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Voting Rights struggle generates optimism

Published Aug 20, 2005 8:21 AM

I went to Atlanta on Aug. 6, to participate in the march and rally celebrating the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Voter Rights Act and agitating for extending the law beyond 2007. I had been asked to represent my union, Local 375 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the larger public-sector unions in New York City’s District Council 37.

I estimate the march at between 15,000 and 20,000—at least 90 percent African American. Giving out fliers and marching with the AFSCME contingent, one of the lar gest, I got a good view of the other contingents and the spirit of fight-back. The NAACP was the largest, with delegations from all across the South—from Missi ssippi, Louisiana and Arkansas to North Carolina. The members of the Arkansas NAACP con tingent wore AFSCME union shirts and hats, a dramatic illustration of the civil-rights movement’s close connection to the union movement.

Right behind the NAACP were the “Change to Win” unions that recently split from the AFL-CIO. In the lead were a large number from the Service Employees International Union, followed by a substantial contingent from UNITE HERE, and a group from United Food and Com mercial Workers. The Team sters leadership was noticeable by its absence.

The largest union marching was the AFSCME contingent. Within the AFL-CIO they are the most hostile sector to the recent split. But the factionalist rhetoric of both factions at the recent AFL-CIO convention in Chicago was completely absent due to the overwhelming feeling of camaraderie among the thousands of participants, overwhelmingly African American.

Copies of a statement from the Million Worker March Movement, written by MWMM leaders Clarence Thomas and Saladin Mohammad, were distributed to hundreds of rank-and-file members of both factions. The leaflets, headlined, “Racism & sexism: major pillars of the crisis in the U.S. trade union movement,” went so quickly that I saw only a blur of hands reaching out.

There was genuine unity and a militant resolve to defend the Voting Rights Act against the racist, right-wing Bush administration strategy to scrap the law. Also significant, the marchers were determined to expand the Act and extend voting rights to immigrants and the undocumented. There was a sense of the need for unity to resist the Bush administration’s wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the war at home against the entire working class, organized and unorganized.

This was a bold challenge to their leaders, to Democratic politicians, and labor officials. Civil rights and civil liberties, and fighting racism, as well as strong opposition to the war, were at the top of their agenda—the motor force that brought them to Atlanta.

When I arrived at the stadium—site of the rally—I was pleasantly surprised that the first speaker, just before the main rally, was Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Right next to the AFSCME tent on the stadium infield (the largest), was the tent staffed by the Nation of Islam, advertising the Millions More March on Oct. 14.

The International Action Center had a banner, and IAC activists distributed thou sands of fliers for the pro-Palestinian, anti-imperialist section of the Sept. 24 anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C.

Many civil-rights organizations were there, along with the two rival sections of the labor movement. There were some small peace groups and an anarchist group, as well as a banner from Planned Parenthood.

Most of the talks from the dais, particularly the white Democratic Party speakers such as House Min ority Leader Nancy Pelosi, were very forgettable, in contrast to those from Jesse Jackson and a few members of the Black Congressional Caucus.

AFL-CIO President John Swee ney, introduced by Jesse Jackson, was the first speaker. He gave a tepid talk on the Voting Rights Act and raised no other issues. Andy Stern of “Change to Win,” in my opinion, also missed the boat. His energetic repetition of the “Change to Win” slogan didn’t appear to resonate with the anti-war sentiment of the crowd.

It was clear that Andy Stern, president of SEIU, and John Sweeney were insensitive to the crowd’s mood of fight-back. Both Sweeney and Stern appeared to be more concerned with avoiding offending the pro-imperialist Democratic Party politicians on the stage than with making a timely appeal to a sympathetic anti-Bush, anti-war audience.

The composition of the march and rally lifted the spirits of this movement veteran. I came away physically tired but politically refreshed. The incredible “unity in diversity” was the very picture of what we are striving for. It reminded me that all social, economic and political change starts from below. The march and rally contained a seed of future unity that is essential to defeat this imperialist system. A lot more needs to be done, but the future could be clearly seen by those who chose to look.

—Mike Gimbel,
Executive Board member,
Local 375, AFSCME