Alice, yes the effects of the TPP are not lost on you, me, or probably anyone
else reading this message. However, the point I was trying to make is the
hypothetical 19 year-old in Brownsville isn't aware of the interconnect between
the TPP and the economic conditions he lives in. I don't think it has any
meaning to the oppressed, they know what they live. That is why I asked the
question and maybe I should have phrased it to ask if hearing the rhetoric of
the TPP would inspire that kid to get out and vote? I think the answer is not
for the reason I mentioned above, its relevance is lost on him.
Frank
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alice Dampman Humel
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 12:49 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Sanders Delegates Are Not Going Away Quietly at
the DNC
maybe they have never heard of the TPP, but it is at least part, note I say
part, of the reason they're living in the projects in Brownsville and also part
of the reason the cops are so racist and brutal and allowed to get away with
it. Everybody acquitted in Balto...surprise, surprise.
It's all interconnected, and the economic oppression is just as real and just
as hard, maybe harder, than the other things weighing people down.
On Jul 27, 2016, at 10:49 AM, Frank Ventura
<frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Color me Mr. Negativity, but I disagree. I actually think we are losing ground.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From:
blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 9:01 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Sanders Delegates Are Not Going Away Quietly at
the DNC
On 7/26/16, Frank Ventura
<frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
This article is a good example of what were speaking of earlier
tonight, when we spoke about how some folks are near the bottom, at
their breaking point already. While reading this I was asking myself
how many 19 year old black males in the Brownsville (Brooklyn) housing
projects have even heard of the TPP? Does the cop debate its merits
before shooting them? I am starting to think that both the right and
the left have gone so far away from what people relate to.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From:
blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam
Vieni
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2016 9:57 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Sanders Delegates Are Not Going Away
Quietly at the DNC
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home > Sanders
Delegates Are Not Going Away Quietly at the DNC
________________________________________
Sanders Delegates Are Not Going Away Quietly at the DNC By Steven
Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2] July 25, 2016 Hundreds of Bernie Sanders
delegates and their supporters met for several hours on Monday morning
to orchestrate their protests on the floor of the Democratic
Convention that will open later today and to hound members of Congress
who are rejecting their issues-starting with the proposed Trans
Pacific Partnership trade deal and a Medicare-for-all health care system.
"If you are against the TPP and are delegates and can be whips for us,
I need names," yelled California Sanders delegate, Susan George, from
the podium as activists unfurled a yellow and black banner with
three-feet-tall letters reading TPP = BETRAYAL. "This is for tonight,"
she continued. "We need a whip in every state."
"Hey, hey, ho, ho-TPP has got to go! You got that down for tonight?"
blared Larry Cohen, the ex-Communications Workers of America president
and Sanders campaign representative. "The important thing here this
morning is how we stop the TPP. We all know what's wrong with it. We
all know the TPP stinks and no TPP!"
"No TPP! No TPP! No TPP," replied the crowd, as Cohen continued
introduce Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley to moderate, saying he "does the
right thing in every single case, including being the only U.S.
senator to endorse Bernie Sanders for president."
"Bernie for president! Bernie for President! Bernie for President,"
the room erupted, as hundreds jumped to their feet and screamed.
That outpouring was part of a building crescendo that started at 9:30 A.M.
in a remote wing of the downtown Philadelphia Convention Center where
the Sanders campaign had convened a series of meetings to discuss how
to keep two issues alive that have animated their
movement-single-payer healthcare and opposing the TPP. But a parade of
speakers began expressing their deep and at times visceral frustration
with Democratic Party establishment, from not adopting a progressive
platform, to standing with big business on trade at the expense of
American workers and immigrants, to rejecting Hillary Clinton for president.
In between, organizers with the Sanders campaign let it be known that
they were trying to gather enough delegates to bring their issues to
the convention floor on Monday night, such as a proposed platform
amendment where all Democrats agree not to adopt the TPP after the
November election and before the next Congress is sworn in next January.
The session started quietly enough, although the Sanders campaign's
volunteers tried to bar reporters from entering. At first, it was only
perhaps 100 nurses and top officials from National Nurses United in
their ubiquitous red shirts and a smattering of dozens of delegates
who filled a cavernous banquet hall.
The first speaker was James Zobgy, the longtime president of the Arab
American Institute who was picked by Sanders to serve on the platform
committee and introduced the amendment to support a single-payer,
Medicare-for-all national health care system.
"It, like several of the other planks that were introduced, it was a
no-brainer," Zogby told the room. "But something weird happens in this
process where people take their policy brain out of their heads and
put in their politics brain. The fear of actually doing it stopped
there. They play this chicken little game of the sky will fall [if
they adopted a call for single payer]."
"This year we had a candidate running around the country calling for
Medicare for all," said Micheal Lighty, NNU policy director, who, like
other speakers tried to inspire the activists to keep going and cited
progress in states like Colorado, Minnesota and California. "We cannot
win on any of our issues unless we fight for all of them. That is how
we have to think of our fights and the political opportunities now. We
are part of this broad social justice movement. The work we do
electorally is a means to that, but not the end game."
As the room began to fill, those in attendance were not there to hear
consoling words. When Donna Smith, president of Progressive Democrat
of America spoke, she said many reporters have been asking her if PDA
would endorse Clinton. "PDA will not endorse Hillary Clinton," she
firmly declared, prompting the whole room to jump to their feet and cheer.
"The convention starts in about four and one-half hours, are you going
to take this social movement to the convention," Benjamin Day,
executive director of healthcare-now.org<http://healthcare-now.org> loudly
asked. "Eighty-one
percent of Democrats support Medicare for all. What will it take, 85
percent? It's not about convincing, it is about organizing. It is not
just single payer, it is the racial justice movement, environmental
justice, TPP. Keep this fight going! Let's turn this entire convention
into power. We will win this thing!"
But it was the TPP session that followed where the room filled with
people and the energy to challenge the Democratic Party establishment
rose to a new level and got specific. As Merkley introduced speaker
after speaker, it became clear that nobody was ready to surrender to
mainstream Democrats and abide by politely getting in line with Clinton.
When Gustavo Torres, executive director of the Washington, D.C. based
Casa in Action, a immigrant rights group, told the room that prior
trade agreements like NAFTA left hundreds of thousands of Mexican
peasants without work and pushed them to migrate to the U.S. without
documentation, people grimly nodded.
"We believe it is very important to send a message," he said. "We want
Secretary Clinton and Sen. [Tim] Kaine to be president, right?"
"No!" voices immediately replied. "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!" chanted
row after row of delegates and activists, followed by loud clapping.
"We want to send a message that the TPP is not a good deal for our
families, right here and in central America," Torres said, quickly
summing up and leaving the stage,
Several minutes later came the CWA spokesman Chris Shelton, who told
the room that never before has every major international union opposed
a trade agreement. When he said that 28 House Democrats and 13 Senate
Democrats voted to give the president fast-track authority to
negotiate the TPP, people started yelling back, "Take them out! Take them out!"
He told the room that the Sanders delegates changed the platform's
draft language that said "there was a diversity of opinion about the
TPP. The only word I could say was bullshit!"
"Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!" the room responded.
"Our mission now is to get the officials of the Democratic Party take
their implicit rejection of the TPP and make it an explicit
rejection," Shelton said. "I urge all of you to take action. Hold your
members of Congress accountable-including those 41 assholes who voted
for fast track. Tell them how angry you are that they turned their
backs on workers. and then we must go home and organize. Are ready to
stand up and fight? Are you ready to stand up and fight?"
"Yes. Fight! Fight! Fight!" the room replied. "Stand up! Fight! Stand up!
Fight."
Immediately after, the speakers got down to specifics. Lori Wallach,
director and founder of Global Trade Watch, told the room that any
delegate needed to sign their petition to amend the party platform to
say the party would not support a TTP vote in the lame-duck session
after November's election. Other volunteers passed out sheets with
anti-TPP talking point and buttons.
"The thing we have to do to keep the Bernie revolution going is win on
TPP,"
Wallach blared. "There will be no bigger setback for corporate America!"
"If you're a convention delegate, please come up here and sign this
amendment now," delegate Susan George told the room, taking the
podium. That promted dozens of delegates to head to the side of the
stage. As they massed and were also asked what state delegation are
they from-to create a united front on the convention floor later
on-the campaign's Larry Cohen took back the microphone.
"You've heard these amazing panels. It's up to us. This week is up to
us. We need every state to raise this issue," he said. "Are you with
us or against us? We passed out the list of the 41 senators and
representatives who voted for fast track. You are eating breakfast
with them. Ask them, 'Are you with us or against us?'"
"And when you are in the hall and you hear the chant, you pick it up,"
Cohen continued. "Hey, hey, ho, ho, TPP has got to go. The president
needs to hear it. The speakers need to hear it. Every night. Jump in!"
Then Cohen told the room that everyone had to leave the ballroom
because the Secret Service needed to conduct a sweep because Sanders
was coming and non-delegates had to make room for their 1,900
delegates. As the delegates filtered back into the room and waited,
their periodic cheers were louder than anything heard before-and the man who
inspired it hand't even arrived.
After the closed-door meeting, delegates said Sanders gave a standard
stump speech, encouraging them to keep on fighting, but also said they
had to support Hillary Clinton. That prompted boos, according to
people in the room.
"You could feel the pitchforks come out," said one nurse in a red NNU
shirt, who added that the energy among delegates to protest and be
heard was not deterred.
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet,
including America's retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights,
and campaigns and elections. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's
Guide to Voting"
(AlterNet Books, 2008).
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to
'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx>'. [3]
[4]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/sanders-delegates-are-not-going-
away-q
uietly-dnc
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Sanders Delegates
Are Not Going Away Quietly at the DNC [4] http://www.alternet.org/ [5]
http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home > Sanders
Delegates Are Not Going Away Quietly at the DNC
Sanders Delegates Are Not Going Away Quietly at the DNC By Steven
Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2] July 25, 2016 AddThis Sharing
ButtonsShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+More AddThis
Share optionsShare to Email Hundreds of Bernie Sanders delegates and
their supporters met for several hours on Monday morning to
orchestrate their protests on the floor of the Democratic Convention
that will open later today and to hound members of Congress who are
rejecting their issues-starting with the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership
trade deal and a Medicare-for-all health care system.
"If you are against the TPP and are delegates and can be whips for us,
I need names," yelled California Sanders delegate, Susan George, from
the podium as activists unfurled a yellow and black banner with
three-feet-tall letters reading TPP = BETRAYAL. "This is for tonight,"
she continued. "We need a whip in every state."
"Hey, hey, ho, ho-TPP has got to go! You got that down for tonight?"
blared Larry Cohen, the ex-Communications Workers of America president
and Sanders campaign representative. "The important thing here this
morning is how we stop the TPP. We all know what's wrong with it. We
all know the TPP stinks and no TPP!"
"No TPP! No TPP! No TPP," replied the crowd, as Cohen continued
introduce Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley to moderate, saying he "does the
right thing in every single case, including being the only U.S.
senator to endorse Bernie Sanders for president."
"Bernie for president! Bernie for President! Bernie for President,"
the room erupted, as hundreds jumped to their feet and screamed.
That outpouring was part of a building crescendo that started at 9:30 A.M.
in a remote wing of the downtown Philadelphia Convention Center where
the Sanders campaign had convened a series of meetings to discuss how
to keep two issues alive that have animated their
movement-single-payer healthcare and opposing the TPP. But a parade of
speakers began expressing their deep and at times visceral frustration
with Democratic Party establishment, from not adopting a progressive
platform, to standing with big business on trade at the expense of
American workers and immigrants, to rejecting Hillary Clinton for president.
In between, organizers with the Sanders campaign let it be known that
they were trying to gather enough delegates to bring their issues to
the convention floor on Monday night, such as a proposed platform
amendment where all Democrats agree not to adopt the TPP after the
November election and before the next Congress is sworn in next January.
The session started quietly enough, although the Sanders campaign's
volunteers tried to bar reporters from entering. At first, it was only
perhaps 100 nurses and top officials from National Nurses United in
their ubiquitous red shirts and a smattering of dozens of delegates
who filled a cavernous banquet hall.
The first speaker was James Zobgy, the longtime president of the Arab
American Institute who was picked by Sanders to serve on the platform
committee and introduced the amendment to support a single-payer,
Medicare-for-all national health care system.
"It, like several of the other planks that were introduced, it was a
no-brainer," Zogby told the room. "But something weird happens in this
process where people take their policy brain out of their heads and
put in their politics brain. The fear of actually doing it stopped
there. They play this chicken little game of the sky will fall [if
they adopted a call for single payer]."
"This year we had a candidate running around the country calling for
Medicare for all," said Micheal Lighty, NNU policy director, who, like
other speakers tried to inspire the activists to keep going and cited
progress in states like Colorado, Minnesota and California. "We cannot
win on any of our issues unless we fight for all of them. That is how
we have to think of our fights and the political opportunities now. We
are part of this broad social justice movement. The work we do
electorally is a means to that, but not the end game."
As the room began to fill, those in attendance were not there to hear
consoling words. When Donna Smith, president of Progressive Democrat
of America spoke, she said many reporters have been asking her if PDA
would endorse Clinton. "PDA will not endorse Hillary Clinton," she
firmly declared, prompting the whole room to jump to their feet and cheer.
"The convention starts in about four and one-half hours, are you going
to take this social movement to the convention," Benjamin Day,
executive director of healthcare-now.org loudly asked. "Eighty-one
percent of Democrats support Medicare for all. What will it take, 85
percent? It's not about convincing, it is about organizing. It is not
just single payer, it is the racial justice movement, environmental
justice, TPP. Keep this fight going! Let's turn this entire convention
into power. We will win this thing!"
But it was the TPP session that followed where the room filled with
people and the energy to challenge the Democratic Party establishment
rose to a new level and got specific. As Merkley introduced speaker
after speaker, it became clear that nobody was ready to surrender to
mainstream Democrats and abide by politely getting in line with Clinton.
When Gustavo Torres, executive director of the Washington, D.C. based
Casa in Action, a immigrant rights group, told the room that prior
trade agreements like NAFTA left hundreds of thousands of Mexican
peasants without work and pushed them to migrate to the U.S. without
documentation, people grimly nodded.
"We believe it is very important to send a message," he said. "We want
Secretary Clinton and Sen. [Tim] Kaine to be president, right?"
"No!" voices immediately replied. "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!" chanted
row after row of delegates and activists, followed by loud clapping.
"We want to send a message that the TPP is not a good deal for our
families, right here and in central America," Torres said, quickly
summing up and leaving the stage,
Several minutes later came the CWA spokesman Chris Shelton, who told
the room that never before has every major international union opposed
a trade agreement. When he said that 28 House Democrats and 13 Senate
Democrats voted to give the president fast-track authority to
negotiate the TPP, people started yelling back, "Take them out! Take them out!"
He told the room that the Sanders delegates changed the platform's
draft language that said "there was a diversity of opinion about the
TPP. The only word I could say was bullshit!"
"Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!" the room responded.
"Our mission now is to get the officials of the Democratic Party take
their implicit rejection of the TPP and make it an explicit
rejection," Shelton said. "I urge all of you to take action. Hold your
members of Congress accountable-including those 41 assholes who voted
for fast track. Tell them how angry you are that they turned their
backs on workers. and then we must go home and organize. Are ready to
stand up and fight? Are you ready to stand up and fight?"
"Yes. Fight! Fight! Fight!" the room replied. "Stand up! Fight! Stand up!
Fight."
Immediately after, the speakers got down to specifics. Lori Wallach,
director and founder of Global Trade Watch, told the room that any
delegate needed to sign their petition to amend the party platform to
say the party would not support a TTP vote in the lame-duck session
after November's election. Other volunteers passed out sheets with
anti-TPP talking point and buttons.
"The thing we have to do to keep the Bernie revolution going is win on
TPP,"
Wallach blared. "There will be no bigger setback for corporate America!"
"If you're a convention delegate, please come up here and sign this
amendment now," delegate Susan George told the room, taking the
podium. That promted dozens of delegates to head to the side of the
stage. As they massed and were also asked what state delegation are
they from-to create a united front on the convention floor later
on-the campaign's Larry Cohen took back the microphone.
"You've heard these amazing panels. It's up to us. This week is up to
us. We need every state to raise this issue," he said. "Are you with
us or against us? We passed out the list of the 41 senators and
representatives who voted for fast track. You are eating breakfast
with them. Ask them, 'Are you with us or against us?'"
"And when you are in the hall and you hear the chant, you pick it up,"
Cohen continued. "Hey, hey, ho, ho, TPP has got to go. The president
needs to hear it. The speakers need to hear it. Every night. Jump in!"
Then Cohen told the room that everyone had to leave the ballroom
because the Secret Service needed to conduct a sweep because Sanders
was coming and non-delegates had to make room for their 1,900
delegates. As the delegates filtered back into the room and waited,
their periodic cheers were louder than anything heard before-and the man who
inspired it hand't even arrived.
After the closed-door meeting, delegates said Sanders gave a standard
stump speech, encouraging them to keep on fighting, but also said they
had to support Hillary Clinton. That prompted boos, according to
people in the room.
"You could feel the pitchforks come out," said one nurse in a red NNU
shirt, who added that the energy among delegates to protest and be
heard was not deterred.
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet,
including America's retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights,
and campaigns and elections. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's
Guide to Voting"
(AlterNet Books, 2008).
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [3] Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid.[4]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/sanders-delegates-are-not-going-
away-q
uietly-dnc
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Sanders Delegates
Are Not Going Away Quietly at the DNC [4] http://www.alternet.org/ [5]
http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Frank,
From where I sit, the Political System and those who own it, have removed
themselves from the real world. My advice, if I chose to give it to them,
would be to look over their shoulder because someone, or something is gaining
on them.
Carl Jarvis
