 |
|
By: Brenda LaBlanc
NPA Co-Chair
Michael Moore recently
delivered a comment that is worth quoting.
He said “Democracy is not a spectator sport. It is a participatory
activity.” And I thought of all the people involved with the
NPA coalition.
We are surely a large group of “participators in democracy.”
We believe in using all the powers that democracy gives us to participate
in improving our society, our neighborhoods, and we don’t
wait for an election year to do it. We just keep doing it, year
after year.
We’ve been working on our platform and refining it for 33
years. We don’t do polls of our members. But we do talk to
all our people all the time and keep up with the issues most important
to them. As new problems arise, we incorporate them into our efforts.
Our issues and our problems are our “platform.” Sometimes
we bring our issues to Congress and sometimes they respond. But
we don’t just stop there. We devise as many ways as we can
to move our issues forward, and then we act. We don’t wait
for politicians to do it for us.
We are going to bring our People’s Platform this year to Congress
and to important decision makers in Washington, DC. As we always
do, we will be asking those in power to prioritize our issues and
VOTE NEIGHBORHOODS FIRST! And, as always, we will be looking at
what we can do to further the cause of these issues we share. We
will be looking at who has the power to act in our interests, and
then challenging those people to be accountable.
This year we will travel to Washington, DC to showcase the People’s
Platform. We are against corporations that strip communities of
their permanent jobs, homes, farms, clean water and air, and their
wealth. We are against public institutions that deny access to quality
education and job training, opportunities for immigrants and youth,
and who allow drugs and crime to flourish.
One thing you can be sure of is we are National People’s Action.
And action is what we are about. We will keep fighting until this
country is really “by the people, for the people and of the
people.”
2004 NPA People's
Platform
Reclaim
quality jobs
Youth demand safe schools and
jobs
Family farms YES, Factory
farms NO
Make BIG banks work for US
Safe and secure neighborhoods
Build schools, fund IDEA and
NCLB
Immigrant children deserve a chance to DREAM!
Hold HUD Accountable
Ban Bad Lending
Stopping
the Credit Crooks
Also
in this issue:
*Sunflower
Brings 1,500 People to the State Capitol
NPA
action on HUD leads to local housing victories across the
*LNO
Turns the Heat Up on CTA President to Restore Night and Weekend
Train Service
*SUN
Wins $100,000 for Mortgage Prevention Program
*Speak
United Wins Victory Over Local Workforce Center
*ADP
Demands Justice from Mount Holyoke
back
to top
|
|
|
