[Sosfbay-discuss] You're Invited to an Evening with Naomi Klein, Katrina vanden Heuvel & Bob Scheer - S

Sun Jan 27 21:01:04 PST 2008

 Dear Green Friends, 

Cathy and I just returned from this event.? 

It was interesting. 

Richard Kim, correctly in my view, compared Barack Obama unfavorably with Jesse Jackson.? He said he was "excited" about the prospect of electing one of these Democrats but said it was analogous to "looking forward to New Year's Eve knowing you're going to wake up with a hangover the next day -- and then you've got to go to work." 

Naomi Klein observed that people were "pre-disillusioned" about the prospect of a Democratic administration.? One African-American woman in the audience made a very emotional statement about her recent trip to New Orleans and Naomi Klein picked up on the theme of New Orleans as an example of this sicko "market fundamentalist" ideology and how you're not supposed to say Katrina was a catastropic failure of "market fundamentalism." 

Patricia Williams observed that some people love Barack Obama because "he's not Jesse Jackson" and other people love Barack Obama because they think he is another Martin Luther King.? She says a lot of people are going to be disappointed when they realize that Barack Obama "is just a mainstream Democrat and definitely no Martin Luther King."? 

Robert Scheer kept insisting that this is a great "progressive moment."? He was the one who was most apologetic about the Democratic Party and he kept reminding people that "we don't have to choose" between supporting Democrats for national office and "doing other things" (though of course he had nothing good to say about the "G-word" ).? 

Most of the people in the audience were P.D.A. types.? They hate Bush and the war, but I suspect every single woman and man in the room knows in their heart that the Democrats ain't shit.? I think it is very significant that these hard-core Democratic apologists at The Nation mostly share our pessimism about these Democrats.? 

They all said they would vote for "any Democrat" to being an end to the Bush Regime.? 

Here is the $64,000 Question for Greens: How can we best position ourselves (in a nice way) to capitalize on the *INEVITABLE* disillusionment of these folks?? 

The debate was framed as an either-or proposition:? Either you are optimistic about this being a "progressive moment" in American politics... OR... you are pessimistic about the Democratic Party and conventional liberalism as an agent for change.? 

If I had had a chance to get in my question I would have said I am optimistic about this being a "progressive moment"... AND... I am pessimistic about the Democratic Party Hackarama as an agent for change.? 

Almost two years ago I heard Peter Camejo say that he expected the Democrats to get back into power in 2008... AND THEN... the moment would come for the Green Party to strike with our full radical fury.? 

Alex Walker 

-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Que Hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
To: gplac-forum at cagreens.org
Sent: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 5:11 am
Subject: [GPLAC-Forum] You're Invited to an Evening with Naomi Klein, Katrina vanden  Heuvel & Bob Scheer - S

From: fdorrel at sbcglobal.net

Subject: You're Invited to an Evening with Naomi Klein, Katrina
vanden Heuvel & Bob Scheer - Sunday, January 27th, 5:00 to 7:00 PM -
The Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, West LA

Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:06:02 -0800

"What's Missing? What Matters? Beyond the Bush Era: Progressives and
Election 08"

A Panel on
What Needs to be Done to Reclaim and Rebuild Our Country 

Sunday,
January 27th, 5:00 to 7:00 PM 

?The Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, West LA

Featuring:

Katrina
vanden Heuvel - Editor and Publisher of The Nation 

Naomi Klein
- Author of The Shock Doctrine 

Patricia J.
Williams - Nation Columnist and Professor of Law, Columbia University

Richard Kim
- Nation columnist Nation Associate Editor

Moderated
by Robert Scheer - Syndicated Columnist, Founding Editor of
TruthDig? 

Dear Friends,

The Nation is
hosting an event this Sunday at the Hammer Museum. It's free, you don't
need to RSVP, you just need to get there early because there will
probably be a lot of folks. If you missed the event last month with
Robert Greenwald and Naomi Klein, you should definitely take this
opportunity to hear her speak. Here's a video:

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/21971-it-s-time-to-hold-the-ideology-accountable-for-its-crimes

Sponsored by The
Hammer Museum and The Nation.

Free of charge. No
RSVPs. Seating limited. Please arrive early.? See you there!

Jim Gilliam:
info at bravenewfilms.org?
- Brave New Films

Brave New Films is
located at 10510 Culver blvd., Culver City, CA. You can get all our
latest videos (and invites like this) in email, on iTunes, RSS, Facebook
and YouTube here:

http://bravenewfilms.org/subscribe

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