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View Full Version : Help support an independent workers' candidate



Martin Blank
18th September 2005, 17:10
Lisa Weltman, a member of the Detroit Working People's Association, an affiliate of the International Working People's Association, is running for Board of Education in the local elections. She has already made it past the primaries last August, which is the first time a self-described communist has done so since the late-1960s. Her opponent is a creature of the bourgeois establishment and has strong ties to individuals and groups that want to privatize the public schools and/or turn them over to charter school pirates.

She needs any and all help you can give. I have been here in Detroit, working on her campaign, for the last few weeks and I can tell you that she has built a real base of support here among poor and working people in the city. When she speaks, it is both to small groups and to hundreds, and it is always about the need for workers to stand up and take power into their own hands -- not through elections, but through their own self-action.

Her campaign has just begun to publish a community newsletter, Chain Reaction, which goes through political issues that relate to the struggle to defend public education. This newsletter, and the articles from it, are available on her website.

She has a real chance to win this. But she needs volunteers who would be willing to help with canvassing, and she needs donations to cover the cost of printing thousands of leaflets, newsletters and other pieces of campaign literature. For more information on her campaign, check out her website: http://www.weltman4schoolboard.org/

Miles

SonofRage
18th September 2005, 17:40
I supported Lisa when she sought the Socialist Party USA's nomination for President in 2004. I don't support electoral politics any longer except for very limited cases, but if you're in Detroit and want to vote for a real socialist then vote for Lisa.

TheReadMenace
26th September 2005, 02:49
Man, I wish good people would run down here in South Texas.

Though one time, a Zapatista ran for governor. I wasn't old enough to vote, though, and I didn't care about politics then. So I lost either way.

Andrew

Nothing Human Is Alien
27th September 2005, 20:27
Be sure to let us all know how the campaign goes. Are there any preliminary polls for this sort of election, or is it to small to warrant them?

Martin Blank
7th October 2005, 16:25
An update:...

On October 5, Lisa received notice that the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the largest of the unions working in the Detroit Public Schools has endorsed her campaign. By far, this is the most important endorsement any candidate can receive in this kind of campaign. The DFT endorsed her with full knowledge of her politics and history as a revolutionary socialist.

Now the only limitations on Lisa's campaign will be people to help with canvassing and enough donations to keep up the educational campaign going on in the district, including the production of more issues of Chain Reaction, the campaign's community newsletter.

If anyone is interested in helping, please visit Lisa's website -- http://www.weltman4schoolboard.org/

Miles

Nothing Human Is Alien
8th October 2005, 08:24
Good news.

workersunity
9th October 2005, 02:00
keep us updated miles, thanks

Martin Blank
9th October 2005, 03:25
Like dominos....

Today, Lisa received word that the entire 11-union Coalition of Detroit Public Schools Unions has also endorsed her campaign -- unanimously, according to anonymous sources. This coalition includes two AFT unions (the DFT and AFT School Employees), SEIU, Teamsters, Operating Engineers, Electrical Workers, Pipefitters, Ironworkers, Administrative Staff and two others I don't remember at this time.

This is the first time that these unions have endorsed an open revolutionary socialist in their existence. And history shows that those who receive these endorsements end up winning handily in the General Election.

Miles

Sabocat
9th October 2005, 14:20
I can't wait to see how the bourgeois media responds to having a revolutionary socialist on the board of education. :lol:

Martin Blank
9th October 2005, 16:56
Here is the full list of members of the Coalition of DPS Unions (from Lisa's website):

Detroit Federation of Teachers/American Federation of Teachers Local 231
Detroit Federation of Paraprofessionals/AFT Local 2350
Detroit Association of Educational Office Employees/AFT Local 4168
Organization of Classified Custodians/AFT Local 4990
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 345
International Association of Machinists Lodge 82
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 214
International Union of Operating Engineers Local 547
Organization of School Administrators and Supervisors Local 28
Greater Detroit Building and Construction Trades Council

Miles