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gen z for change
'Progressives for Harris' Call Rallies Broad Coalition to Defeat Fascism
"For the sake of our kids and our grandchildren, and for the planet, Trump must be defeated and Kamala Harris must be elected," Sen. Bernie Sanders said on the call.
Aug 06, 2024
More than 150,000 people tuned in Monday night to a Zoom call featuring prominent progressive lawmakers, organizers, and labor leaders who have united in an effort to help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris defeat former President Donald Trump and the far-right forces he represents in November.
The "Progressives for Harris" call, which lasted more than three hours, came ahead of the vice president's expected announcement of her running mate, a choice that progressives see as an important signal of how Harris intends to campaign and govern.
Progressives have backed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is reportedly one of the final two contenders in the running for the spot on the Democratic ticket. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is believed to be the other candidate under consideration.
But Harris' vice presidential pick was not a significant topic of discussion on Monday night's call, which included remarks from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA president Sara Nelson, Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and leaders of the Uncommitted Movement.
"I'm inviting you all to get formation with the pro-democracy forces uniting against American fascism as well as fascism all around the world, a coalition that includes black men and women who organized in the tens of thousands not too long ago, LGBTQ folks, labor unions, and millions of workers all around the country and the world," said Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell, who emceed the event. "People like me who want an arms embargo to stop the war in Gaza and care deeply about public safety and police accountability and climate change and housing justice and education, people who want to protect reproductive rights, and everybody of good conscience in between."
"We cannot be spectators," Mitchell added. "We must be agents."
Watch the full event:
The call was held hours after polling from Data for Progress showed that strong majorities of voters in key battleground states support central elements of the progressive agenda, including raising taxes on the rich and large corporations, expanding Medicare and Social Security benefits, hiking the federal minimum wage, and reining in out-of-control housing costs.
Sanders, who commissioned the survey as he pushes Harris to embrace an ambitious working-class agenda, said during Monday's event that "my message is pretty clear, and that is: All of us together must do everything that we can to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris as our next president."
"The truth of the matter," said the Vermont senator, "is that our nation will not survive in any form that we can be proud of if we elect as president a pathological liar, somebody who I think just doesn't know the difference between truth and lies, someone convicted of 34 felonies, someone who is a convicted sexual abuser, and someone who as a businessman in the private sector was involved in 4,000 different lawsuits."
"For the sake of our kids and our grandchildren, and for the planet, Trump must be defeated and Kamala Harris must be elected," Sanders added.
While the call showcased broad support for Harris among leading progressives and a commitment to preventing Trump from winning another four years in the White House, grassroots organizers also made clear that they intend to pressure the Democratic nominee on critical issues, including the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza—created by Israel with the support of the United States.
"Gen Z is determined to make sure Trump is nowhere near the White House ever again," Elise Joshi, executive director of Gen Z for Change, said during Monday's livestream. (According to one estimate, nearly 41 million members of Gen Z—people between the ages of 18 and 27 this year—will be eligible to vote in November.)
"At the same time, Gen Z for Change must honor where this generation is at," Joshi continued. "Heeding the calls of young people means calling for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, and using the leverage at our disposal to achieve one, including a weapons embargo. With that, and a working-class agenda, we will see record turnout from Gen Z in November."
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Progressive Leaders Warn Biden's Support for Gaza 'Slaughter' Risks Millions of Young Votes
"Every day Biden chooses to fund genocide, he loses support," said Sunrise Movement.
Nov 07, 2023
The leaders of youth-led progressive groups on Tuesday published an open letter warning U.S. President Joe Biden that his administration's staunch support for Israel's war on Gaza—which many experts say may be genocidal—could cost him millions of young votes in next year's presidential election.
"We mobilized the record youth turnout in 2020 that pushed your ticket over the finish line in key swing states. Many of us worked to provide the critical source of support for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections that prevented the Red Wave. We have been preparing to mobilize the youth vote again as you face your reelection," wrote the campaigners—who include leaders of groups like March for Our Lives, Gen Z for Change, and Sunrise Movement.
"We share your conviction that the 2024 election will be one of the most important in American history," the letter states. "We write to you to issue a very stark and unmistakable warning: You and your administration's stance on Gaza risks millions of young voters staying home or voting third party next year. We are pleading with you to use every tool available to you to broker a cease-fire, now, and to revive the peace process."
"As we write this, over 1,400 Israelis, 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and 100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been killed," the signers noted. "We came of age during two decades of endless war that cost thousands of American lives and millions of lives around the world. We know that the longer you allow the siege of Gaza to continue, the greater the risk of this spiraling into a broader regional conflict, potentially pulling U.S. troops into combat or occupation. This would be both a moral and political disaster."
The letter continues:
Young people are a cornerstone of a winning Democratic coalition, and the vast majority of young people in this country are rightfully horrified by the atrocities committed with our tax dollars, with your support, and our nation's military backing. We did not spend hours upon hours knocking doors and making calls to turn out the vote so that you could support indiscriminate slaughter of civilians and violations of international law.
Asserting that "there is no way for a Democratic presidential nominee to win without significant youth voter enthusiasm and mobilization," the campaigners cited a recent Quinnipiac poll showing that nearly two-thirds of voters under age 35 oppose sending more U.S. military aid to Israel, while only about 1 in 5 respondents approve of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
"The same poll found your favorability rating among voters under 35 has fallen to just 25%," the letter notes. "While young people are particularly opposed to handing the Israeli military a blank check, 80% of Democrats and 66% of all likely voters support a cease-fire."
A majority of Democratic voters or those without party affiliation oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, according to an October 19 CBS/YouGov poll. Meanwhile, polling published by Gallup last week revealed that Biden's approval rating among Democrats has fallen by double digits since last month, sinking to the lowest level of his presidency—with a particularly sharp drop among young Democrats.
Even before Israel's current assault on Gaza, polling showed that, for the first time since tracking began, Democratic voters sympathized more with Palestinians than with Israelis.
Biden—a self-described "Zionist" who early in the war declared his "rock-solid and unwavering" support for Israel—requested more than $14 billion in additional U.S. military aid for Israel atop the nearly $4 billion already given to the key Middle East ally annually. Last week, the Republican-led House of Representatives approved Biden's request.
Meanwhile, Biden has been accused of genocide denial for casting aspersions on Gaza casualty reports from Palestinian agencies his own administration has recently cited as reliable. The president also opposes a cease-fire in favor of a more nebulous "humanitarian pause."
Progressive leaders including U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)—a co-sponsor of Rep. Cori Bush's (D-Mo.) resolution urging the president to push Israel for an immediate cease-fire—say Biden is supporting genocide, while many youth protesting the war have taken to calling him "Genocide Joe."
The letter also points out that polling shows Biden's support has "cratered" among Muslim, Arab, and young voters in the key battleground state of Michigan, which he won by just 150,000 votes in 2020.
In an opinion piece published Monday by Common Dreams, author and activist Jeff Cohen wrote:
As civilians in Gaza are being massacred day after day, Biden's one-sided "I stand with Israel" policy is losing him countless young activists and racial justice organizers who mobilized for him against [then-President Donald] Trump in 2020. In Michigan and other swing states, Arab and Muslim activists who detest Trump have said they won't vote for Biden, let alone mobilize for him.
"You cannot win this election by only telling our generation that you are the lesser of two evils," the letter to Biden stresses. "For the sake of Palestinians, Israelis, morality, humanity, your own political future, and American democracy itself: we urge you to do everything in your power to stop the current cycle of violence and move from the path of war towards the path of peace and justice."
"Call for a cease-fire and a safe return for all hostages. Stand up for humanity on the international stage. Do not continue to enable war crimes through word, deed, or dollars," the signers implored. "We believe you are failing to hear us on this issue, and we are deeply concerned about the potential consequences."
"The decisions you have made thus far surrounding Gaza have made it harder for us to convince our communities to organize and get out the vote in 2024. We urge you to reverse course as quickly as possible, the letter concludes. "Stand on the right side of history. Your legacy hangs in the balance."
It's not just Gaza. Many young voters feel disappointed or even betrayed by Biden, who broke or failed to deliver upon 2020 campaign promises on key issues including gun control, student debt relief, and climate action.
Referencing Biden's approval of the Willow Project, a massive oil drilling venture in Alaska, Michele Weindling, political director at Sunrise Movement and a signatory to the open letter, told Rolling Stone that the president's support for Israel's war in Gaza "is like Willow times one million."
"The decisions you have made thus far surrounding Gaza have made it harder for us to convince our communities to organize and get out the vote in 2024."
Usamah Andrabi, communications director for the progressive group Justice Democrats, told Rolling Stone that "I think the gamble Joe Biden is making is that young people, like so many voters, don't care about foreign policy."
However, he noted that "we have lived through two decades of failed, endless wars. Failed foreign policy decisions by our government. And young people are activated about this."
"They have always been at the center of the pro-peace movement in this country," Andrabi added. "And it is shameful for the president to think that, come a year from now, they'll forget what he greenlit in Gaza, which is genocide."
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Gen Z for Change Leader Interrupts Biden Press Secretary to Demand Climate Action
"Asking nicely hasn't worked out," said Elise Joshi as she stood up during the White House press secretary's remarks.
Jul 28, 2023
Shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden angered climate campaigners by failing to mention fossil fuels in his remarks about new protections for millions of people facing extreme heat, the executive director of a youth-led advocacy group decided to address the administration directly about officials' refusal to end support for the planet-heating oil and gas industry.
Elise Joshi, 21, stood up as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was addressing a crowd at an event hosted by the voter engagement group Voters of Tomorrow. The campaigner spoke about Gen Z for Change's long-stated demand that Biden declare a climate emergency—a move that would unlock numerous resources to fight the climate crisis and expedite the shift away from oil and fossil gas.
"Excuse me for interrupting, but asking nicely hasn't worked out," said Joshi. "A million young people wrote to the administration pleading not to approve a disastrous oil drilling project in Alaska, and we were ignored. So I'm here channeling the strength of my ancestors and generation."
An event staffer approached Joshi, but Jean-Pierre urged them to "let her talk," allowing the campaigner to demand that Biden "stop approving new oil and gas projects and align with youth, science, and frontline communities."
When Joshi was finished speaking Jean-Pierre acknowledged that she had brought up the Willow project, an oil drilling operation that was approved on public land in Alaska this year. The project is expected to produce more than 600 million barrels of crude oil over the next three decades—releasing about 280 million metric tons of heat-trapping carbon emissions.
Joshi also noted that the Biden administration has approved drilling projects at a faster rate than the Trump administration.
As other Gen Z for Change campaigners called on the White House to "declare a climate emergency," Jean-Pierre defended Biden's record by saying he has "taken more action on climate change than any other president," and said she would speak to Joshi privately after the event.
"We can talk through all that he has done and all that he wants to do, and we can also listen to you," said the press secretary.
The White House can show it is listening to young people, said the advocacy group Sunrise Movement, by declaring a climate emergency.
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), who has also called for far-reaching climate action and at 26 is the youngest member of Congress, applauded Joshi for speaking out.
"I join the movement in asking the president to declare a climate emergency," said Frost.
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