Our Revolution

Bernie’s new organization, Our Revolution, is set to launch on Wednesday, August 24. I don’t know what he has in mind. From searching the web, it would seem that the primary purpose of the organization will be to elect progressives to Congress, a worthy goal for sure. But I would hope that each chapter of the organization would be able to set its own goals. My district, for instance, already has the most progressive member of Congress, Barbara Lee, representing us. Where we might focus is locally, supporting progressivism in the city of Oakland, the mayor of which seems to be in the pocket of the developers.

Here’s what I will say if I have a chance to speak on Wednesday: Maybe we should look at this whole project we are calling revolution not so much as a means to change society, but as a means to change how people relate to each other. The revolution is bound up with our connectedness, with the quality of our connections.

What Bernie achieved was phenomenal. He showed us what was possible. He more importantly showed us how f-ing many of us there are in this country, us being people who want a society that values humans over things.

I think we should spend the first three months or so envisioning the kind of relationships we want between people, and how to build an inclusive organization.

One of the reasons Bernie lost was that he didn’t address black issues in the beginning of his campaign, nor did he didn’t prioritize the black vote. When pushed back by Black Lives Matter, the campaign did rectify this blindness, but it was too late for South Carolina and the other Southern states that went overwhelmingly for Clinton.

For us to be successful, we need to launch our organization by doing outreach to the black and Latino communities. We should do this by contacting other organizations of course, but also by being front and center in the fight against police terror, against deportations, for investment in the black and Latin communities, and for ending displacement.

I would suggest that our first discussions be around the program of The Movement for Black Lives, policy.m4bl.org, with the goal of embracing this program: