Howie Hawkins
Encyclopedia
Howie Hawkins is an American
politician and activist with the Green Party of the United States
and Socialist Party USA
. He co-founded the anti-nuclear
Clamshell Alliance
in 1976 and the Green Party in the United States
in 1984. He was New York's Green Party
candidate for the U.S. Senate in the State of New York
in 2006. During the 2008 Green Party primaries Hawkins served as a placeholder candidate for Ralph Nader
on some 2008 Green Party primary ballots, until Nader announced his intentions for the 2008 election. In 2009, he received 41 percent of the vote as the Green Party candidate for 4th District Common Councilor in Syracuse, New York. He recently ran as the Green Party's candidate for 2010 Governor of New York
and restored ballot status for the party by receiving more than the necessary 50,000 votes.
in 1952, Hawkins became politically active as a teenager, protesting against the Vietnam War
, the military draft
, and racial discrimination
. After graduating from Burlingame High School
, he attended Dartmouth College
. Hawkins worked as a carpenter, logger, and cooperative business developer. He was a co-developer and co-owner of a construction workers cooperative that specialized in solar and wind energy
systems.
Hawkins came to Syracuse in 1991 to be Director of CommonWorks, a federation of cooperatives working for a cooperatively owned and ecologically sustainable economy. For the last decade, Hawkins has worked as a truck unloader at UPS
, where he is a member of Teamsters
Local 317 and active in the national Teamster rank-and-file reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union
, as well as US Labor Against the War and the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare.
, cooperative economics, and independent politics
have appeared in many publications, including Against the Current, Green Politics, Green Perspectives, The Guardian
, In These Times
, Independent Politics News, International Socialist Review, Left Green Notes, Liberation, Left Turn, New Politics
, Our Generation, Peace and Democracy News, Peaceworks, Resist, The Socialist, Society and Nature, Synthesis/Regeneration, Win, and Z Magazine. He is the editor of the book, Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (2006, Haymarket Books).
to support by age 11 in 1964, decrying both major parties as racist; the Republicans
, with Ronald Reagan
as their spokesman, campaigned to repeal California’s Rumsford fair housing law, while the Democratic National Convention
seated as voting delegates the segregationist
Dixiecrat
s from Mississippi
instead of the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
.
The Democrats’ Lyndon Johnson won as the "peace candidate" in 1964, but then escalated the war in Vietnam. Though federal civil rights
and voting rights acts passed in 1964 and 1965, Hawkins felt Johnson’s "Great Society
" policies were sacrificed to the war. So when the Peace and Freedom Party was formed in late 1967 to end US intervention in Vietnam and fight poverty and racism, Hawkins supported the registration drive to put it on the ballot; Ironically, Hawkins himself, then 15, wouldn’t be able to vote for another six years because the law then stated one had to be 21 in order to vote.
Hawkins also participated in the peace, justice, and environmental movements and demonstrations in the Bay Area in his high school years, including Stop the Draft Week in October 1967, the San Francisco State Strike in 1968-69, People’s Park in Berkeley in 1969, the first Earth Day and the nationwide anti-war
student strike in 1970, and Black Panther Party
proposal for community control of the police in Berkeley
, California in 1971.
During his first year at Dartmouth, college draft deferments were eliminated, and his draft number was called in July 1972. He immediately enlisted in an off-campus Marine officer-training program before the Army’s draft letter reached him so he could continue his studies. But after a summer of officer training at Quantico
in 1974, Hawkins informed the Marines that he did not have the funds for his last two years of college. Since he could not meet the college degree requirement needed to take an officer‘s commission upon graduation, he told the Marines he was ready to serve as a regular enlistee for the two years of active duty that he was obligated to serve under his enlistment contract. The Marines never ordered him back to active duty, however.
While waiting for orders to report to active duty, Hawkins remained active in the anti-war movement, and became active in the anti-nuclear and the anti-apartheid movements as well. He helped form the People’s Energy Project New Hampshire
in 1974 to fight the proposed Seabrook nuclear power plant, and then the New England
-wide Clamshell Alliance
in 1976 to organize occupations of the Seabrook nuclear plant site.
After the Soweto riots
in South Africa
in 1976, he co-founded the Upper Valley Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa, helped to form the Northeast Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa in 1978, and represented New England on the national anti-apartheid Call to Conscience coordinating committee in the early 1980s.
Hawkins led several campaigns to link corporate exploitation in South Africa and the US, including domestic redlining
by banks lending to South Africa and labor abuse by Phelps Dodge in Namibia
and Arizona
.
In 1978, Hawkins co-founded a construction workers cooperative that specialized in energy efficiency and solar and wind installations. He also worked with students at Dartmouth to form a New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group in 1975. In 1976-77, Hawkins returned to Dartmouth for his last year of studies, where he completed all the requirements for graduation except learning a foreign language. He speaks the Polynesia
n language of Tonga
, where he lived for three months in 1973, but it was not recognized by Dartmouth.
In 1984, Hawkins organized fellow carpenters to put up a pre-fabricated shanty town
in minutes on the College Green
at Dartmouth despite promised resistance from security. Students then occupied the shanty-town, instigating a nationwide wave of similar protests that led to many college portfolio divestments of Apartheid-linked securities.
political party. He believed that progressive issue campaigns would be more effective if there was an independent "people’s party."
Hawkins has been active in many non-sectarian efforts to build independent politics. These include local independent parties where he lived:
He was also involved in national independent parties:
Furthermore, he was active in a series of national coalitions committed to independent politics:
, in which he advocated a more grassroots
organizing approach than earlier attempts at building a new progressive party. Instead of trying to build the national party from the top down through a presidential campaign as the Peace and Freedom, Peoples, and Citizens parties had done, the Greens would build local organizations and contest local elections until they had enough of a base to launch a presidential campaign, which the Greens finally did 12 years later when they drafted Ralph Nader
and Winona LaDuke
as their presidential ticket in 1996. Hawkins currently serves as a Green Party of New York
representatives to the Green Party of the United States National Committee a position he has held for years http://www.web.gpnys.com/?page_id=139.He also holds the position of a state committee member from Onondaga County http://www.county.gpnys.com/?p=55. Hawkins has expressed support and endorsed the Center for Voting and Democracy Instant Runoff Voting campaign http://www.fairvote.org/irv/endorsers.htm.
As an activist in these parties, Hawkins worked on many electoral campaigns, including the Cleaver/Dowd 1968, Spock/Hobson 1972, and Commoner/Harris 1980 presidential campaigns, the 1970s Liberty Union campaigns of Bernie Sanders
and Michael Parenti
, and several Green campaigns in Vermont
and New Hampshire between 1985 and 1990. Howie also gained experience by volunteering in the New Hampshire primaries for major party candidates, namely, Pete McCloskey
, the anti-war Republican challenger to Richard Nixon
in 1972, and Fred Harris
, the populist
Democratic candidate in 1976.
in 1991, Hawkins has been nominated by the Greens to run for city council, mayor, county executive, state comptroller, the US House, US Senate and New York Governor. He has been the Upstate New York Field Coordinator for Nader/LaDuke 2000 and Nader/Camejo
2004. In 2009, he was the New York State Field Coordinator for Nader/Gonzalez 2008, while also contributing and collecting signatures for the Green Party's McKinney
/Clemente ticket, believing that both tickets deserved to on the ballot and their messages heard by the public.
's candidate for the United States Senate
in the state of New York.
His signature campaign issue was the Iraq War. Hawkins criticized incumbent Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
's endorsement of the Iraq war resolution, and continued support for an American troop presence in Iraq. Hawkins pledged to implement what he describes as a modern-day version of the McGovern–Hatfield Amendment — a proposed Senate resolution intended to cut off funding for the Vietnam War
— which would defund military operations for the U.S. Armed Forces unless and until they were redeployed out of theater. He also campaigned for a World War II scale mobilization for a Clean Energy Transition, with renewable energy
replacing carbon and nuclear fuels and the money for investing in the transition coming from cuts in the military
budget on the order of 50-75 percent.
Hawkins received 55,469 votes in the November 2006 election (during which Clinton was re-elected), for 1.2% of the total votes cast.
in New York's 25th congressional district
on the Green Populist line (which has no connection to the Green Party). In addition to ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, single payer health care, and a crash program for a Clean Energy Transition, Hawkins opposed the bailout of insolvent big banks
, calling for their nationalization
, a write off of bad loans, a moratorium on home foreclosures, and public refinancing of stressed home mortgages on a reduced principal, fixed interest, long term basis. He has characterized the Senate version of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) with an additional $100 billion in tax breaks as putting "Lipstick on a pig
".
. Hawkins' campaign focused on the financial meltdown and unemployment in the state. In an interview in May 2010, Hawkins said,
Hawkins sought to restore progressive income tax
rates, such as those that New York had in the 1970s, and to increase the sharing of state revenues with local governments. For example, Hawkins said he favored increasing state aid to local governments by changing the annual legislated exemption from State Finance Law, which requires the sharing of 8 percent of state revenues with local governments. Additionally, like several other Green Party Governor candidates running in the US, Hawkin's platform calls for the creation of a state bank
to target public investments for a sustainable green economic recovery.
Hawkins was critical of his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo
, and challenged him to participate in public forums with the other gubernatorial candidates. In a New York Daily News interview, Hawkins expressed his concerns with some of Cuomo's positions:
Hawkins supports single-payer
, community-based health care and would work to end the "drug war
". He also supports marriage equality and reproductive freedom, including abortion. Renewable energy and public power were central to his campaign platform, which described a Statewide Sustainability Plan for renewable energy for New York. Hawkins has also stated that he would shut down New York’s aging nuclear power plants as soon as replacement power in renewable energy comes on line.
On November 2, 2010, Hawkins received nearly 60,000 votes, allowing the Green Party of New York to be listed on the ballot for the next 4 years.
In December 2010, Hawkins was named co-chair of the newly recognized Green Party of New York.
Hawkins plans to sponsor resolutions for state tax code reforms to require more from the state's wealthiest, and to share more revenues with cities. He also supports the establishment of a municipal development bank to provide financing for local cooperative businesses and a 4% “commuter tax” on the incomes of suburbanites working in the city.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician and activist with the Green Party of the United States
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
and Socialist Party USA
Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
. He co-founded the anti-nuclear
Anti-nuclear movement in the United States
The anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups which have acted to oppose nuclear power or nuclear weapons, or both, in the United States. These groups include the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research,...
Clamshell Alliance
Clamshell Alliance
The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization co-founded by Paul Gunter, Howie Hawkins, Harvey Wasserman, Guy Chichester and other activists in 1976. The alliance's coalescence began in 1975 as New England activists and organizations began to respond to U.S...
in 1976 and the Green Party in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1984. He was New York's Green Party
Green Party of New York
The Green Party of New York is a ballot-qualified political party in New York, which was founded in 1992. It is a part of the national Green Party movement...
candidate for the U.S. Senate in the State of New York
New York United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in New York was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for and would win a second term representing New York in the United States Senate...
in 2006. During the 2008 Green Party primaries Hawkins served as a placeholder candidate for Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
on some 2008 Green Party primary ballots, until Nader announced his intentions for the 2008 election. In 2009, he received 41 percent of the vote as the Green Party candidate for 4th District Common Councilor in Syracuse, New York. He recently ran as the Green Party's candidate for 2010 Governor of New York
New York gubernatorial election, 2010
The New York gubernatorial election of 2010 was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the Governor of New York, who will serve a four-year term to begin in January 2011. Incumbent Democratic Governor David Paterson, elected as Lieutenant Governor in 2006 as the running mate of former Governor...
and restored ballot status for the party by receiving more than the necessary 50,000 votes.
Early life and career
Born in San Francisco, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1952, Hawkins became politically active as a teenager, protesting against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the military draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, and racial discrimination
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. After graduating from Burlingame High School
Burlingame High School
Burlingame High School is a public high school in Burlingame, California. It is part of the San Mateo Union High School District .-History:...
, he attended Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. Hawkins worked as a carpenter, logger, and cooperative business developer. He was a co-developer and co-owner of a construction workers cooperative that specialized in solar and wind energy
Wind energy
Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...
systems.
Hawkins came to Syracuse in 1991 to be Director of CommonWorks, a federation of cooperatives working for a cooperatively owned and ecologically sustainable economy. For the last decade, Hawkins has worked as a truck unloader at UPS
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
, where he is a member of Teamsters
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
Local 317 and active in the national Teamster rank-and-file reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Teamsters for a Democratic Union is a rank-and-file union democracy movement organizing to reform the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , or Teamsters. TDU was created out of the merger of the Professional Drivers Council and TDU in 1979...
, as well as US Labor Against the War and the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Healthcare.
Publications
His articles on social theorySocial theory
Social theories are theoretical frameworks which are used to study and interpret social phenomena within a particular school of thought. An essential tool used by social scientists, theories relate to historical debates over the most valid and reliable methodologies , as well as the primacy of...
, cooperative economics, and independent politics
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
have appeared in many publications, including Against the Current, Green Politics, Green Perspectives, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, In These Times
In These Times
In These Times is a politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published by the Institute for Public Affairs in Chicago...
, Independent Politics News, International Socialist Review, Left Green Notes, Liberation, Left Turn, New Politics
New Politics (magazine)
New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
, Our Generation, Peace and Democracy News, Peaceworks, Resist, The Socialist, Society and Nature, Synthesis/Regeneration, Win, and Z Magazine. He is the editor of the book, Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (2006, Haymarket Books).
Early political activism
Hawkins knew he wanted a third partyThird party (politics)
In a two-party system of politics, the term third party is sometimes applied to a party other than the two dominant ones. While technically the term is limited to the third largest party or third oldest party, it is common, though innumerate, shorthand for any smaller party.For instance, in the...
to support by age 11 in 1964, decrying both major parties as racist; the Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, with Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
as their spokesman, campaigned to repeal California’s Rumsford fair housing law, while the Democratic National Convention
1964 Democratic National Convention
The 1964 Democratic National Convention was the 1964 presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party. It took place at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey from August 24 to 27, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson -- who had been Vice President under...
seated as voting delegates the segregationist
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
Dixiecrat
Dixiecrat
The States' Rights Democratic Party was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States in 1948...
s from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
instead of the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was an American political party created in the state of Mississippi in 1964, during the civil rights movement...
.
The Democrats’ Lyndon Johnson won as the "peace candidate" in 1964, but then escalated the war in Vietnam. Though federal civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and voting rights acts passed in 1964 and 1965, Hawkins felt Johnson’s "Great Society
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...
" policies were sacrificed to the war. So when the Peace and Freedom Party was formed in late 1967 to end US intervention in Vietnam and fight poverty and racism, Hawkins supported the registration drive to put it on the ballot; Ironically, Hawkins himself, then 15, wouldn’t be able to vote for another six years because the law then stated one had to be 21 in order to vote.
Hawkins also participated in the peace, justice, and environmental movements and demonstrations in the Bay Area in his high school years, including Stop the Draft Week in October 1967, the San Francisco State Strike in 1968-69, People’s Park in Berkeley in 1969, the first Earth Day and the nationwide anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
student strike in 1970, and Black Panther Party
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
proposal for community control of the police in Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, California in 1971.
During his first year at Dartmouth, college draft deferments were eliminated, and his draft number was called in July 1972. He immediately enlisted in an off-campus Marine officer-training program before the Army’s draft letter reached him so he could continue his studies. But after a summer of officer training at Quantico
Marine Corps Base Quantico
Marine Corps Base Quantico, sometimes abbreviated MCB Quantico, is a major United States Marine Corps training base located near Triangle, Virginia, covering nearly in southern Prince William County, northern Stafford County, and southeastern Fauquier County...
in 1974, Hawkins informed the Marines that he did not have the funds for his last two years of college. Since he could not meet the college degree requirement needed to take an officer‘s commission upon graduation, he told the Marines he was ready to serve as a regular enlistee for the two years of active duty that he was obligated to serve under his enlistment contract. The Marines never ordered him back to active duty, however.
While waiting for orders to report to active duty, Hawkins remained active in the anti-war movement, and became active in the anti-nuclear and the anti-apartheid movements as well. He helped form the People’s Energy Project New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
in 1974 to fight the proposed Seabrook nuclear power plant, and then the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
-wide Clamshell Alliance
Clamshell Alliance
The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization co-founded by Paul Gunter, Howie Hawkins, Harvey Wasserman, Guy Chichester and other activists in 1976. The alliance's coalescence began in 1975 as New England activists and organizations began to respond to U.S...
in 1976 to organize occupations of the Seabrook nuclear plant site.
After the Soweto riots
Soweto riots
The Soweto Uprising, also known as June 16, was a series of high school student-led protests in South Africa that began on the morning of June 16, 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto, in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1976, he co-founded the Upper Valley Committee for the Liberation of Southern Africa, helped to form the Northeast Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa in 1978, and represented New England on the national anti-apartheid Call to Conscience coordinating committee in the early 1980s.
Hawkins led several campaigns to link corporate exploitation in South Africa and the US, including domestic redlining
Redlining
Redlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
by banks lending to South Africa and labor abuse by Phelps Dodge in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
In 1978, Hawkins co-founded a construction workers cooperative that specialized in energy efficiency and solar and wind installations. He also worked with students at Dartmouth to form a New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group in 1975. In 1976-77, Hawkins returned to Dartmouth for his last year of studies, where he completed all the requirements for graduation except learning a foreign language. He speaks the Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n language of Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, where he lived for three months in 1973, but it was not recognized by Dartmouth.
In 1984, Hawkins organized fellow carpenters to put up a pre-fabricated shanty town
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
in minutes on the College Green
The Green (Dartmouth College)
The Green is a grass-covered field and common space at the center of Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. It was among the first parcels of land obtained by the College upon its founding in 1769, and is the only creation of the 18th century...
at Dartmouth despite promised resistance from security. Students then occupied the shanty-town, instigating a nationwide wave of similar protests that led to many college portfolio divestments of Apartheid-linked securities.
Independent politics
In the 1980s, Hawkins decided to prioritize his political activity on building an independent progressiveProgressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
political party. He believed that progressive issue campaigns would be more effective if there was an independent "people’s party."
Hawkins has been active in many non-sectarian efforts to build independent politics. These include local independent parties where he lived:
- Peace and Freedom Party of California, 1968–1971;
- Liberty Union PartyLiberty Union PartyThe Liberty Union Party of Vermont, founded in 1970 by former Congressman William H. Meyer, Peter Diamondstone and others, originated in the anti-war and People's Party movements of the late 1960s and defines itself as a nonviolent socialist party.-History:...
of Vermont, 1972–1978; - Granite State Alliance of New Hampshire, 1974–1978
He was also involved in national independent parties:
- People's PartyPeople's Party (United States, 1970s)The People's Party was a political party in the United States, founded in 1971 by various individuals and State and local political parties, including the Peace and Freedom Party, Commongood People's Party, Country People's Caucus, Human Rights Party, Liberty Union, New American Party, New Party...
, 1971–1976; - Socialist PartySocialist Party USAThe Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
, 1973–present; - Citizens PartyCitizens Party (United States)The Citizens Party was a political party in the United States. It was founded in Washington, D.C. by Barry Commoner, who wanted to gather under one umbrella political organization all the environmentalist and liberal groups which were unsatisfied with President Carter's administration. The Citizens...
, 1979–1984; - Green PartyGreen Party (United States)The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
, 1984–present; - Labor PartyLabor Party (United States)The Labor Party is an American social democratic political party advocating workers' interests. Membership at one point reached about 5,000....
, 1996–present;
Furthermore, he was active in a series of national coalitions committed to independent politics:
- People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice, 1971–1974;
- Mass Party Organizing Committee, 1974–1978;
- Peoples Alliance, 1978–1981;
- National Committee for Independent Political Action, 1981–1995;
- Independent Progressive Politics Network, 1995–present.
The Green Party
In 1984, Hawkins was one of the co-founders of the Green Party in the United StatesGreen Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
, in which he advocated a more grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organizing approach than earlier attempts at building a new progressive party. Instead of trying to build the national party from the top down through a presidential campaign as the Peace and Freedom, Peoples, and Citizens parties had done, the Greens would build local organizations and contest local elections until they had enough of a base to launch a presidential campaign, which the Greens finally did 12 years later when they drafted Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
and Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke is a Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, and writer. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for vice president as the nominee of the United States Green Party, on a ticket headed by Ralph Nader. In the 2004 election, however, she endorsed one of Nader's opponents, Democratic...
as their presidential ticket in 1996. Hawkins currently serves as a Green Party of New York
Green Party of New York
The Green Party of New York is a ballot-qualified political party in New York, which was founded in 1992. It is a part of the national Green Party movement...
representatives to the Green Party of the United States National Committee a position he has held for years http://www.web.gpnys.com/?page_id=139.He also holds the position of a state committee member from Onondaga County http://www.county.gpnys.com/?p=55. Hawkins has expressed support and endorsed the Center for Voting and Democracy Instant Runoff Voting campaign http://www.fairvote.org/irv/endorsers.htm.
As an activist in these parties, Hawkins worked on many electoral campaigns, including the Cleaver/Dowd 1968, Spock/Hobson 1972, and Commoner/Harris 1980 presidential campaigns, the 1970s Liberty Union campaigns of Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives...
and Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti is an award-winning, internationally known American political scientist, historian, and culture critic who has been writing on a wide range of both scholarly and popular subjects for over forty years. He has taught at several universities and colleges and has been a frequent guest...
, and several Green campaigns in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and New Hampshire between 1985 and 1990. Howie also gained experience by volunteering in the New Hampshire primaries for major party candidates, namely, Pete McCloskey
Pete McCloskey
Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. is a former Republican politician from the U.S. state of California who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. He ran on an anti-war platform for the Republican nomination for President in 1972 but was defeated by incumbent President...
, the anti-war Republican challenger to Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in 1972, and Fred Harris
Fred R. Harris
Fred Roy Harris is a former Democratic United States Senator from the state of Oklahoma. He served from 1964 until 1973.-Biography:...
, the populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
Democratic candidate in 1976.
Political roles in Syracuse
Since coming to SyracuseSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
in 1991, Hawkins has been nominated by the Greens to run for city council, mayor, county executive, state comptroller, the US House, US Senate and New York Governor. He has been the Upstate New York Field Coordinator for Nader/LaDuke 2000 and Nader/Camejo
Peter Camejo
Peter Miguel Camejo was an American author, activist and politician. In the 2004 United States presidential election, he was selected by independent candidate Ralph Nader as his vice-presidential running mate on a ticket which had the endorsement of the Reform Party.Camejo was a three-time Green...
2004. In 2009, he was the New York State Field Coordinator for Nader/Gonzalez 2008, while also contributing and collecting signatures for the Green Party's McKinney
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...
/Clemente ticket, believing that both tickets deserved to on the ballot and their messages heard by the public.
2006 campaign for Senate
Hawkins was the Green Party of New YorkGreen Party of New York
The Green Party of New York is a ballot-qualified political party in New York, which was founded in 1992. It is a part of the national Green Party movement...
's candidate for the United States Senate
New York United States Senate election, 2006
The 2006 United States Senate election in New York was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for and would win a second term representing New York in the United States Senate...
in the state of New York.
His signature campaign issue was the Iraq War. Hawkins criticized incumbent Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
's endorsement of the Iraq war resolution, and continued support for an American troop presence in Iraq. Hawkins pledged to implement what he describes as a modern-day version of the McGovern–Hatfield Amendment — a proposed Senate resolution intended to cut off funding for the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
— which would defund military operations for the U.S. Armed Forces unless and until they were redeployed out of theater. He also campaigned for a World War II scale mobilization for a Clean Energy Transition, with renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
replacing carbon and nuclear fuels and the money for investing in the transition coming from cuts in the military
budget on the order of 50-75 percent.
Hawkins received 55,469 votes in the November 2006 election (during which Clinton was re-elected), for 1.2% of the total votes cast.
2008 campaign for House of Representatives
Hawkins ran for United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in New York's 25th congressional district
New York's 25th congressional district
The 25th Congressional District of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that stretches from Syracuse to the northeastern suburbs of Rochester. The district comprises all of Onondaga and Wayne counties, the northernmost portion of Cayuga County and the...
on the Green Populist line (which has no connection to the Green Party). In addition to ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, single payer health care, and a crash program for a Clean Energy Transition, Hawkins opposed the bailout of insolvent big banks
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of , commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis...
, calling for their nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
, a write off of bad loans, a moratorium on home foreclosures, and public refinancing of stressed home mortgages on a reduced principal, fixed interest, long term basis. He has characterized the Senate version of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) with an additional $100 billion in tax breaks as putting "Lipstick on a pig
Lipstick on a pig
To put "lipstick on a pig" is a rhetorical expression, used to convey the message that making superficial or cosmetic changes is a futile attempt to disguise the true nature of a product...
".
2010 campaign for Governor
In May 2010, Hawkins was nominated to run for Governor of New York State as the Green Party candidate. His campaign was also supported by the Socialist Party of New YorkSocialist Party of New York
The Socialist Party of New York is the state chapter of the Socialist Party of the United States of America in New York.The current SPUSA was organized by members of the Debs caucus of Socialist Party of America . At the SPA's 1972 National Convention, which was held in Manhattan, the SPA changed...
. Hawkins' campaign focused on the financial meltdown and unemployment in the state. In an interview in May 2010, Hawkins said,
“The people of New York need someone in Albany who will stand up for Main Street and Martin Luther King Blvd., rather than someone bought and controlled by Wall Street. A million New Yorkers need a living wage jobs now. My campaign will show how we can fast track their creation.”
Hawkins sought to restore progressive income tax
Progressive tax
A progressive tax is a tax by which the tax rate increases as the taxable base amount increases. "Progressive" describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the way the rate progresses from low to high, where the average tax rate is less than the marginal tax rate...
rates, such as those that New York had in the 1970s, and to increase the sharing of state revenues with local governments. For example, Hawkins said he favored increasing state aid to local governments by changing the annual legislated exemption from State Finance Law, which requires the sharing of 8 percent of state revenues with local governments. Additionally, like several other Green Party Governor candidates running in the US, Hawkin's platform calls for the creation of a state bank
State bank
A state bank is generally a financial institution that is chartered by a state. It differs from a reserve bank in that it does not necessarily control monetary policy , but instead usually offers only retail and commercial services.A state bank that has been in operation for five years or less is...
to target public investments for a sustainable green economic recovery.
Hawkins was critical of his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo is the 56th and current Governor of New York, having assumed office on January 1, 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 64th New York State Attorney General, and was the 11th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
, and challenged him to participate in public forums with the other gubernatorial candidates. In a New York Daily News interview, Hawkins expressed his concerns with some of Cuomo's positions:
"... he [Cuomo] wants to solve the state budget crisis by cutting spending such as for state workers and schools. He ignores that the root cause of the problem is not spending but the huge tax cuts for the wealthy that began when he was helping his father as Governor. Instead of spending caps, we need the wealthy and Wall Street to pay their fair share."
Hawkins supports single-payer
Single-payer health care
Single-payer health care is medical care funded from a single insurance pool, run by the state. Under a single-payer system, universal health care for an entire population can be financed from a pool to which many parties employees, employers, and the state have contributed...
, community-based health care and would work to end the "drug war
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
". He also supports marriage equality and reproductive freedom, including abortion. Renewable energy and public power were central to his campaign platform, which described a Statewide Sustainability Plan for renewable energy for New York. Hawkins has also stated that he would shut down New York’s aging nuclear power plants as soon as replacement power in renewable energy comes on line.
On November 2, 2010, Hawkins received nearly 60,000 votes, allowing the Green Party of New York to be listed on the ballot for the next 4 years.
In December 2010, Hawkins was named co-chair of the newly recognized Green Party of New York.
2011 campaign for Common Councilor
Hawkins announced his candidacy for 4th District Common Councilor in Syracuse in September of 2011, running as a Green Party candidate. His opponent is a Democrat, Khalid Bey. Hawkins received endorsements from the Syracuse Post Standard, the Green Party of Onondaga County, UNITE HERE Local 150, and the Greater Syracuse Labor Council.Hawkins plans to sponsor resolutions for state tax code reforms to require more from the state's wealthiest, and to share more revenues with cities. He also supports the establishment of a municipal development bank to provide financing for local cooperative businesses and a 4% “commuter tax” on the incomes of suburbanites working in the city.
Political experience
- Candidate for Syracuse Common Council, 4th District, Green Party, 2011
- Candidate for Governor of New York, Green Party, 2010
- Candidate for Syracuse Common Council, 4th District, Green Party, 2009
- Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, 25th DistrictNew York's 25th congressional districtThe 25th Congressional District of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that stretches from Syracuse to the northeastern suburbs of Rochester. The district comprises all of Onondaga and Wayne counties, the northernmost portion of Cayuga County and the...
, Green Populist, NY, 2008 - State co-coordinator for Nader Campaign for New York 2008
- Co-Chair of the Draft Nader Committee 2007-2008
- Candidate for Syracuse City Council At-Large, Green Party, 2007
- Candidate for U.S. Senate, New York, Green Party, 2006
- Candidate for Mayor, Syracuse, NY, Green Party, 2005
- Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, 25th DistrictNew York's 25th congressional districtThe 25th Congressional District of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that stretches from Syracuse to the northeastern suburbs of Rochester. The district comprises all of Onondaga and Wayne counties, the northernmost portion of Cayuga County and the...
, NY, Peace and Justice Party, 2004 - Field Coordinator for Upstate New York, Nader/Camejo 2004Ralph Nader presidential campaign, 2004Ralph Nader ran for the office of U.S. Presidency in the 2004 election, as he also had in several previous elections. In 1996 and 2000, Nader was the candidate of the Green Party; in the 2004 election, however, he ran as an independent candidate. He received 463,653 votes, for 0.38% of the total vote...
- Candidate for New York State ComptrollerNew York State ComptrollerThe New York State Comptroller is a state cabinet officer of the U.S. state of New York. The duties of the comptroller include auditing government operations and operating the state's retirement system.-History:...
, Green Party, 2002 - Candidate for Syracuse Common Council, 4th District, Green Party 2001
- Field Coordinator for Upstate New York, Nader/LaDuke 2000Ralph Nader presidential campaign, 2000Ralph Nader ran in the 2000 United States presidential election as the nominee of the Green Party. He was also nominated by the Vermont Progressive Party and the United Citizens Party of South Carolina...
- Candidate for U.S. House, 25th District, NY, Green Party, 2000
- Candidate for OnondagaOnondaga County, New YorkOnondaga County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 467,026. The county seat is Syracuse.Onondaga County is part of the Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area....
County Executive, Green Party, 1999 - Candidate for New York State ComptrollerNew York State ComptrollerThe New York State Comptroller is a state cabinet officer of the U.S. state of New York. The duties of the comptroller include auditing government operations and operating the state's retirement system.-History:...
, Green Party, 1998 - Candidate for Syracuse MayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
, Green Party , 1997 - Candidate for Syracuse Common Council, At-Large, Green Party, 1995
- Candidate for Syracuse Common Council, At-Large, Green Party, 1994
- Candidate for Syracuse Common Council, At-Large, Green Party (on Liberal Party line), 1993
- Volunteer, New HampshireNew HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
Green Party gubernatorial campaign, Guy Chichester, 1990 - Volunteer, Burlington Greens municipal campaigns, 1987, 1987, 1989
- Volunteer, Bernie SandersBernie SandersBernard "Bernie" Sanders is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives...
for Mayor of Burlington, VermontBurlington, VermontBurlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the shire town of Chittenden County. Burlington lies south of the U.S.-Canadian border and some south of Montreal....
, 1981 - Volunteer, Citizen’s PartyCitizens Party (United States)The Citizens Party was a political party in the United States. It was founded in Washington, D.C. by Barry Commoner, who wanted to gather under one umbrella political organization all the environmentalist and liberal groups which were unsatisfied with President Carter's administration. The Citizens...
Presidential Campaign, Commoner/Harris, 1980 - Volunteer, Bernie Sanders for Governor, Liberty Union PartyLiberty Union PartyThe Liberty Union Party of Vermont, founded in 1970 by former Congressman William H. Meyer, Peter Diamondstone and others, originated in the anti-war and People's Party movements of the late 1960s and defines itself as a nonviolent socialist party.-History:...
, 1976 - Volunteer, Fred HarrisFred R. HarrisFred Roy Harris is a former Democratic United States Senator from the state of Oklahoma. He served from 1964 until 1973.-Biography:...
for President, New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary, 1976 - Volunteer, Bernie Sanders for US Senate, Michael ParentiMichael ParentiMichael Parenti is an award-winning, internationally known American political scientist, historian, and culture critic who has been writing on a wide range of both scholarly and popular subjects for over forty years. He has taught at several universities and colleges and has been a frequent guest...
for US Congress, Liberty Union Party of Vermont, 1974 - Volunteer, People’s Party Presidential Campaign, Spock/Hobson, 1972
- Volunteer, Pete McCloskeyPete McCloskeyPaul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. is a former Republican politician from the U.S. state of California who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. He ran on an anti-war platform for the Republican nomination for President in 1972 but was defeated by incumbent President...
for President, New Hampshire Republican Presidential Primary, 1972 - Volunteer, Peace and Freedom Presidential Campaign, CleaverEldridge CleaverLeroy Eldridge Cleaver better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a leading member of the Black Panther Party and a writer...
/Dowd, 1968
External links
- Howie Hawkins for 4th District Common Councilor 2011 Campaign Website
- Howie Hawkins for Governor 2010 Campaign Website
- Howie Hawkins for Common Councilor 2009 Campaign Website
- Howie Hawkins for Congress 2008 Campaign Website
- Howie Hawkins for Syracuse Councilor At-Large 2007 Campaign Website
- Hawkins For Senate 2006 Campaign Website
- Howie Hawkins for Mayor 2005 Campaign Website
- A Message to Progressives Who Vote Democrat (2010)
- Howie Hawkins - Jobs & Economic Recovery (2010)
- Howie Hawkins - Why Vote Green (2010)
- Howie Hawkins On The Issues, (2006)
- Howie Hawkins, New York Green Party News Archive
- Mr. Hawkins Biography at Project Vote SmartProject Vote SmartProject Vote Smart is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States...
- Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate, by Howie Hawkins, Haymarket Books, 2006.