-----Original Message-----
From: Miriam Vieni [mailto:miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2016 1:34 PM
To: 'Carl Jarvis'
Subject: RE: [blind-democracy] While Publicly Seeking Unity, the DNC is
Censoring a Convention and Silencing Dissent
I've read, and posted, a lot of articles describing what happened to those
Bernie delegates and how they felt. Putting all rhetoric, political theory, and
history aside, a very large number of them were young, idealistic, people who
had very little money, who had a difficult time paying for the trip to
Philadelphia, who had been led, by Sanders' speeches, to believe that they were
going to make a profound impact on that convention. He talked about, not only
fighting for the platform, but convincing the convention and the super
delegates that he had a better chance of winning against Trump than Hillary. He
said that up until the California vote. Then there was a lot of dirty politics
before and during that California vote, and he began changing his message. But
those delegates were young and they had been mesmerized for months and months.
Suddenly, they were supposed to give up what they'd been fighting for, become
realistic, as defined by the party establishment, and become invisible. I
think that what Bernie did to them is unforgiveable. He was giving 2 opposing
messages simultaneously. "We're going to win", and, "This isn't about winning
this election". And by the way, if you listen to Jill Stein's talks and
interviews and read about her, she's doing the same thing. It's one thing to
talk about building a movement and using electoral politics as one tool. It's
another thing to tell young, vulnerable people that they can win an election
when winning is impossible.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Jarvis [mailto:carjar82@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2016 11:21 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Miriam Vieni
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] While Publicly Seeking Unity, the DNC is
Censoring a Convention and Silencing Dissent
Why is it that people joined together in opposition to a corrupt system, and
then get all bent out of shape when that System turns on them and shuts them
down? Isn't that exactly why they rose up in the first place? Did some of
them really think that the Democratic Party was not a partner with the
Republican Party in fronting for the Ruling Class, the Establishment, the
American Empire?
And then, for some of these frustrated delegates to turn around and join with
Bernie Sanders in supporting Hillary Clinton. You have to wonder just what was
going around in their heads, besides fog and confusion.
There have been many thoughtful speeches by very bright people, outlining why
we should elect Hillary Clinton, and then set about "reforming" the nation.
Their reasoning is going to be attractive to many Progressives and Liberals.
Thom Hartman is such a person. And it appears that Bernie Sanders is also in
this camp.
It seems that the old saying, sometimes credited to Albert Einstein, that “The
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but
expecting different results”.
How many times over the years since the Colonies Landed Gentry drafted their
Declaration of Independence and set in concrete their enlightened constitution,
has the Working Class attempted to "reform"
this government? How many times have workers taken a giant step forward, only
to be driven two steps back? I am not attempting to dismiss the great
improvements that have shaped this government, enabling it to expand its
original subjects, the White Land Owners over 21, to include the freed slaves,
women, 18 year old's, and citizens who did not hold title to Land.
But after 240 years of attempting to reform this government, are we working
class folk really in a better position? And I am speaking of our status in the
eye of our Ruling Class. We can debate all day whether certain improvements
offset our incarceration of more prisoners than any other nation, or whether
women are closer to equal partnership, or whether the police are protecting us
and keeping us safe, or whether they are becoming an in-house military force.
In all of this, are we better off than our great grandparents? If you agree
with me to the extent that we see ourselves and our future controlled by
International Corporations, then we are truly worse off. And “The definition
of insanity still applies.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/2/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
While Publicly Seeking Unity, the DNC is Censoring a Convention and
Silencing Dissent Published on Saturday, July 30, 2016 by Common
Dreams While Publicly Seeking Unity, the DNC is Censoring a Convention
and Silencing Dissent Sanders delegates, volunteers, and supporters
have felt marginalized.
by
Tony Brasunas
Not seen on TV: The convention empty after Sanders delegates walked out.
The Democratic National Committee professes publicly that it longs for
peace and unity between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary
Clinton. The DNC’s actions as organizers of the convention, however,
have repeatedly had the opposite effect.
To begin, no one who wanted Bernie Sanders as the nominee was ever
allowed near the microphone on stage. It is an open convention,
regardless of the way it’s been covered in the corporate media;
Hillary Clinton did not get the required 2,383 delegates required to
win outright from pledged delegates. The superdelegates are casting the
deciding votes this week.
Bernie Sanders, although issuing an endorsement of Clinton earlier
this month, hasn’t conceded the race nor released his delegates and so
he could become the nominee.
Nevertheless, the entire first day of the convention — ostensibly the
“Bernie Day” — featured no speakers who favored a Sanders nomination.
Several one-time Sanders supporters who now favor Clinton were allowed
to speak.
“Instead of having both candidates’ surrogates make their case, even
if the outcome seemed obvious, Monday only featured speakers who
advocated voting for Hillary,” said Justin Baird, from the convention
floor, a Sanders delegate and whip from Washington state. “It was
painfully obvious that if that was Bernie Day, it was really just
another Hillary Day, and it riled nearly half the delegates.”
Simply allowing a few Sanders supporters — Nina Turner, for instance,
or Tulsi Gabbard, or even Jane Sanders — to speak Monday would have
immediately increased feelings of unity. Instead, the convention got
off on the wrong foot, fomenting feelings of suppression right away,
even before Bernie gave his heart-rending “three minute ovation” speech later
that night.
Barring the ‘Super Volunteers’
Even worse than preventing pro-Bernie speakers to address the
convention, the DNC has barred all 824 Bernie Sanders volunteers from the
convention.
Yes, all of them, having traveled across the country on their own
dime, expecting to be inside the convention, have been barred from the
convention floor.
And if that weren’t bad enough, they’ve filled the volunteers’ seats
with Hillary supporters — or possibly actors — to give the impression
of unity on television. There is something deeply disturbing — and
deeply illusory — about how this whole convention feels to many
Sanders supporters.
According to convention rules, the two campaigns send to the
convention prescribed allotments of official delegates and official
volunteers. The Sanders campaign, based on how many votes it won in
the primaries and caucuses around the country (ignoring election fraud
for now), sent to the convention 1860 pledged delegates and 824 state
volunteers.
“The volunteers were identified by the campaign and by the delegates
after lots of hard work,” said Catherine Berry, an official volunteer
for Bernie Sanders from Seattle. “I would have run for delegate,
actually, but I couldn’t, since I had to be out of town that day. I’ve
worked so hard, and I was honored to be sent to the convention as a ‘super
volunteer.’”
Berry arrived in Philadelphia eager to represent both Bernie Sanders
and her progressive community in Seattle.
“I was excited to see what the convention would be like. I was also
interested in hearing the speeches from the party leaders,” she said.
“If someone’s going to convince me to vote for Hillary Clinton, I want
it to be someone I voted for. I didn’t vote for most of these people,
but I voted for Obama, so I was interested to hear what he would say.”
She didn’t get that chance. The DNC revoked credentials for her and
the other 823 volunteers on Tuesday morning, the day the official vote
and nomination took place. All Sanders volunteers were barred from the
convention, while Clinton volunteers were allowed in and seated.
“We’re all just so angry about this,” she added. “The campaign brought
us into a room on Tuesday morning and said we wouldn’t be getting credentials.
No explanation. It was like we were being sent home. We didn’t expect
to be treated like this… many of us were crying.”
Not seen on TV: Election Fraud banner unfurled above Vice President
Joe Biden Official volunteers generally support the delegates during
the week by keeping their phones charged, running paperwork, and
fetching food and beverages during long days on the convention floor.
Sanders volunteers were never given the floor credentials to actually
do the job they were sent to do, and to make everything even more
difficult, they were housed far away at Rutgers University in New
Jersey.
“I was someone who came to the convention with an open mind. I was
open to having honest conversations. But I saw the Clinton volunteers
get VIP tours of the convention hall, and I saw us all get harassed
and yelled at. And then to be sent home like this? I’m not going home
happy, but I am going home. I just moved my flight to the red eye tonight.
It’s just been awful.”
Berry will hardly be an ambassadors of party unity upon returning home.
Filling the Seats for Hillary
Tuesday night would have been a great night for the volunteers to be
on the floor doing the job they were sent to do. That’s the night the
votes were called out, and the night the Bernie Sanders delegates
walked out of the convention in a “No Confidence” protest. Although
Bernie controversially won the initial roll call vote in the morning,
Hillary Clinton won the vote count in the evening and was nominated.
The Sanders delegates promptly marched out of the convention hall,
with a spokesperson for them stating their reasons. “We are the future
of the Democratic Party, and we have no confidence in this selection
process, no confidence in the primary election, and after the leaked emails,
no confidence in the current DNC leadership.”
Estimates range widely as to how many of the delegates walked out.
Evidently somewhere between 350, on the low end, and 1,000, on the
high end, of the total 1,860 Bernie Sanders delegates felt the “No
Confidence” protest was necessary and walked out.
So we can do the math. On Tuesday morning, the Sanders official
volunteers were barred from the convention floor. That evening, the
delegates walked out. So, perhaps fewer than 1,000 of the 2,684 Bernie
representatives to the convention were on the convention floor Tuesday
evening. Photos show the convention was quite empty.
But we never saw this emptiness on television.
This is because the Clinton volunteers were seated, and, according to
many reports, additional people supporting Hillary were quickly
dispatched into the convention as the Bernie delegates walked out.
“When we walked out,” said Baird, “we heard from people who stayed
inside that the place was almost half empty. Then we heard that our
seats were quickly being filled. When we returned, quite a while
later, some of us found strangers sitting there, in our seats.”
It’s not yet clear who these “seat-fillers” are. Some have reported
talking to them and learning that they’re just people off the street
paid $50 per day to wave signs. According to other reports, they’re
nearby college students or local Pennsylvania Democrats who support Hillary.
Angela Valdes, a member of the Bernie Sanders Oregon delegation and an
official representative to the Credentials Committee, witnessed
un-credentialed Clinton supporters getting floor credentials, after
she herself was barred.
“A woman came up to me in the hallway outside the convention and
informed me that she wasn’t an official volunteer, but that she was
from the local DNCC and could supply water to our delegates,” Valdes
said. “This woman made it clear she supported Hillary but could help
us communicate with our delegates. She’s not even an official
volunteer, and she has credentials to get down to the convention floor while
I have to stay out in the halls.”
Valdes also witnessed seats being filled when the delegates walked out.
“When I was in the hall watching our delegates come out, surrounded by
police, a group of nicely dressed college-aged people walked by,
holding floor credentials in their hands. One said out loud, ‘I can’t
believe we got these credentials!’”
Eden McFadden, a California delegate for Sanders explains more about
the seat-filling Skip to main content //
• DONATE
• SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
• Home
• World
• U.S.
• Canada
• Climate
• War & Peace
• Economy
• Rights
• Solutions
• Rev. William J. Barber
• Bernie Sanders
• Jill Stein
• Hillary Clinton
• Donald Trump
While Publicly Seeking Unity, the DNC is Censoring a Convention and
Silencing Dissent Published on Saturday, July 30, 2016 by Common
Dreams While Publicly Seeking Unity, the DNC is Censoring a Convention
and Silencing Dissent Sanders delegates, volunteers, and supporters
have felt marginalized.
by
Tony Brasunas
• 44 Comments
•
• Not seen on TV: The convention empty after Sanders delegates walked out.
• The Democratic National Committee professes publicly that it longs for
peace and unity between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
The DNC’s actions as organizers of the convention, however, have
repeatedly had the opposite effect.
• To begin, no one who wanted Bernie Sanders as the nominee was ever
allowed
near the microphone on stage. It is an open convention, regardless of
the way it’s been covered in the corporate media; Hillary Clinton did
not get the required 2,383 delegates required to win outright from
pledged delegates. The superdelegates are casting the deciding votes this
week.
Bernie Sanders, although issuing an endorsement of Clinton earlier
this month, hasn’t conceded the race nor released his delegates and so
he could become the nominee.
• Nevertheless, the entire first day of the convention — ostensibly the
“Bernie Day” — featured no speakers who favored a Sanders nomination.
Several one-time Sanders supporters who now favor Clinton were allowed
to speak.
• “Instead of having both candidates’ surrogates make their case, even if
the outcome seemed obvious, Monday only featured speakers who
advocated voting for Hillary,” said Justin Baird, from the convention
floor, a Sanders delegate and whip from Washington state. “It was
painfully obvious that if that was Bernie Day, it was really just
another Hillary Day, and it riled nearly half the delegates.”
Simply allowing a few Sanders supporters — Nina Turner, for instance,
or Tulsi Gabbard, or even Jane Sanders — to speak Monday would have
immediately increased feelings of unity. Instead, the convention got
off on the wrong foot, fomenting feelings of suppression right away,
even before Bernie gave his heart-rending “three minute ovation” speech later
that night.
Barring the ‘Super Volunteers’
Even worse than preventing pro-Bernie speakers to address the
convention, the DNC has barred all 824 Bernie Sanders volunteers from the
convention.
Yes, all of them, having traveled across the country on their own
dime, expecting to be inside the convention, have been barred from the
convention floor.
And if that weren’t bad enough, they’ve filled the volunteers’ seats
with Hillary supporters — or possibly actors — to give the impression
of unity on television. There is something deeply disturbing — and
deeply illusory — about how this whole convention feels to many
Sanders supporters.
According to convention rules, the two campaigns send to the
convention prescribed allotments of official delegates and official
volunteers. The Sanders campaign, based on how many votes it won in
the primaries and caucuses around the country (ignoring election fraud
for now), sent to the convention 1860 pledged delegates and 824 state
volunteers.
“The volunteers were identified by the campaign and by the delegates
after lots of hard work,” said Catherine Berry, an official volunteer
for Bernie Sanders from Seattle. “I would have run for delegate,
actually, but I couldn’t, since I had to be out of town that day. I’ve
worked so hard, and I was honored to be sent to the convention as a ‘super
volunteer.’”
Berry arrived in Philadelphia eager to represent both Bernie Sanders
and her progressive community in Seattle.
“I was excited to see what the convention would be like. I was also
interested in hearing the speeches from the party leaders,” she said.
“If someone’s going to convince me to vote for Hillary Clinton, I want
it to be someone I voted for. I didn’t vote for most of these people,
but I voted for Obama, so I was interested to hear what he would say.”
She didn’t get that chance. The DNC revoked credentials for her and
the other 823 volunteers on Tuesday morning, the day the official vote
and nomination took place. All Sanders volunteers were barred from the
convention, while Clinton volunteers were allowed in and seated.
“We’re all just so angry about this,” she added. “The campaign brought
us into a room on Tuesday morning and said we wouldn’t be getting credentials.
No explanation. It was like we were being sent home. We didn’t expect
to be treated like this… many of us were crying.”
Not seen on TV: Election Fraud banner unfurled above Vice President
Joe Biden Official volunteers generally support the delegates during
the week by keeping their phones charged, running paperwork, and
fetching food and beverages during long days on the convention floor.
Sanders volunteers were never given the floor credentials to actually
do the job they were sent to do, and to make everything even more
difficult, they were housed far away at Rutgers University in New
Jersey.
“I was someone who came to the convention with an open mind. I was
open to having honest conversations. But I saw the Clinton volunteers
get VIP tours of the convention hall, and I saw us all get harassed
and yelled at. And then to be sent home like this? I’m not going home
happy, but I am going home. I just moved my flight to the red eye tonight.
It’s just been awful.”
Berry will hardly be an ambassadors of party unity upon returning home.
Filling the Seats for Hillary
Tuesday night would have been a great night for the volunteers to be
on the floor doing the job they were sent to do. That’s the night the
votes were called out, and the night the Bernie Sanders delegates
walked out of the convention in a “No Confidence” protest. Although
Bernie controversially won the initial roll call vote in the morning,
Hillary Clinton won the vote count in the evening and was nominated.
The Sanders delegates promptly marched out of the convention hall,
with a spokesperson for them stating their reasons. “We are the future
of the Democratic Party, and we have no confidence in this selection
process, no confidence in the primary election, and after the leaked emails,
no confidence in the current DNC leadership.”
Estimates range widely as to how many of the delegates walked out.
Evidently somewhere between 350, on the low end, and 1,000, on the
high end, of the total 1,860 Bernie Sanders delegates felt the “No
Confidence” protest was necessary and walked out.
So we can do the math. On Tuesday morning, the Sanders official
volunteers were barred from the convention floor. That evening, the
delegates walked out. So, perhaps fewer than 1,000 of the 2,684 Bernie
representatives to the convention were on the convention floor Tuesday
evening. Photos show the convention was quite empty.
But we never saw this emptiness on television.
This is because the Clinton volunteers were seated, and, according to
many reports, additional people supporting Hillary were quickly
dispatched into the convention as the Bernie delegates walked out.
“When we walked out,” said Baird, “we heard from people who stayed
inside that the place was almost half empty. Then we heard that our
seats were quickly being filled. When we returned, quite a while
later, some of us found strangers sitting there, in our seats.”
It’s not yet clear who these “seat-fillers” are. Some have reported
talking to them and learning that they’re just people off the street
paid $50 per day to wave signs. According to other reports, they’re
nearby college students or local Pennsylvania Democrats who support Hillary.
Angela Valdes, a member of the Bernie Sanders Oregon delegation and an
official representative to the Credentials Committee, witnessed
un-credentialed Clinton supporters getting floor credentials, after
she herself was barred.
“A woman came up to me in the hallway outside the convention and
informed me that she wasn’t an official volunteer, but that she was
from the local DNCC and could supply water to our delegates,” Valdes
said. “This woman made it clear she supported Hillary but could help
us communicate with our delegates. She’s not even an official
volunteer, and she has credentials to get down to the convention floor while
I have to stay out in the halls.”
Valdes also witnessed seats being filled when the delegates walked out.
“When I was in the hall watching our delegates come out, surrounded by
police, a group of nicely dressed college-aged people walked by,
holding floor credentials in their hands. One said out loud, ‘I can’t
believe we got these credentials!’”
