If you’re a New Yorker angry about the war and the Democratic Party leadership’s failure to make the case for a quick withdrawal, then add your name to a petition appealing to New York State’s Democratic delegates to pass a resolution calling for an immediate end to the war in Iraq.
The petition is being circulated by Jonathan Tasini, a primary challenger to Hillary Clinton, who has been on a 600-mile bike Ride For Peace through the state since May 11 leading up to this week’s New York State Democratic Party convention in Buffalo. He’s been visiting communities talking about the human and economic costs of the Iraq war and gathering signatures for the petition. (The petition mirrors legislation proposed by Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.) Tasini has already submitted more than 2,500 names and a resolution to the state party, and he’s still collecting signatures.
A longtime labor activist, author and former president of the National Writer’s Union, Tasini has been campaigning largely on his opposition to the war (though his positions on the rest of the issues are very coincident with many Nation readers.) He supports a complete troop withdrawal ASAP. Moreover, as Bob Herbert wrote in a New York Times column about Tasini’s campaign, “What is more important than whether his timetable is feasible is his insistence that the Democratic Party needs to come to grips with this war.”
Click here to add your name to the petition if you’re a New York state resident, click here to find out about Tasini’s campaign no matter where you live, and listen online to Tasini make the case for his campaign on this morning’s Brian Lehrer Show on radio station WNYC.