http://www.ippn.org/article.php?ID=fh93.html
Dump Bush-Build Independent Politics By Ted Glick "Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are those who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its water. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will." -Frederick Douglass, August 4, 1857 It's a fact: there is a broadly-based, if loosely-connected, independent progressive movement in this country. It is by no means as coherent as it needs to become, but my assessment is that there are hundreds of thousands of people around the country who see themselves as activists for social change who are clear that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are the answer for the deep crises we are facing today. Many of these people are members of the Green Party, or the Labor Party, or one of several local or state "third parties" around the country-the Progressive Party in Vermont, the United Citizens Party in South Carolina, Progressive Dane in Wisconsin, the Peace and Freedom Party in California, the Mountain Party in West Virginia, the Green-Rainbow Party in Massachusetts, the Working Families Party in New York, or others. Probably more independent activists are not members of one of these parties, for various reasons. But these people tend to vote for independents on election day and to speak up in opposition to the corrupt and depressing reality of our corporate-dominated, two-party political system. Just about all of us, I would guess, participated in the historic, world-wide, pre-war peace movement late last year and early this year. That movement brought out upwards of a couple of million people in this country to at least one street demonstration over that period of time. Now, two months after that war was supposedly ended-or, more accurately, that "battle" in the planned on-going war-the Bush Administration is facing serious problems. They are contending with growing insurgencies in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Their lies about Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" have been exposed and could blow up in their faces. Combined with a sputtering economy and massive federal indebtedness two years after a multi-trillion dollar surplus, there are ample grounds to expect Bush's poll numbers to continue to slide. We in the independent progressive movement can help this process along. We can build a significantly stronger mass popular movement over the next 16 months leading up to the November 4, 2004 election. What should be the major objectives for our movement over that period of time? In my view, there are three: 1) replacing Bush with a Democrat (since we're not yet strong or organized enough to replace him with a Green or an independent), 2) seeing the Republicans lose control of at least one house of Congress, and 3) contributing to these objectives in a way which maintains our political independence, keeps the Green Party out there nationally as a visible political player, and strengthens our unity and organization. It is critical that we not get absorbed into the Democratic Party. We need to function independent of it because we cannot depend upon that big money-dominated institution, left to its own devices, to accomplish either or both of those first two objectives. We also need to function independently because we all know that whoever is in office come January 20, 2005, we need a strong and more unified independent progressive movement to press for genuine, positive, fundamental change. Here are some proposals for how we can best accomplish these three objectives: BUTTON-WEARING: We should all be wearing anti-Bush buttons-Dump Bush in '04; Bush Must Go; Dump Bush-Build Independent Politics; Bush Must Go-The People Yes!; other creative slogans--everywhere we go, as much as possible. This is a small but very important way that movements are built. We should carry a few extra with us and recruit others to buy and wear them. WE NEED MASS VISIBILITY OF ANTI-BUSH SENTIMENT! BUMPER-STICKERING: Same thing as with buttons. Let's get them up not just on the back bumpers of our cars but on poles, walls, wherever people will see them. TRUTH SQUADS WHEREVER BUSH GOES: When Bush, or others from his campaign, are speaking publicly we should be there, in the largest numbers we can mobilize, as loudly and visibly as possible. REGISTER THE "SLEEPING GIANT": The "sleeping giant" for our movement is those potential voters-50% of them--who are so turned off that they don't come out and vote. We need to carry voter registration forms and do organized voter registration in low-income communities and among youth, two major disaffected groups. We need to agitate about the importance of this upcoming election and the need for people to come out and vote for anybody but Bush and for progressive candidates in other races. POPULAR EDUCATION: We need to be about using language and putting together educational materials that are accessible and understandable by masses of people. What about the organizing of people's theatre groups to put together short skits and perform them in parks, on the street, wherever there are people? What about dump-Bush concerts where voter registration and sign-ups for grassroots organizing are prominently pushed? We need to think creatively and think popularly. This is not the time for small-group, leftist discussions on ideological fine points. PUMP UP AUGUST 29th, 2004: Coming out of United for Peace and Justice's national conference three weeks ago, it looks as if this could become a day that "The World Says No to Bush" the way February 15th was a day the world said no to war. There will be a massive demonstration on this day in New York City as the Republican Convention is about to begin, and there is already interest from groups in other countries in the idea of this being an international day of protest. DEFEND THE VOTE: The so-called "Help America Vote Act" requires every state to computerize, centralize and purge voter roles before 2004. This opens up the possibility of more Jeb Bush/Katherine Harris-type purges of black or other non-Republican voters in Republican-controlled states. There is also growing concern about electronic voting machines with no paper trail to guard against tampering or illegal programming. We need to stay on top of these issues in our various states. LOCAL UNITY-BUILDING: We must consciously work in our localities to counter hostility between Greens or other third partyites and rank-and-file progressive Democrats, people who are in general agreement on issues but who may disagree tactically over what to do as far as electoral politics. It is one thing to have dialogue and debates; this is already happening. But we need to find ways to maintain connections and to find common projects to work on-such as voter registration, watchdogging local election boards to counter possible skullduggery, and agitation around issues, including issues related to clean and democratic elections. LOOK TO SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER'S ACTIONS: One of the positive aspects of the pre-Iraq war peace movement was the minimal amount of public antagonism between the three major coalitions, UFPJ, ANSWER and Win Without War. This politically mature approach needs to be continued and, if possible, built upon, such as through open dialogue about differences in politics and strategy, at the same time that events initiated by one group-such as a projected UFPJ People's Convention next spring-are supported by others. A SAFE-STATES GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I've written about this in a past column. The Greens should run a Presidential candidate and put him or her on the ballot in as many states as possible. But the tactics of that campaign should be about concentrating and focusing resources in those 30-35 or so states where it is known well in advance of election day whether Bush or the Democrat is going to win that state's electoral votes. 16 months. That's how much time we've got to accomplish these three goals. This is more than enough time if we apply our collective energies, intelligence and dedication in a way commensurate with both the urgency and the promise of this coming period. "Thank God our time is now when wrong Comes up to face us everywhere, Never to leave until we take The longest stride of soul (we humans) ever took. Affairs are now soul size." -Christopher Fry Ted Glick is the National Coordinator of the Independent Progressive Politics Network (www.ippn.org), although these ideas are solely his. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED], or at P.O. Box 1132, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com [IMPORTANT NOTE: The views and opinions expressed on this list are solely those of the authors and/or publications, and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official political positions of the Black Radical Congress (BRC). Official BRC statements, position papers, press releases, action alerts, and announcements are distributed exclusively via the BRC-PRESS list. 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