Poor People's Campaign Update

Pointing out that this is news you won't see on CNN, Common Dreams summarizes an event at Duke University Sanders and Rev. Barber Call for Building Truly Moral Economy

"A moral economy is one that says, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, all of our people should be able to live with dignity and security."

The PPC is putting an anti-war foundation at the core of their campaign:

Highlighting Martin Luther King Jr.'s insistence that militarism is deeply connected to the crises of racism and poverty, Sanders and Barber also pointed to endless U.S. led wars overseas that have cost trillions of dollars as the poor in America lack healthcare and other basic necessities.

Over at Counterpunch, Patrick Walker calls this Political Dynamite: Poor People's Campaign and The Movement For A Poor People's Party

In any case—in view of the huge obstacles our undemocratic system places in the way of third parties—the PPC could do for progressive third parties something they’re utterly unable to do for themselves: overthrow U.S. voters’ hesitation to think of them as viable options. Our uninformative news media—really a corporate-militarist propaganda system—of course do everything possible to keep third parties out of the news. But a powerful mass movement makes its ownnews, as Occupy did in broadcasting worldwide the establishment-unfriendly message of “the 99% vs. the 1%.”

Given the support it richly merits in reanimating Dr. King’s radical legacy for our perilous times, the PPC could easily be bigger—and far more politically effective—than Occupy. What could be more relevantly radical for the PPC than peacefully “dynamiting”—for the sake of its priceless aims—our worthless two-party system?

(emphasis added. It's good to have goals)

This is a long wonkish article, so I selected a few promising highlights:

Naomi Klein insightfully wrote,in the wake of Trump’s shocking victory, “The Democratic Party needs to be either decisively wrested from pro-corporate neoliberals, or it needs to be abandoned.” The [Movement For A People's Party] MPP’s inside-outside strategy, targeting the warmongering pro-corporate Democrats who impede most social progress (even maliciously abusing their sole, identity-issues virtue), is the most promising electoral approach available for implementing Klein’s sage advice.

Stymied chiefly by such establishment Democrats—who refuse even to grant progressives a party forum for challenging Republicans—the PPC has a profound stake in the MPP’s inside-outside electoral strategy.

How does this fusion movement implement real and fundamental change?

For convenience, I’ll identify two essential “elements”—sufficient components for making political dynamite—as the Poor People’s Campaign(PPC) and the Movement for a People’s Party(MPP). For readers to grasp the urgent current relevance of those two movements, they need to realize that each movement name stands for much more than the words comprising it immediately suggest.

The first component is how the PPC has revived and updated MLK's original campaign:

Crucially for our purposes, King’s campaign targeted not just poverty alone, but the deeply interwoven “triple evils”of poverty, racism, and militarism. Updating King’s triple evils to include humanity’s newest crisis, the present PPC seeks to combat climate and environmental devastation as well.

The second component is an electoral "arm" strategy:

In recommending the MPP electoral strategy—though not necessarily the proposed People’s Party—to PPC supporters, I’m suggesting the resurrected King movement grow a muscular electoral “arm” to enforce its urgent demands.

So, what is the MPP strategy? The MPP strategy is an “inside-outside” electoral approach targeting today’s faux-progressive Democratic Party (rightly stigmatized as the Inauthentic Opposition Party). Since the MPP has explained its strategy with laudable clarity, I’ll summarize it by quoting a full paragraph from the MPP link cited earlier:

A people’s party is an essential yet missing element of our strategy as a movement today. The Democrats have a virtual monopoly over progressives right now. Like a corporate monopoly with its customers, the Democrats feel no need to serve their constituents because they think we have nowhere else to go. Throughout U.S. history, major parties have refused to change until independent parties have threatened to replace them.

Let's hope the author's prediction is on target:

My prediction is that the forces of political revolt will eventually coalesce, resulting in the realresistance movement an extremist Trump presidency should have awakened; whether they’ll do so in time to ward off nuclear or climate catastrophe is anybody’s guess. But the elements of real, fruitful revolt (not Democrats’ largely symbolic McResistance) are now in place, and my modest task here is simply to raise consciousness about the “dynamite” political potential of fusing those elements.

For the sake of our planet and humanity I'm hopeful the PPC can both raise consciousness and produce the real, fruitful revolt we need.

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Mark from Queens's picture

Will read that Counterpunch piece when I can.

Still wonder, as someone had previously here, if the "Poor People's" campaign is the best choice for a name. I mean, we know here that this is a literal continuation of MLK's last program. But the masses probably have no clue. And the John Steinbeck quote still rings true,

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

Conditioned 24/7 by American Exceptionalism Propaganda to worship the rich and to stay on the debt slave treadmill in order to achieve the purposely elusive American Dream, the average middle class, MSM-watching zombie may not relate to such a campaign because he views himself as Steinbeck said.

One of the only good things in this instance about MLK being so sanitized by the PTB, is that most folks revere and think favorably about MLK. This may take the sting off being seen by their peers associating and identifying with "poor people." If it's portrayed as King's unfinished business maybe it'll galvanize those reluctant ones, since he is like the state's Saint.

If it sticks, and it appears it is, then it must always as a continuation of St. Martin Luther King's legacy.

I wonder if there's some overlapping or potential partnership with Nick Brana's "People's Party."

Thanks again for the updates.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut