GO TO: Granma Nudge | Columns Page | Sonoma County Free Press Home Page

Last Revised: AUGUST 1, 1996

GRANMA NUDGE

BUILD THOSE COALITIONS
by MARY MOORE

On July 13 past, "Dull Care" was cremated once again at Bohemian Grove as the world went on its oblivious way. This makes the 117th time the C.E.O.'s of the Fortune 500 along with their bought and paid for U.S. presidents, have found it necessary to "burn Care" so they could party at their annual redwood retreat in Sonoma County!! I've always found it strange that there has not been more of an interest in this bizarre ritual from some quarters of our own activist community but that could be changing.

A new group called the Peoples Alliance has finally concluded that (are you ready for this?) THERE IS COLLUSION BETWEEN OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE BIG MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS!! Sorry, didn't mean to surprise or shock you, but I guess it's good news when the "peace and quiet" folks along with some clueless single issue environmentalists finally "get" this little nugget of obvious truth. There may even be hope that they will finally understand that this collusion has been going on for some time and not just in the Washington beltway. And one of the main manifestations of this collusion has been taking place in our own little corner of the world for over a century!!

To be ever helpful I wrote a letter to the local chapter of the Peoples Alliance offering to show the extensive slideshow we've put together over the past 16 years of protests at the Grove. Kerry Richardson has done an amazing job of researching and presenting the case and has enough slides to last several hours if anyone can sit still and absorb it. He actually has it down to under an hour and that's the version I showed last year in China at the N.G.O. Womens' Conference. Those women weren't very surprised but they were appreciative as it confirmed what they already knew. Especially receptive were the women from countries in Africa, Central America and other places where the World Bank and U.S. corporations exploit the most--so we can have our much touted "superior standard of living". So far the local Peoples Alliance hasn't responded to either myletter or the offer but hey--these things take time. Maybe they'll be the ones to come forth and organize next years protest at the Grove!!!

And there is yet more good news!! The Sonoma County Peace and Justice center has hired a new dynamic coordinator. Her name is Nancy Ovalle and she was one of the organizers for the recent counter demonstration at the Bear Flag Revolt commemoration in the town of Sonoma. After talking to her a couple of times I'm convinced this is no "single issue" thinker. She's got her connections and insights down and her consciousness is right out of a community of color.

In about 1984 Michael Harris and I went to the Peace Center in Santa Rosa and asked them to change their name to the Peace and Justice Center. There was a bit of resistance to this idea but they did do it. Unfortunately, for over a decade it remained a place that attracted only a very narrow part of the community. People of color and working class folks did not feel comfortable there nor did anyone connected with third party politics and certainly not hemp activists or other counter culture unruly sorts. This now seems to be changing and that is good news for Sonoma county. Timid and elitist types along with their single issue brethren and Democratic Party loyalists will have to move over and give inclusion a chance. It's about time!! Hooray for Nancy Ovalle!! GO GIRL!!!!

On other coalition building fronts, N.O.W. called a meeting in late June to explore racism in Sonoma county. They definitely deserve an A for effort but the meeting which was well attended by a rainbow of local women only served to highlight the gap between white women and women of color. All efforts like this should be encouraged but our worlds and realities continue to be far apart and I've always found that the best way to build these alliances is to simply be where the need is and be the best ally you can be. The days when women of color will take their precious time and energy to "educate" their white sisters are rightfully over. The N.O.W.white women wisely decided to do some "unlearning racism" workshops on their own and then commit to serious alliance building. In situations like this I always come back to the Kerner Report of 1968 which targeted white racism as the big stumbling block to any progress between the races in our country (world). White folks have to undo that one and it doesn't seem to be a big priority does it?? So good for the local women of N.O.W. for trying. I'd say that's also progress.

Also in June alot of different factions of the local activist community came together to support a group of homeless people who staged a march and rally in Santa Rosa to protest the Bd. of Supervisors decision to shoot down the proposed, four years in the planning, homeless shelter at the old Holiday Inn. I saw people who for years hadn't worked together for a variety of reasons (some mentioned above) but got past those reasons to show solidarity when it was badly needed. Thanks to Steve Campbell, Kevin Wilson and others who made that protest happen, even though they threw Steve's ass in jail just two days before it took place. Kevin, Robin, Diana and others rallied to the cause and it went off without a hitch. We can be so strong when we're all going in the same direction!! More about the local homeless situation in the next issue.

And finally, I surprised myself and I'm sure others by devoting two whole radio programs in July to the subject of electoral politics. The first one concerned the National Womens' Political Caucus and my guest was Lenita Johnson. I told her in advance that I've always been somewhat leery of this group for class based reasons and because I don't believe that electing just any woman is necessarily any better than just any man. We agreed that our different perspectives would produce a lively discussion and it did and I thank her for coming on with her point of view.

Then a couple of weeks later Toni Novak came on and we spent part of the time

talking third party politics. Now, there is a subject ripe for agood coalition effort. There have been several attempts and Toni tells me that there is a certain amount of working together between P.&F. and the Greens. Several years ago my friend Kwazi dragged me back east to a national meeting of Ron Daniels' National Peoples Progressive Network, where a major attempt was made at building a coalition of all the progressive electoral tendencies. It was a sincere try led by people of color which seems to me to be an essential part of any effort to bring us together. Since then the Labor Party has made its debut on the scene, falling on its face when it refused to support a womans right to choose.

Has anyone noticed that with Ralph Nader running for President on the Green ticket amid speculation that our own home grown Dan Hamburg may be his running mate, that will be the fourth (or is it the fifth) party to run two white men for the Presidential ticket in November? Isn't it somewhat ironic that the closest any of them have gotten to breaking out of this pattern is the Republicans with their talk of drafting Colin Powell?? How curious! As Toni rightfully pointed out, P.& F., the longest existing third party, has made a point of running people of color for years.

So when the Greens get hip to their own race and class bias, Labor drops its single issue focus, P.& F. pushes decentralization, Libertarians get compassion and we all iron out our internal contradictions, maybe we'll finally be in a position to put the Republicrats on the trash heap where they belong. Right now progressive third party politics reflect the single issue movements on which they are built. They all have valuable insights and a bit of the truth to offer so can we please put all this wisdom under one umbrella?? Can we leave the name attachments at the door and build a "Coalition Party" which incorporates it all??? I can dream, can't I??!

Send Email to Sonoma County Free Press

GO TO: Granma Nudge | Columns Page | Sonoma County Free Press Home Page