actions. We’ve heard them since use the resources which are rightfully ours for our common good. But if we 2000. leave the world in the hands of those who run it now, we will have endless war “We have to do all we can to get the Republicans and immiseration. out!” False solutions to the growing health care crisis are a typical example. The private health insurance industry has long outlived any usefulness it had. “A vote for a third party candidate is a wasted voted” Barely half of U.S. workers now have an employer-provided health plan, and “The corruption is too deep to expect a change from worker-paid premiums are skyrocketing. Insurance company profits and one election” overhead are growing at two to three times the rate of actual health care costs. “Congress has no backbone anyway.” Yet Democratic and Republican politicians scramble to find some way to keep the insurance snouts in the trough. These vary from Bush’s “Health How do we break this cycle and begin the long – yes Savings Account” scam to “individual mandates” which would compel us long, collective creation of a country that truly lives up and our families to subsidize the insurance companies, through “employer to our best ideals, our vision of a just land where we all mandates” which would force other businesses to subsidize them instead, matter? to a bewildering variety of schemes mixing private profit and tax subsidies. What they all have in common is denial of a simple reality: It’s time for the Do we even have such a vision? insurance companies to be thrown out of the business of denying medical Perhaps our collective visions, laid side by side, over- care to people. lapping when they can, might provide the impetus, At a minimum, we need a universal “single payer” system of health care. inspiration and energy to take what might feel like a A “single payer” system is one where the government pays all medical bills, short term loss now in order for us envision the prize – but patients have their own choice of doctors and treatment. Such a system of health care would give health care to all of us and be fairer and more effi- that big picture vision, and take on the consistent, hard continued on next page work over the next 12-20 years to realize this victory. In this issue you will have the opportunity to read some of these visions. Reaching back to 1944 and FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights with the enthusiasm a 16 year old felt as he first heard of it, to a realistic yet vision rooted look at the alphabet soup those of us on the left are part of now, then beyond to the Optimism of Uncertainty that encourages us to remember, believe, hope and struggle. It is our hope that this issue leaves you feeling ready to make 2008 a powerful year for building our shared capacity for lasting change. All the best - George Friday

INDEPENDENT POLITICS!2 2 FALL 2007 PEACE & FREEDOM continued from page 2 cient than our present profit-based system. It would encourage preventive medicine rather than “not fixing it till it’s broke.” It would make us safer from epidemic diseases and help detect work-related illnesses earlier. One reason we haven’t been able to move forward with single payer health care is that our elected officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, take millions of dollars from the same insurance, hospital and drug com- panies who profit from human misery. But we also must realize that an ideological commitment to “the mar- ket” is an underlying factor. That is why public health systems are under attack even in countries where direct corporate contributions don’t play a big role in elections. Those who have given their minds to capitalism don’t need to be bribed. If you are feeling relieved because Congress is starting to pay attention to global warming, don’t put on your skis yet. Their “cap and trade” schemes just create another market for corporate profits, subsidized by our taxes. By the time this results in an actual reduction in greenhouse gas emis- sions, the polar ice cap and almost all of Florida will have disappeared. The development of biofuels is a great hope of capitalist environmen- talism. The auto industry will have a new source of “clean energy” for its gas guzzlers and a reason for everyone to buy new cars. Oil companies can The development of biofuels is a great hope of claim to be good guys by funding research at universities while they reap capitalist environmentalism. The auto industry the profits from the work of professors and graduate students. The U.S. will have a new source of “clean energy” for military, the biggest greenhouse gas producer in the world, can continue to buy airplanes and missiles from aerospace companies. Giant commercial its gas guzzlers and a reason for everyone to farms and timber companies will have an endless market for corn, weeds buy new cars. Oil companies can claim to be and trees. good guys by funding research at universities But the production of crops for biofuels can lead to a disaster. Land that while they reap the profits... would be used to grow food will be used to grow fuel crops. As the demand for fuel grows, wildlife habitat will be destroyed to expand fuel farms. The world’s water, already in short supply, will be devoted to irrigating the profits. They cannot abandon a system which relies on ever-increasing use of increasing acres of fuel crops. The “dead zone” around the mouth of the automobiles. Mississippi River, still growing despite a ten-year effort to stem the tide, Most people know that cars create pollution. But using “clean-burning” faces a massive increase of toxic runoff from ethanol farms. fuels and increasing gas mileage are not solutions. Clean burning fuels still Our state and federal legislators cannot solve the problem of global warm- require energy for their production and have their own environmental con- ing for us because they want a solution which preserves capitalism and sequences. And more cars require more roads and parking spaces, which pave over the earth and destroy wildlife habitat. Working-class people are caught in the middle. They need cars to jug- gle work and child care schedules, and new, “cleaner” cars will cost a lot more. Many commute long distances daily because housing in urban areas is too expensive. The new subsidies for biofuel development are nothing compared to the huge future increase in driving costs. It is difficult to think about changing the system when you also have to think about feeding your family. But to create a decent life for our families we need to change the system which is destroying our future. We need to look at our needs and figure out how to meet them while preserving the earth for future generations. We need affordable housing in urban areas and efficient public transportation. We need to decide what work needs to be done and how we can share it, so that people don’t need to spend so much time and resources getting to their jobs. This can only happen if we gain control of our own labor power and our resources. We can’t afford to keep following heads of corporations, chancel- lors of universities and our bosses. They may appear to be experts, but the smell of money lures them away from the will to survive on our planet. With a socialist system, we could mobilize society’s economic and scientific resources to save our earth and our future generations.

3 FDR’S ECONOMIC BILL OF RIGHTS 1944 – 2008

I have been a political activist since I was six- history. The census bureau released data for teen, and the totality of my life experience over 1997 showing that one out of five American the last sixty years, has confirmed and reinforced children still live in poverty. Second Harvest, my conviction that if we are to achieve a power- the nation’s largest food bank network, says ful and just world, our society must undergo that over 20 million Americans, many of them profound and fundamental change. working, are still hungry. Today our economy and political parties, in In February 1944, I was in New Guinea, and the main are dominated by giant multi- a friend send me a copy of President Franklin D. national corporations who owe no allegiance Roosevelt’s “State of the Union Address” [which to our nation, their communities or employ- Roosevelt gave on January 11], in which he ees. Maximization of profits and the bottom called upon Congress to consider a new line is their fundamental law. The gap in “Economic Bill of Rights”. It blew my mind and income and wealth between the top 20% and I will extract the key provisions. everyone else has been steadily growing during The corporate financed Democratic and this longest period of economic growth in our Republican parties will never enact an Economic Bill of Rights. The powerful corporations who pour hundreds of millions into their campaigns, have a totally different agenda for the 21st EXCERPT FROM PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S JANUARY 11, 1944 MESSAGE Century; gradually privatizing Social Security TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE STATE OF THE UNION. and Medicare, the prison system, maximizing It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a last- the number of contract, temporary, part-time ing peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. workers without health and pension benefits, We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction keeping union weal through restrictions on of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, organizing, collective bargaining and the right to and insecure. strike, cutting taxes for the wealthy. This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain Clearly, the people need to organize and inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by build progressive independent political parties jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty. from the ground up. As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded— First and foremost is the need for consistent these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness. and ongoing struggle. Frederick Douglas said it We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist with- best: “without struggle there is no progress.” out economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry Only in the course of great struggles can we and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. learn some of the essential answers. In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to In 1903 WEB Dubois wrote that the prob- speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established lem of the 20th century is the problem of the for all—regardless of station, race, or creed. color line. If he were alive today, I think he Among these are: would expand it to include the 21st Century. • The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Racism is still pervasive in most areas of our soci- nation; ety; employment, education, housing, drug • The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; laws, environmental dumping, the legal and jus- • The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his tice systems and driving down the New Jersey family a decent living; Turnpike to name but a few. • The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from Racial discrimination against people of color unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; in general; African Americans and Latinos in • The right of every family to a decent home; particular, must be condemned and vigorously • The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; opposed by white Americans. We must learn • The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and how to reach out to and struggle together in pur- unemployment; suit of the Economic Bill of Rights. Not only • The right to a good education. because it is the moral and right thing to do but All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, because our self interest demands it. in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being. The passage and implementation of FDR’s America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and simi- Economic Bill of Rights would profoundly lar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens. enrich the lives of all Americans and give real http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_rights substance to the pledge “with liberty and justice for all.”

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 4 FALL 2007 RACISM AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

BY TED GLICK party, American Independent Party campaign, weak in their responses or, in some cases, out- Racism within U.S. institutions, law and cul- that the Richard Nixon campaign made a very right copycats. Bill Clinton, for example, in the ture is deeply imbedded in the history and conscious decision to completely abandon the words of author Kenneth O’Reilly, “calculated reality of the United States going back to the Republican Party’s anti-slavery roots. As recently that he could not win in 1992 unless he [pub- 17th century, and we still have a long way to go. as 1956 Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower had licly criticized] Sister Souljah to bait Jesse We can see that by what is being said and not received the support of 39% of the African Jackson [at a Rainbow Coalition conference], being said during the current Democratic and American electorate, and, in Manning Marable’s put a black chain gang in a crime control ad, Republican Presidential campaigns. Bush, of words, “at the time there was a strong liberal wing golfed at a segregated club with a TV camera course, acts as if everything is just fine, and we pressuring the White House to take bolder steps crew in tow, and allowed that search for a serv- all love each other in this wonderful land of hope on racial policy.”1 But 12 years later the major iceable vein in [retarded, African American, and opportunity united against the evil terror- issues for Nixon and Spiro Agnew, his VP candi- death row inmate] Rickey Ray Rector’s arm.”2 ists. Kerry, on the other hand, does talk about date, were “law and order,” getting “welfare This history is why, in 2004 a number of affirmative action, black voter disenfranchise- bums” off welfare and opposition to busing. groups joined together to form the Racism Watch ment, the idea of “two Americas” and possibly The Democrats were “better” but far from project to draw attention to the expected reality other racial justice issues, but from the reports good. Clearly responding to Nixon’s landslide re- during the election year and to help the progres- I’ve heard, only before black audiences. election victory in 1972 against George sive movement get prepared for it, while working These realities may change before election McGovern, the Democrats nominated Georgia to help mobilize a strong progressive vote out of day. There are reports that the Bush campaign is governor Jimmy Carter in 1976. Among the communities of color and to defend the right to preparing a commercial using Al Sharpton as a controversial statements made by Carter during vote against expected attacks on them. foil to undercut Kerry. And Kerry, under pres- his campaign were his use of the phrase, “ethnic This project will be revived for the 2008 election sure from black Democrats, may see the need to purity,” to describe white enclaves and neighbor- season. Ted Glick is the National Coordinator of the take stronger public positions. hood schools. He also used phrases like “alien U.S. Climate Emergency Council. To contact him There is a sordid history going back to 1968 groups,” “black intrusion” and “interjecting into write to [email protected] or P.O. Box 1132, of how the two major parties have consciously a community a member of another race.” Bloomfield, N.J. 07003. used racism during Presidential campaigns. It was Ever since, a pattern has been followed, This article originally appeared in the Future in 1968, with the dramatic spread of the black regardless of who the two corporate parties put Hope column, September 12, 2004 freedom movement all over the country and forward as candidates. The Republicans are out 1 Manning Marable, “The Great Wells of Democracy” uprisings in the cities, and with the emergence of front with their racial demagoguery to the extent 2 Kenneth O’Reilly, “Nixon’s Piano: Presidents and Racial George Wallace running an overtly racist, third necessary for them to win. The Democrats are Politics from Washington to Clinton

GREEN PARTY ENVISIONS AN END TO BIPARTISAN POLITICS

Let’s consider the following scenario: politicians take record amounts of cash from • Thirty years from now, American politics corporate contributors. Elections are huge, remains the exclusive domain of the expensive spectacles, but hardly anyone Democratic and Republican parties. bothers to vote. The Democratic Party’s • The US in 2037 is no closer to national leadership knows from the evidence of the health care. HMOs and insurance com- past century that it can assume the votes of panies are still paying off legislators, still progressive, antiwar, and ecologically in charge of most Americans’ health care, minded voters, as well as African Americans, and making record profits while the gay people, and other constituencies, number of uninsured has doubled. because they have nowhere else to turn.... • Republican lawmakers, with help from • The executive branch has gained nearly Democrats, have fatally damaged Social unlimited power. Security, Medicare, public education, All of the above is either probable or all and other programs through partial or too plausible. full privatization. On the evidence of the Reagan, Clinton, • Under both Democratic and Republican and both Bush administrations and the cur- Executive and Congressional control, the rent crop of likely nominees for 2008, the US has launched new wars as oil, fresh water, ated, leading to mass evacuation in some US will continue in the same direction food, and other resources became scarcer areas. whether we elect Democrats or Republicans to and more expensive. • With campaigns now costing millions of the White House and Congress. The only differ- • The effects of climate change have acceler- dollars, even for local office, both parties’ continued on page 6

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 5 FALL 2007 GREEN PARTY involved in the conspiracy to expose the identity As Green Party candidate David Cobb said of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame. during his 2004 presidential campaign, “The continued from page 2 There’s a tendency among many liberal and Democratic Party is where progressive ideas go ence is that it’ll happen a few years sooner under progressive Americans to think of the to die.” Republicans. Democratic Party as the opposition, that it pro- Can we forecast an alternative, more humane vides a check on the Republican agenda, and THIRD PARTY INTERFERENCE future? Yes... but not without a dramatic disrup- that the excessive power of the Bush The only way to thwart the direction of tion to the political status quo. America needs a Administration represents a break in two-party bipartisan politics is for bipartisan politics to end. transformation comparable to the abolitionist democracy. The first step is the election of candidates to Republican challenge to pro-slavery Democrats This is wrong. The Bush catastrophe is a nat- Congress who are neither Democrat nor and Whigs in the 1850s, the confrontations that ural, perhaps predictable outcome of bipartisan Republican, who accept no corporate money, led to the end of the Robber Baron Era and ulti- politics. Dems and Repubs compete on the same and who embrace a platform that demands mately to Progressive and New Deal reforms turf, seeking corporate campaign donations and immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, that gave the middle class its mid 20th century the votes of a vaguely defined ‘moderate’ con- enactment of single-payer/Medicare For All, prosperity, and the point of anger that led black stituency, without any strong countervailing dedication to the rights and needs of working people to launch the Civil Rights movement. progressive political force. The drift of people, and other progressive and populist goals. Americans are by nature conservative. They Democrats into ever greater loyalty to corporate There are many third party and independent prefer stability instead of revolution. Some his- lobbies and increasing abandonment of working candidates who meet these criteria, among torical upheavals, like the Civil War, resulted in people has guaranteed a license for the whom the best organized and most promising enormous violence and suffering. It’s very likely Republican Party, under neoconservative stan- belong to the Green Party. that the thirty-years-from-now scenario I dard-bearers, to adopt an agenda so extreme they If Greens win seats in Congress in 2008, it’ll described will also bring violence, domestic as imperil US democracy and global stability. It shock Democrats (and some Republicans, too) well as international, unless some kind of less into immediate action to end the Iraq War. tumultuous political disruption happens now to Democratic and Republican candidates will no offset it. In short, we need a drastic change in With Greens in the House and longer be each others’ sole competition for votes. America’s political landscape. With Greens in the House and Senate, gen- Senate, genuine antiwar uine antiwar Democrats and Republicans who BIPARTISAN BUSINESS AS USUAL Democrats and Republicans aren’t getting help from their own parties will We can begin by admitting that the who aren’t getting help from expand their own numbers and be able to create Democratic Party, if it regains executive or main- their own parties will expand the political bloc necessary to end the war. tains legislative power or both, is not going to their own numbers and be Democrats and Republicans won’t be able to end the Iraq War or enact national health care or able to create the political ignore thinly supported legislation like Rep. make other significant changes. The Democratic John Conyers’ single-payer bill, and more will bloc necessary to end the war. leadership has no incentive to do so, nor do they sign on. Greens in Congress will help write and intend to gamble with the generosity of corpo- sponsor such legislation. rate contributors. Green competition often leads Democratic The same oil companies that contribute to was inevitable that a Bush and a Cheney would and Republican candidates to modify their posi- Republicans also give campaign checks to come to power and wreak havoc. tions. In 2000, the presence of Green candidate Democratic candidates. Insurance, HMO, and Progressive and antiwar Dems remain a vocal Ralph Nader forced Al Gore to not to take the pharmaceutical industry contributions (with bloc in their party, but with nearly zero influ- Democratic Party’s progressive base for granted. Hillary Clinton a top recipient among both par- ence. The Democratic Party’s leadership knows During the Democratic convention he promised ties) ensure that none of the leading Democratic that upstarts like Dennis Kucinich and Mike voters “I will fight for you” and won votes from presidential hopefuls will endorse genuine univer- Gravel won’t get the corporate dollars necessary many Americans who had considered voting for sal care under a single-payer national health plan. to compete with the Clinton and Obama war Mr. Nader. (It’s one of many reasons that the There’s no greater evidence of such collusion chests, that they barely register in the media, and ‘spoiler’ accusation against Mr. Nader and the than the reluctance of Democratic leaders to that Democratic voters who oppose the Iraq War Green Party is dishonest.) seek impeachment and hold the Bush-Cheney and favor various progressive reforms will vote The growth of the Green Party, as more gang responsible for criminal abuses of power: for a nominee anointed by Wall and K Streets Americans register and vote Green and more deceiving the American people about why we who shares none of their sentiments “because Greens win elections, represents the necessary invaded Iraq, torture, detention without trial, they have nowhere else to turn.” shock to the system. It’s a nonviolent and mod- surveillance of US citizens without warrant, vio- Mr. Kucinich and Mr. Gravel will have no est shock — the Green Party is hardly a lation of international laws and treaties, inaction effect on the Democratic Party platform and will revolutionary vanguard — but it’s dramatic and racist response to environmental emergen- not be permitted to speak at the party’s conven- enough to change the nation’s Bushward direc- cies (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita), endangering tion. Their only effect in 2008 will be similar to tion. It’s as necessary as the Republican Party’s public health by tampering with scientific the role played by Jesse Jackson, Jerry Brown, Al arrival was in the 1850s. research on global warming, former White Sharpton, Mr. Kucinich, and others during the As Ebenezer Scrooge learned near the end of House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s revela- past few decades: they’ll corral millions of voters ‘A Christmas Carol,’ the future isn’t carved in tion that Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney were behind a Democratic ticket that ignores them. continued on page 6

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 6 FALL 2007 THE ALPHABET ANALYSIS

BY KAREN KUBBY Our country has been bombarded with Presidential campaign marketing for over a year and we have 11 months to go. As a political activist in Iowa, I am privileged to have the opportunity to speak with campaign staff and candidates on a weekly basis. This weekend, Cynthia McKinney, running for the Green Party nomination, will be staying at my home as she campaigns at political hot spots around Iowa City. It is very difficult to know the best political strategy to take in the Iowa caucuses. I am a practi- cal progressive, meaning, that I see a vision of how This alphabet analysis will result in my becoming a the world could work with full economic and social justice for all in a culturally versatile manner. I Democrat for a day and I will participate in my spend my political energy in building incremental neighborhood-based first in the nation Iowa caucus. steps towards social change and alternative institu- My focus will be issues and not candidates... tion building to work en route to that vision. Many of my progressive friends see me as too much of a compromiser, in that I will accept this part of the progressive spectrum because if the larger vision of the “Z’s”. Yet we work on the negotiation in this process of changing the world. we wait for all the pieces to be in place before stepping stones and footholds to climb the I accept some compromise because I have a fun- engaging in practical ways in our communities, mountain of justice. We are communicating damental belief that revolution will not work in we will remain paralyzed. with those who don’t want change or don’t see the United States. We are too comfortable. Even Activists working on various parts of this the possibility of change, the “A’s”. many of our residents living in poverty have strategy continuum end up not working So, as I strive to move the “A’s” to the “D-E- access to more resources and opportunities than together or appreciating the perspective of oth- F” position, the “Z’s” move me to the “G-H-I” many around the globe. A majority will not ers. For years, I found myself in this position. And hopefully, as we all, in our own throw our comforts overboard to make radical non-appreciative place. ways, at various paces and with various strate- changes in our system. We must provide sound As I see what strategies have been effective at gies, move towards social and economic justice, analysis, specific examples, and show that we are social change locally and nationally, my observa- the world is a healthier place in which to live. part of, not outside of, our communities. This tions have led me to find greater value for people This alphabet analysis will result in my has to happen before we can expect people to on various parts of this political strategy spectrum. becoming a Democrat for a day and I will par- hear our message and be willing to try it on for We each have a role to play, a political niche. ticipate in my neighborhood-based first in the size before helping make change happen. This I think about it in a bit of a linear way—with nation Iowa caucus. My focus will be issues and strategy can cause frustration and friction the alphabet. Those who keep the vision’s total not candidates, hoping to move some of those between individuals and organizations within the integrity while not engaging in compromise are “A’s” out of their comfort zone to join me in the progressive movement. Some of my friends get at the end of the alphabet—they are the “Z’s”. Z’s middle of the alphabet. angry at me for embracing this strategy. keep me clear as I work on a more incremental Karen Kubby is an abortion provider, activist, These folks believe that compromise and approach. These folks are persistent in making artist, and former city council member, living in Iowa negotiation dilute any radical vision for justice me just uncomfortable enough to keep me learn- City, Iowa. She is a member of IPPN’s Steering and we should not engage in the system until it ing, growing and stretching towards the vision. Committee and was a member of the Socialist Party has been overturned. I can get mad at people on People like myself are “D-E-and F’s”. We see from 1980-2005.

GREEN PARTY outcomes are possible. It’s in these possible Magazine, Green Horizon, The Progressive Review, futures that we should seek some hope. Without In These Times, and several local and community continued from page 6 the interference of Green, independent, and other publications and small press. He joined the Green stone. The scenario at the top of this essay ‘free radicals,’ the world thirty years from now — Party in 1996, and in 1998 ran for the Ward 1 seat describes a few things that are likely based on a or two years from now, if Democratic and on the Washington, DC City Council. Mr. McLarty reading of the current state of US politics — Republican leaders make good on recent threats to grew up in Long Island, New York, and now lives in unless something else intervenes. attack Iran — will be a very dark place. Washington, DC. According to chaos theory, interference in a Scott McLarty has served as media coordinator for process with an expected outcome is caused by the Green Party of the United States and for the DC For this essay in full - http://www.opednews. one or more agents from outside, after which Statehood Green Party. He has had articles, guest com/articles/opedne_scott_mc_071126_america_nee many other very different and unpredictable columns, and book reviews published in Roll Call, Z ds_a_dras.htm

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 7 FALL 2007 EXCERPTS FROM “WE MUST RESIST!”

REMARKS BY CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, KPFK PACIFICA RADIO STATION FUNDRAISING EVENT MARCH 2, 2007

The truth is controversial and, it seems some- Secretary of Homeland Security Michael government toward the global community, times, that only a few of us believe in sharing the Chertoff whose incompetent behavior directly including the American people; and make the truth. led to the delayed response, causing as-yet U.S. government accountable to the taxpayers I’m hoping that people are so moved by their unmitigated pain and suffering on the people of for the way it spends their dollars. Now, that’s all own intolerable circumstances that they are now New Orleans, and whose continued bumbling I wanted to do. And you see what’s happened to willing to do something different in order to get results in one of the largest depopulations of an me! something they’ve never had before. American city in memory. So, what I have in mind won’t be easy. But it For, in order to solve the massive problems Why can’t we know if there were explosions will be worth it. And, I believe, it’s possible to this country now has, it can no longer be busi- along the levies, as historically was done before achieve. ness as usual for a critical mass of us. to safeguard certain parts of New Orleans? Now, it would be nice if we could count on Whether it’s the thawing tundra in Siberia or The reason we can’t get answers to our ques- someone else to do it for us. And we would all the melting glaciers in Greenland, our contribu- tions and doubts linger is because our leadership join that person and make it happen. But, I tion to global warming is something that must today just isn’t what it used to be. reluctantly say that if no one else will do it, then be dealt with. The current state of black America didn’t I guess I’ll have to do that, too! Whether it’s the massive amounts of money arise only because of Republican policies. Just like the Articles of Impeachment. we spend on the war machine or the fact that we Despite the election of thousands of black still don’t know what happened on September elected officials since passage of the Voting YOUNG PEOPLE CAN LEAD 11th, the values and priorities of the American Rights Act, nearly half of the black men in New Finally, I have complete belief in the young people must be reflected in the public policy we York City between the ages of 16 and 64 are people of our country and their ability to lead pursue. I do not believe that is the case today unemployed—according to the New York the kind of change that I’m talking about. and there are specific reasons why. Times. It will take 200 years for black After all, it was the young people from just a I have long said that the black body politic is Chicagoans to catch up to the quality of life few generations ago who faced attack dogs, comatose: unable to sustain itself after the mas- enjoyed by white Chicagoans—according to a water hoses, police beatings, and lynch mobs. sive infusion of COINTELPRO-type “clean Hull House/Loyola University report. It will They sat in at lunch counters across the country Negroes” who don’t truly provide representation take 1,664 years for blacks in this country to and stood up for our country. for a body of people in need. achieve a homeownership rate equal to that of And they won. And I know we all can do it Unfortunately, now, the entire American whites; racial disparities on infant mortality, again. body politic is in dire straits, too. family income, unemployment, police stops, Now, should you ever waiver in your faith, I have also said that the prescription for the imprisonment, and more, have not been elimi- just acknowledge this: black body politic is radical surgery. So, too, nated and in some cases are worse today than at The world’s most marginalized and dispos- now, I believe, is the case with the American the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther sessed are already ahead of us in taking their body politic. King, Jr. People of color have less wealth, less net countries back! Of course, starting in 1959 with worth, work longer hours with insecure pen- Cuba, but then Venezuela, Cote d’Ivoire, Brazil, EXTREME CORRUPTION sions and stagnant wages. Argentina, Spain, India, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, The extreme corruption of our political sys- And now all Americans do, too! Haiti, and Nicaragua all have stood up to impe- tem by the greedy, unseen hand that comfortably We have got to do something different rial domination—and won! operates in the backrooms of power is turning because we can’t stand any more of this. In the meantime, we have to demand more our heroes into caricatures of themselves. So what are we to do? from our representatives. How can you be Why can’t we know the truth about 9/11 and against war if you finance war? And how can you this war on terror? JUST VOTING ISN’T ENOUGH be against George Bush if you won’t impeach Why can’t we immediately repeal the Secret Just voting isn’t enough. Voting is necessary, him? Evidence Law, the Patriot Act, and the Military but it isn’t enough to get the kind of change we The American people are being fed madness Tribunals Act? must now demand. We have to change the as sanity. But, this is not Oz, Wonderland, the Why can’t we get back that 2.3 trillion dol- structure within which we cast our vote. Twilight Zone, and it’s not 1984! lars Rumsfeld admits is missing and use it to We must have a different kind of leadership With every fiber in our being we must resist. fully fund education and health care and infra- than is possible now without the kind of change Resist like Mario Savio told us to resist: with our structure? I’m talking about. entire bodies against the gears and the wheels They’re asking poor, devastated university This is revolutionary in its impact. and the levers of the machine. students to return their Hurricane Katrina And so, will be fought even more fiercely We must resist because we claim no partner- money, but I don’t see anyone going after than I’ve already been fought, and all I wanted ship in war crimes, genocide, torture, or crimes Blackwater mercenaries, the law enforcement to do was improve the lot of people of color in against humanity. We claim no complicity in officials who took federal money and then the U.S. and around the world; institute the crimes against the American people. denied Katrina survivors safe passage over public kind of respect for human rights at home and We will build a broad-based, rainbow move- thoroughfares. They’re not going after the abroad that would change the policies of our ment for justice and peace. And we will win.

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 8 FALL 2007 IN OPPOSITION TO THE RESOLUTION TO GOTOWAR IN IRAQ

STATEMENT ON THE FLOOR OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPRESENTATIVE CYNTHIA MCKINNEY OCTOBER 9, 2002 I share the same revulsion that many others have towards Saddam Hussein. We all know that he’s brutal, and that his regime has terrorized the Iraqi people and the people of nearby countries. But there was a time not so long ago when despite all of this, we chose to allow him to be our friend. There was a time we supplied him with chemical weapons and other military technolo- gies. If our nation really cared about Iraq’s neighbors, we never would have supplied him the military arsenal that we did. And if we really cared about his people, we would have done something to alleviate the suffering of the Kurds, who for years have been brutalized by the Iraqi military. If we cared about the Iraqi people, we would have done something to lift the burdens imposed on them by UN sanctions, which to date have claimed in excess of an estimated 500,000 Iraqi children. But the truth is we didn’t really care about is now manufacturing an international crisis in overtime pay. He doesn’t even want to pay them. any of that suffering. Madeleine Albright even order to launch a preemptive military strike Do we give this President the green light to said that the price of 500,000 dead Iraqi chil- against Saddam Hussein. In 1964, there were go to war on Iraq based on evidence which many dren was “worth it.” some courageous members of this House who weapons experts believe to be exaggerated? Are Now, however, we claim to care. Now, knew that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a we now turning a blind eye to another Gulf of Saddam Hussein has just become another name political ruse, being used by the Johnson Tonkin-type incident? Shouldn’t we trust the on a long list of other tyrants who we once aided Administration in order to justify the United legal and diplomatic means of the United and abetted but now oppose. States going to war in Vietnam. For their Nations? Do we give the President the green courage to speak out and resist, they suffered a light to go to war in Iraq because it has refused tidal wave of public ridicule. But we now know to comply with U.N. Security Council weapons instead of solving the current they were right and that the Vietnam War was a inspections resolutions? At the same time Israel threat of terrorism against us, monumental mistake that cost the lives of some refuses to comply with U.N. resolutions with going to war in Iraq 60,000 brave young Americans and hundreds of respect to the occupied territories. Do we have might well make things far thousands of Vietnamese. difference standards for different countries? worse for us both at home And still, we have many Americans and The Cuban missile crisis and the Gulf of Vietnamese who suffer the health effects of agent Tonkin, if they taught us anything, they taught and abroad. orange and other toxins faced on the battlefield. us the dangers of choosing the military option And all across the American and European land- over diplomatic and legal alternatives. The cur- But what to do? In the past, other tyrants scape, today, veterans still suffer from Gulf War rent terrorist crisis facing our nation is so much we’ve grown tired of were assassinated, like Jonas Syndrome and exposure to depleted uranium. bigger and complicated than this call for war on Savimbi, or charged with war crimes, like Will we let this president create yet another gen- Iraq. Should we miscalculate our military Slobodan Milosevic, or forced from power eration of veterans to whom we’ve broken our actions in Iraq, we could cause many American through U.S.-backed uprisings, like Mobutu promise? I see too many of these veterans sleep- service men and women to lose their lives. Sese Seko. President Bush is confronted with a ing on our streets. The President can see them, Needless to say, we could also cause untold num- “what to do question.” He appears to be choos- too, if he would just look. They sleep on the side- bers of Iraqis to be killed or injured. Worse still, ing war to get rid of this tyrant, and of course he walks, the benches, and the heating vents just instead of solving the current threat of terrorism has to justify it. That is the public relations part across the street from the White House. And against us, going to war in Iraq might well make of the equation. sadly, one of the first things our President did things far worse for us both at home and abroad. The words “Gulf of Tonkin” have echoed after he declared this war on terrorism was to I hope and pray that we choose our options care- around Washington this last month with many deprive our young men and women who are now fully. And for that reason, I will be voting “no” people concerned that the Bush Administration fighting on the front lines their high deployment on this resolution to go to war in Iraq.

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 9 FALL 2007 URGENT: NEEDED PROFOUND CHANGE

BY GRACE ROSS American. The week after the election, he they look a little better than the best-funded We in our fear are scared to wait, scared not announced everyone had gotten it wrong, he champion of the right wing, then everyone cen- to reach for something immediate now. was a pro-business centerist. ter and left of center are already guaranteed to When we can stand being honest with our- It’s early still and certainly Deval Patrick is support them so they don’t even bother to listen, selves: things are scary! We can see the abyss brilliant, a really good orator and a nice person. let alone represent, us. ahead of us – But is a little improvement enough? The I could go on and on. • global warming, policies he has passed have been pro-corporate, Thing is we know it took time to get us into • the permanent losses of life, limb and funding bad for local control and the environment. The this devastating mess – no leader alone, no matter for the future because of the “war on terror,” progressive policies he promised have, at best, how fabulous, can get us out without major grass- • the beginning of major recession (housing gone no where. On the heels of his election he roots assistance and support. And no fabulous crisis & loss credit – maybe a worldwide closed the door on the progressive legislators leader has a chance, because that major grassroots depression), who helped him get elected. He has not helped assistance and support is not being built. • the accelerating divide between the rich and with CORI reform. His supposed policy everyone else, changes to stop state police cooperation with • the disintegration of civil rights, ICE have never been actualized. The state teach- Just a reminder: a good …fear, fear, fear and the divisive hatred it can ers’ union spent 3 million on his campaign. He politician does what we create breed. has appointed no teachers to his huge education the political space for them to And in our fear, we worry about our ability commission and their 13 research subcommit- do, a bad politician what we to accomplish change at all. Steeped in a culture, tees. And he line-item vetoed funding for the create the political pressure with school history books that still teach us that local workforce development agencies whose for them to do – and for us, individuals, elected officials like Lincoln change leaders read as a who’s who of leaders of color things with the stroke of a pen (although we across the state who were the backbone of his that requires basically the know ending slavery, like all major changes, was field campaign. same thing – reaching out to due to a huge amount of organizing). And this November, we could not get the our neighbors and building a We have this image that if we could just get vote out in especially the lower-income and powerful movement. a progressive, a liberal or even any Democrat in communities of color who had voted in the presidential office now that it would make a unprecedented numbers just a year ago. huge difference. We need instead to be supporting real pro- Why? Just a reminder: a good politician does what gressive leaders from the grassroots up to elected Because we are scared. So we don’t work with we create the political space for them to do, a leaders and candidates. Right now what those our neighbors to build a real grassroots movement; bad politician what we create the political pres- running for office learn over and over is that we our urgency becomes an excuse not to do the hard sure for them to do – and for us, that requires have no grassroots leadership power. relationship-building work especially across differ- basically the same thing – reaching out to our If they are democrats elected to Congress to ence. Those among us with money, throw it at any neighbors and building a powerful movement. end the war – they won’t be there once elected leader who looks better than what we fear. In Massachusetts, we chase quick-fixes, and because there is no activist base supporting them And the right wing grows strong – feeding our incremental improvements – meanwhile the nor forcing them to act. fear, dividing us across differences, propping up fundamental trends get worse. Real progressive, non-millionaire candidates illusions, trusting that we will not build the We elected a “pro-business centerist” for cannot get real support or money because all strength and solidarity we need to insist on our Governor (although he has also said he would resources are being poured into a short-term constitutional rights, a genuinely independent have been a Republican if it was 20 years ago attempt to elect the least-worst-alternative-to- media, our civil and voting rights, peace, impeach- given his politics) – why? Because he sold him- the-conservative-leader put forward by the ment and an end to the injustice anywhere which self as a progressive, the candidate of “hope” and, powers-that-be. we know is a threat to justice everywhere. for many, if nothing else he was African Those who want to win know that as long as Thing is: if we are willing to learn, to become the change we seek in the world, there are a mil- lion skills we know we need, lessons to learn FDR quent years has been the emergence of a growing from the past, and our brilliant creativity – if we Latino movement, highlighted by the giant rallies will unleash it in the multi-cultural & egalitarian continued from page 5 on May 1st 2006 in la and other cities. Building partnership for change that we can and must To me, the 20th and all prior centuries are a a powerful Latino, African American, white commit ourselves to. period of pre-history. I believe that this new mil- coalition will be a slow and difficult process but “There is only time to work slowly; there is lennium can be the first in which human kind is essential if we are to realize meaningful eco- no time not to love” – Canticles of Light will truly flourish. nomic and social justice in our country. Grace Ross, life-long community organizer and The above statements were part of a speech Wayne Roberts has been an activist since the previous director of community non-profits, was the delivered by me in January 1999. 1930’s. He’s a member of Veterans for Peace and serves 2006 Green-Rainbow Party Gubernatorial The most significant development in subse- on IPPN’s Steering Committee. Candidate for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 10 FALL 2007 BLACK & GREEN

BY STAN GOFF Let’s face it, white and Black environmental- Thoughts on Ishmael Reed’s suggestion that ists, feminists, anti-capitalists, et al, are up African Americans should abandon the Democrats against the most formidable ideological barrier for the Greens. in history, late-imperial, high-technology con- Considering the majority of things that des- sumerism. This ideology and practice has proven perately need to be done right now to prevent all overwhelmingly effective at turning all our manner of horrors for us, others, the people of brains into onion soup. We are almost all as the future, and basically the whole planet, we driven and acquisative and disenchanted and need to re-tool the entire society to thrive more superficial as can be, which means the real issue locally and sustainably. Among all the people that matter are not even available to us, because who most need to understand this are we have nearly zero critical capacity to under- Americans, because we live in the geographically stand and evaluate them. defined polity that simultaneously has the most It is no accident that when the suburbs were rapidly destructive practices and the geopolitical constructed as a way to maintain Black coloniza- power to theoretically make the bad things stop. tion after the fall of Jim Crow, residential spaces One check-in with our own experience, were class-color segregated, and the deepest inte- however, tells us that the tiny few of us who — gration was accomplished in consumer spaces… for whatever accidents of fate — actually under- just as the US was emerging into the latest neolib- stand how the current trajectory of our society eral epoch as the global consumer of last instance. might be compared by aliens to sociopathic lem- So this question of Black and Green (and Ishmael Reed mings… well, we know damned well that we Red, if you include the few of us who still call don’t have the capacity to change all those ourselves socialists) — love the color scheme — tion, and of the McKinney candidacy. minds… at least not fast enough to stop the political alliance is one that has to be examined All that said, there is another question about majority of the bad things that are pretty much not merely on the basis of comparing idealist these kinds of candidacies. Are they acts of inevitable already… wars, dispacements, starva- programs, but on the basis of what this tanslates philosophcal idealism? Are these campaigns tion, brutal poverty, pandemics, species die-offs, into as hands-work. Very risky stuff. taken up out of a mistaken belief that we can climate destabilization, soil destruction, loss of White-Black coalition work does not have a change practice by changing minds? This is a fisheries and poable water, et al. happy history. It is so unhappy, in fact, that serious question, one with which I myself strug- For a lot of people, this inevitability means, some might make a good argument that were gle as a veteran of the leftist idealism of what the hell, let’s just smoke a number and quit Black and white constituents to coalesce around the-tiny-programmatic-sect. I already said that I thinking about it. And while I’d be happy to McKinney (as one example), this might better think the practice-idea dichotomy is false; but indulge the number with you, maybe with Howlin’ be done in semi-autonomous and self-segregat- that I also acknowledge that the practical repeti- Wolf and a tasty fruit salad, I’d say you are wrong. ing ways. White folks can be incredibly stupid tions in our system-dependent lives are real and We are morally obliged to fight for the future, when working with Black folk, because they highly determinative influences. in my humble opinion, at least once we under- have not the slightest idea how often they assert My own tentative answer has to do with scale stand what’s at stake; and the fact that we might their own unacknowledged privilege into the and expectations. Taking up the cudgel in these very well lose it all and eventually be forgotten by proceedings. On the other hand, white organiz- seemingly Quixotic ways is not delusional if we history is a pretty shitty excuse for not trying. ers have access to more resources, and don’t lie to ourselves about what we can do, what The imminent announcement of Cynthia self-selecting separatism — even if agreed upon we can know, and what we can predict. If we are McKinney’s presidential bid with the Green — results in the same-old same-old with regard modeling a serious poltics of resistance, then we Party resolves a conflict for me, with my family to money, media, and institutional support. better do it seriously… and honestly. background placing me in the white experience, If there is any suggestion one might make If we convince 4% of the population to vote my military background placing me in the about this dilemma it begins with the fact that a certain way by cheerleading them, then we imperial experience, and my kids and grandkids this need not remain a dilemma, but that it is the have accomplished a transient sales job. If we can connecting me to Black experience. White folk responsibility of white folk to get right. convince 4% of the population to create a polit- are not in a position to cook up political formu- That means actively seeking to understand ical disruption within their capacity, their eyes lae for Black folk (though I don’t think any what is meant by white privilege as a way of com- wide open about the levels of unknowability and political leader — white or Black — is off limits batting it in our own practices. The question risk, then we have created a serious,critical, and from critique by any critic). I don’t have to raised by Reed is about the political behavior of courageous political cadre as an early step in a engage in the risky behavior of analyzing the Black folk (which is why this commentary is not revolution. massive diversity of Black political behavior in addressing, for example, Latinos and other “eth- Stan Goff is a writer, activist, and US Army vet- order to cast my lot with other anti-establish- nicities”). The reason the issue of “whiteness” is eran having served from 1970 to 1996. He is an ment white activists and endorse a Black on the table is that our system is one of white Anti-imperialist activist, feminist, and socialist. For candidate that has the bona fides to speak to the supremacy. So he white-black polarity is this essay in full – http://www.feralscholar. issue of Black politics from the inside. unavoidable in this discussion of Reed’s sugges- org/blog/index.php/2007/11/25/black-green/

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 11 FALL 2007 MULTIPLE STRUGGLES AND THE COMMON STRUGGLE

BY VICTOR WALLIS discussion of long-term society-wide alternatives. agenda. Although these new governments arose The contrast brought to mind by this title is Practical activity continues the pattern (already through electoral channels that were not available in one that we are all familiar with. The “multiple” strong coming out of the 1960s) of focusing heav- Cuba at the time of its 1959 revolution, they tend struggles are the ones with clear labels and more or ily and often exclusively on particular issues. to acknowledge a strong kinship with the latter, less well-defined goals. The “common struggle” is Although the Global Justice and Social Forum both in principle and in the form of aid programs the one that we know to be crucial but that we movements have broadened the scope of the and mutual political support. (For a wide-ranging have trouble getting a handle on. We recognize it struggle and have brought various campaigns discussion of these developments, see D.L. Raby, perhaps most clearly in the form of what it is physically together, the actual theorization of an Democracy and Revolution: Latin America and directed against. “They” have no trouble main- alternative (the “other world” that is Socialism Today, Pluto Press, 2006.) taining a basic unity, even though they may give it “possible/necessary”) remains for the most part two distinct strategic – and party-political – faces. vague, strongly imbued with a general distrust of Upholding capitalism is not something they seem authority, and tending to overestimate the capac- While some of the actually to be proud of (how often do they ever ity of grassroots groups to create the conditions environmental devastation is publicly proclaim it as their mission?), but it’s a required even for their own further development. irreversible, the severity of the goal that has indisputably compelling attractions To counter these limitations there are new overall impact can still be for its beneficiaries. It is ironic that those of us who factors – both negative and positive – which may affected by steps taken in the struggle not for the interests of a privileged class help. Overshadowing all else is the sheer accen- but rather for those of what Marx & Engels iden- tuation of hardships and dangers, including: near future. Moreover, the very tified as “the immense majority” (which, in catastrophic climate change and related short- process of responding in such a advancing its own interests, advances those of ages of basic necessities; U.S. warmongering; way will necessarily entail humanity as a whole), have been put on the defen- privatizations, social-service cutbacks, and bur- progressive changes on many sive when it comes to defining what our goals are. geoning poverty; the scapegoating of racially and fronts. Where, then, does socialism stand in the 21st religiously defined collectivities; expanded meas- century? On the one hand, how has the socialist ures of surveillance and repression; and the project been weakened, and on the other, what unstinting collaboration of U.S. corporate Perhaps the most important lesson of these new sources of strength can it tap? Finally, how media in their mission of damage-control. experiences is that it is both possible and necessary is this discussion relevant to our immediate con- And yet not all is bleak. While some of the for there to be a collaborative relationship cerns in the U.S.? environmental devastation is irreversible, the between grassroots movements and political par- The weakening factors are twofold. One is the severity of the overall impact can still be affected ties, and that this does not have to end when a obvious official triumphalism following the by steps taken in the near future. Moreover, the party or political movement comes into power. In demise of most 20th-century socialist regimes. very process of responding in such a way will nec- the U.S., the obstacles to a political victory of the This has shown itself in a mix of denunciation, essarily entail progressive changes on many fronts. left may well seem overwhelming, but this does ridicule, and marginalization. The other factor, The recent history of capitalism has been exem- not diminish the urgency of engaging, from an reflecting in part an internalization of this media- plified in the U.S. by the switch from the independent base, the broader political struggle. enhanced political climate, is a disinclination, progressive policies initiated in the 1930s A political organization of the left can play even on the part of progressive forces, to promote (Keynesianism) to the regressive policies initiated in several vital roles. It can foster mutual support the 1980s (known among people engaged in complementary strug- in their global gles; it can help raise the general level of dimension as neolib- awareness within the movement; it can drama- eralism). The tize the undemocratic nature of established effective popular channels, including the structural corruption of response to this lat- the electoral process; and it can provide a frame- ter phase has come work within which activists can enhance their initially from Latin skills in dealing with diverse constituencies. America, where elec- Overall, it can become a whole which is greater toral majorities in than the sum of its parts. And, when the break- several countries down of the established order reaches a critical have installed gov- point, it can offer an alternative that is not only ernments seriously “correct” but competent – not only committed committed to fight- to a sound vision, but able to offer responsible ing poverty and, in and authentically democratic leadership. the case of Victor Wallis is managing editor of the journal Venezuela, explicitly Socialism and Democracy, which appears three putting the socialist times a year and is now in its 22nd year of publica- project back on the tion (www.sdonline.org).

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 12 FALL 2007 THE OPTIMISM OF UNCERTAINTY

BY HOWARD ZINN me that he could not imagine Spanish Fascism Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union itself. In this world of war and injustice, how does being overthrown without another bloody war. No cold calculation of the balance of power a person manage to stay socially engaged, com- But after Franco was gone, a parliamentary need deter people who are persuaded that their mitted to the struggle, and remain healthy democracy cam into being, open to Socialists, cause is just. without burning out or becoming resigned or Communists, anarchists, everyone. I have tried hard to match my friends in their cynical? The end of World War II left two superpow- pessimism about the world (or is it just my I am totally confident not that the world will ers with their respective spheres of influence and friends?), but I keep encountering people who, get better, but that we should not give up the control, vying for military and political power. in spite of all the evidence of terrible things hap- game before all the cards have been played. The Yet they were unable to control events, even in pening everywhere, give me hope. Wherever I metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to those parts of the world considered to be their go, I find such people, especially young people, play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To respective spheres of influence. The failure of the in whom the future rests. And beyond the hand- play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of Soviet Union to have its way in Afghanistan, its ful of activist there seem to be hundreds, changing the world. decision to withdraw after almost a decade of thousands, more who are open to unorthodox There is a tendency to think that what we see ugly intervention, was the most striking evi- ideas. But they tend not to know of one in the present moment will continue. We forget dence that even the possession of thermonuclear another’s existence, and so, while they persist, how often we have been astonished by the sud- weapons does not guarantee domination over a they do so with the desperate patience of den crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary determined population. Sisyphus endlessly pushing the boulder up the changes in people’s thoughts, by unexpected mountain. I try to tell each group that they are eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the not alone, and that the very people who are dis- quick collapse of systems of power that seemed We don’t have to engage in heartened by the absence of a national movement are themselves proof of the potential invincible. grand, heroic actions to What leaps out of the history of the past for such a movement. participate in the process of hundred years is its utter unpredictability. A rev- Revolutionary change does not come as one olution to overthrow the czar of Russia in that change. Small acts, when cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) most sluggish of semi feudal empires not only amplified by millions of but as an endless succession of surprises, moving started the most advanced imperial powers but people, can quietly become a zigzag toward a more decent society. We don’t took Lenin himself by surprise and sent him power no government can have to engage in grand, heroic actions to partic- ipate in the process of change. Small acts, when rushing by train to Petrograd. Who would have suppress, a power that can predicted the bizarre shifts of World War II – the amplified by millions of people, can quietly transform the world. Nazi-Soviet pact (those embarrassing photos of become a power no government can suppress, a von Ribbentrop and Molotov shaking hands), power that can transform the world. and the German army rolling through Russia, Even when we don’t “win,” there is fun and apparently invincible, causing colossal casualties, The United States had faced the same reality. fulfillment in the fact that we have been being turned back at the gates of Leningrad, on It waged a full-scale war in Indochina, conduct- involved, with other good people, in something the western edges of Moscow, in the streets of ing the most brutal bombardment of a tiny worthwhile. We need hope. An optimist isn’t Stalingrad, followed by the defeat of the German peninsula in world history, and yet was forced to necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the army, with Hitler huddled in his Berlin bunker, withdraw. In the headlines every day we see other dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is waiting to die? instances of the failure of the presumably power- not being foolishly romantic. It is based on the And then the postwar world, taking a shape ful over the presumably powerless, as in Bolivia fact that human history is a history not only of no one could have drawn in advance: The and Brazil, where grassroots movements of work- competition and cruelty but also of compassion, Chinese Communist revolution, the tumul- ers and the poor have elected new presidents sacrifice, courage, kindness. tuous and violent cultural revolution, and then pledged to fight destructive corporate power. What we choose to emphasize in this com- another turnabout, with post-Mao China Looking at this catalogue of huge surprises, plex history will determine our lives. If we see renouncing its most fervently held ideas and it’s clear that the struggle for justice should never only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do institutions, making overtures to the West, cud- be abandoned because of the apparent over- something. If we remember those times and dling up to capitalist enterprise, perplexing whelming power of those who have the guns paces – and there are so many – where people everyone. and the money and who seem invincible in their have behaved magnificently, it energizes us to No one foresaw the disintegration of the old determination o hold on to it. that apparent act, and raises at least the possibility of sending Western empires happening so quickly after the power has, again and again, proved vulnerable to this spinning top of a world in a different direc- war, or the odd array of societies that would be human qualities less measurable than bombs tion. And if we do act, in however small a way, created in the newly independent nations, from and dollars: moral fervor, determination, unity, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian the benign village socialism of Nyerere’s organization, sacrifice, wit, ingenuity, courage, future. The future is an infinite succession of Tanzania to the madness of Idi Amin’s adjacent patience – whether by blacks in Alabama and presents, and to live now as we think human Uganda. Spain became an astonishment. I recall South Africa, peasants in El Salvador, Nicaragua, beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade telling and Vietnam, or workers and intellectuals in around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 13 FALL 2007 RADICAL VISION: BORNE FROM THE HUNGER OF OUR PEOPLE

BY KETY ESQUIVEL Hayden; Dal LaMagna; Byllye Avery; John Taylor try realize their own role in making these radical We, the American people, are hungry. We Gatto; John Norquist; Baldemar Velasquez; visions real. Radical visions can be transformative; hunger for a radical vision. We hunger for a Howard Zinn; Linda Schade; Chalmers Johnson; but only if we the people believe and work towards vision that shows us that large-scale social Santiago Juarez; Elena Herrada; Holly Sklar; that end. We have the leaders and the radical change is possible, a vision that inspires and that Noam Chomsky; Lester Brown; Cynthia visions that inspire. The question now is: “Will we tells us that we can be better than what we are McKinney; Jim Hightower; Stephen Zunes; Jay the people engage?” Or will we remain hungry, in now, a vision of justice. Inslee; Dan Kammen; Bill Fletcher; Ambrose I. apathy? It has always been we the people who As we move towards 2008, the question that Lane, Sr.; James Galbraith; Dolores Huerta; determine the path on which our country goes. It confronts us as a nation is: “Does this radical Helen Caldicott; Winona LaDuke; Jonathan is each of our responsibility. It is our choice. vision exist?” Ours is a country with a rich his- The answer is yes. In our midst, tory full of radical visions made real. there is a group leaders who have We do not build in isolation. We build been working towards visions of jus- on the shoulders of those that came tice. These men and women have before us. We were born of radical given their lives to their radical visionaries who created the visions of social change. Their work Declaration of Independence and spans across the sectors of education, what is arguably the most radically justice, labor, agriculture, health, visionary document the world has yet trade, peace, movement, state, inte- seen, the United States Constitution. rior, energy, treasury, commerce, Our nation has been radically inspired health and human services, trans- through the centuries by the suffra- portation, citizenship and gists, the abolitionists, the labor immigration services, homeland movement, the Civil Rights move- security and housing and urban ment, the farm workers’ movement, development. They have worked in the sanctuary movement, and the their respective fields and communi- waves of new immigrants who have ties to realize their visions showing us fought throughout the history of our that change is possible, that radical country to make their way here. Each ideas have transformative power and of these has heralded a new wave of that with them we can build a better social justice crashing on Lady Liberty’s nation and world. shores. Today we have the opportunity, The Backbone campaign, a non- once again, to dream of and create a profit created to embolden citizens Through its work the Backbone campaign U.S. that inspires. The ideas proposed and leaders has brought these men hopes to demonstrate that the progressive by these visionary leaders are a blue and women together in a print to what’s possible. movement is not merely oppositional but Progressive Cabinet in the hopes of This is a critical moment in our spreading their radical visions and propositional, and that it is not country’s history. Will we choose to success stories across the nation. content merely to run campaigns, be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers Through its work the Backbone but that its leaders are also ready, and stewards of our world? What we campaign hopes to demonstrate willing and able to run the country. choose to do now will have conse- that the progressive movement is quences on our future and the future not merely oppositional but propo- of those that come after us. Let us take sitional, and that it is not content merely to run these leaders’ ideas for 2008 in the campaigns, but that its leaders are also ready, Kozol; Gary Hart; Ruth Rosenbaum; John short term, and with them rally for a profound willing and able to run the country. Cavanagh; Judy Wicks; Craig Eisendrath; David political realignment in the long term. Do some- “Conversations with the Cabinet” is a series of Van Os; Hunter Lovins; Ralph Cavanagh; Amy thing. Get involved. Tell others. Help us make this podcasts that feature these policy and movement Domini; Phyllis Bennis; Gayle Smith; Lori radical vision of a Progressive movement real. leaders (http://backbonecampaign.org/ conversa- Wallach; Chuck Spinney; and Dennis Kucinich. Kety Esquivel is the founder of CrossLeft tions.cfm ). These leaders include Brad In these podcasts they offer a radical vision for (www.crossleft.org), Board Chair for the Institute for Friedman; Eric Cooper; Luis Cuevas; Anthony what is possible in each of these sectors. Progressive Christianity and has served as the Arnove; Jakada Imani; Emira Woods; Quentin Realizing that ultimately ideas alone are not Communications Director for Latinos for America. Young; Alice Lovelace; Stan Sorscher; Chrstopher enough to make a difference, the Backbone Presently Kety lives in New York City working as a Alexander; Steve Cobble; Stephen Zunes; Tom Campaign is hopeful that the people of this coun- consultant and pursuing her graduate degree.

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 14 FALL 2007 NEW ORLEANS: DRAMATIC VICTORY FOR HOUSING COALITION

New Orleans, December 10, 2007 their opposition to the plan showed little WHYnotnews—There was a dramatic victory patience for the weak arguments offered as justi- in New Orleans today for the Coalition to Stop fication for the demolitions, often blurting out the Demolitions when a New Orleans Mayor their contempt for the credibility of the develop- Nagin-appointed committee, the Housing ers and those the developers had brought with Conservation District Review Committee, failed them to make their case. The most heated to approve demolition of the Lafitte public exchanges occurred over the argument put forth housing developments. The committee dead- by developers and the mayor that the majority of locked 4-4 on a motion to demolish those New Orleanians are in favor of the proposed housing units thus halting developers from suc- demolitions. Quigley pointed out that the very ceeding in what is widely seen as a land grab language used in the questions about the demo- made possible only through the cronyism that lition was designed to skew the results in favor of has been so rampant throughout George W. the demolitions. One of the survey questions, Bush’s presidency. After impassioned addresses for example, asked if the respondent would from leaders of the coalition, keynoted by Bill rather move back into their homes in the condi- Quigley, who systematically dismantled the tion they were in before the hurricane or if they arguments for the legality of the proposals based would rather move into better homes. “It is hard on the committee’s own rules. Quigley argued to imagine that anyone would disapprove of that there was no reason to rush into the demo- moving into a better place,” said Quigley. Mayor Nagin has been feeling litions since there aren’t any binding contracts Despite the results of studies that have shown a strengthening hurricane of signed between the city and the developers and that it would cost less to rehab the existing there is no binding commitment of funding in buildings than to build new housing, despite ridicule for his siding with big place, nor is there any guarantee that the fund- inspections that showed the buildings are struc- money developers and turally sound and unaffected by Hurricane railroading the displaced Katrina, and despite the fact that in many cases people out of their homes. The right of return is the houses slated for demolition are listed in the one of the fundamental national registry of historical buildings, the human rights recognized developers and their friends in Washington persons—irrespective of the cause of their dis- appear to be using the excuse of the ravages of placement—are entitled to return to their land. around the world in Hurricane Katrina to perform ethnic cleansing Coalition members vowed to put their bod- international law and through domestically, while simultaneously making ies between the bulldozers and conduct treaties the United States obscene profits by exploiting the predominantly nonviolent civil disobedience to stop the demo- is a signatory to, that any poor and people of color. So racism is seen by litions and have asked for support and solidarity refugees or misplaced many to be entrenched at the core of the demo- from all Americans who stand for justice and the persons—irrespective lition efforts. rule of law. Mayor Nagin has been feeling a strengthen- Well after sundown, on any given day, the of the cause of their ing hurricane of ridicule for his siding with big hardworking people who live in Duncan Square displacement—are entitled money developers and railroading the displaced Plaza—and countless other gathering places to return to their land. people out of their homes. With many thou- city-wide—people who still own cars, still work sands of New Orleanians still living under full time jobs, people who have always paid their bridges, in public parks, under the overhangs of bills and not asked for any handouts can still be ing would continue until the project was public buildings and in every nook and cranny seen returning to their little plot of earth just completed. To justify the destruction of 82% of that can possibly provide shelter from the stifling outside and just across the street from Mayor the low income housing available to the tens of New Orleans heat in the summer and the wet- Nagin;s office. There is the unmistakable and thousands of people still displaced in the after- ter, colder weather they are now facing with the inescapable odor of human waste, from the lack math of, nearly 2-1/2 years after Hurricane onset of winter—and many living out in the of convenient public facilities. They are within a Katrina. What was most insulting to those who open—it is hard for citizens to understand why hundred yards of where the council members sat had gathered to voice their displeasure was the their friends and neighbors are not entitled to today and voted against the best interests of the vast number of people, dozens of whom are still the universally accepted right of return. The people they purportedly serve. It was difficult to camped out in Duncan Square Plaza, a public right of return is one of the fundamental human discern much difference between the stench that park located directly across the street from City rights recognized around the world in interna- wafted into the building from the little park Hall and Mayor Nagin’s office, who are still tional law and through treaties the United States across the street and the stench that was gener- homeless. The people who had gathered to voice is a signatory to, that any refugees or misplaced ated by the folks wearing the suits inside.

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 15 FALL 2007 RACISM WATCH

Racism Watch (RW) monitors the statements and actions of candidates at various levels, from local to Presidential and organizes progressive groups and individuals to respond to clearly racist statements and actions. A network of Racism Watch organizations will work to: • strengthen and make visible an explicitly anti-oppressive environment and network which understands the obligation to confront racism when- ever and wherever we find it; • generate political energy and excitement as widely as possible among communities of color which will translate into growing involvement in the actions undertaken by groups participating in this project, as well as heightened political mobilization on election day; • educate white activists and non-activists about racism and all of the various overt and subtle ways that it negatively affects and undergirds our- selves as well as our political/economic/social system; • support the emergence of an activist national network of groups and individuals who have developed the capacity to lead education and action to challenge racism as integral to their day-to-day political organizing.

Racism Watch will also include base-level form of actions: • workshops to prepare activists in different parts of the country to confront racism when it happens, e.g., emergency response networks, • demonstrations, possibly involving nonviolent civil disobedience, at the campaign headquarters of candidates who have made statements, taken positions or actions that are racist, • campaigns to publicize the names of those who have made large contributions to a candidate with a particularly racist record/set of principles.

WILL YOURS BE A RW ORGANIZATION? Independent Progressive Politics Network will staff this project but to ensure ideal effectiveness we are reaching out to other groups who share our active opposition to racism to participate actively in the project and share decision-making. Project planning meetings begin in January. If you/your organization is interested in becoming part of this effort, contact us at [email protected].

IPPN MISSION STATEMENT

The Independent Progressive Politics Network is composed of organizations and individuals committed to the achievement of a national, non-sectarian, independent progres- sive political party, or an alliance of such parties, as an alternative to the corporate-controlled, Democratic/Republican system. Organizations that join the IPPN maintain their independence while coordinating with other IPPN groups to the extent they find appropriate. Our goal is the transformation of this country through the unity of its peoples in active opposition to racism, sexism, homophobia, economic class exploitation, age discrim- ination and all other forms of oppression and discrimination. We are committed to the involvement of people of color, women, workers and young people in key leadership positions within IPPN and within the independent progressive movement. We provide written materials and publish a quarterly newspaper, reach out to new organizations and activists, maintain a web site and electronic discussion lists, organize conferences and engage in activities that further these objectives.

SUBSCRIBE/JOIN! K I want to continue receiving Independent Politics! Enclosed is $12.00 for the next four issues. K Our organization, ______, is interested in exploring the possibility of joining the IPPN, contact us with relevant information. K I would like to join IPPN as an individual supporting member. Enclosed is $______$30 for regular membership/$15 for student/unemployed/youth memership/$100 for sustaining membership K Please send me _____ copies of this publication to distribute to people who I know would be interested. Enclosed is $______(we ask a minimum of .50 per issue, less if a large order). K Enclosed is $______. K Enclosed is an additional contribution of $______for your essential work. Name______Address______City______State______Zip______Phone(s)______Fax ______E-mail______Return to: IPPN, P.O. 1041, Bloomfield, NJ 07003 • 973-338-5398, [email protected], www.ippn.org

INDEPENDENT POLITICS! 16 FALL 2007