By Arthur Z. Schwartz
The Bernie Sanders Campaign sparked one of the most amazing mass movements in American history. Even if you were a Hillary voter, you have to concede that Bernie’s campaign set the tone and the agenda for the whole election on the Democratic side. And he actually went to the Democratic Convention with 1,900 out of 4,250 delegates, a split unparalleled in modern history.
Bernie’s campaign may be gone, but his movement isn’t. In New York, his campaign was fueled by organizing committees from Buffalo to Riverhead. Above Westchester, Bernie won every county in the Democratic Primary, signaling a major shift north of New York City in State politics. One hundred twenty-five Bernie delegates went to Philly for the Democratic Convention. They came back with a plan—to create a statewide organization that would change the face of politics in New York State. And they were joined by Bernie Sanders himself, who put out a call for his supporters to organize around issues and run for office across the U.S.
On September 24th, in Albany, 44 delegates from 22 local groups, joined by 40 observers, voted to create a new organization: for now called the New York Progressive Alliance, a member-run, chapter-based organization stretching from Buffalo to Syracuse, from Binghamton, to Brooklyn, to Riverhead. Everyone will be welcome—Democrats, Independents, Greens, Working Family Party supporters. And they adopted an ambitious plan to support visible, “anti-establishment” candidates around the State by 2018 and help mount an effective campaign for true election reform to be a driving force in New York politics which, in 2018, is likely to see a strong anti-corruption opponent to Governor Cuomo.
Town Hall Meeting Planned
One of those local chapters is called the Lower Manhattan Progressive Alliance. It has plans for two meetings over the next 45 days. The first is a public Kick-Off Meeting and the second is a Town Hall Meeting on the health care crisis in Lower Manhattan and the closing of Beth Israel Hospital. The Alliance will have a mass meeting soon, as part of a forum about how to address the hospital closing. Interested? Contact Arthur at aschwartz@afjlaw.com, or Ben at benyben@gmail.com.
*Arthur Schwartz is the Male Democratic District Leader in Greenwich Village.
KICK-OFF MEETING
LOWER MANHATTAN
PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE
October 20, 2016 – 6:00pm
Location:
LOCAL 1180
Communications Workers Union
6 Harrison St. (Corner of Hudson St.)
Subway: 1 to Franklin St. (at Varick St.)
TOWN HALL MEETING
THE CLOSING OF
BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL:
HOW TO ADDRESS THE CRISIS
November 10, 2016 – 6:00pm
Location:
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square Park
(South Corner of Thompson St.)
Subway: A/B/C/D/E/F/M to West 4th St.
(at Avenue of the Americas)
N/R to 8th St. (at Broadway)
1 to Christopher St. (at 7th Avenue)
