On May 14, the Nevada Democratic Party held its final convention as part of the caucus process to distribute delegates. Coming into the convention, Bernie Sanders was in the lead, despite the initial results.
According to multiple reports, the Party Chair, Roberta Lange, started the first count early, before all the Sanders delegates were in the room, at 9:30 am. According to the schedule, the counts were posted to begin at 10:00 am.
Once the initial count was finished and tallied in Clinton’s favor by Lange, she immediately amended the rules on a voice vote.
Instead of heeding motions to recount, and calls for a vote of no-confidence, all of which were seconded, the chair overruled the Sanders supporters who were trying to use parliamentary procedure (Robert’s Rules of Order) to ensure a fair convention. Finally, late at night, after 10 hours of chanting and protesting from the floor by the Sanders delegates, the chair declared the convention over and left the hall. Sanders supporters were told they would be arrested if they didn’t leave and armed men entered the hall to enforce this edict.
Hearing this, maybe you are thinking “How could this be true? If something like this happened, wouldn’t it be on the news?” Well, of late, the mainstream media has been whiting out any and all coverage of the Sanders campaign. Tens of thousands of people overflow a stadium in Sacramento, Ca.? Not a peep in the news. Clinton supporters outright stealing a state party convention in Nevada? Nothing to see here people, move along.
The Daily Kos, the epicenter of liberalism, has apparently banned any articles critical of Hillary Clinton. An initial story about the Nevada convention was taken down, replaced with one about how Bernie Sanders supporters were “acting up” in Nevada.
What is stymieing the attempt to shut down all public discourse about the Sanders campaign, the important issues it raises and the specter of a renewal of mass working class struggle in the U.S.? It’s what we at Liberation News call “militant journalists” or more mainstream media term “citizen journalists.” You know, the Twitterverse, the blogosphere. Much of the nefarious doings of the Nevada convention were livestreamed on something called Periscope, which I had frankly never even heard of before. But there I was, last night, watching live as the convention was gaveled to a close over the shouts and protests of Sanders delegates, while simultaneously, countless other viewers sent messages and comments, mostly of support to those in the hall, which streamed alongside the admittedly choppy live footage.
The stream I was watching went dead shortly after someone (I’m not sure who) announced that people would be arrested if they didn’t leave. This morning, I saw the now iconic photo of armed men lined up in front of the stage, enforcing the stealing of a convention.
And this is what capitalist democracy looks like. Watch, listen, learn and then struggle.
