#movement4bernie

[danenriqueworks]

4-mile Movement For Bernie's "March For Bernie" from City Hall to Roosevelt Park on Sunday July 24 - kicking off the 2016 DNC the day before it commences in Philadelphia, PA

[our-revolution808]

Kshama Sawant making me almost cry. There's no harm in signing the petition, please consider it. She mentions it at the end.

[occupywatchdog]

Sanders Constituency Will Shape U.S. Politics for the Next Decade - #PoliticalRevolution One thing is certain: politics will change regardless who ends up in the White House.

[juharr]

Faux News vs Socialist Alternative Chicago SA member Darletta throws down... Answer the question Neil!

[socialistalternative]

#MOVEMENT4BERNIE TAKES OFF AROUND THE COUNTRY

Published On February 1, 2016 | By Socialist Alternative

Bernie Sanders’ call for a political revolution against the billionaire class has enthused millions of people looking for a political alternative to Wall Street. But to achieve Sanders’ demands for $15 an hour, single payer healthcare, tuition-free college and the end of mass incarceration it will take an organized mass movement.

To this end Socialist Alternative has launched #Movement4Bernie. M4B’s initial statement spells out what is needed: “We can turn this into the most important election in decades by building an organized political force behind the Sanders campaign to fight against racism, sexism and corporate domination.

“Bernie’s campaign offers the opportunity to fight back. He has opened up an urgently needed debate about an alternative to capitalism, democratic socialism.

“We need a vibrant and visible campaign in every workplace, campus, and community that actively takes up low wages, racism and environmental destruction. We need public meetings and protests connecting Bernie’s campaign to the struggles against injustice created by the system.

“We can begin to build a new, lasting, and powerful force – based on the independent power of working people and not big business – that can lead a fight back against the billionaire class and their politicians from both parties after the 2016 election is over.”

Since its launch in early January, #Movement4Bernie (M4B) has hosted actions and meetings across the country. This has ranged from a mock debate between Hillary and Bernie supporters at Northeastern University in Boston, meetings on strategies to win Bernie’s political revolution in Philadelphia and Democratic debate watch parties in multiple cities. All of these have seen the M4B initiative and socialist politics gain an echo with a section of Bernie supporters, young people, union members, activists from other struggles and many people who are new to left politics in general.

In response to the attacks of the Democratic establishment, there has been a call from a section of Sanders supporters that want to fight, for a national day of action including local “Marches for Bernie” in major U.S. cities. They show that many Sanders supporters are beginning, based on experience, to draw conclusions about the true nature of the Democratic Party.

Socialist Alternative and #Movement4Bernie are taking the lead in organizing these events in a number of cities including Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. These rallies will include Socialist Alternative speakers linking the fight for Sanders’ key demands to the need for a socialist transformation of society, as well as speakers from the Fight for 15, the black liberation struggle and others. In Chicago in particular, the march carries extra importance, as it is linking up with the developing #ResignRahm movement calling for the resignation of Chicago Mayor (and Hillary Clinton ally) Rahm Emanuel.

The #Movement4Bernie initiative could have an important role to play going forward. The increased attacks on Sanders from Hillary and her allies are a risky strategy but a panicked Democratic establishment sees little choice but to fight back in face of Sanders’ regained momentum. Socialist Alternative believes that for Sanders to win the nomination requires a political upheaval and the development of a force that can withstand all the establishment’s resources. If he doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, Sanders should keep going as an independent and not support Hillary. #Movement4Bernie is a rallying point for all those who see the need to keep going and to build a new party of the 99%.

http://www.socialistalternative.org/2016/02/01/movement4bernie-takes-country/

[solllll]

Bernie Sanders in Chicago, IL. March 14, 2016. Inquire for use of images. © Lauren Reese

[mycommunistblog]

This is a speech I gave at a #Movement4Bernie rally.

[mycommunistblog]

Political Revolution: Utah

This is a speech I gave at a #Movement4Bernie rally.

***

We have come here today in support of a political revolution; we have come to throw off the status quo of a political system owned by wealth.

 We stand at a crossroads, as our world faces environmental catastrophe, and crippling wealth inequality, twin cancers fed by the lust for profit. Yet while the leading political parties espouse democracy, they accept endless financial support from corporate interests, and establish laws protecting, above all else, the pursuit of capital.  

 Now we have before us two choices: Hillary Clinton, who accepts grandiose speaking fees and undisclosed campaign funding from corporate backers, and we have a challenger, Bernie Sanders, who rejects the backing of corporations, yet receives the massive amounts of money required to run for office from working people.  

 The presidential debates revolve around many of the same issues that they did eight years ago, and for decades beyond that, not because we lack the desire for change, but because politicians backed by wealthy donors have failed to solve the problems that are inherent to a profit-driven society.

When our politicians approached an issue such as health care, they did not create a public health care system. Instead they enshrined the role of private institutions into our laws. We are compelled to pay taxes not to a democratically-controlled system, but to private interests who line their own pockets with the surplus of the bill for insurance.

We challenge this system of private health insurance. Yet, when tested, Clinton states her agenda will be loyal only to a continuation of past policy, and it is clear that she will bring no progress!

We have demanded a candidate beholden to the people rather than corporate interests, but the establishment has given fierce opposition in favor of business as usual.

When the Chair of the Democratic National Committee says, – Super delegates exist to make sure party leaders and elected officials don’t have to run against grassroots activists, – we know that the Democratic Party has abandoned democracy.

Should our political system remain in the hands of the wealthy, environmental destruction and wealth inequity will consume us as our government is bent to the will of capital.    

We as working people cannot remain complacent. We must strive for a truly democratic society, one free of the dark influence of corporate greed. This is Sanders’ political revolution. This is the revolution of the working class. Through our grassroots efforts we must command the powers of democracy to destroy the narrow focus that our political system has used to protect the capitalist drive for the centralization of wealth.

Only when we put people before profits, will we be able to cure the cancer of climate change.

Let us be clear. No new technology is required to end our reliance on carbon emitting fuels. Only the forces of the market and the hunger for profit stand in our way. We have but to choose life before greed to save ourselves. Let us choose life!

We have no illusions that simply electing Sanders will be sufficient to substantiate the actions we are demanding. In fact the heavy task of a political revolution will have only just begun. We at Socialist Alternative are committed to the ongoing struggle for this revolution. Let us march in the streets! Let us rally for a democratic economy! Let the revolution begin, and let us continue to fight until it is won!