> ey invited a bunch of non-Move-on local activists.
> The rally opened with my Mother (90 at end of year, socialist since
> age 11 when she supported the EPIC campaign). She talked about the New
> Deal, but also about how it came about, not because Roosevelt was
> "good guy" or because people had his back, but because there were
> sit-down strikes and strong left that scared the elites into making
> concessions. She ended her speech by telling people that if they
> wanted to be effective forget donating time and money to lesser-evil
> Politicians and join the young people over in the occupied area of the
> park. She was followed by really good speakers on various issues,
> including some really strong militant union people. And the rally
> ended with a speech by a woman who quoted Cornel West's call not to be
> afraid of revolution. She also said to forget the Democratic party
> and support the worker's movement.
>
> Now I'mnot claiming this was perfect. But pretty clearly one thing it
> was not doing was pushing people to support the Democratic party, and
> especially not draining energy from OWS to the Democrats. The local
> Moveon organization has er moved on in a very different direction than
> the DC organizers would prefer.
>
> Now one example proves nothing. But I suspect that in general the
> interaction of local Democratic activists will take one of two forms.
> Their support for OWS will including giving up any attempt to at
> cooption, because the activists themselves will find themselves
> moving beyond unconditional support for the Democrats. Or actvists
> will try to participate as partisan Democrats and find themselves
> marginalized and pathetic. I'd be curious if the experience of people
> in other venues, especially larger ones, has been similar. What about
> people in NY or Oakland or Seattle? For that matter what about people
> in other small towns and cities?
>
> --
> Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow
> Grist Blog: http://www.grist.org/member/1598
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