Statement of Solidarity and Support

We are socialists of multiple tendencies who support the campaign of Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York State in 2014. Many of us are affiliated with specific socialist organizations. Others are independent. What unites us is our commitment to building democratic socialism and a society dedicated to social justice and compassion.  We believe the Hawkins/Jones ticket exemplifies these ideals.

Howie and Brian are a Teamster and a Teacher. They are union activists, democratic socialists, and enrolled members of the Green Party. Howie unloads trucks at UPS in Syracuse. He has been active in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment, and independent politics since the late 1960s. He was the Green Party candidate for NY Governor in 2010, coming in third out of seven tickets, and winning enough votes to secure a Green ballot line statewide for the next four years. He is a member of the Socialist Party USA and Solidarity, a socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization.  

Brian taught school in Harlem and Brooklyn public schools for nine years and is now a PhD student in urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is a founding member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators, the social justice caucus of the United Federation of Teachers, and is known for speaking and writing in defense of public education in diverse forums – from the pages of The New York Times to MSNBC and Democracy Now. He is a member of the International Socialist Organization

We support the following goals in common with the Hawkins/Jones Campaign:

• Development of a political project that stresses workers' independence from the capitalist parties. 

• Building an activist mass party -- not merely a small protest party -- of the independent left in New York State that organizes working people to educate and act for themselves between as well as during elections and builds the popular support and power to elect its candidates and win structural reforms. 

• The development of worker democracy so that employees can determine the policies and strategies of their places of employment. 

• A Green New Deal of full employment, living wages and universal health care through a public single payer.

• Fully-funded public education from early childhood through college.

• Sufficient public funding to ensure affordable housing and public transit, clean energy, and progressive taxation and revenue-sharing to fund the Green New Deal.

• Protection of the environment and natural world from capitalist exploitation and the creation of a sustainable economy to address global climate change.

• The development of socialist economic institutions in key sectors: health care, banking, energy utilities, broadband/telecom utilities, and economic development through worker co-ops instead of corporate welfare.

• Extension of minimum wage laws, the eight hour day, and other employee protections to farmworkers and domestic employees who are presently working under antiquated and brutal conditions.

• Support for the full social, economic, and legal equality of women and the right of women to control their own reproductive destinies.

• The end of mass incarceration and sending juveniles into the adult criminal justice system.

• Public funding to assist LGBT youth who are struggling with homelessness and unemployment.

• Maintaining the Green ballot line statewide for the next four years by receiving over 50,000 votes for the Green gubernatorial ticket in 2014 and encouraging socialists in subsequent elections to run as independent left fusion candidates on both the Green line and an independent socialist line that can be created by independent nominating petition.

You can add your name to the list of endorsers of Socialists for Hawkins and Jones by signing below or by sending your name, contact information, and affiliation (if any) to Dkelly5@nycap.rr.com or Socialists for Hawkins and Jones, 212 Kent St, Albany, NY 12206-1809.