Frances Villar for Mayor Newsletter for the Week of Aug. 22
A Fighting Program for New York
Campaign Rally this Wednesday, 6pm at 180 W. 135th St.
 Come to a Campaign Rally! Wed., Aug. 26, 6pm 180 W. 135th St Take the 2/3 or B/C to 135th Call 212-694-8762 for information. Click this link to make an urgently needed donation to the Frances Villar for Mayor |
While the two big-business mayoral candidates quibble about who is more corrupt and inefficient, the Frances Villar for Mayor Campaign continues to pound the pavement and keep its ears to the streets as momentum builds for this unprecedented campaign.
Frances Villar campaign volunteers have gotten to work letting the residents of NYC know that there is a fighting organization standing up to the rule of the billionaires and their corrupt political pawns: the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
On Saturday, August 15, Frances and over a dozen campaign volunteers held a street meeting in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood on 145th Street and Broadway to get the word out about the campaign. The area between Harlem and Washington Heights in Manhattan was very receptive to Frances’ message of putting the interests of poor and working people first. Click here to watch a slideshow of Frances speaking on the mic.
Frances has also gotten to work providing more details about how she intends to address the issues of both crime and immigration in NYC.
In a letter to the New Sanctuary Movement, an immigrant rights activist group in New York City, Frances declares her unwavering support for immigrant rights.
“My position as a mayoral candidate is simple: No New York City resources should be used to facilitate deportations or to enforce any immigration policy that harms working families.”
Although Bloomberg passes himself off as an ally to immigrant workers, under his watch around 300 immigrants are deported every day from Rikers Island.
In a series of responses submitted by Frances to Bronx Better Ballots, an initiative of a well-known advocacy group, the Bronx Defenders, Frances notes that “What the City needs is… a massive anti-poverty campaign that will eliminate the basis for crime. Prisoners in Riker’s Island are almost entirely poor Black and Latino people, who live under inhumane conditions. Drug addiction should be decriminalized and the prison system should be drastically reduced, with funds re-allocated to create treatment programs, education, job training and quality housing.”
Shut down Rikers Island! No More Deportations! No More Prisons!
“Why I’m Supporting Frances Villar for Mayor”
— Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Organizer and Youth Leader
Claudia de la Cruz, has been a community organizer and activist in the Washington Heights community for over 10 years. Her work in the last five years has focused on Da Urban Butterflies Youth Leadership Development Project. She is also pastor of Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC, a church that is known for its liberating revolutionary message and consistent contributions to the people’s struggle.
“I have known Frances for several years as a fighter, a strong woman, a student, a single mother, an organizer and as a comrade in the construction of a better world” explains Claudia. “We’ve marched together against police brutality, against the war in Iraq, against tuition hikes, for immigrant rights and for so many other social justice issues.”
When we asked Claudia what her youth program or her congregation could use from City Hall, she explained, “I’m not sure that the church or DUB needs anything from city leaders per se. Our demand is the demand of many- that our tax dollars be allocated to the development of our community members; that they represent our struggles and voice our concerns; that they stand side by side in our demand for our civil and human rights; that they be accountable to the community and not their sponsors or the political machinery.”
This is what the Frances Villar for Mayor Campaign is all about. It is about empowering those organizations and people looking for peace, justice and a disciplined people’s movement determined to struggle for a new and better world!
All workers deserve a political system that doesn’t aim to reduce their involvement in the political processes that affect our lives. We need a system that fights to put poor and working people’s needs first! That’s what the Frances Villar for Mayor Campaign is all about! That’s what Socialism is all about!
Frances in the News
Frances appeared live on the radio, on 106.5 Zol in the Dominican Republic, where she made headlines with her historic run for Mayor of NYC.
The Frances Villar for Mayor Campaign was also mentioned in the Daily News weekly web wrap-up for the week ending August 16.
To see more of Frances in the News, visit our In the Press section on VotePSL.Org
We Need Your Help
The Frances Villar for Mayor campaign has tremendous potential to bring together poor and working people across the city to challenge the billionaires and to put our needs first on the agenda. In the middle of the most severe economic crisis this country has seen in decades, capitalism has failed—we need socialism!
But it won’t happen without your help.
There are many ways to continue building the movement to take on the parasitic billionaires and their system. Make a donation, Organize an Event, Volunteer your time, ask us a question and finally Join the revolutionary party organizing the Frances Villar for Mayor campaign: The Party for Socialism and Liberation!
See you in the streets,
The VotePSL Campaign Team
