Marylander Sunil Freeman’s party is not shy of advocating a socialist revolution.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris is not the only Indian American running for second in command’s job in the Nov. 3 election.
Sunil Freeman, an activist and cultural worker from Maryland is another VP candidate running on the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
While Harris, the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father has been at pains to deny Republicans’ charge of pressing a “socialist†agenda, Freeman’s PSL proudly aims to lead a revolution paving the way towards socialism.
The party’s presidential candidate is Gloria la Riva, a labor, community and anti-war activist based in San Francisco, California who has been contesting presidential elections since 2008.
Freeman, according to the party’s website, is the child of parents who met as workers at the refugee camp in Kurukshetra, India during the time of India’s independence and partition.
Growing up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC, Freeman, along with his family, were active participants in the mass anti-Vietnam War movement.
These formative experiences brought Freeman into solidarity with all the movements of the oppressed sweeping the world during that time, his profile says.
Freeman, a poet and essayist, has contributed to and edited major literary journals, the PSL website says.
He joined the PSL in 2005 after becoming an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition in the anti-Iraq War movement.
Freeman has participated in and organized dozens of events in opposition to US wars abroad, against the US blockade of Cuba, and against criminal sanctions levied by the US against a range of countries.
Freeman is also a disability rights activist working to make all aspects of society accessible to all. Freeman currently resides in Maryland and continues to be active in social justice issues of all kinds.
Gloria La Riva and Sunil Freeman are listed on the ballot for the US presidential election in 15 states, according to PSL.
Key elements of PSL platform include giving full rights for all immigrants and making the essentials of life — food, housing, water, education, health care and a job — into constitutional rights.
They also want capitalism to be replaced by a socialist system, end racism, police brutality and mass incarceration and shut down all US military bases around the world.
PSL also seeks full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and quality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand.
It also support the right of all workers to have a union and advocates takeover of what it calls “the stolen wealth of the giant banks and corporations.â€