[Marxism] Cynthia McKinney Announces Run for President

[Joaquin Bustelo]

Erik Toren wrote: "Well. From reading what the Nader Greens are saying about
Cynthia, I don't think "Hurray!" is their first word to come out of their
mouths."

I *think* it is fair to call me a "Nader Green" and I am totally ENTHUSED by
McKinney's announcement. Even if it comes down to having to choose between
Cynthia and Nader ... better two good choices than none at all.

That said, I think sister McKinney is the right person to continue
"Naderism" in 2008 and take it to the next level. She represents those in
the Black community who have fought within the framework of the Democratic
Party --or at least the Democrat ballot line, as they viewed it-- for the
right of Black people to political representation ... and have seen that
struggle perverted into merely having (a few) Black faces in high places
instead of real and substantial improvements for the Black community,
precisely because of the use of the ballot line gave the Democrats over the
Black representatives. 

The gang-up on McKinney by Republicans and capitalists and racists of all
stripes that twice now deprived her of the Democratic Party ballot spot in
running for Congress (because primary turnouts are so low and Georgia allows
cross-over voting in primaries, so white Republicans could and did, in
effect, deny her the Democrat spot on the November ballot, even though they
could never have defeated her is she had been the candidate in the general
election) is eloquent testimony about how even "using" the Democrat's ballot
line disempowers Black people and frustrates their democratic struggle for
political representation. 

And speaking as a Latino in Georgia, and in Cynthia's congressional
district, I want to say something more. 

I *trust* Cynthia McKinney. She is *our* sister Cynthia. She is a carnal.
She is family.

She has been there for us, when there was absolutely no gain for her in it.
She has come to our protests and demonstrations, not just the big ones but
smaller ones too. One of the first public events she held AFTER winning back
her congressional seat in 2004 was to a Latino community meeting, to
announce she was setting up a satellite district office in the most heavily
Latino area of the District and that she had hired a bilingual Latina
community organizer to help her carry out the ombudsmen-type functions
members of Congress carry out for their constituents (usually, the rich
ones, or at the very least ones with votes). 

And she did this even though really, there was nothing in it for her.
Neither votes, nor financial contributions, nor campaign workers. As a
politician, narrowly viewed, she would have been better served shoring up
and organizing her Black base south of Memorial Drive in DeKalb County, but
she reached out to our community because she knew our people needed the help
her office could offer, and most of all the political and moral support
implicit in having her, fresh from her victory in winning back her
congressional seat, come to us. And she took a chunk of the budget Members
of Congress have and instead of saying, I'm going to use this money getting
re-elected, she said, I'm going to use this money helping people in my
District who can't vote and can't contribute to my campaign because it is
right and just.

I've never, ever voted for a Democrat my entire life -- except for Cynthia.
And if Jesus Christ and Karl Marx rolled up into one ran against her for the
revolutionary workers party, and sister Cynthia for the Republicans in
Georgia's 4th Congressional District, I'd probably vote for her AGAIN.

And I will say something else, which I happen to be privy to being involved
in the Latino group that sponsored the meeting. We didn't ASK Cynthia to
come. She approached US. She came to us to ask for a few minutes to speak to
our meeting, and through that (and the press coverage in the Latino media)
to the broader community. It was HER initiative. 

I greatly respect and appreciate what Nader did in 2000, and even more in
2004, fighting against the "Anybody-But-Bush" liberal hysteria. I'd have no
problem voting for him again in 2008, and, if it came to it, in 2012. But I
have no doubt that in McKinney, "Naderism" --the search by working and
oppressed people to find their OWN voice in politics-- has raised up a
worthy continuator of Nader's work who has the potential to take it to a
higher level by beginning to consolidate a base for independent politics in
the Black community.

I know some brothers and sisters will be bothered by McKinney's long
association with the Democratic Party. All I can say is that for nearly a
decade (I did not follow her career or statements closely before then), I've
never heard McKinney urge working and oppressed people to organize in and
through that party nor subordinate their struggles to the electoral needs of
the Democrats. 

Indeed, the time I refer to above in the late fall of 2004 when newly
elected sister Cynthia came to speak to the Latino community wasn't her
first time at one of our meetings. She has come several times, both as part
of her campaigns and in between. At one meeting I remember in particular she
addressed the issue of the political role of the Latino community. And what
was her message? Vote for me, yes, that was part of it, but the least part. 

Her main appeal to the Latino community, which was just awakening to
political life in this state, for it is a new community, was to not make the
mistake the Black community had made and become a captive of the Democratic
Party. So much so that the reporter for one of the local Spanish-language
weeklies, Atlanta Latino, hearing her polemic, *assumed* she was a
Republican and identified her in print as such. (Obviously, this reporter
was an immigrant, like most of our community, and not well versed in U.S.
politics).

Was there a contradiction there, in between her advocacy of independent
politics and her use of the Democratic Party ballot line, with all that
implies? Like, duh...

All the more reason for those of us on the Left to hail her leadership in
breaking completely with the Democrats, their corrupting tokenism and small
change concessions, and welcoming her as a 100% genuine alternative for
working and oppressed people in this election.

Joaquín