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Book Reviews
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The Political Edge
Edited by Chris Carlsson
(City Lights, 2004)
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When people think of San Francisco politics these days they probably recall the image of Mayor Gavin Newsom permitting gay couples to get married at City Hall. But before that media moment there was the political uprising in December 2003 when Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez nearly defeated the Democrat Newsom in a closely contested run-off election. The Political Edge is an anthology of essays about the impact of the Gonzalez campaign on the city’s politics, as well as thoughts on other issues affecting the city such as the cost of housing, gay activism and the environment.
In many parts of the United States Gavin Newsom would be considered a liberal. But in San Francisco Newsom was clearly the establishment candidate, a wealthy Willie Brown protÈgÈ known for representing the interests of developers and seeking to limit cash benefits to the city’s large numbers of homeless people. Gonzalez, the President of the Board of Supervisors was a candidate that the city’s progressives could easily embrace as one of their own. He was a candidate who rode a bicycle, lived with roommates and held art exhibits at his office at City Hall.
Political Edge starts with a series of essays by people who were in some way involved with the Gonzalez campaign. And one gets the sense that in December 2003 nearly everyone in the city’s alternative community was a frequent visitor to the Gonzalez campaign headquarters which was located in the city’s Mission District.
In an essay about working as a canvasser for the campaign Hugh D’ Andrade talks about how he hoped to engage in meaningful conversations with voters outside of the comfort zone of the city’s progressive neighborhoods such as the Haight, and Mission. But he instead finds himself in suburban neighborhoods which seem designed to prevent this type of communication and where "the population has forgotten how to think and speak for itself".
Other campaign workers talk about the ways that the Gonzalez campaign was "horizontally organized" so that volunteers could easily get involved and take on responsibilities such as organizing the large number of art and music fundraisers that the campaign became known for.
And poet/writer Michelle Tea writes a lighthearted piece which talks about the fashion choices of the candidates, her crush on Matt Gonzalez as well as her involvement in the campaign. Tea was just one of the many bay area writers, artists and musicians who were involved in the campaign which also included Jonathan Richman and the founder of the Burning Man festival.
Several writers discuss having mixed feelings about their involvement in electoral politics. Michael Whitson in "Engagement and Enragement" argues that "a crucial component of creating real social power is reclaiming public space". He cites San Francisco’s critical mass bike rides as an example. And Gonzalez campaign worker Ali Starr says, "Marking the ballot is the least of my activism."
There was clearly a lot of disappointment over Matt Gonzalez’s narrow defeat to Gavin Newsom. But the essayists take heart in the fact that they came so close to achieving something truly remarkable. It was an effort that captured the imagination of progressive’s all over the U.S, not just in the bay area. And it’s clear that they take pride in what the campaign did achieve, and in the fact that they were at least temporarily
able to unite the city’s progressive community.
Political Edge seems to lose its focus a bit when it strays away from the Gonzalez campaign to take on issues such as the housing displacement that occurred during the dot.com boom, the changes in the city’s gay community, and fighting pollution in city neighborhoods. It might have been better served by sticking with the electoral theme and looking at other California municipal elections where Greens were successful. But even though parts of it are slightly uneven, this anthology should be relevant for people interested in progressive politics inside or outside of the bay area.
Brad Johnson is a regular reviewer for HopeDance.
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