Wednesday, October 30, 2024

The Grass Is Greener: A Radio Conversation on Elections, War, and the Rising of the Global South

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRT5lBq624g

What Next?

Harry Targ

 From my point of view we need to  begin to discuss a fundamental question: “What Next?” “what next” if either presidential ticket wins, both short term (such as defending the outcome) and longer term.

1.If the Harris/Walz ticket wins, (and down-ballot races for Congress and Statehouses), we will need to figure out ways to defend that victory from those who will claim the election was “stolen.”

2.If the Harris/Walz ticket wins we will need to immediately expand our movements for peace and justice. I would prioritize demanding a ceasefire in the Middle East, an end to arms transfers to Israel, demanding negotiations, perhaps through the UN, to end the war in Ukraine, and ending arms transfers to Ukraine. For the long run, we need to demand nuclear disarmament, an end to the New Cold War, and working with rather than against the rising of the Global South.

3.If the Harris/Walz ticket wins we need to demand immediate reestablishment legislatively and/or judicially the reinstitution of Roe V. Wade, immediate and serious work on the environmental crisis, healthcare for all, and  legislation to institutionalize a living wage.

4.If the Trump/Vance ticket  wins (including down ballot races) we need to bury our differences on the left and rebuild the Progressive Majority, a majority that we know exists on most issues of public policy.

5.We need to build our organizations to defend democracy, in our communities and at the state and national levels including progressive gains won over several decades.

IN GENERAL WE NEED TO REBUILD OUR LEFT: PEACE ACTIVISTS, FEMINISTS, WORKERS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS, AND ALL HUMANISTS WHO UNDERSTAND THAT. (HOWEVER WEAK) US DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS ARE UNDER ATTACK AND THE VERY PEACE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION OF THE WORLD ARE UNDER ATTACK.

 

 


The Bookshelf

CHALLENGING LATE CAPITALISM by Harry R. Targ

Read Challenging Late Capitalism by Harry R. Targ.