Proposal 109: GPUS Presence at Million Worker March
Background
On Sunday, October 17, 2004, there will be a march on Washington DC. This mobilization is being proposed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, in response to the attacks upon working families in America, the illegal preemptive war on Iraq, and the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration and with the complicity of Congress.
ILWU Local 10, a union with an outstanding history of successful struggle, proposed this march out of a frustration with the major party candidates and an understanding that no matter who was in office working people and their allies would need a social movement to hold the politicians accountable. They wrote in part: We shall therefore be representing ourselves during this march, independent from all politicians, while putting forward to the entire country, our program for the betterment of Americas majority working population.
The demands of the March are Green Party demands (see http://www.millionworkermarch.org/article.php?id=28#dem).
This march offers an opportunity for the GP to develop relationships with the wings of the labor movement and anti-war movement that prioritizes building street heat over campaigning for ABB , to fight for our needs no matter who wins the election. These are forces in the labor movement who should be Green Party members and help both leverage trade unions to support the Green Party and also to help continue transforming the Green Party into the kind of party we need to be to become a more effective vehicle for the needs and aspirations of working and oppressed communities across the USA.
At the same time, in part because of AFL-CIO leadership pressures to devote all resources to electing Kerry and view the march as a distraction, working on the march will continue to provide opportunities for the GP to build relationships and credibility with the forces in the trade union movement which have most affinity with the Green Key Value of grassroots democracy like the good people at Labor Note. It will also bean opportunity to do internal education in the GP about the labor movement and its organizations.
This march also offers us, and the Green presidential campaign, another opportunity to build relations with and provide some leadership to the anti-war movement as some anti-war forces in the East Coast have already oriented towards the MWM as the major anti-war mobilization between the RNC and the election.
When ILWU member and march organizer, Clarence Thomas, spoke to the GPUS CC, he received a standing ovation. When he spoke to both Cobb and Camejo, he received positive feedback. Now, as a Party, we can make it official. Proposal
The Green Party of the United States, as well as the Labor Green Network, shall formally sponsor (and assist with logistics where applicable including some support from the national office and send members to participate including helping to organize buses from GP organizations across the US where feasible) the Million Worker March in Washington, DC, on October 17 and will approve an ad-hoc organizing committee including members of various state Green Parties to be determined later. We will produce literature (to be developed by the Labor Greens) solidarizing with the demands of the MWM and labor in general (here and internationally). We will organize a contingent behind the GP banner and attempt to recruit to the Green Party.
Proposal
The Green Party of the United States, as well as the Labor Green Network, shall formally sponsor (and assist with logistics where applicable including some support from the national office and send members to participate including helping to organize buses from GP organizations across the US where feasible) the Million Worker March in Washington, DC, on October 17 and will approve an ad-hoc organizing committee including members of various state Green Parties to be determined later. We will produce literature (to be developed by the Labor Greens) solidarizing with the demands of the MWM and labor in general (here and internationally). We will organize a contingent behind the GP banner and attempt to recruit to the Green Party.
