Join us for an EPIC holiday party!

Join us at the Peace and Freedom Party Potluck holiday party!
January 4, 2014. 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
at the Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library. 6501 Telegraph Ave. Oakland.
Anyone may attend.
You can say hello to Cindy Sheehan. Also, please sign a petition at the party to help put her on the ballot.
If you want more details or can come early to help set up the party, please phone John at (510) 703-4625.

"Why I am running for State Assembly, 15th District, in 2014" by Eugene E. Ruyle

For more information on Eugene E. Ruyle's Campaign for Peace and Socialismgo to my campaign website [ru4peace.wordpress.com]
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As a working class, socialist party in the heartland of world imperialism, the Peace and Freedom Party should be raising issues of peace and socialism in every partisan and non-partisan election. As long ago as 1850, Marx and Engels wrote that: "Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers' candidates will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance of victory. All such talk means, in the final analysis, that the proletariat is to be swindled. The progress which the proletarian party will make by operating independently in this way is infinitely more important than the disadvantages resulting from the presence of a few reactionaries in the representative body." - Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League.  London, March 1850)
This year, after four decades of running working class, socialist candidates and putting our revolutionary position and party platform before the people of California, the Peace of Freedom has only two candidates for statewide office—Cindy Sheehan for Governor, and Nathalie Hrizi of the Party for Socialism and Liberation for California Insurance Commissioner. One more local candidate is planning to run: Robert Soloway, running in the 48th Congressional District in Orange County against right wing incumbent Dana Rohrabacher. In all the years we have had ballot status this is our fewest Peace and Freedom Party candidates. It does not provide a very good argument for our staying on the ballot.
In 2012, I ran for State Assembly in the 15th Assembly District that surrounds the Berkeley campus of the University of California and includes Richmond, Berkeley, and North Oakland. After the election, I wrote in what was "Definitely Not a Concession Speech:" "With over 13% of the vote, I refuse to concede to the incumbent, whose re-election was just part of the normal functioning of a corrupt and undemocratic electoral system. While the twin parties of capitalism spent billions of dollars to convince the American people to vote for politics-as-usual, our low-keyed Campaign for Peace and Socialism refused all campaign contributions and received 22,779 votes, or 13.2% of the total."
In 2014, the incumbent Nancy Skinner will be termed-out. At latest report, there are five Democrats and one Republican running in a district that is 64% Democrat, 8% Republican (SEE: “As Nancy Skinner's Assembly term nears end, 2014 hopefuls step forward - The Daily Californian” http://www.dailycal.org/2013/10/06/nancy-skinners-assembly-term-nears-end-2014-hopefuls-step-forward/). If the Democrats split their registrants equally, each will receive just under 13% of the vote, while the Republican will get 8%. The bulk of the remaining 28% are No Party Preference or one of the smaller parties (Peace and Freedom registration is under one percent. There is no particular reason to think I will get 13% of the vote as I did in 2012, but no reason to think I won’t. If I do, It could have me coming in second and advance to the General Election in November. Unlikely, it is true, but it is not the principle that motivates my campaign. As in my earlier campaigns, in 1982, 2008, 2010, and 2012, I will basing my campaign in 2014 on the principle set forth by Marx and Engels 160 years ago.
The requirements for running for state assembly are the least of any partisan office in California. The filing fee is $952.91, or 1,500 valid signatures in lieu of filing fee, gathered between December 27, 2013, and February 20, 2014. The in lieu signature requirement of 1500 may seem high, but they do not need to be registered Peace and Freedom. Anyone registered to vote in the 15th AD can sign. Considering this, the in lieu signature requirement does not seem any more stringent than the old requirement of 60+ Peace and Freedom registrants.
My campaign will support the campaigns of our statewide candidates by collecting signatures for Cindy and Natalie while I am collecting the 1500 for myself in Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond. My primary method of signature gathering will be on college campuses. I suspect UC, Berkeley and Contra Costa College are the best places. Perhaps Berkeley City College is also a possibility, but they don’t really have a campus. Political gatherings and other venues will also be utilized for signature gathering.

Petition to add Cindy Sheehan to the ballot!

Help Get Cindy Sheehan on the Ballot,
Join the People’s Power Petition Campaign!
For more information on the Cindy Sheehan for Governor campaign, visit Cindy2014.org. For more information on the Peace and Freedom Party, visit PeaceAndFreedom.org.

What do YOU want for the future?
• CREATE THOUSANDS OF NEW JOBS IN CALIFORNIA BY CONVERTING TO PEACE TECHNOLOGY
• GET THE PROFIT MOTIVE OUT OF HEALTHCARE: IT'S TIME FOR SINGLE-PAYER
• LIVING WAGE FOR ALL CALIFORNIANS
• RESTORE FREE QUALITY EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA

California allows candidates to get on the ballot in one of two ways:
• Pay a substantial sum of money, a “filing fee”
or
• Take your case to the people their signatures on a petition to show they want you on the ballot.
To get on California’s ballot as a gubernatorial candidate, Cindy Sheehan needs 10,000 signatures from registered voters.
So, if 100 people get just 100 signatures each we can get Cindy Sheehan on the ballot and spread the word about the campaign and the type of future we want to build in California.
Together we can make this work.
Volunteer Now!

"Peace and Freedom’s Cindy Sheehan Petitions for CA Gov"
2013-12-15 from [http://www.oppositionnews.org/articles/2013/q4/peace-n-freedoms-cindy-sheehan-petitions-ca-gov/]:
Sacramento -
Famed peace activist Cindy Sheehan is gearing up for a run for California Governor in 2014. Her supporters are already lining up volunteers to circulate ballot access petitions when the window to do so opens in a couple weeks. Once again, Sheehan is running under the Peace and Freedom Party banner.
For those who don’t remember, Cindy Sheehan first came to national prominence when she waged a public anti-war campaign targeted at President George W. Bush. Her heartfelt and touching story of having lost her son in the Iraq War hit home with many Americans. She has since run for Congress, Vice President and now California Governor.
It’s also worth reminding readers of her son’s final weeks on Earth. As detailed by Wikipedia, Casey Sheehan enlisted in the US Army in 2000, prior to 9/11. When the Iraq War began, he reenlisted. In 2004, his First Cavalry Division was deployed back into action. Two weeks later, Sheehan volunteered to be part of a Quick Reaction Force put together to rescue trapped American troops under heavy fire. Casey Sheehan was killed on that mission and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor.
Cindy for Governor 2014
It’s too soon to know if Cindy Sheehan will have any challengers within the Peace and Freedom Party of California in her bid for Governor. But it’s not likely considering the longtime peace activist’s political following and the fact that she’s already received the official endorsement of the Party’s state Central Committee. And if her social campaign against George W. Bush or her political campaign against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are any indication, Gov. Jerry Brown is in for a fight.
When Cindy Sheehan took on George Bush in 2005, she literally moved to his home town of Crawford, Texas. When she ran for Congress against then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Sheehan moved to San Francisco. It’s safe to say, when Cindy Sheehan does something, she does it 100 percent.
“Please help with the Cindy for Governor 2014 campaign,” a recent email from Peace and Freedom organizers reads, “Our first priority right now is signature gathering to ensure Cindy gets on the ballot. We need 10,000 signatures in order to avoid paying a steep filing fee.” The window to collect petition signatures starts on December 27 and ends on February 20.
Cindy on the Issues
At the top of Gubernatorial candidate Sheehan’s platform is the environment. She opposes drilling, fracking and dependence on fossil fuels and instead supports a transition to, “sustainable, clean and renewable” energy sources. The candidate even lists two specific suggestions to support her position.
First, Sheehan proposes expanding public transportation, and most importantly, making it affordable for everyone. Second, she supports removing the laws and stigmas against industrial hemp. It’s long been known that one acre of hemp can produce as much paper as hundreds of acres of trees, if not more. The all-natural product was a staple of society until the mid-1900’s and is used to make things like clothes, paper, rope and a number of construction materials.
What Peace and Freedom candidate’s platform would be complete without a public position on world peace. And that’s second on Cindy Sheehan’s list. The campaign website explains, ‘Peace in our cities, communities and neighborhoods begins with economic and social justice. Free education and job programs will be at the forefront of our program so our young people will not have to feel that joining the US Military or California National Guard is an option. The California National Guard will only be used for state emergencies and not be sent over to foreign lands for the wars for Empire.’
Showing she’s not one to dodge the issues or play the ever-popular game of ‘smoke and mirrors’, Sheehan’s platform continues with positions on ‘Education’, ‘Prisons and the Police State’, ‘Agriculture’, ‘Healthcare’, ‘Immigration’, ‘Senior Citizens’, and in a nod to California’s Native Americans, ‘Indigenous Rights’.

The ground game -
Already, the California Peace and Freedom Party has launched a voter registration drive to sign up new voters. Research shows that most new voters, if they show up at the polls, will vote for the person or party that registered them. That could prove to be a boost to the party in the coming 2014 elections.
Illustrating their strategy, the Peace and Freedom Party website explains, ‘Registering PFP is an effective way to send a message to every politician, every day, that more and more Californians reject the two parties of war and big business, and support our pro-working class program. Having your name on the voter list as "Peace and Freedom" is like signing petitions for good causes every day, even when election day is far away. Politicians may pay attention to other things now and then (especially money), but they definitely pay attention to voter lists and voter registration statistics.’
Combining Cindy Sheehan’s support network with the Peace and Freedom Party’s precinct army may prove to be a successful combination. The candidate already has a large following from last year’s Presidential campaign where she was Roseanne Barr’s running mate. She also has an existing voter base from her 2008 Congressional run against Rep. Pelosi, an election that saw her finish second in a seven-way race, capturing over 46,000 votes.

"Cindy is running for Governor starting December 27, 2013"

For more information on the Cindy Sheehan for Governor campaign, visit Cindy2014.org.
For more information on the Peace and Freedom Party, visit PeaceAndFreedom.org.
---
December 15, 2013. Sacramento. Famed peace activist Cindy Sheehan is gearing up for a run for California Governor in 2014. Her supporters are already lining up volunteers to circulate ballot access petitions when the window to do so opens in a couple weeks. Once again, Sheehan is running under the Peace and Freedom Party banner.
For those who don’t remember, Cindy Sheehan first came to national prominence when she waged a public anti-war campaign targeted at President George W. Bush. Her heartfelt and touching story of having lost her son in the Iraq War hit home with many Americans. She has since run for Congress, Vice President and now California Governor.
It’s also worth reminding readers of her son’s final weeks on Earth. As detailed by Wikipedia, Casey Sheehan enlisted in the US Army in 2000, prior to 9/11. When the Iraq War began, he reenlisted. In 2004, his First Cavalry Division was deployed back into action. Two weeks later, Sheehan volunteered to be part of a Quick Reaction Force put together to rescue trapped American troops under heavy fire. Casey Sheehan was killed on that mission and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor.
Cindy for Governor 2014
It’s too soon to know if Cindy Sheehan will have any challengers within the Peace and Freedom Party of California in her bid for Governor. But it’s not likely considering the longtime peace activist’s political following and the fact that she’s already received the official endorsement of the Party’s state Central Committee. And if her social campaign against George W. Bush or her political campaign against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are any indication, Gov. Jerry Brown is in for a fight.
When Cindy Sheehan took on George Bush in 2005, she literally moved to his home town of Crawford, Texas. When she ran for Congress against then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Sheehan moved to San Francisco. It’s safe to say, when Cindy Sheehan does something, she does it 100 percent.
“Please help with the Cindy for Governor 2014 campaign,” a recent email from Peace and Freedom organizers reads, “Our first priority right now is signature gathering to ensure Cindy gets on the ballot. We need 10,000 signatures in order to avoid paying a steep filing fee.” The window to collect petition signatures starts on December 27 and ends on February 20.
Cindy on the Issues
At the top of Gubernatorial candidate Sheehan’s platform is the environment. She opposes drilling, fracking and dependence on fossil fuels and instead supports a transition to, “sustainable, clean and renewable” energy sources. The candidate even lists two specific suggestions to support her position.
First, Sheehan proposes expanding public transportation, and most importantly, making it affordable for everyone. Second, she supports removing the laws and stigmas against industrial hemp. It’s long been known that one acre of hemp can produce as much paper as hundreds of acres of trees, if not more. The all-natural product was a staple of society until the mid-1900’s and is used to make things like clothes, paper, rope and a number of construction materials.
What Peace and Freedom candidate’s platform would be complete without a public position on world peace. And that’s second on Cindy Sheehan’s list. The campaign website explains, ‘Peace in our cities, communities and neighborhoods begins with economic and social justice. Free education and job programs will be at the forefront of our program so our young people will not have to feel that joining the US Military or California National Guard is an option. The California National Guard will only be used for state emergencies and not be sent over to foreign lands for the wars for Empire.’
Showing she’s not one to dodge the issues or play the ever-popular game of ‘smoke and mirrors’, Sheehan’s platform continues with positions on ‘Education’, ‘Prisons and the Police State’, ‘Agriculture’, ‘Healthcare’, ‘Immigration’, ‘Senior Citizens’, and in a nod to California’s Native Americans, ‘Indigenous Rights’.
The ground game
Already, the California Peace and Freedom Party has launched a voter registration drive to sign up new voters. Research shows that most new voters, if they show up at the polls, will vote for the person or party that registered them. That could prove to be a boost to the party in the coming 2014 elections.
Illustrating their strategy, the Peace and Freedom Party website explains, ‘Registering PFP is an effective way to send a message to every politician, every day, that more and more Californians reject the two parties of war and big business, and support our pro-working class program. Having your name on the voter list as "Peace and Freedom" is like signing petitions for good causes every day, even when election day is far away. Politicians may pay attention to other things now and then (especially money), but they definitely pay attention to voter lists and voter registration statistics.’
Combining Cindy Sheehan’s support network with the Peace and Freedom Party’s precinct army may prove to be a successful combination. The candidate already has a large following from last year’s Presidential campaign where she was Roseanne Barr’s running mate. She also has an existing voter base from her 2008 Congressional run against Rep. Pelosi, an election that saw her finish second in a seven-way race, capturing over 46,000 votes.

“Left Third-Party Organizing: Challenges and Opportunities”

2013-12-09 posted by "The North Star",
(Part 1) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXohwWd3epg],
(Part 2) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJelWibjiS8]:
In an age of two-party domination and neoliberal hegemony, what opportunities exist for left electoral politics through third party campaigns?
Why and when should leftists focus on third party campaigns, as opposed to Democratic Party primaries?
Where should the left focus its electoral resources, and how might it overcome division?
Should third-party politics be thought of in terms of consciousness-raising, or is the left in a position to affect public policy by taking power?





Chaired by Ben Campbell, with
* Carl Davidson (Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism),
* Tim Horras (Philly Socialists),
* Ursula Rozum (Green Party),
* Seamus Whelan (Socialist Alternative).

Campaign for Peace and Freedom in Hondruas!

Join the Peace and Freedom Party and the Solano Peace, Justice and Freedom coalition to Call on State Department to stop legitimizing fraudulent Honduran elections! Join the campaign here [link]! 

Peace and Freedom Party of California, in solidarity with the people of Honduras, calls on the U. S. government to cut U. S. aid and training to the Honduran military and police; withdraw U. S. troops and armed Drug Enforcement agents and contractors; and end U. S. intervention in Honduras" election particularly under the guise of "democracy promotion" funding by USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy. Furthermore, Peace and Freedom Party of California joins Amnesty International in calling on the authorities in Honduras to drop charges against three indigenous leaders; Berta Caceres, Tomas Gomez and Aureliano Molina.


"Call on State Department to stop legitimizing fraudulent Honduran elections"
[http://www.soaw.org/component/content/article/93-organizing-updates/4170-call-on-the-state-department-to-stop-legitimizing-fraudulent-honduran-elections]:
 On Sunday, November 24, Hondurans went to the polls in record numbers to vote in their presidential elections. In the country with the highest murder rate in the world and targeted repression of the opposition and social movements, many Hondurans voted for change, including for Xiomara Castro, the candidate for the new LIBRE party which was created out of the resistance to the 2009 SOA-graduate led coup that ousted her husband, President Mel Zelaya. Despite outright vote buying, vote counting problems, selling of election credentials, irregularities in posted voting certificates [http://www.soaw.org/about-us/equipo-sur/263-stories-from-honduras/4167-actas], discrepancies in the results released by Honduras' Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and those received by the parties, and other signs of fraud, Juan Orlando Hernandez of the ruling (National) party was declared the winner. Libre and PAC, another new party running on an anti-corruption platform, have refused to accept the TSE's results, citing widespread fraud, but the US has supported the ruling party, calling the elections "transparent." Call on the U.S. to stop legitimizing fraudulent elections in Honduras!
On Sunday, December 1st, thousands of Hondurans took to the streets demanding an end to fraud and the recognition of Xiomara Castro as the legitimate President of Honduras. See a photo report here [http://www.soaw.org/about-us/equipo-sur/263-stories-from-honduras/4168-electionphotos].
On Monday, December 2nd, Castro presented an official request to the TSE for a recount of all the voting certificantes in the presence of Libre. However, with the TSE, Executive Branch, current Congress, Supreme Court, and Attorney General all controlled by the ruling party (Hernandez himself led the Congress in firing 4 Supreme Court justices last year and replacing the Attorney General in a highly controversial process just months before the elections), there is little hope that Honduran system will resolve fairly.
The US State Department has white-washed the elections, commending the TSE for "its professional counting of the vote," when the reality is that the elections were full of problems. Send an e-mail to the State Department and Congress urging them to condemn the fraud, irregularities, and violence during the Honduran elections [http://org.salsalabs.com/o/727/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14682].
SOA Watch's election delegation to Honduras, along with many other delegations as part of the Honduras Solidarity Network observed problems with vote counting, reports of dead people voting, voting table credentials of other parties used by the ruling party, breaking of the rules during vote transmission, suspicious results from voting tables reported by the TSE, and numerous opportunities for alternation and manipulation of the results [http://www.hondurassolidarity.org/report1/].
Read the report back from the SOA delegation here [http://www.soaw.org/about-us/equipo-sur/263-stories-from-honduras/4162-novelections].
Libre has also documented numerous alternations and manipulations, including the tabulation of 82,301 too many votes counted in favor of the National (ruling) Party and 55,720 votes not counted for LIBRE [http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2013/11/libre-details-electoral-fraud-english.html].
Even the European Union election monitoring delegation, which white-washed the elections for political reasons, reported that 30% of the voter rolls were people who were dead or have left the country, making fraudulent voting all too easy [http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/4584-the-results-of-the-elections-in-honduras-were-changed-says-european-union-observer-].
The day before Libre activists prepared to take to the streets to demand a recount, Jose Antonio Ardon, a well-known member of the resistance movement and the motorcade that accompanied Xiomara Castro, was brutally murdered by death squads while organizing for Libre's march. This political assassination sent a clear message: you will continue to be murdered for speaking out. Prior to the elections, at least 18 Libre candidates and activists were murdered, more than all other parties combined. Two additional campesino leaders and Libre activists were murdered the evening before the elections as they returned from election training and a citizen was beaten on election day for asking for the votes to be read out loud as they were counted [http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2013/11/assasination-of-cntc-and-libre-party.html]. Just days after the elections, the police tear gassed and violently repressed thousands of university students protesting against fraud and the imposition of Juan Orlando as president of Honduras [http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/20293-violence-against-demonstrators-follows-contested-result-in-honduras-elections].
International observers were also intimidated, with migration raids targeting accredited observers from the Honduras Solidarity Network and other groups. The SOAW delegation, together with the US-El Salvador Sister Cities delegation, was blocked for over 5 hours from visiting Rio Blanco [http://www.soaw.org/about-us/equipo-sur/263-stories-from-honduras/4163-delegationrb], where Lenca communities are resisting the construction of an illegal hydroelectric dam and facing death threats and severe repression, including the murder of Tomas Garcia this July.
As Sunday's mobilization came to an end, Xiomara Castro stood beside the casket of Jose Antonio Ardon, which accompanied the mobilization outside the TSE to demand a recount of the votes, and declared "Today we have pain in our hearts and tears in our eyes and it is precisely because of this, and for the 350 other martyrs, that we will not give up. Because of this we continue. We believed the false promises that there would be clean elections… Over 1 million people went out to vote for us… They have stolen our victory and implemented fraud. We will not give up until we achieve… our hope of constructing a better Honduras for all".
As the ultra-right seeks to consolidate its stranglehold on Honduras through fraudulent elections aimed at imposing the presidency of Juan Orlando Hernandez and unleashing repression against those who stand up against the looting of the country by multinational corporations and the oligarchy, it is more important than ever to stand in solidarity with the people of Honduras. Demand that the US stop legitimizing the elections and instead condemn the widespread fraud and the murders of Libre activists [http://org.salsalabs.com/o/727/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14682].