|
Conditions are Ripe
for David to Beat Goliath on MA Casino Law, Press Conference Called For at
Harvard University
Harvard University students, faculty, organizers, and community leaders that
have been working behind the scenes throughout the casino saga in Massachusetts
have called for a press conference to be held at Harvard Divinity School inside
of the Braun Room at Andover Hall at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, July 15 (45 Francis
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138).
For nearly one year, organizers, activists, community leaders, Harvard students,
and faculty have been quietly working at the grassroots level to connect the
rich resources of Harvard University to much of the state’s religious
communities. “Our grassroots campaign strategy for the statewide repeal of
casinos has been working in place since the anti-casino victory in East Boston
last November”, said Pedro Morales of Stand For Democracy. Harvey Cox, the
Hollis Research Professor at Harvard Divinity School and a top adviser to Stand
For Democracy stated, “In East Boston, there was a magnificent manifestation of
various religious institutions who came together to engage the public on the
casino issue. The same will be the case in this election, only on a more massive
scale. Therefore, it is crucial for the religious component of the casino issue
to publicly take the stage because people of faith will be the difference maker
in November”.
Stand For Democracy is a group of Harvard students, faculty, and alumni as well
as community leaders from throughout the state who have experienced the unstable
casino licensing process in Massachusetts as a threat to this country’s most
sacred democratic right to vote. Moreover, it is a group that specializes on
designing campaign strategies which equip those left most vulnerable and
seemingly powerless with powerful tools and key insight to fight back against
the massive pro-casino misinformation campaign that is imminently on the
horizon.
Bishop Douglas Fisher of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts said,
“We are now at the point of the story where David has his slingshot, has
gathered his stones from the river, and is now attacking Goliath”. The famed UFW
and Obama campaign grassroots organizer, and Stand For Democracy adviser
Marshall Ganz once wrote a book called Why David Sometimes Wins, analyzing the
conditions under which David can defeat Goliath. In it, Ganz writes that the key
to defeating Goliath is building strategic capacity, and in this case the
strategic capacity lies within the churches of Massachusetts and they have been
organized.
While Harvard Divinity School has not officially endorsed Stand For Democracy,
those in attendance and speakers will include Harvard faculty members Harvey Cox
and Dan McKanan as well as multiple Harvard student groups and organizations
such as the Muslim Student Council and Harvard Divinity School Unitarian
Universalists. Furthermore, key speakers will also include Les Bernal of Stop
Predatory Gambling, community leaders, and representatives from the Catholic
Church, Mainline Protestant Churches, and the Muslim community.
Source: Sunha Kim, Stand for Democracy, July 14, 2014 |
|
