Demfest live blogging

(crossposted, with additional updates all day, at: demsjapan.jp I mean literally. It has been such a wonderful thing to see folks that we read, email and learned with at last year's Democracyfest and the year before that.

The point of Demfest is local, grassroots, community, connecting with many of the folks who were re-energized by the Dean campaign and, now, 3 years later, many folks beyond that impassioned circle.  

Last night, there was a full house for the screening of Robert Greenwald Screening's The Big Buy

What a movie: this guy and his team do amazing work! I'd love to bring him to Japan for a full on screening.

The lady at the podium now is a polisci professor from this lovely campus. She makes the point that even though San Diego is considered pretty red, she's seeing a sea change, that the last couple of years have seen a resurgence of progressive activism on campus, saying "No" to war without end.

That's worth repeating: Saying no to war without end.

She says that the progress is remarkable. We live in challenging times right now - when we leave here, we have to go back to our communities, and convince people, especially young people. We have to fight to change the minds of people who subscribe to the Britney Spears theory of democracy: just trust your president. There are too many people who honestly believe that, trust one person and go on about your lives. She ends with a quote from one of my favorites:

Bill Moyers: It's just a fact: Democracy doesn't work without citizen activism and participation, starting at the community. Trickle down politics doesn't work much better than trickle down economics. It's also a fact that civilization happens because we don't leave things to other people. What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it - as if the cause depailends on you, because it does. Allow yourself that conceit - to believe that the flame of democracy will never go out as long as there's one candle in your hand.

When we sat down, there were folks scattered around the big auditorium. I just looked back, and there's a sea of faces and more coming in...more later...