californiamexicocenter@GMAIL.COM
Estimado Devon,
In response to your email, I've attached 3 powerful
Op-Ed’s and pasted below a comment by professor Carlos Munoz on your question
and an article that he reflects upon:
Those who continue to vote for the lesser of two evils
must read this. What this article addresses is that those who keep the two
party dictatorship going are the corporations. What it does not address is the
need to organize an authentic multiracial third party that will represent the
people and not the corporate interests of capitalism. Peace, Carlos
The Coming Climate Revolt
By Chris Hedges
We have undergone a transformation during the last few
decades—what John Ralston Saul calls a corporate coup d’état in slow motion. We
are no longer a capitalist democracy endowed with a functioning liberal class
that once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible. Liberals in the old
Democratic Party such as the senators Gaylord Nelson, Birch Bayh and George
McGovern—who worked with Ralph Nader to make the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water
Act, the Mine Safety and Health Act, the Freedom of Information Act and the
OSHA law, who made common cause with labor unions to protect workers, who stood
up to the arms industry and a bloated military—no longer exist within the
Democratic Party, as Nader has been lamenting for several years. They were
pushed out as corporate donors began to transform the political landscape with
the election of Ronald Reagan. And this is why the Democrats have not, as Bill
Curry points out, enacted any major social or economic reforms since the
historic environmental laws of the early ’70s.
We are governed, rather, by a species of corporate
totalitarianism, or what the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin describes as
“inverted totalitarianism.” By this Wolin means a system where corporate power,
while it purports to pay fealty to electoral politics, the Constitution, the
three branches of government and a free press, along with the iconography and
language of American patriotism, has in fact seized all the important levers of
power to render the citizen impotent.
The old liberal class, the safety valve that addressed
grievances and injustices in times of economic or political distress, has been
neutered. There are self-identified liberals, including Barack Obama, who
continue to speak in the old language of liberalism but serve corporate power.
This has been true since the Clinton administration. Bill Clinton found that by
doing corporate bidding he could get corporate money—thus NAFTA, the
destruction of our welfare system, the explosion of mass incarceration under
the [1994] omnibus bill, the deregulation of the FCC, turning the airwaves over
to a half dozen corporations, and the revoking of FDR’s 1933 Glass-Steagall
reform that had protected our banking system from speculators. Clinton, in
exchange for corporate money, transformed the Democratic Party into the
Republican Party. This was diabolically brilliant. It forced the Republican
Party to shift so far to the right it became insane.
By the time Clinton was done the rhetoric of
self-professed liberals was a public relations game. This is why there is
continuity from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. Obama’s
election did nothing to halt the expanding assault on civil liberties—in fact
Obama’s assault has been worse—the Bush bailouts of big banks, the endless
imperial wars, the failure to regulate Wall Street, the hiring of corporate
lobbyists to write legislation and serve in top government positions, the
explosion of drilling and fracking, the security and surveillance state as well
as the persecution of government whistle-blowers.
This audience is well aware of the Democratic Party’s
squalid record on the environment, laid out in detail in a new Greenpeace
report written by Charlie Cray and Peter Montague, titled “The Kingpins of
Carbon and Their War on Democracy.” The report chronicles what it calls “a
multi-decade war on democracy by the kingpins of carbon—the coal, the oil, and
gas industries allied with a handful of self-interested libertarian
billionaires.”
The Obama administration, in return for financial support
from these kingpins of carbon, has cynically undermined international climate
treaties, a fact we discovered only because of the revelations provided by
Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks. It uses its intelligence agencies, these
revelations revealed, to spy on those carrying out climate negotiations to
thwart caps on carbon emissions and push through useless, nonbinding
agreements. The Obama administration has overseen a massive expansion of
fracking. It is pushing through a series of trade agreements such as the TPP
and the TAFTA that will increase fracking along with expanding our exports of
coal, oil and gas. It authorized the excavation of tar sands in Utah and
Alabama. It approved the southern half of the Keystone pipeline. It has
permitted seismic testing for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the East
Coast and in parts of Alaska, a process that kills off hundreds of sea mammals.
It authorized drilling within four miles of the Florida coastline, violating
one of Obama’s 2008 campaign promises. This expansion of offshore drilling
reversed 20 years of federal policy.
If we appeal to self-identified liberals in the
establishment who have no capacity or desire to carry out the radical reforms,
we will pour energy into a black hole. And this is what the corporate state
seeks. It seeks to perpetuate the facade of democracy. It seeks to make us
believe what is no longer real, that if we work within the system we can reform
it. And it has put in place a terrifying superstructure to silence all who step
outside the narrow parameters it defines as acceptable.
The Democratic Party speaks to us “rationally.” The party
says it seeks to protect civil liberties, regulate Wall Street, is concerned
about the plight of the working class and wants to institute reforms to address
climate change. But in all these areas, and many more, it has, like its
Republican counterpart, repeatedly sold out the citizenry for corporate power
and corporate profits—in much the same manner that Big Green environmental
groups such as the Climate Group and the Environmental Defense Fund have sold
out the environmental movement.
To assume that Obama, or the Democratic Party, because they acknowledge the reality of climate change, while the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party does not, is better equipped to deal with the crisis is incorrect. Republicans appeal to one constituency. The Democrats appeal to another. But both parties will do nothing to halt the ravaging of the planet.
If Wolin is right, and I believe he is, then when we begin to build mass movements that carry out repeated acts of civil disobedience, as I think everyone on this panel believes we must do, the corporate state, including the Democratic Party, will react the way all calcified states react. It will use the security and surveillance apparatus, militarized police forces—and, under Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act, the military itself—to shut down all dissent with force. The legal and organizational mechanisms are now in place to, with the flip of a switch, put the nation effectively under martial law. When acts of mass civil disobedience begin on Monday morning with Flood Wall Street and later with Occupy the U.N., the face of the corporate state will, as it did during the Occupy movement, reveal itself.
If the response of the corporate state is repression
rather than reform then our strategy and our tactics must be different. We will
have to cease our appealing to the system. We will have to view the state,
including the Democratic Party, as antagonistic to genuine reform. We will have
to speak in the language of ... revolution. We will have to carry out acts of
civil disobedience that seek to cripple the mechanisms of corporate power. The
corporate elites, blinded by their lust for profit and foolish enough to
believe they can protect themselves from climate change, will not veer from our
path towards ecocide unless they are forced from power. And this means the
beginning of a titanic clash between our corporate masters and ourselves.
This article was published at NationofChange at: http://www.nationofchange.org/coming-climate-revolt-1411478189.
All rights are reserved.
-----Original Message-----
From: Foro de comunicacion
para Latinos del suroeste de los EEUU [mailto:LARED-L@LISTSERV.CYBERLATINA.NET]
On Behalf Of Devon Peña
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 8:45 AM
Subject: Re: [LRL] Fw: Declaration of Independence from
the Democratic Party
It seems curious that no one has taken up the question of
the independent third party - a radical/progressive coalition that brings
together Latina/o, Black, other ethnic groups, white women, young college
students, labor organizers and union members, environmentalists, LGBTQ, etc.
This was the point in my introduction to the piece by
Armando, which I am reposting below.
Why are we trapped in the binary system? Dare we break
out and build a sustainable long-term transformative party? That's what I take
Cirenio's comments to imply. If we continue to vote for either party, we only
condemn ourselves to disappointing results on the road to what is being called
"inverted totalitarianism". I challenge you all to read this missive
by Chris Hedges, who nails it, Totalitarianism US Style < <http://www.alternet.org/activism/totalitarianism-american-style>
http://www.alternet.org/activism/totalitarianism-american-style>.
Then try having this conversation again - thinking outside the box instead of
inside a mirror hall binary.
My comments, posted as intro to the piece:
*Moderator’s Note:* This blog seldom delves into matters
related to electoral politics largely because of the moderator’s ever-deepening
disdain for the two-party system that marginalizes democratic and progressive
impulses and dampens the possibilities for the use of elections as a tool for
social change. The two parties should make their [neoliberal] ideological
convergence official and call themselves the Republicrats or Demoblicans. The
two parties are increasingly indistinguishable, especially in the Executive
Branch, despite the apparent divergence in the politics of Supreme Court
appointments.
That said, I was taken by this statement of declaration of independence from the Democratic Party prepared by Professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos of the California-Mexico Studies Center. I agree with most of this statement except that perhaps it does not go far enough to make the case for an independence that moves toward a viable third party – one that could coalesce around progressive workers, immigrants, youth, women, LGBTQ, environmentalists, and civil rights activists.
Registering independent and still voting Democratic will
not solve the issues we face but this does open an interesting conversation
that needs to develop and spread across all marginalized political communities.
On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 9:53 PM, T. Garcia < <mailto:00000008d8bb7e6f-dmarc-request@listserv.cyberlatina.net> 00000008d8bb7e6f-dmarc-request@listserv.cyberlatina.net> wrote:
Well, if we don't vote Democratic, who would we vote
for then?
Certainly not for the GOPer fascists who are an even
bigger threat to us than is Isis.
There are lesser Parties to vote for, sure, but our votes would be wasted if we decide to vote other
than for the DEMs.
We are precisely where we were 2 years ago, when we
voted for Obama.
He has performed miracles against the power of the wealthy and exposed
their heartlessness, stupidity, and greed. Yet, they have succeeded in their tactics of obstruction and oppression of the 99% with their
majorities in the House and the SCOTUS.
Their dupes and puppets, their Uncle Toms and Tio Tacos kiss the
cheekbones of the rich and sobre-poderosos and are thus no less a
danger to us than the GOPers and those who urge us to waste our votes.
If there is anyone who can personally deliver this message to the
POTUS, he must know that we condemn him for his refusal to act on
behalf of justice for Ramsey Muniz and other political or innocent
prisoners who have been unjustly denied their substantive rights as a
function of this faux system of democracy.
Let the political Parties and their supporters of this crashed justice
system know that those who vote for us at all political levels can count on our votes. If we can win the Congress in November, we can write the wrongs of the fascist SCOTUS in the next 2 years and move on with the righting of wrongs and the equitable sharing of what our hard work produces.
The same as 2 years ago, we have little choice other
than to vote Democratic again, if only because they at least
acknowledge the erosion of the public's civil rights against our
civil servants, and pledge to change that for the better; while the
GOPers claim victory against the 99% of class levels.
Again, it is critical we win the federal and state
Congresses in these
midterms. The
consequences of failure will haunt us and our posterity for generations as the corruption of our society
becomes complete.
On Sunday, September 21, 2014 5:18 PM, Mike Acosta
wrote:
In my opinion what some folks forget is that the majority of latinos are not one issue voters. For example it appears that armando Vasquez-ramos is a one issue voter, the issue being immigration reform. on the other hand
there are large numbers of latinos who care as much about obamacare, as they do about immigration reform and other important issues. And in what appears to be a clear case of ressentiment, armando wants to abandon support for the democratic party in favor of another political perspective,perhaps the independent party. But then the majority of independents want obamacare repealed, which if accomplished would be
a "desmadre" to the millions of latinos already dependent on this
healthcare program. He also compares his declaration of independence from the democratic party to the action father hidalgo took 204 years ago; does armando really believe that simply changing political parties carries a level of importance similar to what occurred el dieciseis de septiembre de 1810?
-----Original Message-----
From: Foro de comunicacion para Latinos del suroeste de los EEUU
On Behalf Of Alvaro Huerta
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2014 6:34 PMTo: LARED-L@LISTSERV.CYBERLATINA.NET
Subject: Re: [LRL] Declaration of Independence
from the Democratic Party
This is excellent!
Alvaro
On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 5:35 AM, Roberto Franco
Vazquez
mailto:000000078c88afa5-dmarc-request@listserv.cyberlatina.net000000078c88afa5-dmarc-request@listserv.cyberlatina.net
wrote:
The California-Mexico Studies Center Armando Vazquez-Ramos
President & CEO
1551 N. Studebaker Road, Long Beach, CA 90815
Phone: (562) 430-5541 Cell: (562) 972-0986
CaliforniaMexicoCenter@gmail.com
Like us on Facebook and Twitter!
A Latino Voters Declaration of Independence from the Democratic Party in the U.S.
By Professor Armando Vazquez-Ramos,
September 15, 2014 Coinciding with Father Miguel Hidalgo's El Grito de
Dolores on September 15, 1810, to foment an end to slavery after
almost 300 years of Spanish rule, I humbly declare today my independence
from the Democratic Party and call upon all Latino voters in
the U.S. to do the same, throughout the farcical 'Hispanic Heritage
Month' celebration that begins today.
With President Obama's latest broken
promise to protect by executive action the 11 million immigrants
in political limbo, today I declare that I have decided to quit
the Democratic Party and call upon all Latino voters to rebel,
by changing their registration to 'independent' because there
is no political party that deserves our vote, or truly represents
the interests of our families and children.
We should celebrate 'Hispanic Heritage
Month' by voting on November 4th as independent voters for "No
executive action, no vote ! " across the U.S., to deliver the message
that Obama must exercise by Thanksgiving his executive authority
through deferred action, and grant administrative relief to all 11
million immigrants without a criminal record.
His deportation regime represents a form of
genocide of more than 2 million Latino immigrant families, because
96% of those deported were Latinos, which is inherently a form of
racialized and discriminatory law enforcement that should
be prosecuted as a criminal case in an international court,
and litigated as a massive violation of U.S. citizens children's rights in the United
Nations and U.S. courts.
To wit, as a result of Obama' Deporter-in-Chief legacy, there are over
500,000 U.S. born children of Mexican parents deported, now exiled
in Mexico, and whose constitutional, human and children's rights have been violated. They should be given safe return to their country of birth, along with their parents and nuclear family.
Ironically, Obama's legacy will be judged
in history by this familicide, in contradiction with his
unjustified and undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.
In my opinion, when president Obama finally
announced his decision to deny again his promise to protect the 11
million unauthorized immigrants that contribute to our economy
with their hard work, he lost his last chance to energize Latino
voters and the Democratic Party's base, not only for the November
elections, he also jeopardized the 2016 presidential election.
Surely, Latino voters will be cuddled by
the Dems to vote the GOP out of Congress and to elect Hillary in
2016, as our duty and allegiance to the party. But for what
benefit and how can we trust them, when Obama's persuasive appeal is
exhausted, unconvincing and bankrupt.
Conclusively, President Obama and the Democratic Party's leadership cannot be trusted on immigration before, or after the elections this year. They will continue to punt with the justification that we must wait until after the 2016 election, due to congressional gridlock and the GOP's threat of impeachment and lawsuits against the president.
Notwithstanding that Obama's deportations
will continue at record-pace, as he becomes the longest
serving lame duck president in the history of the U.S., for his last 2
years in office after the November 4 election.
The president and the Democratic Party's
leadership led us down the path of deception and without consultation
dictated to Latinos to accept the nefarious S.744 legislation
produced by the senate's 'Gang of 8', despite the fact that it would
deport half or more of the 11 million undocumented, while
militarizing the border with a $56 billion boondoggle.
As Geronimo would say, Obama and the
Democratic Party leadership 'speak forked tongue'.
Now there is no doubt that they are a part of the problem, that Obama is a president that does not respect even his own democrat members of congress, much less Latino voters.
Blatantly disrespectful, he never replied
to the appeal letters for immigrants' legislative relief sent by
Congress members Raul Grijalva and Yvette Clarke on December 5,
2013 and January 24, 2014, and signed by 40+ democrat members of
the U.S. Congress.
Regardless of the November election
results, Obama must deliver on his word before the end of the year, to
change his legacy to the Emancipator-in-Chief, and do what is right
for the economy and future generations of new American
immigrants that will be 30% of the U.S. population by 2050.
Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos teaches Chicano
and Latino Studies in the California State University system, and
is an Area Coordinator for the Protect Our Families and Save the
Children Campaign in Los Angeles, CA
****************
Alvaro Huerta, Ph.D. (City & Regional Planning, UC Berkeley)
UCLA Visiting Scholar, Chicano Studies Research Center
<http://sites.google.com/site/alvarohuertasite/>
http://sites.google.com/site/alvarohuertasite/
Call for Papers: Immigration / Migration <
Recommended book for Fall classes & campus
libraries: Huerta, Alvaro.
2013. Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a
Humanistic Paradigm
p/193
8537033.San Diego: San Diego State University Press.
Devon G. Peña, Ph.D.
"Memory is a moral obligation, all the time."
-J. Derrida
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