August 23, 2024

Dear Friend:

This past week, I spent more time than I expected watching the Democratic National Convention. I was heartened by the energy, touched by many of the thoughtful messages and moved by the thousands of people representing the remarkable diversity of this nation. I was surprised, and at times a little concerned, that I was affected so deeply by the political convention of one of our mainstream parties.

Like many of you, I'm a grassroots activist and organizer, not a political party loyalist. Last night when Vice President Harris accepted the nomination, we saw the mainstream Democratic Party's continued embrace of US exceptionalism and military might. That's an important reminder that, as we should well know, social movements remain critical to creating peace and working for a just world. The chants of “USA” from the crowd, along with Harris' meager words of support for ending the war in Gaza (contrasted with her full-throated support for Israel) were particularly troubling to me.

Despite those shortcomings, the prospect of a second Trump term remains a dire threat to all that we hold dear. As the brilliant poet and activist Aurora Levins Morales wrote before the 2020 election, “We on the left are not choosing a leader. We’re choosing an opponent.” In her essay, Midnight in the Latrines, she goes on to to describe the huge difference between having Biden as our opponent vs. Trump. The contrast between Harris and Trump is even stronger.

Over the past couple of months, we've heard from several customers upset that our messaging was supporting the Democratic Party and more recently Kamala Harris. We recognize and respect that there are differences on the left about how best to relate to electoral politics. But in this moment, when the threat of authoritarianism is greater than at any point in any of our lifetimes, we feel very strongly that supporting a candidate who will preserve and potentially expand the basic democratic structures which still exist in this country is critical. And, on every single issue that we care about – reproductive justice, racism, corporate control, climate change, money in politics and Palestinian freedom – Trump is far worse than Harris.

Our thinking has been influenced by a variety of sources. One of them, which we shared recently on our blog, is a thoughtful post (The Lesser of Two Evils) by long-time activist educator Bill Ayers. Both his post and Levins Morales' essay make the case that our primary work remains to build powerful grassroots movements to change the larger narrative and transform social, economic and political institutions. We agree on this point, as well as on the idea that keeping Trump out of power is so important that supporting a flawed candidate is a compromise well worth making.

We look forward to continuing these important conversations about how to keep moving forward and bringing to life our recognition that “Another World is Possible.”

In solidarity,

Andy Mager
SCW Coordinator