Susan Sarandon, Shailene Woodley to Attend Progressive Rally Leading to DNC
Voters energized by Bernie Sanders’ run for president hope to keep the momentum of their movement going, though the progressive activists seemed to be uncertain on the eve of the Democratic National Convention how hard to push back against impending nominee Hillary Clinton’s more moderate views.
One group of liberal, headlined by actresses Susan Sarandon and Shailene Woodley, will attend a rally Sunday night in Philadelphia that organizers said intends to “continue our progressive trajectory by focusing on issues rather than candidates.” That evening rally at a park in the Germantown neighborhood comes a day before the convention opens and hours after another group of Sanders supporters plan to meet to convey a much more contentious message, including opposition to Clinton’s vice presidential pick, Tim Kaine.
Among the issues important to the Sarandon/Woodley contingent: instituting single-payer health care, banning fracking, stopping the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership and expanding the use of renewable energy sources. The rally will include a concert and the screening of “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change,” from the Oscar-nominated director Joel Fox, who was the Emmy-winning writer/director of “Gasland” parts I and II.
Though some in the group may be disappointed in Hillary Clinton’s choice of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate, the rally will urge them to focus on issues that will allow them to have an impact.
“This is to show that we haven’t lost steam. The political establishment still has to deal with us,” said Sarandon in a statement.”We need to make sure that the people have a voice in the debate going forward. We need to continue to fight for our substance, our answers are different than the political establishment. Bernie Sanders ignited a spark and showed us how powerful we are. All of these groups are united to make a change and that isn’t stopping, ” she said.
Woodley, of the “Divergent” films, helped organize an “Up to Us” caravan, to bring activists from Los Angeles and Portland to the political gathering in Philadelphia. The actress said she hopes to convert all the negative energy from recent violent attacks in the U.S. and overseas and “transmute it into hope, love, peace and activated action.”
Besides Sarandon and Woodley, other speakers are expected to include former NAACP chairman Ben Jealous, political commentator Nomiki Konst and actor Kendrick Sampson of “The Vampire Diaries.”
Earlier Sunday, a group of Sanders delegates will meet at a downtown hotel to express their dismay at the nomination of Kaine, the former Virginia governor who is now a senator from that state.
“The numbers about Sen. Kaine from the Bernie Delegates Network survey of Sanders delegates nationwide – less than 3 percent ‘Acceptable’ and 88.5 percent ‘Unacceptable’ – foreshadow that picking Kaine for the VP slot will set in motion a very contentious national convention,” said Norman Solomon, a coordinator of the group and a Sanders delegate.”
“Secretary Clinton must know that her choice of Kaine can only inflame rather than soothe her relations with the huge constituency of Bernie supporters,” Solomon added “They will understand what it means when their efforts to challenge oligarchy have been met by Clinton’s selection of a loyal servant of oligarchy.”
Sacramento Sanders delegate Karen Bernal also protested. “Her choice of Sen. Kaine is a big ‘shut up and sit down’ to the progressive wing of the party,” said Bernal. “Rather than demonstrate she will work to roll back the worst of neoliberal economic policies, she’s apparently decided to promote them in her choice of Kaine.”
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