One Nation Progressive Coalition Organizes Huge Rally to Push for 'Jobs, Justice and Education' This Saturday in Washington

When Barack Obama defeated John McCain to become president and Democrats retained solid control of Congress in the 2008 elections, progressives rejoiced at the prospect of having their agenda implemented. Two years later, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Progressives have found themselves locked out of the debate in Washington on issues such as health care and the war in Afghanistan while the right wing has regrouped. With the economy still in the doldrums, many are predicting a Republican resurgence in the November 2010 Congressional elections.

But a new coalition of hundreds of liberal organizations is looking to change the absence of progressives in the national debate by asserting a progressive policy agenda this Saturday with a large rally in Washington. The rally is taking place under the banner of the “One Nation Working Together” coalition. Endorsing organizations ranging from the NAACP to the American Federation of Teachers to CodePink Women for Peace are hoping to see tens of thousands of people at the Lincoln Memorial call for the creation of new jobs, the strengthening of the safety net and the need for quality public education, among other demands.

Larry Cohen, president of Communications Workers of America, a union that represents over 700,000 people, sees the One Nation Working Together coalition as a “big tent” of progressives working together. The union, along with groups like the National Council of La Raza, a Latino rights organization, and Green For All, an environmental group pushing for green jobs, are key organizers behind the effort, which was first put together by the NAACP and the Service Employees United International 1199 union.

“The overarching message is that together, we represent a majority of the country, and we believe in the change that was represented in the 2008 election,” said Cohen. “We’re going to work together for economic justice. It’s not there.”

The coalition’s call for more unemployment relief, economic stimulus, workers’ rights and protecting Social Security and Medicare is likely to resonate in an weak economy plagued by an official unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. Recently released U.S. Census data has added to the economic doom and gloom, with figures showing that 44 million Americans--one in seven--are living below the poverty line, a record high. In addition to demanding economic justice, One Nation Working Together is also calling for immigration reform and an end to detentions and deportations of undocumented workers, a halt to racial profiling and mandatory minimum sentencing that disproportionally affects people of color and protecting and enhancing voters’ rights by allowing former felons to vote and securing representation in Congress for residents of D.C.

“We’re really about restoring national priorities to focus on jobs, justice and education,” said Denise Gray-Felder, a senior adviser and the director of communications for the coalition. “It’s time for a movement of American people in this country to really put aside our differences, move beyond the hatred and the divisiveness that others have tried to create in this country and come together for what I like to call jobs, jobs and more jobs.”

Another of the coalition's demands is for an overhaul of U.S. Senate rules, where constant Republican filibusters have frustrated a progressive agenda that has gotten more support in the House of Representatives.

“We need to break the gridlock in Washington, and we need decisive leadership and policy that will move all in Congress, especially the Senate, forward,” reads the coalition’s policy principles, in part.