LABOR BEAT: New video examines beginnings of independent politics in Chicago
A new Labor Beat video on Independent Labor Politics is now available on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/cagUbXBceVY. The video is also archived at: laborbeat.org. With anger at Illinois Governor Pat Quinn still growing among the rank-and-file teachers who put him in office in November 2010, Labor Beat begins to examine how politics can be transformed from the "less evil" arguments that have been around for, it seems, forever. This half hour video shows how things are beginning to change in Chicago and elsewhere.
Chicago Teachers Union teacher and union delegate Tim Meegan (second from right above) is running for alderman against Deb Mell in the clout-heavy 33rd Ward. Labor Beat photo.At the 2014 Labor Notes Conference an unusual featured session was held, presenting noteworthy national developments concerning independent labor politics. One panelist was a recently-elected city council member in Seattle, running as a socialist. Another panelist discussed moves by community organizations and the Chicago Teachers Union toward forming an Independent Political Organization.
But there was also talk from the floor about Independent Labor Party victories in Lorain, Ohio. And, outside of the Labor Notes session, we visit aldermanic candidates running pro-labor, non-Democratic Party campaigns in two Chicago wards.
Labor Beat provides a snapshot of the national spectrum of political strategies being explored to gain labor's independence from the Democratic Party. Distinctions among these permutations necessarily emerge. None of these variations are just abstract arguments, but concrete steps -- some even already achieving a victory -- in real political environments.
Featured are: Abbie Illenberger, Field Director of Grassroots Collaborative (Illinois); Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council member, Socialist Alternative; Bruce Bosdick, involved in the Lorain, Ohio Independent Labor Party campaign; Tim Meegan, candidate for Chicago's 33rd Ward, not a Democrat or Republican; Jorge Mujica, candidate of Chicago Socialist Campaign, running for Chicago's 25th Ward. Length - 26:37
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