[GNC] Re: [Membership] This is who we should be reaching out to, post November

Wed Aug 4 00:34:57 EDT 2004

Well, as a former Green Kucinich "official", I know lots of his
Massachusetts supporters, and would be happy to send them all an e-mail
suggesting that they may be in the wrong Party and that there's another
Party that's more consistent with their beliefs and would welcome their
membership and participation.

Adam

--- Aram Falsafi <afalsafi at igc.org> wrote:

> Assuming Kerry wins (if for no other reason than the fact that Wall
> Street has
> decided that Bush is bad for profits) what will happen to all of
> those
> disillusioned Kucinich Democrats that finally realize that there is
> no hope for
> "their" party after President Kerry calls up another 25,000
> reservists?
> 
> I propose that we start outreach to as many Kucinich supporters as we
> can,
> immediately after November.
> 
> -Aram
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [GreenAllianceUSA] Fwd:  How Democratic Convention Muzzled
> Anti-War
> Delegates (fwd)
> Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2004 20:27:33 -0000
> From: "obeynow20001" <obeynow20001 at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: GreenAllianceUSA at yahoogroups.com
> To: solidaritygp at yahoogroups.com, ralphnader2004 at yahoogroups.com,
> green_all_views at yahoogrouops.com, greenallianceusa at yahoogroups.com,
> chiantiwar-disc at yahoogroups.com,
> logansquareagainstthewar at yahoogroups.com,
> opctj at yahoogroups.com, progressiverogerspark at yahoogroups.com,
> saicactivism at yahoogroups.com, uicnowariraq at yahoogroups.com
> 
> Another reason to vote Nader and build the Green Party:
> 
> Volunteer at www.votenader.org
> 
> More information at: www.greensfornader.org
> 
> 
> Alex Briscoe
> 
> Illinois Green Party
> Green Alliance
> etc.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In IllinoisGreensTalk at yahoogroups.com, huckelberry at s... wrote:
> What a farce.  I'm still waiting for someone, anyone in the ABB crowd
> 
> to 
> explain what they're doing to fight the BS described in this 
> statement. 
> 
> In short, here's a Democratic delegate from Minnesota who found the 
> convention so offensive that he honestly doesn't know what to do, 
> except to 
> keep fighting, somehow, somewhere.  The Democrats are actually 
> ostracizing 
> people from within their own ranks now. 
> 
>  - Phil 
> 
>  -------------------- 
> 
> A Kucinich Convention Delegate Statement: [Excerpts] 
> 
> Sunday 1st August 2004 
> 
> "I have been home a bit more than a day, and I wanted to give my
> perspective on the convention in Boston.=20 
> 
> The first thing I want to say is that the entire convention was a
> sham. Perhaps I was na=EFve, but I went in with the perspective of
> Duluth (the MN Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party State Convention in
> May), where there was lots of _expression from the delegates,
> including wrangling over platform, motions from the floor,
> significant interactions with other delegates. None of that was true
> in Boston; there were no discussions of platform, no microphones on
> the floor at all, no negotiations of any kind, no input of any kind
> from the delegates. 
> 
> By the end of the first night, I was very deeply
> upset, muttering things about "Stepford delegates" and wondering why
> they didn't just get the crowd as extras from Central Casting,
> instead of going through the delegate selection process they did. 
> 
> "Lock-step" doesn't begin to cover the management of delegates by
> our minders. Since we were told that we could not bring in signs, I
> didn't, but I made a sign on-site that said simply "Peace." It was
> confiscated, and in a very clever way that left me with no
> possibility of
> confrontation. For the first two days, they were
> ambivalent about the pink scarves we had printed that said "Give
> Bush The Pink Slip; Delegate for Peace." By Tuesday night, they were
> confiscating them by the hundreds at the metal detectors, and then
> going around the hall taking them from individuals. We confronted
> them on that one and got them to back off, but it was a tense battle
> that carried the risk of being ejected from the hall. 
> 
> There was very tight control, even over the choreographed signs they
> passed out. If you held up a sign too early or too late, you got a
> reprimand. For example, if you held up a basically red Edwards sign
> from 15 minutes ago when everyone else was holding up the blue
> Edwards sign, you were in a bit of trouble. I saved myself grief by
> not holding up any of their silly signs. 
> 
> So I want to say very clearly that this convention had absolutely
> nothing to do with grassroots politics or representative democracy.
> It was designed as a high-end infomercial. There was a constant
> drumbeat for "unity" and "message." Sadly, the message was entirely
> about how qualified John Kerry was to lead our nation in war. There
> was no mention of our desire for peace, except for some of Dennis's
> comments and a few unscripted remarks by Sharpton. 
> 
> One of my biggest goals in attending the convention was to deliver a
> warning to a high level Kerry advisor. I believe that their strategy
> of selling Kerry as a more efficient war-monger is extremely
> dangerous. They run the risk of tens of millions of people staying
> home, since they see little distinction between Kerry and Bush when
> it comes to the war. 
> 
> I got my chance on Sunday, when I attended a teachers' union meeting
> with Kerry's pollster Mark Millner. After his semi-rousing speech,
> they asked for questions, and I obliged. I asked if he didn't think
> it was dangerous to ignore the millions of people who want us to end
> the occupation in Iraq, since it risks them staying home instead of
> voting. 
> 
> He replied that it was all the fault of the God-damned
> Republicans who were paying to get Nader on the ballot. I came back,
> saying that I was not talking about Nader or Republicans, but loyal
> Democrats who wanted to vote for somebody against the war in Iraq.
> He repeated his Republicans/Nader mantra again. 
> 
> In other words, they have their plan: Run like Bush-lite, then blame
> Nader when you lose. 
> 
> As I talk to you now about the actual delegate vote, I want to be
> very specific about the exact sorts of pressure we were all feeling. 
> 
> Going into the convention, Kucinich had already released his
> delegates and strongly requested that they vote for Kerry on the
> first ballot. After Sunday's emotional meeting, Dennis became clear
> that he could not direct our votes that easily, that many felt bound
> by conscience to vote for him, despite his unity urgings. Or perhaps
> it was rather that many delegates could not morally vote for Kerry
> while he voiced support for war and for the occupation. 
> 
> At our Minnesota state delegation level, the pressure was enormous.
> I imagine it was the same in other states. Dennis had released our
> votes; if we didn't follow our leader, he would lose all credibility
> at the national level. Dennis was not even on the ballot; if we
> voted for him, it would only be recorded as "present" - - a sort of
> abstention. We were in a life or death fight against Bush and party
> unity was paramount; if we voted for Kucinich, it would be our fault
> if Bush won, and the state and local Democrats would be unwilling to
> work with us on anything - - our credibility with the party would be
> finished. 
> 
> In that context, there was absolutely nothing to be gained by voting
> for Dennis, but everything to lose. In that context, our Kucinich
> votes would not be seen as votes in favor of peace and progressive
> issues, merely signs of party disloyalty which would benefit the
> Republicans. Nearly all of my fellow delegates, in deep anguish,
> abandoned what they saw as a quixotic fight, in favor of building
> alliances within the party. 
> 
> I held out for some language of withdrawal from Iraq as a condition,
> got stubborn, and became very much the spoiler in what would have
> been a very practical deal. 
> 
> In the end, I became weary of so much talk about strategy. I just
> couldn't vote for a guy who spoke so fondly about a more
> international and more efficient occupation of another country. It
> just doesn't fit with what Mrs. Walker taught me back in the 3rd
> grade, about self-determination, the Declaration of Independence,
> and who has the right to rule a people. 
> 
> The next morning, I gave a speech to the Minnesota delegation,
> explaining my vote of conscience, and my hopes for cooperation. In
> the end, I do not know whether the DFLers will work with the Dean
> and Kucinich types among them, or carry an ongoing resentment toward
> us
> because of my own willful decision. Time will tell. I only know what
> the consequent loss will be as great for them as it is for us, if we
> are shut out and cannot find ourselves in the DFL. 
> 
> I hope you can forgive us all for any decisions we made in Boston.
> Please understand that we were all isolated, sleep-deprived, living
> in circumstances where others dictated our choices and asked for our
> moral decisions in a context controlled by them and totally new to
> all of us. With each hour since my return to Minnesota, I see more
> clearly that it was a situation, in fact, much like the context of
> brainwashing or the psychological operations used in Guantanamo. We
> were never tortured, and never stripped naked (although the security
> checkpoints at the entrance and at the airport had hints of that).
> We were, however, isolated from our community, from our usual
> context, and even perhaps from the moral parameters we usually have. 
> 
> The question arises: Should we now support Kerry? It's a hard one. 
> 
> How can we support someone whose idea of progress is to put a velvet
> glove on the iron fist of colonialism? How can we support someone
> who speaks of a willingness to support unilateral wars (under the
> right conditions) and whose campaign is so overwhelmingly military
> in his values. 
> 
> But what would happen if we all stayed home or voted for Nader?
> Wouldn't we then risk the true hell of what W. and his neocons would
> do if they won an actual mandate of sorts? 
> 
> I do not know what you can morally do in this situation. Perhaps you
> can find it in your heart to go to the polls with a clothespin on
> your nose and vote for Kerry. Perhaps you can even find the energy
> to do voter registration or phone canvases or door-knocking. Perhaps
> you will not find any energy at all for the non-choice of this
> presidential campaign, but you will throw yourself into something
> like Patty Wetterling's race or one of the Legacy Project's
> candidates for Minnesota House. 
> 
> In the end, we must still support all candidates who reflect our
> ideals. In the end, we must examine our own beliefs and
> temperaments, and throw our energies into the causes and
> institutions we want. So keep buying your food at the co-ops. Keep
> marching and conducting vigils, when you can. Keep writing your
> senators and writing the
> president and sending letters to the local papers. 
> 
> If you are tired or discouraged, take a break. But please don't quit
> altogether. Go to the grass roots and keep organizing like crazy. In
> the end, we will need these millions behind us, whether Kerry or
> Bush holds the title of president. 
> 
> Peace, Charley Underwood" 
> 
> by : Charley Underwood
> Sunday 1st August 2004
> --- End forwarded message ---
> 
> 
> 
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