Barackface: Rediscovering DFNYC

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Rediscovering DFNYC

I got an email from Jim Dean who I have had the good fortune to meet (Mixer For Ferrer) - "I googled your name and ended up on the homepage of the actor James Dean" - and the subject line says President Bhagat, and I am like, wait a minute Jim, I am not a citizen.

I am so glad DFA is getting ready to get involved. I would have been flabbergasted if the organization had stayed out. The organization was founded to take over the White House. Actually I am surprised that a Deaniac has emerged so soon to take up the challenge. Barack Obama is that Deaniac. I was thinking Barry Goldwater was there in 1964, and it was another 16 years before Reagan showed up. But then Dean is no Goldwater. He is much bigger. He presides over the entire party, for chrissake. (I think I misspelt that word, I am not a Christian).

I guess if DFA is getting ready to get behind Obama, I am going to have to take a second look at DFNYC. I visited that organization's page yesterday, and it looks like the mid-term elections are not over! There are a cramful of activities. That organization has always been so hyper.

My relationship with DFNYC has been anything but smooth although that is the first organization I really got to know when I landed in NYC in the summer of 2005.

First there was this utter lack of interest in the democracy movement in Nepal. And that's okay. But then it was like pride in that lack of interest. And all that boiled over. Then the April Revolution happened. And I got vibes of more credit than I deserve. Nepalis all over the world worked towards it. (The Virus Of The April Revolution )And there were interpersonal complications.

My Role In The April Revolution: The Butterfly Effect

Those who got so impressed by the April Revolution have not yet seen the second act. But the second act will not have the glamor of street action.

In the mean time I have gone to meetings of many other progressive organizations. And that is a good thing.

I see many events, but not any that interest me. I would like to just focus on the presidential stuff. DFNYC is really into local stuff, which is cool, that is what it was designed for.

First I got myself off the DFNYC mailing list, then when I signed back, someone else knocked me off, I wonder which of the four DFNYC Directors did that, maybe Cohen. But then once in a while there would be a DFA mail from Heather Woodfield, "your local host." I think that is how I got tricked to go to the voting machines hearing on the Upper West Side. (Voting Machines On The Upper West)

But if DFA were to formally get behind Barack Obama, I am going to renew my link to DFNYC, although I think my primary involvement is going to be through this blog, and through The Matrix. I guess I will show up primarily to express appreciation for stuff like phonebanking that DFNYC might do than to get my hands dirty. I am better at strategy and vision. I am not too much into the retail details. I admire those who are.

The thing about the Manhattan political circles is they are charged with race and class tensions. Just because people are packed up in the small physical space of the city does not mean rough edges have evened out. Like earlier today I went to this MYD event, their New Year celebration, and Liz, the about to be Vice President who I have always been decent to had to do her casual racist white woman thing. "I just wanted to make sure my purse was there." When I was standing behind a chair where her purse was. Like Barack Obama said on Charlie Rose, "Only a few years back, I would have people throw their keys at me in the parking lot."

Granted I have given a year and a half of my life to the democracy movement in Nepal, so I have not had the time to get rich yet, but me and my partners lost more money in the late 1990s than your family has not made in a thousand generations. (Money And Manhattan)

If you are a progressive, you are probably for universal health care, and how genuinely are you for that if you like to make classist comments?

I met the DFNYC Charles at the event. The guy was not doing surveys.

Maybe I should forgive all of DFNYC and start all over again with them for my minimal involvement in their numerous offline activities. Ha!

Hello Tracey. Hello Heather. Hello Leila. Hello Abhishek. Hello Lewis. Hello Merle. Hello David. Hello Catherine. Hello Dan. Hello Charles. Hello Bernadette. Hello Miriam. Hello Renna. Hello Dana. Hello Steve. Hello Andrew. Hello Judith. Hello Lisa. Hello Josh. Hello Kentucky.

But all this is conditional upon the DFA getting behind Barack Obama!

Looks like the organization has dropped its Mixer.