'Future Hope' Column
By Ted Glick
“We
aim to shift the distorted moral narrative often promoted by religious
extremists in the nation from issues like prayer in school, abortion and
gun rights to one that is concerned with how our society treats the
poor, those on the margins, the least of these, LGBTQIA folks, workers,
immigrants, the disabled and the sick; equality and representation under
the law; and the desire for peace, love and harmony within and among
nations. We are committed to lifting up and deepening the leadership of
those most affected by systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, and
ecological devastation and to building unity across lines of division.”
-from Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, Fundamental Principles
Two weeks from now
thousands of people will be gathering in Washington, DC on the National
Mall as part of the final day of an impressively coordinated, national,
40 days of action which began on Mother’s Day. Over that time, on three
Mondays and the Tuesday
after Memorial Day, upwards of 25,000 or so people have demonstrated on
work days in 35 state capitols, and over 2,000 have been arrested
taking part in nonviolent moral fusion direct action. There have been 12
million or more hits on social media. A google search for “Poor
People’s Campaign” lists over 40 million results.
This is a mass movement whose time has come. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be very pleased.
As
someone who has prioritized the climate crisis as my major issue to
work on for the last 15 years, I have appreciated that this movement,
led by Rev. William Barber, other people of color and others who in
general have not seen that as a main focus, has made “ecological
devastation” one of their four major issues.
By
their inclusiveness when it comes to issues, as well as the range of
social movements involved, the Poor People’s Campaign is modeling a
central, essential element of our path forward to revolutionary change.
The demonstration in DC on June 23 will be the culmination of the 40 days of action this spring, but it
will also be a launching pad for continued, united organizing and
activism in the coming months. Everyone is clear that we are in a
decisive political period which cries out for effective agitation,
organizing and popular mobilization.
That
work is being done in a way independent of political parties. As stated
in the “Fundamental Principles” document, “We will do our work in a
non-partisan way—no elected officials or candidates get the stage or
serve on the State Organizing Committees of the Campaign. This is not
about left and right, Democrat or Republican, but about right and
wrong.”
For
those not yet connected to the Poor People’s Campaign and the 40 days
campaign, there is still time to do so. There will be two more days of
action at state capitols, on June 11 and June 18, followed by people gathering in DC throughout the week leading up to the big event on the 23rd.
Ted Glick works with Beyond Extreme Energy, which is actively supporting the Poor Peoples Campaign and June 23 in DC, as well as actions in DC at FERC and a World Gas Conference June 25 and 26. More information can be found at https://beyondextremeenergy.org.
