CA: Progressive democrats win antiwar resolution

[Carolab]

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/2005/04/003507.html

After a lively three-day battle at the annual Democratic convention in Los Angeles last weekend, 2,000 California Democrats passed a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The resolution, which was successful despite intense pressure from more hawkish Democrats to water down or derail it, demands that U.S. troops withdraw "at the earliest possible time."

The California antiwar resolution was the brainchild of a group of grassroots Democratic peace activists, including the spanking new Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). This resolution represents a far stronger position than that taken by the national Democratic Party during the 2004 presidential campaign. Progressives say the struggle for its passage is a potential model for parties in other states as the national party seeks to contain antiwar forces among its rank-and-file.

[EC]

1. Good,

[Carolab]

2. Here's more on it written by Will Pitt!

PDA Activists Spur Historic Call to Exit Iraq

by William Rivers Pitt

This past weekend, at the California State Democratic Party Convention in Los Angeles, the largest gathering of state-party Democrats in the nation, activists with Progressive Democrats of America led by PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter successfully lobbied 2,000 delegates to pass a resolution calling for the termination of the occupation of Iraq. The resolution included specific language demanding the withdrawal of American troops from that country. "The California Democratic Party," reads the resolution in part, "calls for the termination of the occupation…of American troops in Iraq."

This victory is a powerful statement not only to the national Democratic Party but to the Republican administration and the majority in Congress.

Carpenter and his tireless crew spent the weekend working all corners of the convention to create a coalition of delegates large enough and strong enough to support the proposed resolution. Elements of the convention attempted to water down the language of the resolution, but the PDA activists successfully beat back the challenge. Meeting and overcoming this challenge was significant in and of itself, because it resoundingly demonstrated the ability of grassroots activism to overcome the go-along-to-get-along inertia of machine politics.

The resolution passed in California this weekend is more than mere words on a piece of paper. The document itself, along with the activism that created it, is a starting point, a blueprint for future action that must be taken in every state in the nation. PDA, with your help, intends to take the work from this weekend and duplicate it in legislature after legislature, until our combined voices carry our soldiers out of Iraq and home to their families.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this weekend in California was the emergence of so many new faces in the ranks of the PDA-inspired activism. Of the dozens of people who contributed to the effort that led to this resolution, most had never before been involved in this kind of political action. Carpenter and his crew shepherded them through the process, showed them how to get it done, and gave them the chance to be a part of positive history.

After the gavel came down and the resolution passed, most of the convention went their separate ways. Not so with the PDA activists, new and old, who met in a large gathering to strategize how to carry this great work to all points on the compass. They had completed their task for the weekend, but were not at all interested in stopping. Following this meeting, these activists committed themselves to convincing their own Congressional members to sign on to Rep. Lynn Woolsey's call to end the occupation.

To read Rep. Woolsey's call to end the occupation, please go here.

This is a victory to build on. If the energy and passion demonstrated by Tim Carpenter is any indication, if the energy and passion demonstrated by the activists who stood with him is any indication, if the effectiveness of PDA in overcoming all obstacles to achieve this victory is any indication, the winds of this action promise to blow great and necessary changes across this nation and the world.

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The Resolution on IRAQ:

WHEREAS: The Bush Administration, using false intelligence estimates, misled the country into an illegal, unnecessary and unwise invasion and occupation of Iraq, against a country that had neither attacked nor posed an immediate threat to the United States, thus jeopardizing our national security; and

WHEREAS: As a result of that action, more than 1,500 American troops have been killed and more than 10,000 other brave Americans have been maimed or injured, and tens of thousands of Iraqis, including many innocent civilians, have also lost their lives, been injured, and seen their property and country’s infrastructure destroyed; and

WHEREAS: The invasion and occupation have created a severe burden on our economy, stretched the capacity of our armed forces including Reserve and National Guard troops who are serving unexpectedly long and difficult tours in Iraq, and continues to cause deep concern at home and abroad about the policies and intentions of the United States to the point where the United States is widely regarded with suspicion, hostility and distrust, and elections in Iraq confirmed that Iraqis wish the United States to withdraw

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the California Democratic Party calls for termination of the occupation at the earliest possible time with the withdrawal of American troops, coupled with the creation of an international body that can assist the Iraqi people in freely and peacefully determining their own future, and that we participate in multi-lateral reconstruction.

Submitted by: 3rd AD Comm.; 5th AD Comm.; 13th AD Comm.; 16th AD Comm.; 18th AD Comm.; 21st AD Comm.; 27th AD Comm.; 28th AD Comm.; 33rd AD Comm.; 35th AD Comm.; 38th AD Comm.; 41st AD Comm.; 42nd AD Comm.; 45th AD Comm.; 68th AD Comm.; 69th AD Comm.; 4th AD Steering Comm.; City of Alameda Demo Club; Marin CCC; San Benito CCC; San Mateo CCC; Malibu Demo Club; West Orange Demo Club; Valley Dems United; Dem Club of Conejo Valley; Progressive Democrats of America & LA; DSCC members, Ruth Group; Progressive Demo;
Congresswoman Maxine Waters

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