A Letter from PDA Board Chair Mimi Kennedy
November 5, 2007
Dear PDAers,
The presidential primary is a whirlwind building to hurricane force, with millions of dollars pouring into the campaigns.
The peace and justice movement is building too, with tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets of American cities on
October 27. And plans are to do so again, repeatedly, until this illegal, immoral, undeclared war is ended.
PDA's
Inside/Outside strategy is mobilized in both arenas.
PDA formed in 2004. In the lull between the primary and general elections, at the festive Democratic Convention, we left the Boston Convention Center to take our stand at Roxbury Community College. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean joined hands for the first time and representatives of other campaigns were present as progressives committed to bringing the social movement for peace and justice inside the Democratic Party structure. Tom Hayden told us that power gives nothing up without a struggle. PDA's Inside/Outside strategy, combining street heat and party politics, was born.
It's been three years, going on four. As the primary season heats up, money rains down, the media chatters, attack and counterattack merge into endless barrage. Inevitably, friends who have been working together on issues now separate to work for different candidates - often feeling suspicious, sad, and betrayed.
Where will Democrats be when the wind dies down and candidates are settled in office? When campaigns fold, who restores the unity of the social movement necessary to hold Democrats accountable for the necessary work that will save the nation and the planet: waging peace and justice--environmental, social, and economic?
PDA is holding that unity inside the party, using the energy of the storm instead of being blown apart by it. In coalition with Velvet Revolution, the Backbone Campaign, the Hip-Hop Caucus, Democrats.com, Camp Casey Peace Institute, and Justice Through Music, PDA formed
Progressive2008.org and disseminated 30,000 flyers on Oct. 27 during the peace marches. The
Progressive2008 flyer outlines our 7-point progressive platform. It is a document to take to every campaign, to the candidates of your choice. Tell them it is the platform by which the progressive movement--Inside and Outside the Democratic Party--will measure them. With the platform, the progressive movement won't be splintered by the election cycle. It can be strengthened.
In PDA, street heat is high priority. As Executive Director Tim Carpenter puts it, "How many e-mails did you get from other Democratic Party organizations mobilizing you to march on Oct. 27?" Our membership, now numbering 110,000 in 136 chapters in 48 states, had a presence in every city.” In San Francisco I marched behind a “Diplomacy, Not Warfare--US OUT OF IRAN” banner. Its Q had been covered with an N for the day, and as a result, it was much-photographed, bearing the message of the hour. PDA Board members spoke at rallies in several cities.
We were present, for the first time, in mainstream media.
Reuters had a quote from Ohio PDA leader Mike Carano: "This isn't just a thing where a number of people come to (Washington) D.C. This is across-the-country sentiment about ending the occupation, redirecting funds for needs in this country, our attempt to get Congress to stand up and have its prerogative to cut funding, to take charge. That's our hope."
The
St. Petersburg Times' article listed PDA, along with MoveOn, as leading the organized anti-war movement across the country.
Our Congressional Board members-Reps. Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters, John Conyers, Raul Grijalva, Jim McGovern, Diane Watson-tell us often that "street heat" is the wind beneath their wings when they challenge the leadership's approach to this Administration.
We'll keep generating street heat as we move inside the party on every level to oust privatized government, end destructive trade, establish single-payer health care, reverse our violent foreign policy, and release the grip of special interests, secrecy and cronyism. We have a republic to repair and an Earth to save.
PDA's Inside/Outside strategy can harness the energy of '08, not be hammered by it. Progressive2008 allows PDA to hold the space inside the party for unified work so that candidates who are elected--we hope with a margin of our progressive help because they have embraced the
Progressive2008 platform! --will work with the grassroots to solve problems authentically and democratically. We won't get fooled again.
Support this unity.
Strengthen it by donating to PDA today. If more of our 110,000 members became partners in our
Change Makes Change program--the website is secure--for just $10, the move to a more progressive nation would be swift. Anyone reading about PDA for the first time, join us--no matter who your candidate is. Make it your Outside strategy. It works.
Peace,
Mimi Kennedy
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