I hope the Debbie Downers who have posted about lack of food options at the Tsongas didn’t miss Van Jones’ [www.vanjones.net] fantastic keynote address (held while Senate ballot counting was taking place). He spoke passionately and eloquently about the need to build an inclusive, green economy in the US–solar, wind turbines, organic farming and the next big idea to generate billions in spending, manufacturing and jobs and to innovate our way out of energy dependence. And his ideas have a strong social justice component–includng green-collar jobs for people who have been incarcerated.
And, it being a partisan event, he very poignantly referenced Bobby Kennedy’s legacy, stating that today’s generation has a huge opportunity to shape America’s future, once we clean the “stench” out of the White House.
It was great to see him get such an enthusiastic reception from the crowd at the Convention.
Having a speaker during the counting is a great idea, new this year under Chairman Walsh.
I agree, it was a very compelling and articulate speech. Too bad it got lost in the hubbub of people looking for food or bolting completely.
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p>Could the party put the video somewhere, like YouTube?
I am sorry to have missed the Van Jones keynote. (I had a good excuse though, I was busy in the counting room helping with the audit of all those teller books.)
I saw Van Jones speak at the Take Back America conference in DC in March of this year. You can watch his presentation on this page and scroll down to the third video called TBA 2008 – Opening Plenary: The Progressive Plan for Victory. You can move the arrow on the slider over to about minute 29:15, where the introduction to his speech begins.
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p>While you’re at the site, look around and watch some of the other fabulous, inspiring, knock-your-socks-off speeches and presentations that progressives from all over the country got to experience over 3 days.
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p>Also, here is a video from his website with more about him.
That’s a great video. Thank you!
I must have been hiding under a rock, but Van Jones seems to be turning up everywhere these days. He’ll also deliver the Ware Lecture at this year’s UUA General Assembly in Ft. Lauderdale from 8:30-9:30pm on June 28. It looks like it will be streamed (and hopefully archived) on the UUA website.
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p>Also, I just saw this blurb on TreeHugger about This Brave Nation, “a collaboration of revolutionary filmmaker Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Foundation and The Nation magazine.” Anyhow, the first in this series of conversations is between Jones and Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope.I’ve only seen the first half, but looks like pretty good stuff.
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p>Coming back to my DSC experience, I found Jones to be a very compelling speaker who can clearly articulate the interdependence of such seemingly disparate issues such as environmentalism and social justice. This is exactly the kind of “systems thinking” that we need to be focusing on across the board.
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p>I was looking forward to hearing more from him at the “Greenest Democrats in the Bluest State” workshop, but he had to cut short his participation to speak at the Youth Convention and then catch a plane out of town. (FWIW, Ed Markey was also great!)
Equally as impressive as Van Jones is Majora Carter, Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx. She also was at the Take Back America Conference in March, where she and Van Jones were both recipients of the Paul Wellstone Citizen Leadership Award.
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p>Her address to the convention is found in the video called The New Green Deal, the last video on this page (although its location may change if there’s new video added to the site).
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p>Acceptances speeches for the Wellstone Award by both Carter and Jones are here entitled TBA 2008 – Paul Wellstone Award, presently the 3rd video on the page.