From: harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (Harel Barzilai)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: LABOR & the Dem. Convention
Date: 30 Jul 92 22:14:28 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB

From PeaceNet's "labor.newsline" via misc.activism.progressive
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    ''we who stand with working people and poor have a special burden.
    We must stand for what is right...grounded in the faith that that
    which is morally wrong will never be politically right.  But if it
    is morally sound, it will eventually be politically right''
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Topic 240       NEWS: Labor and U.S. Democrats 
mstein  Labor News & Notes      10:49 am  Jul 20, 1992 
From: Michael Stein <mstein@igc.org>
Subject: NEWS: Labor and U.S. Democrats 
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/* Written 12:10 am  Jul 18, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */ 
/* ---------- "UNITED STATES: Labour activists fol" ---------- */ 
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re- 
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'. 
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Title: UNITED STATES: Labour activists follow convention closely 


new york, jul 15 (ips/gin) -- many people in the labour movement 
here have been looking on with interest at the democratic national 
convention, and questioning whether in fact the democrats were 
moving to the right as some observers have suggested think. 

phil kwik, a writer for 'labour notes', a michigan-based labour 
newspaper, told ips the democrats have been moving to the right 
because of defeat in the last three presidential elections. 

''labour chiefs are going to realise that the party is moving 
to the right and doesn't care about labour,'' kwik told ips at the 
convention which is nominating arkansas governor bill clinton and 
his running-mate, senator al gore, as the challengers to president 
george bush and vice-president dan quayle. 

clinton, according to kwik, is ''the most 'right-wing' 
candidate this party has seen in 20 years and with the choice of 
gore, and the whole tone of the convention, they're not hiding the 
fact they are targeting the white, more affluent, middle class, 
voters''. 

kwik viewed two-time presidential candidate jesse jackson's 
speech to the jul. 13-16 convention in a positive light. he called 
jackson's appearance ''an attempt to keep the party together and 
to 'throw a bone' to the left-half of the party''. 

jackson, well-known for his roof-raising orations, received 
roars of approval for an emotional address. 

rex hardesty, spokesman for the american federation of labour 
and congress of industrial organisations (afl-cio), described the 
jackson speech as ''one of the most powerful messages i've ever 
heard''. 

in recent weeks, however, some distance had been created 
between jackson and the more moderate clinton camp. in fact, 
jackson had been told he would not have been allowed to speak at 
the convention if he had not endorsed the clinton, who has been 
dubbed as a ''moderate southern democrat''. 

but kwik commented that jackson's typically liberal rhetoric 
had been toned down by the changes in the party. 

''just the very fact that he has decided to back clinton, who 
is moving the whole party to the right, shows jackson is appeasing 
the moderates,'' kwik told ips. 

but hardesty called the labels of clinton as a ''moderate'', a 
media invention. (more/ips) 

united states: labour activists follow convention closely(2-e) 

united states: labour (2) 

''we're quite happy with the platform and are backing the 
democrats 100 percent,'' said the spokesman of one of the 
country's most powerful labour unions. 

clinton strategists believe that the defeat of democratic 
candidate michael dukakis in the 1988 presidential election was 
due in part to dukakis' ties to jackson, who is viewed 
suspiciously by the white middle class voters whom the clinton 
campaign is trying to capture. 

jackson tuesday night urged the democratic party not to abandon 
the working people and the poor in the party's efforts to appeal 
to more ''centrist'' voters in the november presidential 
elections. 

''we will win only...if we reach out to those in despair and 
those who care; reach across the lines that divide by race, region 
or religion,'' said jackson. 

a long-time advocate for the urban poor and working class, he 
proclaimed, ''we must reach out and touch our children.  our 
children are embittered and hurt. they live amidst violence and 
rejection, in broken streets, broken glass, broken sidewalks, 
broken families, broken hearts''. 

the democrats' new, moderate political stance, away from the 
liberal social spending of past democratic presidencies, is 
particularly noted in their official platform, presented tuesday 
night as 'a new covenant with the american people'. 

the platform states: ''we can no longer afford business as 
usual -- neither the policies of the last 12 years of tax breaks 
for the rich, mismanagement, lack of leadership and cuts in 
services for the middle class and the poor, nor the adoption of 
new programs and new spending without new think''. 

but jackson tried to revive some of the liberal heart of the 
old-style democratic party. ''history will remember us not for our 
positioning, but for our principles -- not by our move to the 
political centre, left or right, but rather by our grasp on the 
moral and ethical centre of wrong and right,'' he stated to his 
cheering audience. 

''we who stand with working people and poor have a special 
burden.  we must stand for what is right...grounded in the faith 
that that which is morally wrong will never be politically right. 
but if it is morally sound, it will eventually be politically 
right,'' he said. (end/ips/np/ll/yjc/92) 
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