Socialist Equality Party to Run Jerry White for US President

The Socialist Equality Party in the United States will run candidates in the 2012 elections. The SEP candidate for president is Jerry White; the vice presidential candidate is Phyllis Scherrer. White and Scherrer will run against the Democrats and Republicans, on the basis of a socialist program.

In a statement published today by the World Socialist Web Site, White outlined the basis of the SEP campaign. The statement calls for: the unity of workers internationally against austerity; social equality through the redistribution of wealth; opposition to war and attacks on democratic rights; and the building of a working class political party.

White, 52, has been active in the socialist movement for more than three decades. In 2008, he ran as the SEP candidate for president in opposition to Barack Obama and John McCain. As a reporter for the WSWS, he has written on the struggles of auto workers, coal miners and other sections of the working class. Most recently, he has covered the struggle of locked-out Cooper Tire workers in Findlay, Ohio.

"This will be a year of growing resistance by the working class in the United States and around the world," White said. "Our campaign will fight to unify these struggles and direct them to a political fight against the capitalist system. The US is ripe for a socialist movement."

Phyllis Scherrer, 48, is a schoolteacher in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. "Millions of workers and young people voted for Obama, looking for change," Scherrer said. "Three years later, the administration has revealed itself to be a right-wing instrument of the banks and corporations."

White and Scherrer will be touring the country in February and March to hold meetings, give interviews and explain the basis of their campaign.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Jerry White or Phyllis Scherrer, visit www.socialequality.com, contact the SEP campaign offices at 313-409-8083 or email 2012@socialequality.com