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"Heard your interview with WBAI in New York this
morning. What a breath of fresh air! If only we could get 100 more
candidates like you." That's what one radio listener wrote us after
hearing Socialist Action Party's Jeff Mackler, a socialist candidate for
the U.S. Senate seat in California.
Mackler was interviewed on Deepa
Fernandez's Sept. 27 news and interview program, "Wake Up
Call." Thousands of listeners had a chance to hear Mackler's
revolutionary socialist critique of capitalism's mounting crises.
"Socialism is the view that working people, the vast majority of the
people, should run this country in their own interests, through their own
institutions," said Mackler.
He explained that the Socialist Action
campaign actively counters capitalism's twin parties, the Democrats and
Republicans: "Our success is not measured by the number of votes we receive,
but by our capacity to build and unite the social movements that are the
prerequisite for changing this world.
"We're active participants and
leaders in the struggle against U.S. wars. We've organized and supported
the mobilizations to defend the Cuban people against U.S. threats of
invasion. We fight against a fossil fuel-based energy system that
guarantees the deadly global warming that threatens to kill us all. We
fight for women's rights, for abortion rights and against all forms of
sexism and racism”
Mackler's WBAI radio appearance was just
one of many speaking engagements on the East Coast as part of a 13-day
tour that included Philadelphia, New York City, Connecticut, and Florida.
But what could a Senate candidate in
California bring to the political arena on the other side of the country?
"The Mackler for Senate Campaign hit home for New Yorkers,"
said Socialist Action tour organizer Marty Goodman. "New York's
Democratic Party U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, just
like Jeff's opponents in California, Dianne Feinstein and Richard
Mountjoy, are pro-war to the core, and no different than their capitalist
party counterparts across the country."
"As a transit worker," Goodman
continued, "I can tell you that Democrat Hillary Clinton supported
the reactionary Taylor Law that was just used to impose multi-million
dollar fines on our union and its rank and file for exercising our
democratic right to strike to defend our jobs and union contract.”
Defend the Cuban Revolution
A central plank in Mackler's campaign program is
defense of the Cuban Revolution. Mackler delivered major presentations on
"Cuba and the Rise of Revolutionary Struggles in Latin America"
in four of the East Coast cities he visited.
In New York City, Mackler addressed an
audience of 30 activists in Midtown Manhattan, His central theme was that
in order to break out of the cycle of poverty and oppression imposed by
imperialism on the people of Bolivia and Venezuela, as well as Latin
America as a whole, the model of revolutionary Cuba was critical.
"Despite important gains in
Venezuela and Bolivia today," said Mackler, "these nations have
yet to resolve the fundamental issue of our times. They have yet to
challenge the rule of capital, and therefore the gains that have been
achieved, still modest, are in constant danger.
In Oakland, Calif., Mackler's campaign
was endorsed by Tina Flores, coordinator of Quality Medical
Relief/International Medical Team (QMRIMT), a group that coordinates
international medical aid to Cuba. On Oct. 6, Mackler addressed a
OMR-initiated Cuban Five solidarity forum at Oakland's Humanity House,
where he discussed the case of the five heroic Cubans who infiltrated
Florida-based and U.S.-aided right-wing organizations that conduct
terrorist attacks on Cuba.
Mackler for Mumia
Pam Africa, the national coordinator of the
International Concerned Family and Friends for Mumia Abu-Jamal, joined
Mackler at two Philadelphia public meetings. Africa detailed the
political and legal battles that Mumia confronts as the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit begins the final deliberations that will
determine whether Mumia is to be executed or win a new trial and eventual
freedom.
As co-chair of the West Coast
Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Mackler has worked closely with Pam
Africa in building a broad movement over the years to demand Mumia's
freedom.
On Sept. 15, Mackler addressed a rally
organized by the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia at the Alameda
Court House. Two days later, he spoke about Mumia's case during a
Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal fundraiser at San Francisco's Great
American Music Hall.
At the Night of Music and Poetry to Free
Mumia Abu-Jamal, Mackler shared the stage with many prominent musicians
and poets, including devora major (former San Francisco poet laureate),
Jack Hirshman (current San Francisco poet laureate), singer/song writer
Jonathan Richman, rap artist Boots Riley of the Coup, and former San
Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez.
In San Francisco, Robert Bryan, chief
counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal, announced he was endorsing Mackler’s
campaign for the Senate. And in New York, Abdeen Jabarra, former
president of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, endorsed
the Mackler campaign.
Youth for Mackler
A vibrant new Youth for Socialist Action chapter at
Central Connecticut State University organized a successful tour for
Mackler. Several articles in the CCSC student newspaper announced his
visit and the campaign's aims. Mackler was invited by two university
professors to address their classes on questions of revolutionary theory
and practice.
"I was stunned at the depth of
interest in socialist ideas" said Mackler. "It was clear that
the growing crisis of U.S. capitalism today is registering on the
consciousness and lives of working-class students and their parents. They
are coming to understand that the evils that so many abhor, from poverty
and racism to war and the threat of environmental catastrophe, to job
insecurity and increasingly bleak prospects for a stable and fulfilling
life, are no accident but rather an inherent part of capitalist
development."
Mackler said that he was inspired by the
Youth for Socialist Action chapter at Central Connecticut State
University, which has been working closely with the Progressive Student
Alliance to initiate an Antiwar Referendum Committee (ARC), a
united-front coalition working for a referendum vote to take place before
the end of the fall semester.
Mackler's Connecticut tour also included
a well-attended public forum on Cuba and Latin America as well as two
educational presentations to SA and YSA members and friends. He was also
invited to present his socialist campaign to the campus chapter meeting
of the Progressive Student Alliance, attended by some 25 activists.
In Florida, Mackler spoke to a meeting of
activists who were members of St. Petes for Peace, a St. Petersburg
antiwar coalition whose members were also prominent in leading struggles
for immigrant rights in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
Mackler also met with a core group
of Florida antiwar and immigrants’ rights activists who had recently
formed a branch of Socialist Action. During the course of Mackler's
13-day East Coast tour seven people asked to join Socialist Action party
branches.
Final push for the campaign
Though Mackler was away for his home state, campaign
committee organizers in California didn't miss a beat and continued the
necessary work in reaching out to more Californians as the Nov. 7
election approaches.
At the Petaluma Progressive Festival in
Sonoma County, Socialist Action campaign workers recalled positive
encounters with festival-goers young and old, including a Black Panther
Party co-founder, Elbert "Big Man" Howard, who voiced his
support for the campaign's socialist demands.
The campaign committee organized a series
of house meetings and live radio talk show interviews, including a
half-hour program on Jim Lafferty's Los Angeles KPFK Pacifica Radio
program, "The Lawyers Guild Show."
On Oct. 11 and 12, Mackler's campaign
proceeds to Mt. Shasta, Calif., and Ashland, Ore., where Socialist Action
members have organized a series of campaign meetings. A culminating rally
and celebration is scheduled for Nov. 5, at 2 p.m., at the Socialist
Action Bookstore, 298 Valencia St., in San Francisco. Call (415)
255-1080, or e-mail socialistact@igc.org for more information.
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