WHEREAS:

The U.S. media maintains a policy that consistently makes poor people disappear by not covering their real existence or their issues; and

WHEREAS:

The poor are being permanently excluded from the job market or relegated to the worst jobs while U.S. workers, displaced workers and the poor are losing the existence of a "safety net;" and

WHEREAS:

The two major candidates for president also seem to have abandoned the poor by not including even one single concern of the poor in their platforms or addressing any practical methods to address their issues; and

WHEREAS:

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) is committed to uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. They work to accomplish this through advancing economic human rights, as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living-wage job; and

WHEREAS:

The PPEHRC has been the catalyst for the successful New Freedom Bus Tour of 1998, the 1999 March of the Americas, the 2000 March for Economic Human Rights and World Summit to End Poverty, the 2001 National Day for Health Care and the 2003 Poor People's March; and

WHEREAS:

The PPEHRC is organizing the March for Our Lives: Stop the War at Home. A march that will bring together poor and working families and all those who support economic human rights as the Republican National Convention descends upon New York City. This march will be held on August 30, 2004 at the United Nations, 45th & 1st Avenue, New York City at 4pm. Contact information: www.kwru.org. March hotline: 888-233-1948.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

The AFSCME convention delegates vote to endorse this march and encourage each of its affiliates to organize at least 100 persons to attend this march and support the Bushville tent city that will be set up between August 25-30th 2004. Bushville will be the location for daily teach-ins, panels, workshops, and performances. Bushville is a statement addressing the health care crisis in the United States and the need for our economic human right to health care. It will also serve as a departure point for Reality Tours of poverty in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

SUBMITTED BY:

Brenda Stokely, President and Delegate
AFSCME Council 1707
New York