Two young men from Portland are at the Democratic National
Convention this week. Jesse Cornett is on the inside having
his first real-world political experience as an elected
delegate. Julian Dautremont-Smith is on the outside, a veteran
of the WTO protests in Seattle who did ground support for
Tre Arrow during his 11-day ledge-sit last month.
WW talked to them separately Monday from LA.
Willamette Week: How old are you, who are you
and what do you want to be when you grow up?
Julian Dautremont-Smith: 19. Undeclared student at Lewis
& Clark College, but will probably go into environmental
science.
Jesse Cornett: 24. Political science student at Portland
State University. I would love to just start out as a patrol
officer.
So that means you would be on the front line against
the protesters.
JC: If I were a cop in LA.
When did you leave Portland and how did you get to LA?
JC: Plane on Saturday.
JD-S: Got a ride with two other guys in Portland. We left
on Tuesday and arrived Thursday morning.
Do you have to pay your own way?
JC: Yes, the plane ticket and hotel, but a lot of the meals
are sponsored. I've gotten invitations to different celebrations
and there are quite a few activities thrown by young Democrats.
JD-S: There are people who volunteer their housing and
we called a bunch, trying to set up a place. I've been somewhere
different every night. There was this one guy who had a
compound in Watts, a New World Order type, kind of paranoid.
He has Y2K supplies and connections to the militia movement.
He was really nice, though--kind of odd. For meals, a group
called Seeds of Change has been cooking things for us.
What have you done since you got there?
JD-S: Gone to media trainings and spokes-council meetings,
where people from the affinity groups talk for ages. Today
we went to Pershing Square for the U'Wa [tribe] rally. I
marched and held a sign that said "Gore and Oxy out of the
U'wa" and had a picture of Gore. There were speakers for
an hour-and-a-half, then we marched to the Staples Center
where there was more talking and Bonnie Raitt played.
JC: Yesterday there was a Salute to Veterans at the hotel
and a camera crew from the Oxygen network filmed the mother-daughter
Oregon delegates. The evening event welcomed delegates from
Oregon, Alaska and Washington at the Gene Autry Heritage
Museum, sponsored by Microsoft and Arco. That was a really
good time, good food and good atmosphere. Then the DNC finance
committee threw a party for young delegates at some place
called the Knitting Club, but we didn't get in. So we went
out to a place in Hollywood called the Beauty Bar, where
the theme is a '70s beauty parlor. Today we had breakfast
in our hotel, with Sen. Wyden and [Rep.] Darlene Hooley
speaking about grassroots support to get people elected.
On Tuesday, Qwest Communications is sponsoring the Oregon
delegation to go to Universal Studios.
How do you feel about the corporate sponsorship of the
conventions?
JC: I'm mixed on that. We're spending several hundred dollars
each on our flight and then on our hotel. I think it's just
nice to know that Qwest Communications, Union Pacific, Microsoft,
companies like those, are helping to give us a good time
when we're there. They're going to offset some of our costs
while we're down there.
Why is that good?
JC: It's good because it saves me from spending the money
out of my pocket. I don't think that because Qwest Communication
is sponsoring a Universal Studios day that it's going to
effect the way the delegates vote on anything.
JD-S: The corporate sponsorship points out who the Democratic
party works for. Philip Morris, Pepsi-Cola and Raytheon
are here. Kraft gave out macaroni-and-cheese in the shape
of donkeys. So that shows the two parties aren't that different:
They both love and support big corporations.
Why are you there? What do you hope to accomplish?
JD-S: I think we're getting a lot of publicity, and it
raises consciousness at the very least. It lets people know
that not everyone thinks we're living in the greatest time
ever.
Jesse, what are you accomplishing? Do you feel like
a prop for the television?
JC: Everyone chooses how they react to their democracy,
what level they're going to play. There is a ton of PR that
comes out of this convention. The bigger it is, the louder
we are, the more we speak, the more we do, the more we're
seen, the more our candidate--the one we want to win the
presidency--is going to be seen. If at times I need to be
a prop, that's OK.
How did you get involved with the party/movement?
JD-S: I met a friend who was really into Rage Against the
Machine. The video of "People of the Sun" has little factoids
that flash across the screen so I taped it and watched it
slo-mo. It has all these factoids about how the Mexican
government elections were fraudulent, we were giving them
helicopters and stuff. I'd always been kind of liberal,
but I believed America was a good country and we were working
for democracy. I went to the website, which led to stuff
about Mumia [Abu-Jamal] and environmental things. From there,
I went with the movement.
JC: I have been a Gore supporter for a long time. I lived
in Alabama in 1988 when he first ran for the nomination.
I was 12. I don't know what intrigued me about him, but
it seemed like he had a really good message and was from
the neighboring state. One of the reasons I wanted to go
to the convention is because I've always been a supporter.
Do you vote?
JC: Yes.
JD-S: For the first time last year.
Are you going to vote for Al Gore or Ralph Nader?
JC: Al Gore.
JD-S: Probably Nader. I'm also looking at David McReynolds,
the Socialist party candidate. But probably Nader because
we should try to unite behind one guy, even though I'd support
McReynolds' positions a little more.
What has Al Gore done to disappoint you?
JC: I don't think he's as strong on the environment as
he can be.
What should he change?
JC: I would like to see him put environmental interests
over corporate interests and look at how our country's going
to be in 50 years.
Jesse, what do you think of Nader?
JC: I think he has a good message. His stances on the environment
and standing up against Microsoft are great.
Is a vote for Ralph Nader a vote for George W. Bush?
JD-S: That argument is bogus. Every four years the Democrats
get worse and worse and they still try to get the progressive,
left vote. I think at some point we have to draw a line,
take a stand and say "This is ridiculous: you don't represent
us at all."
Julian, what would it take for Al Gore to win you back?
JD-S: For a start, he could take a stand against old-growth
logging. It's a simple thing. A bunch of companies have
phased out the use of old-growth. He could also make a statement
against WTO and he could sell his shares of Occidental stock.
Is it better to be on the inside or the outside?
JD-S: I think you need to do a bit of both. You should
try to work on the inside at first, but even then, you have
to have people on the outside giving pressure to your argument.
Like in Seattle, when the anarchists broke windows, everyone
was so bent on talking about how bad they were, no one talked
about the protesters blocking roads and taking intersections.
JC: I think it's better to be on the inside because you're
supporting the party. This is something people have worked
years to organize, and you're supporting somebody who looks
at and balances all the issues as opposed to the people
on the outside who just have their much smaller agendas,
like ending free trade.
Julian, there are so many issues being protested outside
the convention center, it's impossible to track them. How
can it possibly be effective to be against everything?
JD-S: I wouldn't say I'm against everything, but there
are so many things wrong that to not go against them is
to be for them. It's silent complicity. I can't in good
conscience do that.
The protests outside Staples were largely aimed at Al
Gore's relationship with Occidental--the company that wants
to explore for oil in indigenous lands in Colombia. The
native people there, the U'Wa, have threatened to throw
themselves off a cliff en masse if exploration goes ahead.
JC: In light of Dick Cheney's retirement package from a
big oil company, the stock isn't very much at all. As long
as he doesn't put Occidental's interests above the interests
of the nation, I have no issue with that whatsoever. Both
Cheney and Bush have huge oil company interests.
Jesse, what do you think about the protesters?
JC: They haven't shown any signs that it's going to get
violent. What separates me from them? If the Republican
convention were relatively close in Portland or Seattle,
I would go and protest issues that are important to me.
I would be the one on the outside. There are so many things
wrong that to not go against them is to be for them. It's
silent complicity.
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