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WITH RESPECT; PETER MIGUEL CAMEJO: Dec. 31,1939 - Sept.13,2008
AWOL Soldiers, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Corporate Responsibility, Democratic Primaries, Dennis Kucinich, Elections, FEMA, GOP, Green Party, Impeachment, Iran, Iraq War, John McCain, Ralph Nader, Republican National Convention, Unions, Woody Guthrie, health care, legalization, peace movement, photographs, political photography, politics, sarah palin, third parties, war on drugs
WITH RESPECT; PETER MIGUEL CAMEJO: Dec. 31,1939 - Sept.13,2008
It is with sincere sadness and condolences to his friends and family that we report the passing of Peter Miguel Camejo. Before we go ahead and post some links to the information about this Venezuelan - American’s life, we thought it prudent to share a few brief reminiscences of the few times we had the pleasure and the honour of speaking to this eloquent, witty, and intellectually courageous activist.
Although our ‘history’ with Mr. Camejo doesn’t extend far back, we were certainly influenced by his example and aware of his work far before our irst meetings with him. At a younger age, we had the pleasure of reading excerpts of his book “Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877. The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction”, at the same time we first read Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History…”
There were early essays that came along in periodical literature (before the Interwebs) that we read as a teenage volunteers for the Canadian anti-nuke group ‘ACT’ ( Against Cruise Testing) - and they helped temper our understanding of geopolitical issues far beyond what any high school was attempting to teach us.
In the intervening years, we cheered when Peter ran for Governor of California and made strong showings in a field that was littered with cynics, careerists, lobbyists, celebrities, and moneyed candidates. Our first conversations with him were for independent, and now defunct Toronto - based online magazines called Burning Ink.com, and ‘Start!’, both independent projects that were non partisan but sought to bring attention to activists, artists, musicians,filmmakers, and people of all political stripes and persuasions who were making an attempt to go beyond soapboxing and platitudes. In fact, he joined us amid his busy schedule the day directly after his first debate during the Gray Davis Gubernatorial Recall Circus — an insult to democratic standards by any measure. His spirits were high and even pundtwits were conceding that he added class to the debate process and helped direct panelists to the important topics. These were issues such as poverty, the CA state budget, universal health care, and even death penalty abolition.
Camejo made a respectable showing in that race, “finishing fourth in a field of 135 candidates (2.8%), and in 2002 finishing third with 5.3%”. The money in those races was thrown around like used toilet paper and eventually Arnold Schwarzenegger (and Arianna Huffington) used considerable funding and star power to take the race from a respectable candidate.
But Peter was more than happy to field our questions and explain the nuances of the campaign’s recall scheme in eloquent and very direct terms. We’ll make an effort to find the trancsript of that interview for our readers.
The second meeting with Peter Camejo came during the Democratic National Convention in 2004 when he was tapped by Ralph Nader to run as his running mate on an independent ticket. Ralph made an afternoon appearance at Harvard University and again, talked eloquently, patiently, and at great length about the ticket, the race, the political system the uphill battle of the establishing a third party in the U.S.,, and legal roadblocks being imposed by the Democratic Party ater the 2000 fear mongering and “spolier accusations” levelled against Nader in the wake of the Florida 2000 election ‘result’. Peter took special time to address all of our questions after about an hour - talking about such issues as the Iraq War, the Drug War, AWOL U.S. soldiers resisting the deployment on legal grounds, and again, we’ll post the audio and photographs from that 2004 encounter with Peter Camejo.
Peter Camejo was instrumental in bringing issues of immigration fairness, legislative imbalances, workers rights, and even laid the groundwork in establishing the Green Party USA as a future force on the U.S. political scene.
At this point we feel it’s appropriate to post the official statement / mailout by the Nader for President campaign and ralph’s reflections of Peter - followed by some links and information in case your not familiar with the life and work of Peter.
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In Honor of Peter Miguel Camejo
Posted by Ralph Nader on Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 10:38:00 PM
Peter Miguel Camejo, a civil rights leader, socially responsible investment pioneer, and magnanimo caballero for third party politics in the US, peacefully passed away early Saturday morning at his home in Folsom, CA with his wife Morella at his side — only days after completing his autobiography.
The 68-year-old justice fighter had been battling a reoccurrence of lymphoma cancer, and his condition had rapidly deteriorated over the past few days.
Peter was a student leader, civil rights advocate, leader in the socially responsible investment industry with his own investment firm, Progressive Asset Management, Inc., and author of books on investment and history including Racism, Revolution, Reaction, 1861-1877, The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction, California Under Corporate Rule, and his recent book, The SRI Advantage: Why Socially Responsible Investing Has Outperformed Financially.
Peter used his eloquence, sharp wit, and barnstorming bravado to blaze a trail for 21st century third party politics in the US. He was a third party candidate for state and national office, making three gubernatorial runs in California as a Green, including one in the 2002 election when he earned 5.3 percent of the vote. In the 2003 recall election, he debated Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, and in the 2004 Presidential election, he was my running mate on our Independent Ticket.
Among the many causes Peter forcefully championed were a living wage, healthcare for all, and making the US the world leader in renewable energy. He was also a passionate advocate for electoral reform, pressing for proportional representation and instant run-off voting (allows voters to rank their top choices) in an effort to overturn the “200-year-old dysfunctional money-dominated winner take-all system that disrespects the will of the people.”
Peter was a friend, colleague and politically courageous champion of the downtrodden and mistreated of the entire Western Hemisphere. Everyone who met Peter, talked with Peter, worked with Peter, or argued with Peter, will miss the passing of a great American.
Peter Camejo is survived by his wife Morella, his father Daniel, his daughter Alexandra, his son Victor, three brothers Antonio, Daniel, and Danny, and three grandchildren Andrew, Daniel, and Oliver.
When his autobiography (with the working title Northstar) is published, we will all be able to get a vivid sense of the great measure of Peter Camejo as a sentinel force for civil rights and civil liberties, and expander of democracy. His lifework will inspire the political and economic future for a long time.
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Lastly - and this is not intended as a cheap way out but rather something we hope you\ll follow through on - please follow the links below, or at the vert least do a Google search or visit your local bookstore and read up on Peter Camejo. Too many of the true toilers for freedoms are forgotten in the cash-sprinked 24 hour news cycle. We certainly don’t expect CNN or any of the other “legacy media” to pay any sort of homage to him, but if you really read between the lines you’ll find that there is a list of people that worked hard and deserve to inhabit a place in the halls of the dedicated.
~Sven Eric Balabanoff
LINKS FOR YOUR VIEWING - PLEASE SEARCH FOR MORE:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/02/MN31845.DTL
http://www.counterpunch.org/miller08072004.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/came-s30.shtml
http://intranet.sr.srcs.org/blojsom/blog/camejo/
admin @ September 13, 2008