http://progressivesforobama.net/discussion-on-our-future/
Discussion on Our FutureWhat Next for P4O?An Organizing Proposal fora Left-Progressive NationalNetwork and Clearinghouse
By Carl Davidson and Bill Fletcher, Jr.
How can the people brought together by the ‘Progressives for Obama’ project make a transition into a broader and ongoing post-election nationwide network? How can that network continue to serve as a left-progressive pole within the broader alliance of Obama activists and voters, while contributing to the organization of the instruments for popular political power? What follows is an outline of the organizing tasks and components of such an effort, with an invitation to wider discussion among our community of supporters and activists.
Starting Points
The most important node on the new network is the base community. This is a grassroots group of left-progressive voter-activists situated where people live, work or go to school.
1. Where people live can be a neighborhood, a township, precinct, church parish, temple or mosque, a ward, town or city, state legislative districts or congressional districts. It can be any combination or variation of these, but the main point is that they have a set of elected officials or governmental body as a target.2. Where people work is important because of the potential power of organized labor, whether their workplace is currently organized or not. That power is multiplied by the direct engagement of the rank-and-file in base organizations, committees and such.3. Where people go to school is important because of the powerful role of youth as a critical force, often serving to awaken the wider society to injustices, local and global. School is the most common place they come together, but faith, culture and sports venues are also important here.
"I Accept": Obama Nomination Speech Watching Party (Convention Watch Party)
http://donate.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4wczf
The event team that brought you the Obama events featuring Kelly Hu in January and Maya Soetoro-Ng in June invites you to another special gathering on Thursday, August 28, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Roe Restaurant, 651 Howard Street, in San Francisco to watch Senator Barack Obama's historic speech as he accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States of America. It's been widely noted that Sen. Obama will accept the nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. Let's also not forget that the date is also the eve of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the Gulf Coast. These three milestones together gives us both an opportunity to rejoice and to acknowledge that our country and our communities still have a long way to go in order to achieve a society where equal opportunity is more reality than promise. So as we work together to help Barack Obama become our President, let's join together to support our friends at the local level who creating the Change We Can Believe In. To that end, this fundraiser will also support Eric Mar, a longtime Obama supporter, in his bid for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Jenn Pae and Brian Wang, two convention delegates pledged to Sen. Obama. Eric will be at the event and Jenn and Brian will call in from Denver shortly before Sen. Obama delivers his speech.
We're asking for a $20 donation. Please RSVP on this event listing or email speech@apaforobama.com.
More info - http://www.ericmar.comJoin our FACEBOOK PAGE -http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eric-Mar/12068760165?ref=ts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberto-lovato/cops-acquittal-in-sean-be_b_98622.html
Huffington Post columnist Roberto Lovato comments on the outrageous Sean Bell Verdict; institutional racism in the USA and its impact on the Obama campaign.
10 concise comments on Obama's Speech on Race from 10 members of the editorial board of the Black Commentator. They all can be contacted on the recent online edition of the Black Commentator: As always, each give much insight with their own criticisms. Overall, all reinforce the significance and salience of Obama's speech on race.
http://johndelloro.blogspot.com/2008/03/progressive-black-america-14-brief.html
From John Delloro's Burning Cane Blog:
Obama really surprised me this morning with his "A More Perfect Union" speech in Philadelphia. He spoke again about the unfulfilled promise of Brown v. Board of Education and the intensifying inequality in our schools and the need for a multiethnic coalition involving immigrants and everyone to come together to meet the challenges of our time.
[Photo - Grace Lee Boggs and the late James Boggs]
Obama is providing the authentic, visionary leadership we need in this period when our challenges are so great and our politics (as he puts it in The Audacity of Hope) so small.That kind of leadership is very precious.26 year-old MLK provided it in 1955 when he inspired Montgomery blacks, sick and tired of being sick and tired, to go beyond protest and manifest a more advanced humanity in their yearlong non-violent boycott.Jimmy Boggs anticipated it when he said in his last speech to University of Michigan students in 1991 "I don't believe nobody can run this country better than me. I'm saying you better think that way. You need to stop thinking of yourself as a minority because thinking like a minority means you're thinking like an underling. Everyone is capable of going beyond where they are."Liberals and radicals tend to be skeptical of this kind of leadership....
From Educational Justice http://edjustice.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-obama-progressive-from-burning.html
LA Labor leader John Delloro's blog Burning Cane has some great analysis for organizers and activists on the political significance of Obama's candidacy for President for our longer term social movements.Check out John's views, along with Howard Zinn, Grace Lee Boggs, Bill Fletcher, Scott Kurashige, others.Delloro is Executive Director, Dolores Huerta Labor Institute and a teacher in UCLA's Asian American Studies Department.I met John in the early 90's through his student activism in LA and his leadership in APALA [Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance].
Scott Kurashige wonders if there are similarities between the negativity expressed by some of the "Old Left" of the "New Left" in the past with the criticism leveled against the Obama campaign by some of the "New Left. " Howard Zinn argues that the current concerted public attention with the elections is disproportionate to the amount of energy that needs to be given to direct action. Bill Fletcher suggests a measured "critical support" of the Obama Campaign.Both Howard Zinn and Bill Fletcher raise valid points when one considers Obama's policy positions. However, Scott is also correct when you step back and examine the Obama campaign as a whole. Do we restrict the possibilities for social transformation if we limit our understanding of the Obama campaign to the legislative stands of the candidate? Are there opportunities offered by the Obama campaign to build real movement?
Wow - as I finish up my SF Richmond District precint GOTV work and await polls to close in delegate rich California - the Obama campaign sure seems to be expanding our base with much stronger #'s for women and Latinos in Georgia and other states.
Some of the California polling also shows the majority of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders polled in support of Obama as well. But the split also seems to be generational with younger folks enthusiastically leaning towards Obama.
We will see early how the absentees split after they are released after the polls close at 8pm, but then I understand it may be a long night of projections, but it sure seems that Obama's momentum may keep peaking we hope.
ABC - Obama Overwhelmingly Wins Georgia Primary In the first win of what is expected to be a long night, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., defeated Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in Georgia, a key Southern state, winning 86 percent to Clinton's 13 percent, according to preliminary exit poll results.
ABC - Obama Overwhelmingly Wins Georgia Primary
In the first win of what is expected to be a long night, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., defeated Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in Georgia, a key Southern state, winning 86 percent to Clinton's 13 percent, according to preliminary exit poll results.
Twenty years ago, as I stood in the bitter cold in a parking lot in Sioux City, Iowa, I saw a sight I thought I’d never see. A crowd of white meat-packers, big beefy men and their wives and children, shuffled their feet in quiet anticipation. They shielded their eyes against the low winter sun, stamping their feet for warmth on the frozen ground. They were waiting to hear my boss, the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.No one knew what to expect from this unlikely meeting of the Southern-born civil rights veteran and these heartland folk who had been on strike for months and were now down to their last savings. As Jackson began to speak, I could see heads nodding as he told them that their sacrifice was redemptive, and that they were not alone in their fight for fair wages and safe working conditions. He took their strike and cast it against the larger economic violence that came out of President Reagan’sunion-busting practices, and the failures of a trickle-down economy that brought wealth to the rich and poverty to the working poor. As Jackson spoke, he ignited a sense of pride and dignity in these men and women. He brought them to their feet with tears in their eyes with the cry, “Keep hope alive!”Now, Senator Barack Obama is standing with the workers, farmers, students, elderly and others in Iowa, preaching a similar message of hope and offering a new way forward for our country. Just as Jackson offered a break from Reaganomics and repression, Obama would take us away from the destruction of Bush’s war policies and restore our democracy. Just as Jackson offered a message of hope across racial and class divides, Obama is building a bridge across generations and constituencies.Obama is the new messenger of hope, justice and equality. His call for ordinary people to take back their government from the lobbyists and big business clients, who have reaped mega-profits through backroom deals, is exactly what we need at this critical moment when economic inequality is at an all-time high. His pledge to engage directly with foreign leaders who oppose us and with allies who should be our partners in solving intractable conflicts is exactly what we need. We need to build bridges and tear down walls.This moment in United States history poses a turning point that can set the coursefor decades. The crises posed by global warming, a protracted struggle against Islamic extremists, the deepening inequality in our country, our deteriorating infrastructure and declining educational system, and our tarnished international reputation cry out for new answers and new approaches. Obama is the best person to meet the challenges of this historical moment. He has shown a deep grasp of issues and, more importantly, exhibited the ability to listen to other points of view and find ways to build alliances across historic barriers.Obama is the man with the vision, clarity and ability to meet the challenges of our times. He is the man, and this is the moment — for change, for hope, for a betterAmerica.
"I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change," Obama said to some of the loudest applause of his 20-minute speech... In his speech, Obama did not mention his roots as the son of a man from Kenya and a woman from Kansas, his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia or the history he would make if elected. That compelling biography has turned him into a political celebrity. Instead, he focused on his life in Illinois over the past two decades, beginning with a job as a community organizer with a $13,000-a-year salary that strengthened his Christian faith. He said the struggles he saw people face inspired him to get a law degree and run for the Legislature, where he served eight years.
We're happy to inform you that on Monday, February 19th--in honor of her 30 years of service--California's own Senator Barbara Boxer is having an event with special guest Senator Barack Obama. The cost for the event is $150. This event WILL sell out so we strongly recommend that you buy your ticket TODAY. Click here to purchase your ticket(s) WHAT: Fundraiser for Barbara Boxer featuring Barack Obama WHEN: Monday, February 19, 2007 from 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm WHERE: Westin St. Francis Hotel, Grand Ballroom COST: $150 ($100 for seniors and students)
