Green Party Watch

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders, mourning the recent death of Njere Akosua Aminah Alghanee (‘Sister Courage’), national co-chair of National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA, http://www.ncobra.org), reaffirmed the party’s dedication to reparations for the descendents of enslaved Africans in the United States.

On June 24, Njere Alghanee had just returned from the US Social Forum in Detroit with plans to attend the annual meeting of N’COBRA in New Orleans the next day when her life was taken in a tragic auto accident.  June 24, 2010 was her 58th birthday.

“The Green Party, especially the party’s Black Caucus, has had a strong alliance with N’COBRA and has supported the demand for reparations.  We send our condolences and solidarity with Sister Courage’s family, friends, and fellow leaders in N’COBRA.  We honor her leadership,” said Alfred Molison, candidate for Houston City Council, District C (http://votealfred.com).

Members of the Green Party in attendance at the US Social Forum and the Green Party’s Annual National Meeting in Detroit heard the news on June 25.  The Detroit meeting began a process of considering revisions to the Party’s national Platform; including an amendment offered by the Georgia Green Party and the Green Party Black Caucus on which Ms. Alghanee had been consulted, to strengthen language supporting reparations already in the Green Party Platform (http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#999024). read more »

WASHINGTON, DC — The Obama Administration’s current plans to roll back Social Security and mortgage off all public housing amount to privatization schemes to dismantle public services, said Green Party candidates and leaders.

“President Obama is trying to accomplish what Republicans have long dreamed about — privatizing public services and resources,” said Rick Staggenborg, MD, Oregon Pacific Green Party candidate for the US Senate (http://staggenborgforussenate.org).  (Dr. Staggenborg is founder of Soldiers For Peace International and a member of the Alliance For Democracy National Council.)

President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is expected to recommend cutting Social Security for future retirees, and the president himself has said “everything has to be on the table.”  The commission is stacked with conservatives hostile to Social Security. read more »

Greens call for an end to the “bipartisan economic war” on Blacks and Latinos/as, who suffer the brunt of the subprime crisis and economic meltdown

• Green Party urges a program for millions of new public works jobs and financial security for Americans instead of Wall Street handouts read more »

In Texas’ largest city, three Greens are making a team effort to get elected to Houston City Council. Deborah Shafto, Don Cook, and Alfred Molison are running as “The Progressive Coalition”, with a platform focused on public transportation, recycling, living wage, issue advocacy, policing, and public safety. They hope to guide Houston to a less car-centered future, introduce neighborhood programs like farmers’ markets and community gardens, implement a plan to reduce landfill waste by 90% by 2040, enact a citywide living wage, move to a medically-focused (rather than criminally-focused) drug policy, and convince the city council to voice support for the single-payer bill HR 676.

Texas, the second most populous state after California, has been hard for the Green Party to get a foothold in. Texas Greens briefly gained ballot status in 2000, but lost it and haven’t managed to get back on the statewide ballot since then. However, Green locals in Texas have remained active, and Kat Swift of San Antonio ran for the Green presidential nomination in 2008. Support for candidates like Deborah Shafto, Don Cook and Alfred Molison will strengthen Green locals in Texas, helping the Texas Greens build the organizational capacity to take on challenges like getting back on the ballot and promoting a clean energy future in the heart of America’s oil industry.

As part of their team effort, Shafto, Cook and Molison are sharing all funds they raise equally. You can help this trailblazing Green campaign to succeed, and promote Green growth in Texas, by donating to Deborah Shafto, Don Cook, and Alfred Molison today at their website progressivecoalitionhouston.com.

If you prefer to donate by mail, write a check payable to “Progressive Coalition” and send to:

Progressive Coalition
c/o Mary Cook
7954 Glenheath St.
Houston TX 77061

Please include a completed contribution form so that we can fulfill our disclosure reporting requirements.