-------------------------------DRAFT PLATFORM MEETING-----------------------------

Report the results of your meeting, i.e., the wording of

resolutions, planks, statements, or policies adopted at
your meeting. Be as detailed as needed:
After a short review of the latter 2004 Democratic Platform, in a summarized style, after
the formal proceeding (Democratic Party’s official statements followed by guests
introductions, we agreed to focus our discussions on concerns that matters most to our
group. The Platform lasted for nearly two hours. Due to the format that was presented to
us and the requirements associated with such a summarized format of the report we will
be submitting such a feedback and upon request the full detailed version of the minutes
can be of course provided separately.
In an ascending order we debated on: health, energy and environment, economics and
foreign affairs, last but not least education.

1-Heatlh:
In order to exercise transparency and accuracy government should pay for medical
research/instead of pharmaceutical companies. Lack of government oversight over
research and development in Health is part responsible over 800,000 Americans deaths
caused by medical wrongdoings/mistakes at our expenses. Affordable Health Care
favorable to youth and early childhood development must be the matrix of an health
care…At some point the same rationale applies under a so-called alternative health care
option. In other words citizens enrolled in any health care plan developed by the
government should be able to choose alternative practitioners, treatments, methods, and
products if they wish.

2- Energy and environment:

Interdependency in between these areas makes it a Must to dilate on them in close
correlation: alternative sources of energy, beyond fossil fuel is the ONLY key to
combined high gas prices, dependency on foreign oil, global warming, markets
deregulations and to some extent, war on terror...With regards to actual state-of-the-art of
new energy sources research and development, all it takes is government to opt breaking
the vicious circle of Big Interests and DARE to implement research results for the
benefits of the peoples…this time!

3- Economics and foreign affairs:

The magnitude of the crisis communities are struggling with (nationwide and beyond)
invites us to revisit Government responsibility in that regards.
An area which definitely requires government to stick on its primary role of guaranteeing
the conditions of a fair and sustainable environmental, economic and social environment
is RESPONSIBILITY through PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY:
*Government accountability must be reinstated at all levels of our daily interactions.
*Corporate social responsibility must be enforced minimizing the current outsourcing
trends.
* United States must have more comprehensive/flexible involvement in foreign affairs
*The United States must support the United Nations and the African Union in resolving
the conflict and genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and other conflicts on the
continent of Africa.
*The United States must have diplomatic dialogue with Iran and Cuba, and promote
World Peace favorable to Free and Fair Trade open to job creations in the US.
By and large Obama’s Vision on those above FACTS needs to be understood by more
people sharing and replicating his Vision in the congress and beyond.

4- Education:
We feel it is a disgrace that the United States can spend more money on war instead of
educating the children of this beautiful country. Particularly at a time when all states are
going bankrupt. The Federal government MUST support, at a higher level, to help
educating our children. Also the government should sponsor new ideas and new concepts
in education for all children, especially poor and low income families with emphasis on
Universal pre-school and free education.
Because of lack of differentiated approach to education “No child left behind” led to a lot
of maneuvering, touch ups and manipulation to make the policy seem like working.
School lunch and breakfast programs MUST be revised to eliminate all toxic chemicals,
artificial colors and flavoring, preservatives, hormones, etc. from all meals provided by
public schools to children enrolled in these programs.
In addition to recommendations for a multicultural education approach, THE GROUP
STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that the national /principal language must be English and
that as an enrichment of the curricula, and dictated by globalized world affairs, other
languages should be included within educational programs.

Please include any additional comments:

When planning my Platform meeting I thought about the rationale that justified Obama
staying in the race and it came to me that his sense of sound judgment, his community
activist experiences in the south side of Chicago (not far from where we held our
meeting) and as a senator, all these considered, You just can not dilate on Obama without
regards to truth, spirit, to common sense throughout the “fierce urgency” of our times.
As we saw it, beyond race and income status REALPOLITIK will always be binding,
because addressing the mere issues that affect people in both their uniqueness and
diversity...For that reason I entitled my Platform meeting “Staying the course of
REALPOLITIKS”.
In that regards and as the group meeting evolved form scratch to finish, each and
everyone of us felt that excitement of being part of that HISTORIC Agenda outlining,
ideas sharing/crafting, policy definition and so forth… and we set it as part of our
common Agenda from now on, to hold such sort of gathering throughout this campaign
and beyond in order to keep providing our inputs not only to the Democratic Party, but to
the American people through various mediums so together we feel more than ever
involved in our local community affairs management. We do believe that a government of
the people MUST be supported by the ideas and ideals of its same people…only through
that openness and collaborative approach to community development democracy will
have a true meaning to our daily existence…at last.
Because of the above, there's no such Political Agenda which can succeed without
being properly documented and crafted with those efficient tools of Social Dynamics,
Interactions and Community participation...what we promised to keep doing to
remind ourselves and others the basics of this Journey.
Demba
diasporaonline@gmail.com