NEWS
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
BERNIE SANDERS
BACKERS MARCH
THROUGH THE
PHILADELPHIA STREETS
PHOTO: HELEN SHEPHERD
PROTESTS AND PREZ PICKS
AT THE DNC IN PHILLY
A
s the Democratic National Convention meets
in Pennsylvania July 25-28, the Philadelphia
Inquirer predicted 35,000 to 50,000 protest-
ers would descend upon its city. Eugene-based
CodePink activist Jennefer Harper traveled to the
DNC as an EW freelancer to report upon events. CodePink
is a women-led grassroots organization that includes in its
focus working to end U.S. wars and militarism and sup-
porting peace and human rights initiatives. Delegate Julie
Fahey went to the DNC to cast her vote for Hillary Clinton.
At last week’s Republican National Convention, Code-
Pink founder Medea Benjamin interrupted Donald Trump’s
nomination speech when she held up a pink banner bear-
ing the words “Build Bridges, Not Walls” before being es-
corted out by police.
Harper tells EW, “Both inside and outside of the Wells
Fargo Convention Center, the loudest voice, en masse, are
those of dissent. Chants of ‘Hell no DNC, we won’t vote
for Hillary,’ and ‘Bernie or Jill, never Hill’ can be heard
non-stop.”
On the first day of the convention, Sanders supporters
marched through the city. Harper says, “Fifty-four protest-
ers were arrested and cited, and over 30,000 marched in a
3.7-mile protest.”
When the marchers came to the Mississippi state flag
that was erected for the DNC as a part of the Avenue of the
States on Philadelphia’s Broad Street, Harper says that a
sit-in occurred and activists demanded that the flag, which
features the Confederate flag emblem, be taken down.
She reports that after about an hour of pressure, the police
brought in a utility truck with a ladder and a total of two
Mississippi flags were removed.
Harper says, “Even though we can acknowledge that
the Democratic Party has sold out to big corporations
who use politicians as puppets, the demonstrations at the
convention shows the power of the people and with this
sustains our hope for real change and reminds us that this
change must come from the people, not politicians.”
Fahey is attending the DNC as a delegate for Clinton —
who secured the historic presidential nomination on July
26. Fahey says for Sanders supporters, “It’s tough com-
ing out on the wrong side of a campaign you’ve given so
much time and energy on.” But, she adds, “I think every
Democrat in this room realizes how high the stakes are in
this election.” She says aside from a small minority from
three to four states she thinks the vast majority of delegates
are united.
Fahey, who is running for Rep. Val Hoyle’s seat in the
Oregon Legislature this fall, says that her overall takeaway
is how different this week has been from the Republican
convention: “The diversity of voices, the focus on the fu-
ture versus dragging us back into the past, ideas and poli-
cies versus hate, inclusion versus division.”
To follow Harper at the DNC on Livestream, go to livestream.com/ac-
counts/9447130
SANDERS SUPPORTERS
SIT-IN TO PROTEST
THE MISSISSIPPI FLAG
AND ITS CONFEDERATE
EMBLEM
PHOTO: JENNEFER HARPER
eugeneweekly.com • July 28, 2016
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