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Submitting immediate protests at the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, the organization's Resolutions Committee rejected a resolution calling for a climate-focused debate among key candidates for the presidential election of 2020.
The committee 8-17 votes On the resolution outraged members of the Sunrise movement, led by young people, who sat in their seats and sang the union protest song "Which Side Are You On?" before going out.
"California was literally on fire last year, and we know that climate change is killing people and destroying livelihoods," Sunrise volunteer, 26-year-old Alex Morrison, said in a statement. left South Florida to settle in San Francisco. "Time is running out to save our generation, young people need to know which presidential candidates are treating the climate crisis as an emergency."
"We deserve to have a viable future," said another Sunrise activist after the vote, according to HuffPost. "We deserve a debate on the climate."
Although the resolution advocated by the activists failed, HuffPost noted that "the DNC voted in favor of another resolution to sanction a less formal forum on the issue." This was a predictable outcome. DNC senior management is opposed to the climate debate from the start. " go ahead, fearing that this will sow discord in the base and hinder the final candidate in the general election. "
The committee adopted an amendment – proposed by Travis Robertson Jr., chairman of the Democratic Party of South Carolina – that overturned the ban on presidential candidates from participating in weather events not sanctioned by the DNC, which the activists saluted.
"This partial victory shows the strength of the people's movement and the power of young people," said Sunrise Movement spokeswoman Sofie Karasek. "In the coming days and months, we will continue to fight to ensure that the DNC and Tom Perez treat the climate crisis as an emergency, and give it the airtime and attention it deserves. She deserves. "
The committee meeting took place after months of requests from environmentalists and many presidential candidates – particularly Washington governor Jay Inslee, who ended his campaign on Wednesday night – for the party to hold its own. a debate on the primary climate. Despite pressure from climate activists and candidates, Perez has maintained his opposition to any debate on "one problem".
The Guardian reported Thursday before the vote that "the supporters of a debate say they will not be deterred." It is planned to bring the resolution to Congress for a vote on Saturday, and if that does not work, they plan to continue to raise the problem throughout the primary campaign, hoping that the candidates will take up the problem and demand the debate themselves. "
"Voters will not let go of that and states parties will not let go of that," Tina Podlodowski, president of the Democratic Party of Washington State and author of the resolution on the climate debate, told reporters. "In an election, if something does not work, you change."
"A poll after another shows that the climate crisis is currently at the center of American voters' concerns," said Ken Martin, one of the authors of the resolution and chairman of the Democratic Party-Peasant-Worker of the United States. Minnesota, in a statement. "If we, the Democrats, are serious about the election of a new president and committed progressives, we should start following the example of young people whose energy will be essential for to win."
Before the vote on Thursday, members of the Sunrise Movement and other progressive activists invaded the room where committee members gathered to discuss and vote on various resolutions. Songs to "let them in" broke out as observers without accreditations were denied entry by security. according to a journalist, about 100 people stormed the room anyway.
In Thursday's debate, some members of the DNC congratulated Sunrise on its commitment to attracting public attention to the climate emergency. The movement led a popular mass mobilization for a debate in the seven weeks leading up to the meeting.
Last month, CNN and MSNBC announced climate forums for presidential candidates. Although the activists have welcomed these events, they continue to demand a debate sanctioned by the DNC.
A coalition of progressive and environmental groups representing millions of voters – including CREDO Action, the Sunrise Movement, Bold Alliance, NextGen America, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Greenpeace USA, the Climate Hawks vote , 350.org, the Friends of the Earth Action and the Washington Democrats. – issued a joint statement on the ongoing struggle for a debate after Thursday's vote:
Nearly half a million local activists have pushed their DNC members to support a full-fledged climate debate among candidates. It's evidence of their local power that the resolutions committee has advanced something that we believe will encourage a more direct debate on the climate crisis by enabling multi-candidate forums with a simultaneous "discussion" between the candidates .
We will keep up the pressure on the DNC to adopt these resolutions on Saturday. The climate crisis is too important for our future and for our ability to mobilize voters if we are to defeat Donald Trump – the DNC must seize this opportunity to show the clear contrast between the Democratic candidates and Donald Trump on the climate crisis, whose only response to this urgency is to deny that this happens.
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