INSIDER NEWS FROM THE FRONTLINES OF THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION
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HEADLINES: Pressure Builds for Peace in Gaza | Stand with Student Protestors | Dark Money Targets Susheela Jayapal for Congress | New Endorsements in TX & NY | MD Uncommitted Vote Tuesday | & MORE!
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The world is watching in horror as air strikes and tanks roll into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.3 million people have taken refuge from Netanyahu’s war.
Our Revolution stands in solidarity with students and helped mobilize over 600,000 “Uncommitted” Peace voters in battleground states and beyond to demand an end to the violence. We’ve helped create outside grassroots pressure while our allies in the Congressional Progressive Caucus push on the inside to get President Biden to halt weapons to Israel in light of the Rafah invasion.
As Bernie said, “We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahu’s horrific war against the Palestinian people.” Due to the overwhelming advocacy by our pro-Peace movement across the country, President Biden has started to shift his Gaza policy.
Our collective action is working - Biden just halted a bomb shipment to Israel and said he will continue withholding weapons shipments until Netanyahu ends his ground offensive in Rafah.
We must keep up the pressure. Demand a permanent end to U.S. complicity in the massacre in Gaza
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The backlash we’re seeing against students exercising their First Amendment rights to protest for Peace is unacceptable. Period.
“Students and young people are stepping forward as brave, moral leaders in this moment, and Our Revolution will continue to have their backs," OR Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese told Atlantic Daily News. “We’re heartened by the solidarity for peace even as the horrors in Gaza and the retaliation against students weighs heavy on us all.”
For six months, President Biden has allowed American weapons to be used in the atrocities against Palestine. His latest policy shift may not be enough to avert massive protests descending on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, according to the Associated Press.
“The DNC is likely to become a flashpoint because these movements are going to continue to escalate,” Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, told the AP. “I can see a replay of 1968, unless the administration does a course correction.”
“There is widespread discontent among progressive voters, young people, people of color — the progressive voting bloc writ large that he needs in order to win,” Joseph said. "I’m not sure if the administration fully recognizes the danger leading into the convention and the optics that could be created.”
Bottom-line: Our movement is directly telling the president to change course or risk the political consequences.
ADD YOUR NAME: CALL FOR PEACE IN GAZA
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The next front in the fight is the Maryland primary! Our Revolution is mobilizing our 137,000 members in Maryland to vote “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.
Our Revolution has been at the vanguard of the “Vote Uncommitted” movement - we’re using the ballot box to pressure the Biden Administration to end its unconditional support for the Netyanahu’s brutal war in Gaza.
"Enough is enough. We have all borne witness to the unspeakable suffering in Gaza — tragedy after tragedy that is being met with performative rhetoric,” Our Rev Exec Director Joseph Geevarghese wrote in The Baltimore Sun.
“If President Biden’s reported outrage behind closed doors does not translate to real policy shifts that hold Netanyahu accountable, he will continue to disenfranchise the Democratic base and risk a return of Trump to the White House.”
Our Revolution leaders rallied with the Listen to Maryland coalition on Monday and joined a live online event to get out the vote for Uncommitted.
OR Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese spoke alongside Palestinian voices, local leaders and student protestors.
“Two powerful protest movements are converging at the ballot box,” Joseph told the crowd. “College demonstrators and pro-peace progressives are joining forces to call on our fellow citizens to vote Uncommitted and send the President a message about Gaza he cannot ignore - Peace Now!”
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Sen. Bernie Sanders and US Rep. Ro Khanna just teamed up to introduce a new bill to cancel all existing medical debt and wipe it from all credit reports!
“People in our country should not be going bankrupt because they got cancer and could not afford to pay their medical bills,” Bernie said. Read more in The Guardian.
40% of Americans have medical debt, and it has become the leading cause of bankruptcy — even for those with health insurance. And, 25% of Americans say they’ve skipped healthcare due to costs.
In the lead-up to the legislative introduction, Our Revolution hosted a town hall with uninsured patients struggling to make ends meet and Rep. Khanna, and did lobbying visits on Capitol Hill to shape the bill.
This is unjust and unsustainable. It’s time for Congress to wipe the slate clean and pass the Medical Debt Cancelation Act to end the burden of sky-high medical bills once and for all.
ADD YOUR NAME: Stand with Bernie and Ro to demand an end to Medical Debt in America.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders has joined us in endorsing Susheela Jayapal for Congress because she is a powerful voice for abortion rights, Medicare for All, peace, democracy, wages, housing, climate, and more.
Now, Sen. Jeff Merkley has spoken out against the dark money pouring into Oregon’s 3rd District: “I strongly condemn the dark money campaign underway to smear Susheela Jayapal and any other dark money campaigns that are underway or planned,” he said.
More than $3 million is being spent on attack ads against Susheela and to prop up her opponent, Portland Mercury reported, but she has people power at her back. Susheela and her sister, Pramila Jayapal, were joined by the grassroots to knock more than 2,000 doors last weekend alone.
“Democratic voters here have made it very clear they don’t want AIPAC and MAGA money interfering in their primaries,” Andrea Cervone, Jayapal’s campaign manager, said.
Susheela is an AIPAC target, just like Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, and Pramila, because she has spoken out for the human rights of Palestinians — and stands against corporate power.
Like Bernie said this week: “The billionaires who fund these SuperPACs are not only concerned about protecting Israel’s right to do whatever it wants, but also about protecting corporate interests.”
“And you have a lot of wonderful members of the House of Representatives, who have stood up for the working class, have taken on corporate interests, and have also expressed their deep concern with what Israel is doing in Gaza,” Bernie continued. “What you’re seeing, and this is the corruption of the American political system.”
He rightly points out that these are some of the best people in Congress, adding: “I’m going to do my best to protect them and defend them.” We here at Our Revolution completely agree, and will be working overtime to protect elected progressives under attack.
DONATE TO HELP US DEFEND AND EXPAND PROGRESSIVE POWER IN CONGRESS IN 2024
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NEW ENDORSEMENTS!
We need progressives at every level of government. That’s why we’re excited to endorse Annette Ramirez for Tax Assessor Collector in Harris County, Texas.
She plans to prioritize collections against corporations and big businesses over homeowners and work for language justice and same day voter registration.
Annette beat out 5 other candidates and now heads to the May 28th runoff election! This important public office is charged with maintaining and improving election integrity in the nation’s third-most populous county.
Winning this seat will allow a progressive to remain in charge of voter registration rolls. We cannot risk a Republican getting this seat and the ability to 'clean' the voter rolls and make it harder to vote.
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Claire Cousin has our endorsement for NY Assembly District 206 because she embodies the spirit of grassroots activism and is deeply committed to putting working families first.
Claire is the co-founder of the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition and the first Black woman elected to the Columbia County Board of Supervisors.
Her top priorities of affordability, climate action, housing rights, and education investment reflect the urgent needs of the district.
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Our Revolution Massachusetts invites you to The UnConvention — a LIVE online event June 2nd for progressives to organize around key issues and get active in the political process this critical election year.
Keynote speakers include: Robert Kuttner, co-founder/co-editor of The American Prospect and a Professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School, who has written extensively on the failures of the Massachusetts Democratic Party; and Danielle Allen, a James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, who will speak on “Voice and Choice: Key Reforms to Make Democracy Real.”
The UnConvention is being organized by The Massachusetts Progressive Action Organizing Committee (MPAOC) — a coalition of MA state-wide political and community organizations and was formed to increase progressive political power.
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Our movement worked hard to elect the largest Congressional Progressive Caucus in history. Now, we must defend these seats against $100 million in AIPAC funding being spent to try to unseat some of our strongest voices for Peace in Congress.
Allies like Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal, Jamaal Bowman, Ilhan Omar, Delia Ramirez, and Cori Bush are running for re-election, and Our Revolution will have their back!
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As the country’s largest grassroots-funded progressive political action group, Our Revolution relies on our members to power our work.
In 2024, we’re on a mission to stop a return of Trump while growing progressive power in Congress and beyond to fight back against the far right and corporate extremists trying to hijack our democracy.
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