{"id":3296,"date":"2008-07-17T09:03:34","date_gmt":"2008-07-17T15:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=3296"},"modified":"2014-04-12T09:47:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-12T15:47:14","slug":"cynthia-mckinney-and-rosa-clemente-building-a-movement-for-real-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/cynthia-mckinney-and-rosa-clemente-building-a-movement-for-real-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente: Building a Movement for REAL Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 286\u00a0of The Black Commentator on\u00a0July 17, 2008<\/a>
\nRepublished in Pan-African News Wire on July 17, 2008<\/a><\/p>\n

By Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something magnificent and truly extraordinary happened at the 2008, Green Party Presidential Convention a few days ago in\u00a0Chicago,\u00a0Illinois. Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente;\u00a0two<\/em> dynamic, highly intelligent, experienced, and politically committed\u00a0women<\/em>\u00a0of color were chosen by the Green Party of this nation to be its nominees for President and Vice President respectively, of the\u00a0United 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<\/em> demonstrating her guts and integrity by crisscrossing this nation and informing people in every nook and cranny about the \u201cPower To The People\u201d Campaign. Now Sister McKinney has been joined by Puerto Rican people\u2019s grass root activist \/ journalist \/ and intellectual hip hop artist Sister Rosa Clemente in this ever growing campaign and people\u2019s movement and struggle. Indeed, something extraordinary has happened and there is yet more to come.<\/p>\n

While CNN, ABC, C-SPAN, etc. did give some limited coverage of and to this incredibly momentous event;\u00a0none<\/em>\u00a0of the pundits of these so-called \u201cmain stream news\u201d media outlets dared elucidate to the \u201cAmerican\u201d people the enormous<\/em> present-day and historical significance and opportunities of\u00a0what just happened in\u00a0Chicago<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Chicago is a wake up call to\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0persons of good will: Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow!<\/p>\n

By supporting the candidacies of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente we are supporting a people\u2019s movement \u2013\u00a0our<\/em> movement for real, fundamental, \u201csystemic\u201d<\/em> change,\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0mealy-mouth meaningless \/ feel good rhetoric. We are\u00a0self-actualizing<\/em>\u00a0our hopes and dreams, not allowing others to pimp and manipulate us by\u00a0playing on<\/em>\u00a0those hopes and dreams. We are supporting the very best in\u00a0ourselves<\/em>. We are laying the foundation in 21st Century \u201cAmerica\u201d for a genuine and ongoing<\/em> people\u2019s movement<\/em> that says NO to the corporate \/ military \/ prison apparatus of the U.S. Empire at home and abroad. We are supporting so much\u00a0more<\/em>\u00a0than only candidates for political office – \u00a0we are supporting our commitment to the building of an uncompromising, unswerving, people\u2019s movement that is\u00a0un<\/em>hindered by this system\u2019s Democratic and Republican [i.e. Republicratic] Party election time lines and political machine. We are refusing<\/em> to collaborate with this Empire\u2019s 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.\u00a0We are emphatically stating that we will not sit back and allow principled, intelligent, revolutionary \/ politically progressive, honest, and for-real\u00a0women<\/em>\u00a0to be by-passed and ignored any longer by this system in \u201cAmerica.\u201d By supporting the Cynthia McKinney \/ Rosa Clemente \u201cPower To The People\u201d Campaign we are making it crystal clear that we will intensify the struggle the dignity and human rights of\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0people: women, men, and children – Black, Brown, Red, White, and Yellow – all<\/em> peoples.<\/p>\n

To be sure, the U.S. Empire\u2019s corrupt and biased news media dis<\/em>information machine can be expected to go into high gear in an effort to discredit and neutralize the\u00a0McKinney \/ Clemente ticket and the \u201cPower To The People\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

For those who may not have seen and heard Cynthia McKinney\u2019s acceptance speech on C-SPAN at the Green Party Convention this past July 13, 2008; it is urged that you turn on your computer\u2019s speakers, view her presentation, and hear her remarks and<\/em>\u00a0those of Rosa Clemente on the internet at C-SPAN.org under the heading [Green Party Presidential Convention<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0(July 13, 2008).<\/p>\n

The \u201cPower To The People\u201d 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<\/em> 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<\/em> change. Thus, every conceivable means will be utilized to deter this campaign, its ultimate movement, and objectives.<\/p>\n

We must get out into our towns, cities, and municipalities of all kinds with one fundamental objective: Getting and putting the \u201cPower To The People\u201d Cynthia McKinney \/ Rosa Clemente Green Party ticket on the ballot in high numbers in every<\/em> viable state of this nation, while simultaneously building and nurturing this people\u2019s movement. Let us start voting right now<\/em> 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!<\/p>\n

We are the people and it is WE ourselves who are the essence of, and motivation for, real<\/em> change. Let us call out to our sisters and brothers in Haiti, in\u00a0Venezuela, in\u00a0Bolivia, in\u00a0Cuba, in\u00a0Palestine, in\u00a0Myanmar, in the Congo\u00a0and 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0mutual<\/em>\u00a0advantage of the people\u2019s movement. We must remember that\u00a0\u201cno one of us is as smart or as strong as all of us.\u201d<\/em> 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\u00a0San Francisco 8, Assata Shakur and so very,\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0many more. We must remember\u00a0why<\/em> we are waging this struggle. This is about more than votes. This is about our very survival and that of Mother Earth – this planet.<\/p>\n

This is about saying NO to the Empire and its collaborators, and YES to a NEW DAY a NEW SOCIETY, a NEW WORLD.\u00a0This is about struggling to be that NEW PERSON who self-actualizes and addresses human needs, not human greed, lies, and hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

Viva Cynthia McKinney! Viva Rosa Clememte! Long live \u201cThe Power To The People\u2019 Campaign! Let\u2019s get busy brothers and sisters. \u201cEach one reach one\u201d. There is much work to be done!<\/p>\n

Onward then\u2026<\/p>\n