Leftist Coalition Plans Its Own Convention

A loosely knit coalition of anti-capitalists and longtime leftists plans to hold its own alternative convention at Belmont High School several days before the Democratic National Convention at Staples Center, organizers announced Thursday.

The planners of the People’s Convention, which will address a wide array of social and economic issues, hope that protesters coming to Los Angeles will join their debates and panel discussions at Belmont, using the event as a staging ground for demonstrations against the “twin parties of corporate greed.”

The broad-based coalition had planned to hold the event at Patriotic Hall south of downtown, but the venue cost too much and police were planning to use the hall’s eighth floor as a command post.

Members say the high school, attended largely by immigrant children, is more a symbol of the group’s working class persona than the looming glass facade of Staples Center, less than two miles away.

They are quick to say they will spend just $12,000 on the event, none of it from taxpayers or corporate sponsors.

“The People’s Convention is the forum for ordinary people,” said organizer Casey Peters of the Peace and Freedom Party, wearing a pink-striped sport coat and gray suede shoes. “We challenge Vice President Gore and Gov. Bush to come and face the real issues.”

He and others at the news conference said the Democrats, in particular, have backed down on issues such as abortion and gay and lesbian rights and have abandoned organized labor by embracing the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.

Organizers of the People’s Convention said both major parties’ reliance on corporate money has disenfranchised the working class. “This is not going to be a grouping of multimillionaires,” said Dele Aileman, a South-Central Los Angeles activist.

Peters said he expects about 1,000 people to attend, helping create a unified, progressive agenda. They will stage a “debate on how the left should approach electoral politics,” including whether they should work within the Democratic Party, eschew voting altogether or vote only on initiatives.

The coalition will also hold a third-party candidates forum on Aug. 10, though it’s not yet clear which parties will be represented.

Several members of the group said that the city’s anticipation of violence at the Democrats’ convention is largely overblown and that violence probably would occur only if instigated by police. They said they are planning peaceful protests.

“I think the violence angle has been hyped too much,” Peters said. “We’re here as proud Americans to exercise our rights.”

At Thursday’s conference, about 35 people gathered across a parking lot from Staples Center. They carried signs criticizing everything from U.S. military intervention in El Salvador and sanctions against Iraq to immigrants’ rights in the United States.

The organizers said they will also hold a convention next year, independent of the limelight from the Democratic or Republican events.

Among seven other gatherings scheduled around the Democratic National Convention this year are the celebrity-studded Shadow Convention, the Homeless Convention, the Reform Party Convention and an anarchist conference.