Yari Osorio, the vice presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation made a campaign stop in Tallahassee, Florida on Oct. 1. He spoke at Florida State University to a group of students. His talk was part of the Two Party Alternatives series put on by the Center for Participant Education, a free university on campus that serves as a forum for progressive and alternative ideas about politics, education, and the arts.
Osorio’s arrival was timely as the activist scene in Tallahassee has picked up steam over the past couple years, organizing heavily around issues relating to the rights of workers and people of color, the environment and the right to education. In attendance were students from many organizations, including Dream Defenders, Progress Coalition, Transition Tallahassee, and Students United for Justice in Palestine.
Osorio spoke about building the Party in preparation for revolutionary times, dispelling the myth of democracy under our current system, and organizing in communities most afflicted by the contradictions of capitalism. “How and when a revolutionary crisis comes about is entirely unpredictable and outside the control of both revolutionaries and the ruling class,” he said. “What we do have control over is not when or how a new crisis will develop, but what type of organization will be available when a revolutionary crisis does arise, as it inevitably will.”
He also applauded the recent upsurge in student movements, remarking on the importance of eliminating student loan debt, which recently surpassed credit card debt in the US. His speech resonated with the crowd, among which were members of Progress Coalition, a students rights group at FSU that recently decided to wear red squares in solidarity with the CLASSE movement in Quebec. The Q&A session following Osorio’s speech went on for some time.
This event was a promising start to the PSL Florida campaign. Peta Lindsay, the presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, will tour South Florida from October 22-26.
