DA China is taking a moment to highlight members of our community and board.

Interview of Luc Bronder-Giroux by Alexander Lee

Luc Bronder-Giroux grew up in the Boston area, where he still votes today. He moved to China for undergrad at Fudan University after high school and now works in corporate communications in Shanghai.

His political awakening was a process of rejecting American-style “liberalism,” which he saw repeatedly betraying “progressive” values. He has increasingly looked for solutions in leftist politics and theory.

He first encountered DA while attempting to get involved with the Bernie Sanders campaign. Since then, he has done some basic campaign canvassing at bars and festivals, met a ton of politically active Americans, and volunteered to register voters. In the last few months, he has also organized a few get-togethers to discuss progressive issues, started a small book club, and launched an ongoing series of “debate watch parties” for the Democratic National Primaries.

“Learning what issues people truly care about—and why—has been extremely rewarding. When we talk in those terms, the compassion and fundamental goodness that shines through is incredibly energizing and hope-inspiring,” says Luc.

He believes that our lack of power to force systemic change is the root of what he calls our “decaying democracy and the betrayal of the poor and working class.” So, building this political power—through radical labor organizing and social movements—is the necessary first step toward progress on any issue.

He believes that the Democrats are faced with an existential challenge: will they stand for the interests of the poor and working people, or will they continue to be a party of big business? This question must be answered at every level.

In its ideology and interests, our party is currently indistinguishable from the Republicans in his view, except in the most egregious acts of inhumanity (which suck up the majority of media attention). So, our task is to force the party to radically transform, both in its ideology (to some kind of eco-socialism) and in the group of people whose interests it represents (which should be those who primarily earn a living by working for a wage).

“I would encourage anyone who suspects there’s something wrong with our political and economic systems (and therefore society) to join a leftist reading group with an open mind,” says Luc, who volunteers with the Progressive Caucus for Democrats Abroad. “Getting involved offline and in real life is the key.”

DA China is taking a moment to highlight members of our community and board.

Interview of Faith Gary, Member-at-Large, by Alexander Lee

Faith Gary is in her third year as an at-large board member and the self-described “Auntie” of Democrats Abroad China. A native Atlantan, though she has lived in about eight other states, Faith says, “Georgia will always be home.” 

She has seen most of China’s major landmarks, and has lived in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. While she has traveled a bit, China is the only country outside of the United States where she has lived. She has taught the lower primary grades in international schools throughout China over the past ten years. 

She grew up watching television alongside her dad. From the nightly news broadcasts of the late 1960s, wherein they tallied the daily death toll of American soldiers in Vietnam, to the Watergate coverage in the early ’70s, to the numerous Olympic and professional sports events in between. Her dad would pontificate on his liberal Democratic ideals and she came to adopt those same ideals — Truth, Liberty and Justice for all, racial equality, and a belief in science (her dad was a biologist with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), based in Atlanta).

She watched as her dad sang the national anthem with all his heart before each sporting event and during the Olympic medal ceremonies, and she learned to do the same. When she was in her high school marching band, she played the anthem more times than she can recount…and she never tired of it!

That patriotic strain has always been present in her life. Even on the morning of September 11, 2001, she was dressed in a red, white, and blue souvenir T-shirt from Washington, DC, and American flag earrings at a Mothers in Prayer meeting at her daughter’s Christian school when the first news of the attack came in. That moment, when several moms’ phones went off simultaneously, she will never forget.

In the ensuing days and months, she found it laughable when Republicans decried any wish to improve America as “hating” America. Any desire to improve the country for all Americans became, in their rhetoric, a desire to change America into something unrecognizable... a socialist state! These partisans swore that Obama “hated” America, even as he won re-election.

So in 2016 when her Dad, by then blind with age, warned her that 45 was going to win, she, like so many of us, could not take that possibility seriously. “Noooo, we’re better than that, aren’t we?” thought Faith, but her Dad warned, “He’s telling [xenophobic, homophobic, anti-choice, and racist voters] exactly what they want to hear.” Her Dad’s prediction was right.

After looking at statistics, it became apparent to Faith that Steve Bannon had helped 45 play the Electoral College game. By appealing to enough racists in three key states, 45 won the majority of Electoral College votes by less than 78,000 votes.

78,000 votes. The entire direction of our great nation turned on that paltry number, because millions of eligible voters passed up on the election, or cast so-called “protest votes.” Faith got involved in DACN because she wanted to play a role in recapturing those lost votes.

Her primary interest is in voter education and registration. She is passionate about helping expats vote absentee from abroad.

“It’s my heart’s desire to see a Blue Tsunami sweep over the nation in November 2020,” she told me. “If the other 98% voted, the top 2% would lose power.”

She truly believes that if we voted the Democratic Party into power in both houses of Congress and the Oval Office, following up the election with a steady stream of pressure for progressive reforms, we could see the changes our country so desperately needs.

Interested in becoming a Democrats Abroad member? Join us on our Facebook or WeChat.