PDA CONFERENCE ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2005
(It has taken me awhile to get this written up, but I wanted to share what went on at this conference on September 25, 2005. This will be in two parts.)
Interfaith Gathering
Let everyone need their vine and victory
live in peace and unafraid
and into plowshares beat their sword
nations shall learn war no more
Gonna lay down my shield and sword
down by the riverside, down by the riverside,
gonna lay down my shield and sword
and study war no more
OPENING SESSION
Rev. Yearwood pointed out that David took on a lion and bear before taking on Goliath. He said now is the time for revolution, and it is TIME TO SHUT THE DAMN THING DOWN.
Barbara Lee voted against the violence of war every single time, filed resolution of inquiry on Resolution #197 which is No Permanent Military Bases in Iraq. After we bring the troops home we have to continue to work on justice after we get troops out - we didn't do that after Vietnam. No mention of what we should do for the Iraqis.
Spoke of plan to eradicate poverty by 2010 (lots of cheering, couldn't hear). Spoke of keeping the STREET HEAT ON and continue to work for peace and justice.
Jeff Cohen: quoted some Repubs comments on Bosnia and Kosovo War and had people guess who said them. He spoke about two fighting bases in 1)fear and 2)battle for free speech, justice and democracy.
Wm. Rivers Pitt: said the minority has become the majority. Pointed out that Katrina has exposed the economic apartheid of the country. He said we should impeach the bastards and that "we are going to be that change".
Speaker for John Conyers (Bert Garskof?) said that since PDA launched campaign to reform Democratic Party we have had effect. He talked about election fraud in Ohio and Downing Street Memo. He said the last thing the world needs is Republican-lite party, and then he talked about how we are reaching out. He talked about the issues of Iraq, Katrina, racial apartheid, election fraud, Patriot Act and poverty as major issues facing our country that PDA is addressing. He said that it has always been an aroused citizenry who put the country back on course and make Washington do the right thing. Idea for bumper sticker: "In 06, elect a congress that will impeach"
Tim Carpenter- founded PDA, and he never wavered around being against war and occupation of Iraq. He introduced Lynn Woolsey. She said members of Congress are conduits for what Americans wants. She mentioned John Conyers for President and the crowd was on it's feet. She mentioned how major media didn't cover the march the day before. This is her platform:
1. economic opportunity for all, health care, fair trade, work organization, strong social security
2. civil rights - get rid of Patriot Act, protect all kinds of Americans
3. global peace and security
4. break up corporate media
She spoke about bringing the troops home and ending the despicable war in Iraq. We must deal with mentally wounded from war and not turn our backs on our troops (like we did in Vietnam). She said we occupy moral high ground and political high ground because we are right. PDA gave her award for backbone campaign. Woolsey said to make sure your members of congress know where you stand - this is what makes it possible for her to do what she does.
Medea Benjamin: gave a welcome to Greens and independents to PDA conference. She called for the repeal of tax cuts to the rich and to stop the elimination of the estate tax. She recommended that we tax corporations and stop war. She recommended that we pursue our security by the following steps: 1) find out what really happened on 9/11 2) bring them to justice and 3) invest in our structures and our communities. She recommended that the ICC have trials on TV for OBL, Saddam and Bush (crowd went wild).
Cindy Sheeham: standing ovation
She says she doesn't know anything about politics - all she knows is what comes from her heart - but when she says "congress" she does not include the ones who did the right thing. She means the ones who illegally gave Bush the right to start the war.
BREAKOUT SESSION
SOUTHEAST STATES STRATEGY
We introduced ourselves and figured out that 7 were from Florida, 2 from Georgia, 2 from South Carolina, 5 from North Carolina and one from Virginia (he was there because he was with his dad). We discussed the handout from PDA, in particular the HJ, H.Con.Res. and H. R. on page 18 of the handout. Some did not know what those initials stood for.
HJ Res 55 - Withdrawal of US Armed Forces from Iraq
H.Con.Res. 197 - House Continuing Resolution - No Permanent Bases in Iraq
H.R. - House of Representative 551 - Student Privacy Protection Act of 2005
We discussed the purpose of doing congressional office visits, and whether we will have an impact or not. Stated that we need to say what we think, and point out Rep. Jones (NC) and how he changed his position. A participant said that she would recommend starting with how you are alike (with congress person) and bring up the commonality with them, to set a basis of interaction that is not totally confrontational.
There was an announcement from someone stopping by about writing follow up letters to Congress. Then Michael Geeney stopped in and spoke about how PDA would like a form filled out for each group (each congressional office visit). Delegate one person from group to write form and get together afterwards to get a consensus of what the group thinks about the visit on the form.
After the interruptions, we went back to discussion about the visits. Another participant stated how she starts with a presentation of an aspect of war they cannot argue with - the suffering of innocent civilians. This is a basis for commonality. There was further discussion on finding a place to come from to approach legislators. One shared about how her faith drives her politics, and that politics does not drive her faith. Some shared that it is time to tell Kerry - if you don't do this, we will come after you.
Then we went into a BREAKOUT by state - I was at NORTH CAROLINA:
We spent some time covering our history and involvement with PDA. One person belongs to Buncombe County PDA, and two people there were on Progressive Democrats of NC Political Action Committee Board. One person was from Wake County PDA and they had a pot luck on a Saturday evening and about 50 people attended. The rest (two) were not part of any formal group in North Carolina. We discussed times and strategies for our office visits.
The schedule was 9 AM for Senator Burr, 10 AM for Representative Taylor, 10 AM for Representative Price, and Noon for Senator Dole. There were more scheduled, but I did not get the times. We agreed to meet at 11:30 outside Dole's office to discuss and get consensus on the visit to Burr's office. Everyone wanted to be in on Dole and Burr visits.
(Note: This was helpful, in my opinion, to get more familiar with the congressional office visits, and to get to know people's names. I recommend doing this whenever you have a office visits planned.)
I will have a follow up report on those lobby visits later.
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