Socialist campaign strikes a chord in S.F. mayor elections

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Joni Jacobs speaking at Oct. 24 San Francisco City College TV broadcast.

Jacobs mayoral campaign because they of any interesting candidate. I knew I human needs before profits' invo ved was thinking about the ..m?

Young activists are attracted to the Joni mayoral race," Huber said, "and the dearth tind that they have a lot in common with wanted to get involved with a socialist dates, Jacobs addressed the real issues that he continued, "but never involved in any working people are facing today as campaigns. I liked the ideas on the business. Maybe this is because Jacobs is out more and found Joni's working-class A number of people have been drawn Christina Dahlin was an anti-war because of her political activism, her socialist campaign. About Joni, she said platform's goals, and the growing need "She is part of the working class and thus through clinic defense and the pro-choice wholeheartedlv agree with her slogan.

with the campaign because of her com- People are wondering how the United mitment to protecting women's rights. *I States could wage a massive and unneceswas attracted to Joni's campaign because sary war against Iraq while domestic I met her through political activity," said needs-jobs, healthcare, education, and city-and of the world-and not just in As our living standards continue to Like Mary, most women are experienc- indifference, Joni Jacobs has come foring attacks on their rights with new ward with a platform dedicated to human anti-abortion legislation, the threat of the needs and aimed at achieving power and reversal of Roe v. Wade, and the lack of equality for working and oppressed peocapitalist politicians of both political par- working-class candidate and her socialist ties. ideas are striking a chord with those who The slogan "Human Needs Before Prof- are becoming more disenchanted with the its" attracted others to the campaign. American capitalist system.

San Francisco is one of the richest cities in the country. But 85 percent of the residents cannot afford homes. Rents have increased by 134 percent in 10 years, contributing to the growing homeless population.

Healthcare is inaccessible to most people. Taxes keep increasing, while the services these taxes supposedly cover are decreasing. Kids are now targeted as new tax victims by taxes imposed on candy, gum, and pop!

Eleven candidates have entered the San Francisco mayoral race this year. Most of them are look-alike Democratic Party politicians-Art Agnos the incumbent and challengers, Angela Alioto, Tom Hsieh, Frank Jordan, Richard Hongisto, and others. The key concern of these candidates is the fear of "driving business away from San Francisco."

Socialist Action candidate Joni Jacobs, on the other hand, advocates mass mobilizations and independent political action on all fronts to challenge the right of bosses to determine what working people get or do not get—not only in San Francisco, but everywhere.

"Human needs before profits" was the central theme of the campaign. Jacobs pounded away in the same key that jobs, education, healthcare, housing, and AIDS research are all basic human rights-not "privileges" to be doled out by the wealthy handful and their political representatives. Central to the campaign was the idea of a progressive tax system that would tax only the rich—zero taxes on working people.

Support from youth

A good gauge of the effectiveness of the Joni Jacobs for Mayor campaign is the support it has gotten from young people new to socialist ideas.

For example, at the campaign kickoff rally last summer, four young women stood up and explained why they were supporting Jacobs for mayor. "She trained me at clinic defense," one said. "I trust and believe in Joni because she has shown she will do anything to defend and MO HARRY her platform.

politician.

for change in today's status quo politics.

Many young women met Jacobs movement. Mary Doran, a student at San Francisco State University, got involved ed in the working women of this er on the vine.

running for her own benefit or career." women," said another. Two young women attracted to the campaign have subsequently joined Socialist Action and more are coming our way as a direct result of the campaign.

At the Oct. 5 Pro-Choice demonstration, the campaign had a popular booth where Joni Jacobs passed out free food and engaged pro-choice activists in the campaign. Thirty-eight new young people bought subscriptions to Socialist Action as the newspaper supporting her campaign.

Right after radio or TV interviews with Jacobs, callers would set the phone lights ablaze at campaign headquarters with requests for more information.

Significantly, Joni Jacobs got the fourth highest number of votes of any candidate at the San Francisco Labor Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action Council mayoral forum on Aug. 26. Jacobs told the delegates that none of the "big money, pro-business" candidates running for mayor represent labor. She said it was time "to stop playing the bosses' game, to stop voting for their candidates, and to stand up for our own interests with our own candidates."

She drew cheers and the prized "ringing of the bell" when she elaborated the need for labor to organize its own politically independent party and to go back to the methods used in the 1930s—sitdowns and militant picketlines—to defend against the bosses' offensive.

Jacobs could have reached far more people had the media monopoly given her campaign the same attention they gave the major (read "rich") candidates.

"If I can convince working people to vote in their interest, I will win in a landslide," Jacobs said, "But that's hard to do when you have a media owned by the rich who are not interested in changing the status quo."

Jacob's campaign supporters, primarily young pro-choice activists, began to organize an aggressive campaign of tabling in the neighborhoods, speaking out on campuses, and defending a woman doctor's office when it was taken over by Operation Rescue.

They organized a protest demonstration at Channel 5 on Sept. 26 because it was televising a mayoral debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters (LWV), who excluded six of the candidates. Some of the best chants at the action were, "League of Women Voters line: if you've got the money, they've got the time," and "No more cash and carry democracy."

Supporters of Gloria La Riva, a member of the Workers World Party and running as the mayoral candidate of the All-Peoples' Congress, joined in the protest because their candidate was also excluded. As Jacobs pointed out at the end of the action, the LWV, which began its life as a suffragist organization, converted itself into just another exclusionary organization. The next day, the San Francisco Examiner carried a front-page photograph of the action with Jacobs' campaign banner prominently displayed On Oct. 24, students at City College organized a television broadcast that did include all candidates. About 250 students attended the event, frequently interrupting Jacobs with cheers and applause. One of the student technicians came up to Jacobs afterwards and told her, "You've got my vote!" Two other students came to the campaign table and volunteered to work to get out the ideas Jacobs championed.

When she speaks, Jacobs makes the socialist platform come to life. She encourages San Franciscans to stop looking for a "Tweedledumb or a Tweedledumber" Democrat or Republican to speak on their behalf, but to elect instead a candidate that "truly represents their interests."

"I am such a candidate," she proudly declares. "As a working person, I've experienced the same decline in living standards as the majority of San Franciscans. I want to use City Hall as an organizing center to help working people put human needs before profits."

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TAN KGO-TVO