For the very first time African states acted together during 2009’s Copenhagen negotiations on global warming. During the 90s, African green movements made a first, timid appearance. To this day they are struggling to get their voices heard by powerful traditional parties, although the continent has not been spared by deforestation, coastal erosion and pollution.
“Twenty years on, going green is finally a reality,” says Ram Ouedraogo of the Burkina Faso environmentalist coalition. “Much is yet to be done in both regional and continental levels. We can be hopeful today because future support looks brighter.”
Thanks to the arrival of multiparty systems, environmentalist parties mushroomed in the 90s, even though campaigning groups had become aware of the need to preserve the environment long before that.
Pat Saunders, a Green Party member running in the Ohio Green Party primary for the legislature, has been removed from the ballot. One of his circulators is considered to be ineligible to circulate a petition for a candidate running in a Green Party primary, because in 2008 she voted in a Democratic primary. See this story.
Saunders could still be the Green nominee if he receives 25 votes write-in votes in the Green Party primary. However, he must file as a declared write-in quite soon, in order to attempt that.
Posted by Dave Schwab at March 9th, 2010 · No Comments
The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party has a snazzy new website at greenrainbow.org. In addition to the new look, the site has a Campaign 2010 link with profiles of candidates Jill Stein (governor), Nat Fortune (state auditor), and Scott Laugenour (state rep, 4th Berkshire). The site also has links to Green-Rainbow profiles on various social media websites. Check out the new site at greenrainbow.org.
Chicago’s 55th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be a little bit Greener than years past, but Rich Whitney needs your enthusiasm to paint Chicago a different shade of politics!
The Whitney for Governor campaign will need festive parade marchers and canvassers to greet hundreds of folks, to gather their contact information, and to get them excited about empowering Illinois with its first Green governor! Candidates LeAlan Jones (U.S. Senate) and Tom Tresser (Cook County Board President) will also be present. Let’s recreate Patrick’s sainthood by driving the snakes out of Springfield!
If you would like to participate in the parade, please contact: [Read more →]
Posted by Dave Schwab at March 8th, 2010 · 3 Comments
From Rich Whitney, Green candidate for governor of Illinois who earned over 10% of the vote for governor in 2006:
From Rich Whitney:
As I left Chicago this morning, I picked up today’s Sunday Tribune and was dismayed to see, once again, the Tribune treat the governor’s race as a two-person race. The Trib is acting as if 2006 never happened. This is unacceptable. I would ask you, my supporters, especially those of you who live in or near Chicago or who subscribe to the Trib, to call or write the Trib ASAP and let them know that this is unacceptable and cannot be permitted to continue. We may need to seriously consider a more publicly visible action, like a walking picket outside the Trib offices, as a next step, if this persists.
Posted by Dennis Spisak at March 6th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Yesterday we had the pleasure of learning that the Secretary of State had qualified us for the May Primary Ballot and the November Ballot for the Governor’s Race here in the State of Ohio!
I would like to thank my army of volunteers who went across the state to gather our signatures. We had widespread support for our candidacy from Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo, and throughout the Buckeye State.
The people of Ohio are tired of government controlled by just the Democrats and Republicans. They no longer want the corporate politics of the two major parties. They want straight talk and straight answers to the problems facing Ohio, more blue-green jobs and greater employment opportunities, better funding of public schools, a cleaner environment, and single payer health care for all Ohioans.
These are issues the Democrats and Republicans fail to address and fail to offer any meaningful solutions too. Our campaign for Governor will address these issues, and will work towards finding 21st century solutions to these 21st century problems.
Posted by Dave Schwab at March 3rd, 2010 · 3 Comments
Brent McMillan, Green Party Political Director, wrote an article entitled “A vision for the midterm: stage is set for Green breakthrough” for the latest issue of Green Pages:
We are well positioned going into the 2010 mid-term, but without the accompanying work this is meaningless. Just having the right message is not enough. The 2006 mid-term was the second strongest for independents and third-party Candidates since 1934. This year could be even bigger, as there is great dissatisfaction with both Democrats and Republicans.
Posted by Dave Schwab at March 2nd, 2010 · 4 Comments
Citizen Tleilax recently blogged about his reasons for writing the California League of Conservation Voters to request that they include Green Party candidate for California Governor Laura Wells in their website “GreenGov2010″. Activism to support Green inclusion in media, debates, voter guides, etc. is extremely valuable, as I wrote in a reply that I’ll post below.
In general, I value open discussion and the consideration of multiple perspectives when searching for solutions to particular issues. I feel that weighing what everyone has to say is a crucial process in formulating a stance on something, and whenever I neglect to do this I end up wishing that I had been more thorough. This is why it is very important to not limit our sources for information to only a few channels–if we do we tend to absorb the bias inherent in them. Naturally, it can be assumed that just about everything is biased, making it our duty to analyze multiple perspectives if we intend to have as logical and objective an opinion as possible.
When it comes to politics this is of the highest importance, because both public policy and public edification is at stake. The two-party system has a stranglehold on America, and it actively attempts to prevent the public from hearing critical perspectives that are necessary for understanding issues. “Third” parties such as the Green Party and Libertarian Party represent these wrongfully suppressed perspectives on issues, and when they are consistently excluded from the forum, everybody loses.
Posted by Dave Schwab at March 2nd, 2010 · 1 Comment
“A real Tea Party movement would look like the Green Party”: Greens urge Americans to reject corporate royalists and faux populists like Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin, citing Jefferson’s warning about “the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations”
Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on health care reform, democracy, corporate power, and related issues: http://www.gp.org/speakers
WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders and candidates said that many Tea Party activists might be in the wrong party and urged them to consider going Green. [Read more →]
Posted by Dave Schwab at March 2nd, 2010 · No Comments
Green Party Nominates Packer for U.S. Senate, Bortz for US House, D’Agostino, Giordano, Farrington and Sweeney for State Rep.
Monroeville, PA – On Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010, the Green Party of Pennsylvania
approved nominations for six candidates to compete in the November general
election. Long-time peace activist Mel Packer will be at the top of the
ticket as the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate. [Read more →]
