NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5924

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From: [e-mail] (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: The 3rd CONVENTION (Aug 21-23) -- PEOPLE'S PROGRESSIVE CONVENTION
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*Subject: The 3rd CONVENTION (Aug 21-23) -- PEOPLE'S PROGRESSIVE CONVENTION

    "And with the collapse of the Soviet "evil empire" why do both
    parties continue to pour hundreds of billions of dollars down
    Defense Department ratholes? It is clear that the greatest threats
    to our national security are right here at home, in the boardrooms
    of the giant corporations and banks and in the halls of government
    in Washington, D.C.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    "In order to maintain this state of affairs, those in power keep
    us weak and divided. They pit white people against people of color
    and immigrants, who are scapegoated for all the problems faced by
    working people. Similarly men are divided from women by portraying
    the struggle of women for equality as a "threat." Lesbians and
    gays are blamed for the corruption of "moral values", workers are
    blamed for inflation, farmers for food price increases, consumers
    for pollution, etc. The victims--the many-- are blamed, and blame
    one another, while the real culprits, the monopoly corporations
    and their political servants, get off free.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[Via misc.activism.progressive from PeaceNet's labor.newsline]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[Inquiries by email, please, to [e-mail], for more
information about PeaceNet/EcoNet or about misc.activism.progressive;
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Topic 32        calendar as of 8/18
events  labor.calendar   7:10 am  Aug 18, 1992
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Friday 08/21/92 - 08/23/92    Ypsilanti, MI (USA)

    =============================================================
    P E O P L E ' S   P R O G R E S S I V E   C O N V E N T I O N
    =============================================================

Location: Eastern Michigan University
Sponsored by: Committee for a People's Progressive Convention

For more information: [phone], [phone]

Keywords: grassroots, politics

      Many grassroots & labor groups organizing alternatives
      to the two-party system.

      For full description & registration info, see gen.racism.

##################################################################
Topic 163       A PEOPLE'S PROGRESSIVE CONVENTION
fscofi  gen.racism       4:31 pm  Jun  8, 1992
##################################################################

                *****************************
                A NATIONAL CALL TO A PEOPLE'S
                   PROGRESSIVE CONVENTION
                *****************************

        AUGUST 21-23, 1992       YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN


     Out of the work of Project New Tomorrow and the independent
Presidential candidacy of Ron Daniel's during this election season
has come the concept of a People's Progressive Convention. With an
understanding that the convention will not endorse his or others'
candidacies, a broad array of organizations, third party formations
and progressive leaders have embraced the People's Progressive
Convention Concept. The following call emanates from this
developing initiative.

******************************************************************

    Every four years the Democratic and Republican parties tell us
that by electing one of their Presidential candidates we will be
making a real choice. Every four years we are bombarded by media
campaigns that only the rich can afford. And every four years we
hear the same promises and platitudes which seem to evaporate right
after election day.

    It has become clear to a majority of people in the United
States that no matter which establishment party candidate wins, we
will get at best the "lesser of the two evils." We don't get what
our country desperately needs. We need fundamental change in the
economic and political structures of our society. A flawed
Presidential sweepstakes is a much too narrow prescription for
solving our nation's ills. For no matter who wins, the quality of
our life continues to deteriorate. We cannot depend on those in
power to solve the problems of our society and promote policies
which are in the best interests of the American people. We must do
it ourselves.

    Twice in recent memory people of color, led by Jesse Jackson
and the Rainbow Coalition, have come to the brink of breaking with
the Democratic Party because of its refusal to embrace platforms,
programs, and candidates that  truly represent the interests of
communities of color, the poor, and the working people of this
nation. Given the depth of the crisis we now face, it is crystal
clear that we must create our own independent movement.

     Therefore, we are calling for people from all over the country
to come to Ypsilanti, Michigan on August 21-23 for a massive
People's Progressive Convention. There we will proclaim that we
will no longer tolerate our disenfranchisement by those in power,
and we will take steps to unify into an ongoing, independent,
permanent, grassroots movement. We will show the country and the
world that in this election year, 1992, we are not only disgusted
and angry at the corruption, hypocrisy, oppression and injustice
coming out of Washington, D.C., state and local governments, and
the transnational corporate establishment. We will take concrete
steps to do something at this national gathering.


OUR COUNTRY IS IN DEEP TROUBLE

     Under a Republican President and a Democratic-controlled
Congress we have been experiencing a growing series of attacks on
our rights, our incomes and our environment which are making life
increasingly intolerable for everyone.

    Things which have become part of the basic fabric of our way of
life for most people--adequate food, clothing, shelter,
transportation, education, health care--are now the source of many
bitter choices. Which comes first: rent, utility bills, food, gas,
a trip to the doctor, a new coat, or getting the kid's teeth fixed?

The reality of poverty that many African Americans, Native
Americans, Latinos, poor whites, and women have always had to deal
with  is becoming the reality for many more people. "Full
employment" is a thing of the past, as permanent structural
unemployment becomes a growing reality for an increasing number of
Americans who thought they were economically secure. Particularly
abused are low-income communities of color, especially young people
of color. What future do they have to look forward to under this
system?!?! Farmers continue to be thrown off the land; by the year
2000 there will be virtually no African American farmers. And all
the while the super rich are getting richer and richer while for
most of us our standard of living is going down.

     Affirmative action programs, the right to abortion, basic
civil and constitutional rights - all are seriously threatened.
Plants are closing down and moving to other countries where labor
is oppressed, cheap, and unorganized. Neighborhoods and even the
very homes of working class people in the inner  cities are being
grabbed by real estate speculators with the backing and cooperation
of banks and government. Our environment is in serious danger  as
the ozone hole grows, winters are the warmest on record as the
greenhouse effect threatens our children's and our grand children's
future, and our air and water become increasingly dangerous. The
scourge of AIDS continues unabated as the politicians sit back and
act as if they can just continue with business as usual. The Klan,
Nazis and other hate groups are alive and well. Police brutality is
a national epidemic with the Rodney King beating only the tip of a
huge iceberg. And prison construction seems to be the only "growth
industry" in the U.S.

     And with the collapse of the Soviet "evil empire" why do both
parties continue to pour hundreds of billions of dollars down
Defense Department ratholes? It is clear that the greatest threats
to our national security are right here at home, in the boardrooms
of the giant corporations and banks and in the halls of government
in Washington, D.C.

   In order to maintain this state of affairs, those in power keep
us weak and divided. They pit white people against people of color
and immigrants, who are scapegoated for all the problems faced by
working people. Similarly men are divided from women by portraying
the struggle of women for equality as a "threat." Lesbians and gays
are blamed for the corruption of "moral values", workers are blamed
for inflation, farmers for food price increases, consumers for
pollution, etc. The victims--the many-- are blamed, and blame one
another, while the real culprits, the monopoly corporations and
their political servants, get off free.


RESPONSES GROWING

    But in spite of all these problems and the many obstacles
placed in our path, something new is taking shape, emerging,
struggling to be born. We see it being forged in the heat of
principled commitment. We see it taking a tough and practical
shape, emerging through organizations and groups all over the
country. It is clear that across the country people have been
fighting back, organizing to defend themselves against the lies and
profit-taking that are getting more and more out of hand. There is
probably more organizing at the grass roots of the society than at
any time in the past 40 years.

  While our struggles are many and our issues are numerous, we
believe that the grassroots movements are inherently united because
of the nature of the common enemy we face and the vision of a
better life we struggle to hold onto. But we must make that unity
real and practical so that we can bring about the major changes so
desperately needed in this country.

    We must hold high the principle that the most oppressed
segments of our society, the Native and African Americans, Latinos,
and Asian American peoples, must be at the center of the leadership
core of any new political formation that seeks to compete for power
and represent the people who have been the most abused by the
current two-party system. All successful progressive social
movements have been led by or involved significant elements of
those communities. Therefore our goal is that the People's
Progressive Convention will be fully 50% people of color. A new
vision of our society, must be a multi-cultural one.

   We believe that a People's Progressive Convention this August
21-23, happening after the two establishment parties have had
theirs, can show the country that there is hope! It will be an
opportunity for all people who are tired of wasting their votes in
the current political system to show with our presence our
intention to walk away from the so-called "two-party" system and
create a real people's alternative.

While the People's Progressive Convention cannot be expected to launch
a third party, it can be a vehicle to demonstrate our intention to
come together and build a movement capable of uniting around a
collective program and taking action to bring about real change. It
can be a place where we can examine various new/labor/third/Green
party initiatives, local models of successful coalition building,
independent candidacies and election campaign strategies (although
there would be no endorsements at the Convention). We can learn about
one anothers organizing efforts to change unjust and oppressive
conditions in our respective localities. We can build the mutual
support and trust among our diverse movements which is so essential if
we are to realize the strength created through unity. We can begin to
build a movement from the bottom up so that by 1996 we are in a
position to seriously contend for power. The choice is up to each of
us.

    The time is ripe: the need is great. Let's join together to
make the People's Progressive Convention the historic, powerful
event it can be!

******************************************************************
[List of signatories and Convention info follows in next post]
******************************************************************