I left my beloved ArgusFest in the hands of volunteers this Summer and Fall in order to come to Philadelphia to work on the most exciting political campaign happening in the country this year. A campaign that could end up having profound national implications.
Poor people's advocate Cheri Honkala is running on the Green Party ticket for Sheriff of Philadelphia in order to "Keep Families in Their Homes". If elected she will stop all all foreclosure evictions and home sales by the sheriff's office in Philadelphia. She is also refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is working with Take Back Vacant Land to establish Community Land Trusts giving neighborhoods direct democratic control over vacant land in their communities.
The 2004 Green Party Presidential Nominee David Cobb called Cheri "a long-distance runner for social justice" and said "I think Cheri's campaign can become the "signature" national electoral campaign for progressives of all stripes in 2011". Honkala founded the national Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and has organized numerous street demonstrations as well as reclaiming and occupying vacant homes for poor families in need of housing. Cheri has been arrested over 200 times while fighting for the rights of the poor and homeless. Front Line Defenders named her one of the most endangered activists in America.
The Democrat and Republican in the Philadelphia Sheriff's race are running on the standard view of the office, enforcing foreclosures and transporting prison inmates to and from courtrooms. Honkala however has taken a bolder position. She wants to radically change the office from a tool for the financial industry into an defender of the people.
Let's face it, we no longer live in a Democratic Republic anymore. Regardless who is in office (Democrat or Republican) policy is really being dictated by unelected corporations and banks. Our economic and ecological realities continue to deteriorate every year and yet we continue to be bamboozled by the political managers of discontent rather than true change makers. Honkala's vision of a reconfigured role of a "People's Sheriff" is about creating real change and should be of interest not only in Philadelphia but across the country. ~Jason Bosch
Cheri just gave the keynote address (along with Tom Hayden) at the Democracy Convention in Madison, Wisconsin
Here's a video about some work Cheri was doing with the Homeless Power Project in Nashville back in 2007.
