Hillary is not a stolen election. It’s a lost democracy.
The one percent and their Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, Exxon and GE and CNN and New York Times made sure we lose it.
The “wise and pragmatic” would say to me, “Look, it is what it is.”
But because I’m neither their kind of wise nor pragmatic, I’d say, “Enough is enough. Let’s build our people’s party.”
Today, at the “How Class Works” confernce here at Stony Brook University, I had an opportunity to talk to two African-American sisters. One came from Fredonia, New York, and the other came from far away Seattle, Washington State. We had breakfast together, and talked politics, among other things. The sister from Seattle told me that now that Bernie Sanders is probably not the presidential candidate, we should all support Hillary Clinton, to defeat Trump and consequences with social situations in the U.S. She particularly mentioned the situation with the Supreme Court.
So, I mentioned to them about Hillary’s support to and from four multinational corporations that I consider some of the evilest in the world. I told them about (1) Monsanto and how it is devastating farmers in India, and how literally millions of farmers committed suicide in the past ten or so years, because of Monsanto and its GMO. I told them about (2)  Goldman Sachs, financial giant that destroyed the economy in the U.S., followed by devastations across world — more recently, in Greece. I told them about (3) Wal-Mart, where Hillary has been an executive board member for many years; we all agreed how Wal-Mart has destroyed jobs, particularly union jobs in the U.S., and how it has helped destroy the American middle class. Finally, we briefly discussed about (4) Exxon, and its role in global climate change, pollution, and its presence in the American war industry.
We spoke about it before we heard a panel of three notable speakers, on the subject of class and climate change. One of the speakers, a leader at NAACP, in her remarks, mentioned Monsanto and India’s farmer suicide. She also mentioned Goldman Sachs. Naturally, the two sisters had a smiling glance at me, when they heard those remarks.
At the end of the panel, the woman from Seattle came to me said, she is now thinking differently about her support for Hillary in the general election. She said she agreed with me that even though none of wanted Trump — a racist, xenophobe and bigoted man — supporting Hillary is not truly a great idea. It’s definitely a better choice (now that Sanders is perhaps not the presidential candidate) when it comes to America’s future, but if we think about the future of the world, and how Hillary’s corporate sponsors are directly responsible for the global destruction of the poor and their lives and environment, we must think twice before coming out to support Hillary Clinton in November.
I was very happy that I was able to change at least one intelligent, educated mind.
Sincerely,
Partha Banerjee
Brooklyn, New York
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