Activist/actor Danny Glover endorses John Edwards [View All]

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=195094

The Danny Glover Primary
John Nichols

Few prominent activists are more willing to put their time and energy into the struggle for economic and social justice than actor Danny Glover. The man who describes himself "as a child of the Civil Rights Movement" has been stirring things up since his days as a member of the Black Students Union at San Francisco State University in the 1960s.

In the 1980s, he was an outspoken critic of U.S. support for the death squads of Central America the apartheid regime in South Africa. The latter campaigning led to his selection to serve as the chairman of the board of TransAfrica Forum, the Washington-based group that plays a critical role in lobbying U.S. policymakers on behalf of African and Caribbean countries. At home in the U.S., Glover has picketed with striking workers, marched for immigrant rights and tirelessly campaigned against the war in Iraq.

All that activism has made Glover a well-regarded figure on the political left. After years of turning to him to aid their strikes, rallies and teach-ins, activists take the actor's commitments and endorsements seriously. I got a sense of the regard for Glover when I introduced him in January to 4,000 activists from across the country at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis -- the standing ovation and the deafening applause made it clear that this man has a following that is rooted in far more than his Hollywood-star status.

So who is Glover backing for the Democratic nomination for president in 2008?

John Edwards.

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