The Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Chicago campaign office was filled to capacity for a Feb. 16 neighborhood meeting to launch its state election campaign. The meeting included dinner and informal discussion before the evening’s program. Heather Benno and John Benno is running in Chicago’s 40th District. That district includes the multinational working-class neighborhood of Albany Park. She is going up against Democrat Deborah Mell, the sister-in-law of Illinois governor Rod
Suzanne Saba speaks at the Chicago
PSL’s election campaign launch.
Beacham, PSL candidates for State Assembly in Illinois, spoke at the meeting.
Benno spoke about the everyday harm and misery caused by the capitalist system. She recalled those who recently died in Chicago because they had no heat in their apartments during the sub-zero winter. Drawing from experience, she underscored the plight of undocumented workers and the harsh repression they face from the government—injustices she fights daily as an immigrants’ rights lawyer.
Beacham is running in Chicago’s 14th District. He pointed out that many young people might be drawn into the Democratic Party’s campaign expecting real change from a Democratic Party president. The PSL aims to reach these young people and provide them with a real alternative to the two-party system: socialism.
Beacham illustrated the undemocratic nature of bourgeois elections with a shocking statistic. Thirty million people living in the United States, ranging from former prisoners to non-citizen immigrants, will be excluded from voting in 2008.
The meeting was chaired by Stefanie Fisher. Beth Massey and Suzanne Saba spoke on ways to participate in the PSL election campaign.
Saba urged: “Get involved in this important and really exciting campaign. … We want as many people as possible to join us in building a real alternative to war, racism and capitalist oppression.”
Speakers were followed by a lively discussion with the candidates. Attendees bought newspapers, magazines and other party literature. Above all, they expressed excitement that an action-oriented socialist party was running national and local candidates in the election.
