Teresa Gutiérrez, January 6, 1951 (Bexar County, Tex.) -
VP candidate for Workers World Party (aka Liberty Union Party) (2004)
Running mate with nominee: John Thompson Parker
Popular vote: 1,648 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
In late May, 2008 the Workers World Party nominated John Parker of Los Angeles for President and Teresa Gutiérrez of New York as his running-mate. Their party newspaper had a lengthy nomination announcement which included the following biographical information about the ticket--
Parker went to Sudan and visited that country's main pharmaceutical plant after it was demolished in 1998 by a U.S. missile strike. He has been to Iraq and seen the terrible effects of sanctions on the people there, especially children. He also did solidarity work in Cuba in 1997 with the Venceremos Brigade.
Gutierrez has met with progressive forces in Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Mexico. She recently was part of a delegation to the Dominican Republic investigating the use of that country as a training ground for the paramilitaries who attacked Haiti and helped the U.S. depose its elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
She has visited Cuba many times in solidarity with that besieged but politically strong socialist country, and was a major organizer of the powerful 1992 "Peace for Cuba" rally held at New York's Javits Convention Center that demonstrated the widespread support Cuba enjoyed in that difficult period after the collapse of the USSR.
John Parker was only 18 when he organized his first union election--at a small steel plant in New Jersey. An African American, he has worked at a variety of other jobs, including teaching at a public school in Newark. After moving to Los Angeles with his family several years ago, he became a leader in the anti-war movement there and helped organize and chair several large rallies against the U.S. war in Iraq, sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition. He then worked hard to mobilize anti-war forces to support the 80,000 grocery workers on a strike/lockout against three giant southern California food chains.
Teresa Gutierrez first became politically active in the Chican@ movement in Texas. She eventually moved to New York to be part of a multinational party that puts the struggle against racism and national oppression at the top of its agenda, as an indispensable part of uniting the working class as a whole in the struggle to end capitalism and build a socialist society. A proud lesbian, she brings consciousness on the need to combat sexist oppression to all her work.
These two working-class candidates will be running against the pro-war, pro-intervention, pro-big business politics of George W. Bush and John Kerry. They will use the election to bring another vision of the world to a public that is saturated day in and day out with the cynical view that the political arena belongs only to those who can play the millionaires' game and make the deals that buy elections.
Their webpage included a summary of the platform:
Abolish the Pentagon Money for housing human needs, not occupations in Iraq, Haiti, Palestine & Afghanistan
U.S. hands off Cuba, Venezuela, Africa, Colombia, Korea & the Philippines Globalize solidarity, not imperialist plunder. Independence for Puerto Rico
Union jobs or guaranteed income. Raise the minimum wage to $15. Jobs not jails for youth
Free, universal health care for all. Fund a worldwide campaign to conquer AIDS
End racism, police brutality & the death penalty Reparations & social justice for people of color & colonized nations.
Same-sex marriage rights now. End all discrimination against lesbians, gays, bi & trans people
Defend women's rights Equal pay for comparable work Full reproductive rights. Free childcare
Full rights for immigrants. Repeal the Patriot Act. Free victims of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim repression
Education is a right. Restore affirmative action. Lower the voting age to 16
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban 5 and all political prisoners
Tax the rich End corporate welfare. Make corporate polluters pay to clean up our environment
Besides the World Workers Party, the Parker/Gutiérrez ticket was also endorsed by the Liberty Union Party of Vermont who had previously backed the Socialists in the previous two elections. This was the only time the LUP ever backed the WWP in a Presidential race. Although I have never seen this spelled out, I suspect the LUP was more taken aback by the anti-abortion stance of the Socialist nominee Walt Brown than they were attracted to the WWP. Just a guess.
In the middle of campaign 2004, the San Francisco branch of the WWP split and helped form the Party for Socialism and Liberation. To outsiders even within the Left, the difference between the WWP and PSL seemed minuscule as both entities support repressive regimes (e.g. North Korea) and seem to mirror each other in a philosophy frequently described by observers as neo-Stalinist.
Parker/Gutierrez were certified write-ins in California and Ohio, and on the ballot in three states-- Washington 0.04%, Rhode Island 0.06%, and Vermont 0.08%.
Election history: none
Other occupations: co-coordinator of the International Action Center, deputy secretary general of the International Migrant Alliance, author
Notes:
One source claims Gutierrez was born in Mexico.
