Impressive ‘One Nation’ Rally Offers One Clear Message: Vote Democratic in November

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6497/did_the_october_2nd_rally_create_enough_leverage_to_win_jobs/

Sunday October 3 6:21 pm

By Mike Elk


Thousands of activists attended the 'One Nation Working Together' rally on the National Mall on October 2. The protest brought together hundreds of predominately-liberal groups that support the Democrats, focuses on civil rights, labor and economic policies and education reform. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)


But what about jobs?

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Saturday, tens of thousands of people from all over the country—perhaps 200,000 people—stretched across the Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial in a quilt-like patchwork of colors representing various races and organizational affiliations. (See video below.)

The message of the day was "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs," according to one organizer of Saturday's "One Nation Working Together" rally. "In many ways this march reminds me of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," Rev. Jesse Jackson told Working In These Times.

But if this weekend's rally was modeled on the 1963 March on Washington, it lacked the spirit of civil disobedience and direct action that marked that event 37 years ago. The March on Washington was successfully because it had been preceded with a massive campaign of direct action and civil disobedience. The showing of 300,000 people was a subtle threat that if action was taken to correct injustice, more civil disobedience was on the way.

Jackson dismissed calls for more direct action. ”The next step is to go to the ballot box on November 2nd and vote for Democrats," he said. His call to get out the vote seemed to echo the comments of labor and civil rights leaders throughout the day, who called on activists to get out the vote on November 2. "October 2nd is about November 2nd," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said.

The rally was not without its detractors, who heard the "jobs, jobs, jobs" message and questioned exactly how it would lead to job creation. "It was a great rally. The problem was, it was in the wrong place," says UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend. "This protest should have been on the front lawn of a CEO shipping jobs overseas."

'Unclear what rally was about exactly'

FULL story and video at link.