2024-03-28 18:20:47 2024-03-28 13:20:47

From Protest To Power: Purpose

Reclaiming government from the 1% to end racism,
protect the planet and
create an economy that puts people first

Our communities are facing unprecedented crises.

Life is getting more difficult, more uncertain and more dangerous for everyone but the very rich. It is becoming harder for people to get the necessities of life, and we worry about our children’s futures. Prisons, unchecked police violence, segregation, the systematic deportation of immigrants, and other systems of racial oppression continue to function at full force, while the president emboldens white supremacists. Superstorms like Hurricane Harvey and Irma are destroying communities, with the worst impact on poor communities and communities of color, while fossil fuel CEOs reap massive profits. The very future of our communities and our planet is at stake.

Our search for new answers has brought us to a turning point in history.

People are searching for new answers to these crises, bringing us to a turning point in history. Centrists and corporate Democrats want to tinker around the edges – and in many cases, they’re bought and paid for by the 1% interests getting rich off of our suffering – and what they’re doing isn’t working. It’s up to us to build a movement with the people-power to win larger-scale changes like Medicare for All, taxes on the rich and corporations to pay for a massive expansion of public services, an end to mass incarceration, a public sector jobs program, a clean energy economy, and more.  If we don’t, the right wing will continue to increase its power by blaming immigrants and people of color while actually consolidating wealth and power in the hands of corporations and very richest people.

The world we want looks very different from the world we’ve got.

The People’s Lobby and Reclaim Chicago are fighting for a world where every person can live a full life of their choosing — free from fear and uncertainty — no matter their race, gender identity, sexuality, disability, citizenship status, or zip code. We’ve won some important victories in the last few years, including raising the Cook County Minimum Wage, closing $125 million worth of corporate tax loopholes in Illinois, and playing a key role in electing a Cook County State’s Attorney who has pledged to fight mass incarceration. And we are hungry to grow this movement so we can win much bigger victories, ultimately building governing power so the left can set the agenda.

There is a path to victory.

We can win a better world by building a multiracial and global movement based on solidarity among all poor and working people, acting on the principle that an injury to one is an injury to all. In particular, white people also have a real stake in ending structural racism and should commit to actively fight the intertwined and inseparable systems of racism and economic injustice.

Our path to power combines strategic activism — that dismantles structures of racism, gender oppression and poverty that benefit corporations and the very rich — and electing people from our communities who share our values. We need to run as movement candidates who will put people and planet first at every level of office, from library board to the governor’s mansion. And, more importantly, we need a powerful movement of organized people holding them accountable 365 days of the year.