'Bernie or Bust' backers to flock to Philly to protest
Bernie Sanders may have ended his battle for the White House with his endorsement of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but that’s not stopping thousands of his backers from planning to flock to Philadelphia next week to protest the Democratic National Convention and send a message to party leaders.
The fact that Sanders said last week he would do “everything I can” to help Clinton beat Republican nominee Donald Trump is not dissuading pro-Sanders protest organizers. They say Americans are frustrated with the Democratic Party establishment, and they'll still be out to protest in large numbers.
“It’s ‘We the People’ who are going to continue to lead this revolution,” said Billy Taylor, a pro-Sanders activist who was issued permits to hold rallies on each day of the convention. “We are not going to vote for the demon named Hillary just because you are threatening us with the devil named Trump.”
The city of Philadelphia is projecting 35,000 to 50,000 demonstrators will gather at a half dozen sanctioned protest sites near the Wells Fargo Center each day of the convention, which opens Monday. A bulk of the permits issued by the city are to groups that indicated they are inspired by the Vermont senator.
The showing for the pro-Sanders demonstrations — whose organizers have received nine of the 28 permits issuedand are expected to draw the largest crowds, according to city officials estimates — could perhaps provide a sense of the road Clinton has in front of her as she tries to win over some of the Sander’s most rabid backers.
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A Pew Research Center Poll published earlier this month found that 85% of respondents who voted for Sanders during the primaries and caucuses say they will back Clinton in the general election, while nine percent said they’d vote for Trump. Six percent say they'll vote for a third party candidate or did not know how they’ll vote.
In interviews, some pro-Sanders protest organizers said they're still holding on to a thread of hope that a big showing will persuade super delegates committed to Clinton to vote for Sanders.
Short of a super delegate uprising for Sanders, organizers say they will use their protests to push for major reforms in the Democratic Party—including calling for abolishing super delegates in future elections, ousting Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and pressing party leaders to push for laws that would trigger automatic voter registration for Americans when they turn 18.
Without major reforms, Taylor and other protest organizers said they'll begin an effort to get voters to “deregister” from both major political parties to send a message that Americans are fed up.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re going to hold your nose and vote for Hillary,” said Taylor, who owns a Philadelphia landscape business. “We want people to know that you can still join us to denounce the party and join us and make an example out of the party. The Democratic Party has to earn back our respect.”
Non-Sanders groups that were approved for permits by the city include Green Party candidate Jill Stein, the anti-gun violence group Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC, and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC).
Cheri Honkala, the organizer for the Philadelphia-based PPEHRC, said her group’s demonstration is meant to put a spotlight on the plague of homelessness and poverty in the city. She also is planning a bean supper for Sanders delegates ahead of Clinton’s acceptance speech on Thursday, hoping that the bean-filled Sanders supporters will return to the Wells Fargo Center and greet Clinton with flatulence.
“The idea is to send the message to the Democratic Party establishment that the whole system smells, and it must be changed,” she said.
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Laurie Cestnick, a Sanders supporter who has been organizing protesters to come to Philadelphia through her Occupy DNC Convention July 2016 Facebook page, said she was disappointed by Sanders' endorsement of Clinton. But she said too much is at stake to keep activists like her from speaking out at the convention.
Her group plans to gather on Monday in Camden, NJ—just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia—and march with several other groups to Philadelphia’s city hall and then on to the main protest site near the convention hall.
Cestnick, who volunteered at phone banks for Sanders in the Boston area, said the Facebook page she started to promote the Occupy DNC group’s protests has garnered more than 31,000 followers. Hundreds of activists associated with her group have reserved space at camping grounds in nearby south New Jersey for the days of the convention, she said.
“I won’t say that I’d rather see Trump get in, but I want (the Clinton campaign) to squirm for the rest of the election season, wondering what’s going to happen,” Cestnick said. “I just want them to know that our votes matter and you can’t do that to the American people again.”
No-shows and reduced numbers temper RNC protests
Eric Kestner, a Sanders-backer from Seattle, is using his one week of vacation from his job at an auto repair business to travel to Philadelphia for the protests. He said Sanders’ endorsement did not dissuade him from making the cross-country trek.
Kestner said he believes that if the pro-Sanders crowd attracts enough people to push the “Bernie or Bust” message, the super delegates will be forced to change their minds and deliver the nomination to Sanders.
But even if they fail in their longshot effort, Kestner said the protests will have value in activists' longer term push to overhaul American politics.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we may not get this at this time,” said Kestner, who will make a nearly three-day drive with a fellow “Berner” from Spokane, Washington, to take part in the protests. “You never know what’s going to happen after the convention.”