Green Party Watch

MarketWatch.com reports:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — On Tuesday, January 3, representatives of the Libertarian Party and the Green Party will join the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT*) — a national coalition of major Muslim organizations — and other civil liberties group leaders at a news conference in Iowa to express their opposition to the unconstitutional nature of the National Defense Authorization Act’s detention provisions.

This news conference is intended to convey a broad-based public response to President Obama’s signing into law of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that authorizes the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.

See the details at MarketWatch.com.

Earlier this year, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School Of Medicine had a scheduled concert in Tel Aviv, which led to pressure on him to cancel the concert to respect the Boycott movement against the Israeli State due to their Human Rights practices vis a vis Palestine.

It was an awkward situation, and Jello chose to cancel the concert, but he went to Israel anyway to see for himself what the conditions were on the ground. And then he wrote about it. Green Party Watch strongly recommends that you read Jello Biafra’s first hand account of his visit to Israel and Palestine. It includes video and pictures, and the length of the piece is a reflection of the depth that Jello Biafra put into this topic, this trip, and the controversy over the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) Movement.

Damon Eris writes at Poli-Tea Party (emphasis added):

There is an inspiring amount of third party and independent political activity happening at the occupation protests in New York and Washington DC.  Consider, for example, the case of the Greens.  In New York, Green party activists have been involved at Occupy Wall Street from the very first days of the protest.  A number of weeks ago a liaison from the party made an announcement at a general assembly pledging the full support of Green party activists all over the country and asking how Greens could help the movement.  A number of high profile Greens were present at the Freedom Plaza protests in Washington DC over the weekend, including Cheri Honkala, Howie Hawkins and Ralph Nader.  Now, it appears that Jill Stein, a former Green party candidate for governor of Massachusetts who is seeking the party’s nomination for president in 2012, has been visiting Occupy Boston in recent days and campaigning in support of the 99%. 

It is not difficult to understand why third party and independent activists would be attracted to the Occupy Everything protests spreading across the country.  A simple explanation is embedded in the movement’s most prominent slogan: We are the 99%.  The Democratic and Republican parties do not represent the interests of 99% of the American people.  They are the parties of the ruling financial oligarchy and political class.  They are the parties of the 1%. 

Democrats, obviously, are attempting to hijack this movement the same way the Republicans hijacked the Tea Party movement in 2009-2010 and the same way the Democrats hijacked the anti-war movement in 2005-2006.  At present, many participants in these protests appear to be vehemently intent upon maintaining their political independence.  Yet the same was true of Tea Party activists in the spring of 2009, and we know how that turned out.  The question is whether this movement will suffer the same fate.  The more important question is: what can be done to avert that outcome?

As someone who was active in the Tea Party movement until it was infiltrated and destroyed by the Republican party, I urge all Tea Party activists who have maintained at least a semblance of political independence to become involved in the occupation protests.  As an Independent, I urge all Independents to become active in this movement.  As an advocate of third party alternatives to the Democrat-Republican duopoly, I urge all third party activists to become involved in this movement.

Perhaps some may say they do not agree with the direction this movement is heading and refuse to become involved.  The funny thing is, if you become involved you can change its direction.  It is really that simple.   

JClifford writes at Irregular Times:

A week ago, I noted that the Occupy Boston protest was not just demanding social justice. The protesters were making social justice happen, by feeding homeless people who have been occupying the streets of Bean Town for a long, long time. That’s the kind of direct action that America needs more of. It deserves attention.

As it happens, a presidential candidate gave the Occupy Boston protest for very direct attention this weekend – by visiting the Occupy Boston encampment and talking with the protesters face to face. Who was it?

Mitt Romney lives in Massachusetts. It wasn’t him, though.

Barack Obama hasn’t visited any occupation movement protests. He sticks to friendly crowds in comfortable arenas, and to vague acknowledgement that the occupation protests are expressing “frustration”. What President Obama doesn’t seem to realize is that much of the frustration among the occupy groups is with his own anti-liberal agenda.

The presidential candidate who visited Occupy Boston this weekend is, like the occupation movement itself, neither Democrat nor Republican. She was Jill Stein, a Massachusetts doctor who is expected to formally announce her candidacy for the 2012 Green Party presidential nomination on October 24.

This afternoon, Occupy Boston is joining with other local groups, including Colleges Occupy Boston and Mass Uniting for a march from the bandstand on Boston Common to Dewey Square for a rally there. The march starts at 1:30 and the rally starts at 3:00.

Changeallulia!

Greens urge public works programs to provide millions of jobs and help convert America to a secure green economy

WASHINGTON, DC — Responding to President Obama’s speech Thursday night, the Green Party today called for a ‘Green New Deal’ to put Americans back to work while helping the US transition to a carbon-free green economy.

“We need a Green New Deal that will put all of the unemployed to work rebuilding America on the basis of an economically and ecologically sustainable prosperity. The green in the Green New Deal means we must go beyond the old New Deal and bring an environmental focus to our public investments, including clean manufacturing processes, to not only address the crisis of climate change but to build the foundation of a sustainable green economy,” said Jill Stein, co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts (http://www.massgreens.org) and author of “Jobs for All with a Green New Deal” (Green Papers, September 5, 2011, http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=164). read more »

Jill Stein, the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party’s 2010 candidate for governor, published an article on the Green-Rainbow Party website on Labor Day entitled “Jobs for All with a Green New Deal: We can eliminate unemployment while saving the planet”. Here is the article, which is well worth reading:

President Obama’s new job proposals are intended to send a political message that the President cares about the dismal state of the economy. But America needs a decisive and immediate solution, not a limited gesture for the unemployment emergency facing 25 million workers in need of full time jobs that aren’t there. read more »

David Korten, co-founder of YES Magazine and co-chair of the New Economy Working Group, was one of the featured speakers at the 2011 Green Party National Meeting in Alfred, New York. The complete text of his presentation is online at Green Papers. An excerpt:

America’s political future belongs to the party or movement that can provide a credible positive vision and program for America’s future. Among America’s political parties, only the Green Party is positioned to frame and build support for the missing vision and agenda. We desperately need a strong Green Party voice to help define the upcoming 2012 cycle political debates.

Most of the essential elements of a New Economy based on living system principles are already included in the Green US party platform. It remains only to pull it all together into a coherent, credible, compelling, and easily understood vision for America’s future.

And we are fortunate to have within our ranks a number of strong, politically and emotionally mature leaders with the potential to function as a strong politically savvy and publicly credible leadership team. America needs the Green Party and it is time to step up to the challenge of building a broad political base and mobilizing the funding required to make this party a coherent and effective national political force.

Read the full text of David Korten’s presentation “Agenda for a Green Economy” at Green Papers.

From the Weekly Press (Philadelphia) comes this piece from Chris Robinson, a Green Party organizer in Philadelphia:

Greens Oppose Philly’s Stop-and-Frisk
Weekly Press
• Wed, Aug 10, 2011

By Chris Robinson

“My father said if you are ever stopped by the police, you say, “Yes, Sir – No Sir.” Tell the officer what’s in your wallet. Don’t, don’t make no sudden moves and don’t run. Just get through whatever the situation is,’ Nutter said. ‘Those lessons stuck with me.’” [See, Philadelphia Daily News, June 22, 2011, page 3.]

During 2005, Philadelphia’s police made 102,319 pedestrian stops. When Michael Nutter became Mayor of Philadelphia in 2008, he ordered an increase in pedestrian stops under a policy commonly called “Stop-and-Frisk.” By 2009, pedestrian stops by police had increased 148 percent to 253,333. Of that total, 72 percent of the victims were African Americans, but only 8 percent of those pedestrian stops resulted in an arrest.

I, for one, would like to know what we should call the other 92 percent of those pedestrian stops. Were those 233,066 citizens “harassed by the police?” Were they “intimidated by the police?” Or should we say, “Their rights under the U.S. Constitution were violated?”

The Green Party has a history of opposition to stop-and-frisk. Under the heading “Racial Discrimination,” the Green Party national platform says, “We condemn the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies, which are guilty of stopping motorists, harassing individuals, or using unwarranted violence against suspects with no other justification than race or ethnic background.”

At a Philadelphia City Council hearing on December 14, 2010, Green Party leader Hugh Giordano, who had run for PA House of Representatives, made it clear that stop-and-frisk targets, urban, minority and young citizens. “This law is a form of Jim Crow law,” said Giordano, referring to discriminatory laws used to maintain segregation of the races. “It attacks a certain group of people, and the numbers and testimony shows it.” Giordano also criticized Philadelphia’s City Council for allowing stop-and-frisk to continue unabated.
read more »

The debt deal is a good reason for voters to give up on the Democratic and Republican parties in 2012, say Green leaders at the party’s 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY

• Video: Laura Wells, former Green candidate for the Governor of California, on the deficit fiasco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRfIcz6s-OY

• Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party’s national meeting, broadcast and archived on the Green Party’s Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus / More information on the meeting and Green Fest: http://nygreenfest.org

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party candidates, officeholders, leaders, and state delegates meeting at the party’s 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, New York, said that the Budget Control Act of 2011 should be the final straw for many voters, and encouraged Democrats and Republicans angry at their parties to vote Green in the 2012 election.

Greens attending the meeting called the budget deal a surrender by Democratic and Republican Party leaders to the most extreme elements of the GOP. read more »

Jason West, Mayor of New Paltz, New York, speaks with Rachel Maddow on the topic of same sex marriage. Jason West became one of the most popular Green Mayors several years ago when he defied state law and chose to marry dozens of gay couples from the steps of city hall under threat of arrest. (Sorry but you have to wade through 2 minutes of Obama Propaganda to get to the West interview):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

-Mckinney to speak in Los Angeles on Saturday June 18th!!

EYEWITNESS LIBYA: CYNTHIA MCKINNEY REPORTS BACK ON THE MASSIVE BOMBIMG OF TRIPOLI
-Mckinney to speak in Los Angeles on Saturday June 18th!!

-Cynthia Mckinney was the 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate along with Vice Presidential Candidate Rosa Clemente.

The ANSWER Coalition is sponsoring a nationwide speaking tour featuring former Congressional representative and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, who is currently in Libya on her second fact-finding mission. McKinney will offer an eyewitness report exposing the truth that has been concealed by the western corporate media.

Also speaking on the tour will be Akbar Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition.

McKinney and the other speakers will shed light on the devastating impact of the U.S./NATO bombing of Libya and the extensive civilian casualties that the White House, Pentagon and the media have persistently denied. McKinney is currently on her second trip to Libya during the NATO bombing. During her time there, she has visited several hospitals, and has conducted video interviews with doctors and the wounded.

Under the guise of humanitarian intervention and protecting civilians, NATO has carried out a massive bombing of Africa’s largest oil producer. McKinney’s report shows how devastating the bombing has been for civilians in Tripoli and elsewhere.