LETTER

Another view 

Given the right-wing slant of so many commentators here, which pretend to be public comments on the news, let me present a view that our Canadian media rarely presents.  I know this is US news, but it does impact us, and it shows there is a movement toward more social justice, even in the belly of the beast!

Mid-term elections in the US have resulted in gains for those leading the resistance to Trump. An unprecedented 67 members of Democratic Socialists of America were elected to municipal and state legislative offices, while two — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from the Bronx, and Rashida Tlaib from Detroit — were elected to Congress. 

In addition to Tlaib (of Palestinian heritage), another Muslim woman, Ilhan Omar, was elected to Congress, representing Minneapolis. A refugee from Somalia, Omar was one of 68 candidates to win office endorsed by Our Revolution, the progressive organization that emerged out of Bernie Sanders’ campaign. 

The Working Families Party played a leading role in the victorious Congressional campaigns by Jahana Hayes from Connecticut and Ayanna Pressley from Massachusetts; the first two black women ever to represent New England, and Deb Haaland of New Mexico, who will become one of the first Native American women, to serve in the House of Representatives. The WFP claimed victory, too, in defeating anti-union governors in Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Common to all left/progressive campaigns is that, although running as Democrats, they funded their work through small donor (rather than big business) contributions and based on grassroots, volunteer activists (rather than high-paid consultants). Significantly, this was the approach taken by the AFL-CIO. More than 700 union members were elected to office in opposition to Republican Party candidates and pro-corporate Democratic Party people, the so-called Blue Dogs.

Barry Stevens, 

Aylmer