[Marxism] Cynthia McKinney Makes Green Party Overtures

["Steffie Brooks" <steffie.brooks@xxxxxxxxx>]

EXCLUSIVE:

Cynthia McKinney Makes Green Party Overtures

By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor and National Correspondent, The Atlanta
Progressive News (July 24, 2007)

(APN) ATLANTA – "Run, Cynthia run!" chanted enthusiastic Green Party members
and leaders at the Green Party National Meeting for 2007 in Reading,
Pennsylvania, on July 15, 2007, according to video footage obtained by
Atlanta Progressive News.

"If not us, who? If not now, when?" asked one Green Party activist in
attendance after a screening of the movie American Blackout.
"It is us and the time is now," former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA)
replied.

How would progressive Democrats in Congress respond to a McKinney-Nader 2008
ticket, another attendee asked.

"That would have a potential of shaking up a whole lot, a lot... I'm ready
to join with folks who are ready to ratchet it up a little bit more. Let's
shake it up!" McKinney said.

"I think we need a slate of fresh faces to run and win at all levels and
then you're really talking about some change," McKinney said.

"The situation in Black America is desperate. The political equation has not
addressed the real quality of life issues in Black America."

"That's where you guys come in. Change the very calculus," McKinney told
Green members.

"Your platform, your ideals, address those very... quality of life issues...
but who knows it in Black America? So we have a lot of work to do just even
get the message out," McKinney said.

"It is not acceptable for us to have business as usual anymore... And so, I
know you guys are already the choir. So we just got to put me in choir
books. Give me a sheet of music so I can sing the song too," McKinney ended
her remarks.

McKinney has not yet announced any official candidacy for the Green
nomination for US President or any other nomination at this time.

MCKINNEY'S GREEN TIMELINE

2002-2004: McKinney, having lost her Congressional seat to Denise Majette,
was reported to consider Green Party candidacy but decided to run again as a
Democrat.

2004-2006: McKinney, after winning her seat back, served in Congress as a
Democrat.

Late 2006: After losing in an election plagued by electronic voting
problems, local Green Party activists speculate to Atlanta Progressive News
of a possible McKinney Green Party run, including possibly for US President.

March 17, 2007: McKinney marches on the Pentagon against the US occupation
of Iraq and declares independence from policies of endless war and both
political parties responsible for such policies. "Our beloved America is
dividing again into two Americas. Our struggle is for nothing less than the
soul of our country. As an American of conscience, I hereby declare my
independence from every bomb dropped, every threat leveled, every civil
liberties rollback, every child killed, every veteran maimed, every man
tortured. And I sadly declare my independence from the leaders who let it
happen. We will not stop. We will win. We will take our country back!"
McKinney said.

March 23, 2007: Asked if there's any basis to the innuendo of a Green
candidate McKinney in the future, "The Dems certainly didn't bolster their
case today, did they?" McKinney told Atlanta Progressive News. This was the
day US Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA), who currently represents McKinney's former
district, and most other Democrats voted to continue funding the US
occupation, albeit with a withdrawal timeline.

May 25, 2007: McKinney tells WBAI radio in New York: "A massive realignment
must take place for us to achieve that which we want to achieve and achieve
a public policy the American people of this country deserve... If they think
I was dangerous in 2006, then we have to step it up a little bit. We don't
retreat, in the face of a $100 billion war coming from a Democratic majority
in Congress? No impeachment? George Bush has a veritable Armada heading
toward the Persian Gulf..."

"I've had a very long relationship with the Green Party. I think honestly
with the failure of the Democratic majority in Congress to repeal to the
Patriot Act, to repeal the Secret Evidence Act, to repeal the Military
Tribunals Act, to institute immediately actions for impeachment for this
illegitimate... immoral Administration, to stop the war... I have to
seriously question my relationship with the Democratic Party. I know the
very learned listeners of WBAI have long been interested in how to have a
truly independent voice. And I now understand that with the current
Democratic majority in Congress it's not possible."

"What I'd rather probably talk about, what I could do as a potential
candidate. 2008 has not been ruled out, some kind of effort. Certainly now
it is questionable as to whether it would come under the banner of the
Democratic Party, there is no way with the current crop of Democratic
candidates... they cannot speak for me any longer," McKinney said.
June 09, 2007: McKinney speaks at "Revolutionary Love" Event in New York to
retire her 2006 campaign debt. "I know many of you are here because you want
to know about 2008..."

"If I do something in 2008, they've tried to label me as the violent
Congresswoman, but honestly they haven't seen violence yet. What I'd like to
do is violence to the system, violence to the oppression... So if I do
something in 2008, and I really do want to do something in 2008, it will be
the fullest expression I know of revolutionary love. Because we will make
revolution and it will only be about love."

One speaker asked, "In 2008, what color is your parachute?"

"It's not red and it's not blue," she said.

About the author:
Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor of The Atlanta Progressive News and may
be reached at matthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Atlanta Progressive News, Copyright (c) 2006

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