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Can Berkeley elect and maintain a government worthy of our progressive ideals? Can we once again ignite a movement? 

That is the challenge which you are invited to consider at 7 p.m. Monday Sept. 19, when the Berkeley Progressive Alliance will be meeting at the Unitarian Fellowship at Cedar and Bonita. We believe that it is possible to win elections AND work as a movement. 

Writing a political platform, for example, which the Berkeley left hasn’t done in a long time, can be an exercise in community organizing. If it is done right, then all the organizations from all constituencies have to talk to each other. Labor people, the peace community, people dealing with hunger, poverty and homelessness, with transportation, with neighborhood ecology, city gardeners, religious groups, people of color, students and youth; we all need to talk in order to write down our principles. And in so doing we gain in focus and strength, and become more enthusiastic campaigners for candidates who will implement our positions. Our job now is contact these organizations so that we can prepare a platform which will bring us together. 

Every constituency, however, needs to consider not only what it requires from government, but also what it can do for itself, and who its allies are. We should not wait for elections or platforms to start organizing.  

Consider labor, for example. The union at the Honda strike would not likely have lasted this long, nor have much chance of success, without the enthusiastic support of the Berkeley community, including some members of the Progressive Alliance. (You are always welcome to join the picket line at 2600 Shattuck, especially this Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Labor Chorus will be singing.) 

But on a larger scale, the time is right for a vibrant new labor-community coalition. The growth of “service industries,” health, education, retail, etc., means that workers and community members are more and more in touch. And although bosses can fire and outsource workers, they can’t fire the customers who are helping with strikes and boycotts. Unions know this, and have begun to create “associate” union membership for community people who will be eligible for union health insurance and other benefits.  

Should the Progressive Alliance help spread these associate memberships to Berkeley neighborhoods? Will neighbors then be more willing to help on picket lines, or even, with union training perhaps, help to organize new worksites? Unions and neighborhoods can become real partners. We will have to talk about these possibilities in our Labor and Union Support Committee. 

And while we’re talking about neighborhoods, why not a few pilot projects for ecological sustainability? We would have to bring together various ecological organizations: organic vegetable gardeners, community supported agriculture to ship in low cost food, bio-diesel brewers, solar energy, all focused in one neighborhood. 

We know we have to reduce the use of fossil fuels, both because of global warming and because of peak oil. We don’t know exactly when, but in not too many years the price of gas is going to shoot out of reach. Neighborhoods are going to have to prepare, with sustainability and with community, and our Progressive Alliance should help. 

But whether we are supporting labor or greening our neighborhoods, we are going to need the energy and idealism of students and youth, and of Berkeley’s religious communities. 

Religious people in Berkeley are doing indispensable work. The Ecumenical Chaplaincy for the Homeless, Berkeley Organized Congregations for Action, (BOCA) which works with immigration and with health care for children, and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, are only a few. And we could learn a few things from spiritual groups about building community, and about listening quietly, even at meetings. So we will see what our Religious and Spiritual Liason Committee can do. 

Besides Labor and Religions we are also talking about work teams for the following.  

1) City Government Watch—which might subdivide into various topics (education, housing, etc) as we grow. 

2) Elections and Precinct Work. Our first job is to help defeat Arnold’s anti-labor initiatives this November. Also Instant Runoff & clean  

elections.  

3) Inclusiveness and Outreach—especially to people of color and to students and youth. 

4) Any other progressive project you can convince people to join. 

One thing we learned from New Orleans, if we didn’t know it already, is that the cavalry is not going to arrive on time (and watch out when it does.) If we want a world of justice and solidarity we are going to have to build it ourselves and with each other. Hope to see you on Monday, 7 p.m., Cedar and Bonita. 

Laurence Schechtman, Judy Shelton, Jesse Townley are members of the Co-ordinating Committee for the Berkeley Progressive Alliance. 

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