Something magnificent
and truly extraordinary happened at the 2008, Green Party
Presidential Convention a few days ago in Chicago,
Illinois. Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente; two dynamic, highly
intelligent, experienced, and politically committed women
of color were chosen by the Green Party of this nation to
be its nominees for President and Vice President respectively,
of the United States of America.
Former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney who demonstrated
the guts and integrity to leave the politically opportunist
and bankrupt Democratic Party has, for quite some time now
been yet again demonstrating her guts and integrity
by crisscrossing this nation and informing people in every
nook and cranny about the “Power To The People” Campaign.
Now Sister McKinney has been joined by Puerto Rican people’s
grass root activist / journalist / and intellectual hip hop
artist Sister Rosa Clemente in this ever growing campaign
and people’s movement and struggle. Indeed, something extraordinary
has happened and there is yet more to come.
While
CNN, ABC, C-SPAN, etc. did give some limited coverage of and
to this incredibly momentous event; none of the pundits
of these so-called “main stream news” media outlets dared
elucidate to the “American” people the enormous present-day
and historical significance and opportunities of what just
happened in Chicago.
None of these pundits dared explain and emphasize the revolutionary
aspect of what had just happened in Chicago: That the Green
Party and the Reconstruction Movement this past weekend, in
selecting Cynthia McKinney as their primary standard bearer,
is a stinging rejection and rebuke of the Democratic and Republican
Parties [i.e. the Republicrats] with their putrid, hypocritical,
corporate / military apparatus-fueled politics of dishonesty,
subterfuge, smoke & mirrors, and unending wars abroad
and increasing economic disparity and social misery at home.
The sleeping dragon, consisting of the rank and file, everyday
woman, man, and child in this nation, has finally begun to
awaken once again.
The
Empire, including its Democratic and Republican Party surrogates,
has been put on notice by politically conscious Black, Brown,
Red, Yellow, and White peoples of this nation of who are sick
and tired of being hoodwinked, manipulated, and politically
blood sucked. What happened this past week end in Chicago is a wake up call to all persons of good will: Black,
White, Brown, Red, and Yellow!
By
supporting the candidacies of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente
we are supporting a people’s movement – our movement
for real, fundamental, “systemic” change, not
mealy-mouth meaningless / feel good rhetoric. We are self-actualizing
our hopes and dreams, not allowing others to pimp and manipulate
us by playing on those hopes and dreams. We are supporting
the very best in ourselves. We are laying the foundation
in 21st Century “America” for a genuine and ongoing people’s
movement that says NO to the corporate / military /
prison apparatus of the U.S. Empire at home and abroad. We
are supporting so much more than only candidates for
political office - we are supporting our commitment to the
building of an uncompromising, unswerving, people’s movement
that is unhindered by this system’s Democratic and
Republican [i.e. Republicratic] Party election time lines
and political machine. We are refusing to collaborate
with this Empire’s system of oppression. Rather, we are working
to dismantle it and build a fundamentally and systemically
different system that addresses human needs, not human greed.
We
are emphatically stating that we will not sit back and allow
principled, intelligent, revolutionary / politically progressive,
honest, and for-real women to be by-passed and ignored
any longer by this system in “America.” By supporting the
Cynthia McKinney / Rosa Clemente “Power To The People” Campaign
we are making it crystal clear that we will intensify the
struggle the dignity and human rights of all people:
women, men, and children - Black, Brown, Red, White, and Yellow
- all peoples.
To
be sure, the U.S. Empire’s corrupt and biased news media disinformation
machine can be expected to go into high gear in an effort
to discredit and neutralize the McKinney
/ Clemente ticket and the “Power To The People” Campaign.
Indeed, these slimy tactics have already begun. However, such
tactics merely confirm the absolute importance of what we
are committed to and what this movement is all about.
For
those who may not have seen and heard Cynthia McKinney’s acceptance
speech on C-SPAN at the Green Party Convention this past July
13, 2008; it is urged that you turn on your computer’s speakers,
view her presentation, and hear her remarks and those
of Rosa Clemente on the internet at C-SPAN.org under the heading
Green
Party Presidential Convention (July 13, 2008).
The
“Power To The People” Campaign is the only one to boldly and
seriously address not only the issues of militarism, economic
disparity, social and environmental inequities, single payer
health care, government malfeasance and neglect, corporate
greed, equal opportunity and education, racism, reparations,
gender parity, and homelessness, etc; but just as importantly,
this campaign is about building an ongoing movement to fundamentally
address the root causes of these pressing concerns.
The twin demons of the Empire, i.e. the Democratic and Republican
Parties [increasingly known as the Republicrats] and their
accomplices, are in opposition to any real systemic change.
Thus, every conceivable means will be utilized to deter this
campaign, its ultimate movement, and objectives.
We
must get out into our towns, cities, and municipalities of
all kinds with one fundamental objective: Getting and putting
the “Power To The People” Cynthia McKinney / Rosa Clemente
Green Party ticket on the ballot in high numbers in every
viable state of this nation, while simultaneously building
and nurturing this people’s movement. Let us start voting
right now by organizing to support Cynthia and Rosa
in the streets, the back woods, the schools, on the reservations,
in the barrios, ghettos, and every possible nook and cranny
and community of this nation. WE ARE NOT COLLABORATORS AND
WE WILL NOT COLLABORATE WITH THE EMPIRE IN OUR OWN OPPRESSION
OR THAT OF OTHERS. Organize, organize, and organize some more!
We
are the people and it is WE ourselves who are the essence
of, and motivation for, real change. Let us call out
to our sisters and brothers in Haiti, in Venezuela,
in Bolivia,
in Cuba, in Palestine, in Myanmar,
in the Congo and throughout the entire
world. Let us send them a message of comradely greetings and
let them know that we are reawakening from slumber here in
the belly of the Empire. We have seen their examples and are
emulating them for the mutual betterment of all our peoples.
We
must build coalitions that serve the interests of the people.
We must pry open the systemic, strangling, amoral death grip
that the Democrats and Republican Parties [i.e. the Republicrats]
have around our proverbial necks and minds. We must work together
with the Reconstruction Movement which began around the despicable
U.S. Government criminality of both the Republicans and Democratic
Parties re hurricane Katrina (and subsequently hurricane Rita).
Being Green is just the beginning. We must keep in mind that
there are also other progressive peoples out there in parties
such as the Peace & Freedom Party, and we must work together
with them to the mutual advantage of the people’s movement.
We must remember that “no one of us is as smart or as strong
as all of us.” We must remember our sister and brother
political prisoners, liberation fighters, and exiles such
as Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Reverend Edward Pinkney
[no relation], the San Francisco 8, Assata Shakur and so very, very many
more. We must remember why we are waging this struggle.
This is about more than votes. This is about our very survival
and that of Mother Earth - this planet.
This
is about saying NO to the Empire and its collaborators, and
YES to a NEW DAY a NEW SOCIETY, a NEW WORLD. This
is about struggling to be that NEW PERSON who self-actualizes
and addresses human needs, not human greed, lies, and hypocrisy.
Viva
Cynthia McKinney! Viva Rosa Clememte! Long live “The Power
To The People’ Campaign! Let’s get busy brothers and sisters.
“Each one reach one”. There is much work to be done!
Onward
then…
BlackCommentator.com
Editorial Board
Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black Panther
Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of
New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American
to have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights
case to the United Nations under the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights. In
connection with his political organizing activities in opposition
to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988
on the nationally televised PBS NewsHour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and
Thinker
, by William
Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here
to read excerpts from the book). Click here
to contact Mr. Pinkney.