top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Bummer Bernie Bylaws

by dogwood
The new bernie group, which is made up of at least some of the Bernie volunteers who worked for Bernie's campaign this past year have created a set of Bylaws that are extremely disappointing in that they want to go with old-style structures that tie dues to membership. Although these people are saying that these are not final structures, they pushed and hoodwinked a fast vote on the bylaws this past Wednesday night, when we all met to listen to Bernie on a live video stream. The excuse was that we were "so short on time". Unfortunately, the rushed vote seemed to ratify the bylaws as they stand. Only one person objected to the bylaws, and another (this author) abstained from the vote.
Haven't I seen this before? The answer to this question is yes, unfortunately, I have. The other night the new Bernie team, which had so much to offer us in the way of avenues, new avenues toward democracy seemed to pull another very, very old trick.
What was at stake was the proposed bylaws for the new group, supposedly leading us all toward new and greater participation and democracy.
BUT! The proposed bylaws absolutely tie membership of this group which is called, "Santa Cruz for Bernie", or the "Club", to the payment of dues.
This is an old way to keep lots of people outside of the old club.
It is against the spirit of the Bernie Revolution in that this campaign allowed a person to belong, even if they had no extra money.
One could give when and how much they could afford.
With so many of us absolutely without any "extra" income, this seems to be a hardened and materialistic way to raise funds while excluding certain people, like the very poor and indigent.
Also, it is not very creative, it is a way to shore up control and link materialistic goals with political exclusivity.
What Bernie's campaign up until the Democratic National Convention felt like it was, that it was inspired and was really about real change, whereas these proposals feel real stale and old, and remind this author of the failures of the type of unionism by the few that has caused a severe failure to catch fire with the working classes of people when it comes to inspiration and actually getting people to want to unionize.
Also, it is one of the tricks of the old Democratic establishment.
Why the supreme rush to get these proposals passed this past Wednesday night?
Also, the leaders of this bylaws committee working group said, I thought that they had not decided on a name. Yet, they have one, "Santa Cruz for Bernie".
My question is will "they" include everyone in Santa Cruz who is for a Bernie-style revolution or just some, the ones who can afford to pay the dues?
-dogwood
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Alternet
Fri, Sep 2, 2016 3:12AM
Hilary's Bernielution
Mon, Aug 29, 2016 12:49PM
Razer Ray
Mon, Aug 29, 2016 8:53AM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network