Eugene Puryear

Eugene Puryear (born February 28, 1986) is an American journalist, writer, activist, politician, and host on BreakThrough News. In 2014, he was a candidate for the at-large seat in the DC Council with the D.C. Statehood Green Party. In the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections, Puryear was the vice presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).[1]

Eugene Puryear
Born (1986-02-28) February 28, 1986
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.
Alma materHoward University
Occupation(s)Journalist, activist
Political partyD.C. Statehood Green Party
Party for Socialism and Liberation

Campaign for Council of the District of Columbia

In 2014, Puryear ran as a D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate for the At-Large City Council seat held at the time by Anita Bonds.[2] His campaign put forward a 10-point program, which describes some of the policy positions taken by Puryear. On April 1, 2014, Puryear won the party's nomination, defeating G. Lee Aikin 67.3%–25.1%.[3] On November 4, 2014, Puryear placed sixth out of 14 candidates in the general election.[4]

Journalism

Puryear wrote the book Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America, which was published by PSL Publications.[5] Among the book's innovative contributions is a critique of Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow," because it doesn't attend to the historical transformations of white supremacy and capitalism. He stated that mass incarceration "is a political and state response to the masses of Black people being thrown out of the productive process altogether," whereas "slavery and Jim Crow were designed around Black people actually laboring."[6]

Puryear writes regularly for Liberation News, the newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.[7] He has co-edited some of the PSL's books, such as Imperialism in the 21st Century: Updating Lenin's Theory a Century Later.[8] He was the host of the daily political talk show By Any Means Necessary, on Russian government-owned Radio Sputnik. He is currently the host of the shows The Freedom Side LIVE and the Punch Out on BreakThrough News.[9] Additionally, he taught a 4-part digital course for Liberation School titled, "Black Struggle is Class Struggle," which analyzes Black Revolutionary History in the United States and its central role in the development of U.S. society.[10]

Activism

Puryear studied at Howard University, where he became a lead organizer with the anti-war ANSWER coalition[11] and has helped organize large protests against the Israeli blockade of Gaza.[12] Puryear and the ANSWER coalition were involved in the campaign to free the Jena 6.[13] As a freshman at Howard in 2005, Puryear was interviewed by The Washington Post as an "activist-in-training" and cited his engagement with activism against gentrification, racism, the US occupation of Iraq and other issues.[14]

Puryear has been deeply involved in the Black Lives Matter movement.[15]

On October 8, 2023, the day after the Re'im music festival massacre, Puryear helped organize a rally in support of Palestine in Times Square.[16][17][18] He was recorded giving a speech in which he celebrated the attack, saying, “And as you might have seen, there was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time, until the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters, and I’m sure they’re doing very fine despite what the New York Post says”.[19][20][21][22][23] When questioned about his words five days later, he re-affirmed them and stated that "Palestinians are right to resist".[24]

Vice presidential campaigns

In 2008, Puryear ran on the Party for Socialism and Liberation's ticket alongside presidential nominee Gloria La Riva. The La Riva/Puryear slate was on the ballot in six states and received 6,818 total votes.[25]

In July 2015, Puryear was announced as the running mate of Gloria La Riva, the Party for Socialism and Liberation's 2016 presidential nominee. However, he was not eligible to hold the office, as he would not have been at least 35 years old by Inauguration Day.[26] He was critical of the Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.[27]

References
  1. Meet Eugene Puryear Archived 2008-05-01 at the Wayback Machine at pslweb.org, accessed 9 June 2008,
  2. Sommer, Will (January 30, 2014). "Ward Candidates Meet in First Debate". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  3. "April 1, 2014 Primary Election Results". Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  4. "November 4, 2014 General Election Results". Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  5. "New Book – Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America". ANSWER Coalition. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  6. Puryear, Eugene (2013). Shackled and chained : mass incarceration in capitalist America. San Francisco. ISBN 978-0-9841220-8-0. OCLC 864307809.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. "Eugene Puryear". Liberation News. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  8. Party for Socialism and Liberation (2015). Imperialism in the 21st Century: Updating Lenin's Theory a Century Later. Liberation Media. pp. Copyright page. ISBN 978-0-9910303-2-3.
  9. "By Any Means Necessary". Spreaker. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  10. Puryear, Eugene (June 18, 2021). "Black Struggle is Class Struggle". Liberation School.
  11. Johnson, Jenna (August 16, 2007). "Antiwar Group Refuses To Back Down on Signs". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  12. "Thousands descend on White House to protest Gaza war". Agence France-Presse. January 9, 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  13. Simmons, Christine. "'Jena 6' protesters demand action by Justice Department". The Herald Journal. Associated Press. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  14. Pierre, Robert E. (February 22, 2005). "Rekindling Howard U.'s Activist Fire". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  15. Sommer, Will (3 September 2015). "Activist Judged: Eugene Puryear Reinvents Himself As One of the Mayor's Newest Foes". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  16. Beeferman, Jason (2023-10-08). "NYC pro-Palestine rally splits Democrats over Israel". POLITICO. Retrieved 2023-10-11. Eugene Puryear, who helped organize the event in behalf of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition, said the absence of the NY-DSA politicians at the event was telling.
  17. ""Apartheid Resistance Is Not Terrorism": Protesters Stand in Solidarity with Palestinians". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2023-10-11. Eugene Puryear: "The whole reason I'm yelling is because the powers that be in New York City and New York state don't want this rally to happen.
  18. Borges, Randolf (October 9, 2023). "New York becomes the center of pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protests". One of the protesters, named Eugene Puryear, said that city authorities "don't want us to have any sound amplifiers because they don't want the people of New York to hear us because they don't want people to know that the Palestinians are right to oppose to the occupation. Resistance to apartheid is not terrorism," he said.
  19. Free Palestine Rally after Hamas Attacked Israel / Times Square NYC 10.8.23, YouTube, retrieved 2023-10-12
  20. Gutenschwager, Brendan (2023-10-08). "video of protest". TWITTER. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  21. Stephens, Bret (2023-10-10). "Opinion | The Anti-Israel Left Needs to Take a Hard Look at Itself". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-12. "As you might have seen, there was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time, until the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters," a speaker said. "But I'm sure they're doing very fine despite what The New York Post says." He was met with cheers.
  22. "Socialist rally in Times Square praising Hamas terror attack draws widespread condemnation". Yahoo News. 2023-10-09. Retrieved 2023-10-12. "And as you might have seen, there was some sort of rave or desert party where they were having a great time, until the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters," one speaker joked about the Hamas assault on a desert rave, where horrific scenes of murder and rape took place.
  23. MacDougald, Park; Siegel, Jacob (October 10, 2023). "Israel at War". Tablet. listeners cheered a speaker who boasted … took out at least several dozen hipsters … That speaker, it turned out, was activist journalist Eugene Puryear
  24. "A rift over Israel threatens the left's fragile gains". Yahoo News. 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-14. Asked if he'd say the same thing again today, Puryear said he would.
  25. Winger, Richard (December 2011). "Party for Socialism and Liberation Announces Presidential Nominee". Ballot-access.org. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  26. Winger, Richard (July 24, 2015). "Party for Socialism and Liberation Announces 2016 Presidential Ticket". Ballot Access News. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  27. Ball, Molly (May 2016). "The Socialist Case Against Bernie". The Atlantic. Retrieved 1 November 2016.

Further reading
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