Tag: Greens

May 18 2015

Anti-Capitalist Meetup: A Catastrophic British Election Result, where do we go from here?

By NY Brit Expat

Like everyone else, I got it wrong. I was expecting a Tory minority government propped up by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) if needed to get legislation passed.

It was also clear that the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) had been courting the Tories hoping for another small shot at power; their slogan that “they would give the Tories a heart and Labour a brain” really made me think that they had never understood the Wizard of Oz; if they had, they would have realised that the Wizard was a fraud who only granted what the Tin man (heart) and Straw man (a brain) already had; provision of a testimonial and a diploma do not change reality, only perceptions of reality. I wondered who wrote their script; revealing that you are frauds is never a good idea for a political party.

I was at a friend’s house planning to watch the beginning of the election results there and then I saw the exit polls. I gasped and my stomach screamed! I thought surely this was wrong. I grasped at straws: it didn’t include postal votes, people do not always tell the truth (in the US people deny that they wouldn’t vote for a person of colour as they do not openly want to admit their racism) … I went home to watch a national nightmare unfold (one does not put a fist through your friends’ only telly, it is certainly not good guest behaviour).  

The exit polls (316 Conservatives/Tories, 239 Labour, 58 SNP, 10 Liberal Democrats, 2 UKIP, 2 Greens, 4 Plaid Cymru) actually underestimated the extent of the damage. The Tories were predicted to be heading towards a minority government; I thought that was bad enough, but it was nothing compared to the final result.

While I knew that the Lib Dems were signing their own death warrant by joining the Tories in coalition, I thought that they would lose seats in the Labour heartlands (Northwest and Northeast) squeezed by Labour, lose their seats in University towns that they won from their opposition to the Iraq war (due to their support of increasing university tuition fees which they opposed in their manifesto). I expected student votes to go to the Greens, but not enough to give them the seats which went to Labour), but I thought that they would hold historical bases of support in Devon and Cornwall (where the main opposition is Tory); I had underestimated the obvious fact that why vote Tory-lite when you can have the Tories in all their glory?

I knew Labour would suffer severe losses in Scotland (their unionism during the elections, corruption of Labour councils up there, the uselessness of the carrot offered by Gordon Brown towards the end of the referendum and strong opposition to austerity in Scotland), but wiped out except for 1 seat in Glasgow was more than I expected. In Scotland, I knew that the Lib Dems would hold Orkney (and lose everything else; I stayed up to watch Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander‘s head roll which given everything else was a small bright spot in election results); the Tories have been very weak in Scotland for a while, so their having one seat near the Scottish borders does not surprise me at all. But the Scottish National Party winning 56 seats was beyond my expectations (and their own, I think).

I went to bed at 6:30am stressed out and still hoping for a Tory minority government. I woke up to a political nightmare. The Tories have won a majority, they do not need the DUP, they do not need UKIP (who only won 1 seat anyway; small favours, but they took their first local council in Thanet). They most certainly do not need the Lib Dems; who will be very lonely sitting in Parliament.

Nov 22 2011

While Obama Campaigns for Extending Cuts to Safety Net Funding, Stein Calls for Liberal Policies

As Barry Obama stumps for extending the payroll tax cut designed to cripple Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in New Hampshire, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is promoting what she calls a Green New Deal to help put Americans back to work fixing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and finding cleaner, renewable ways to fuel things.

The tenets of her plan include building infrastructure and public transportation, supporting sustainable agriculture, developing clean and renewable energy and restructuring the nation’s manufacturing base.

“There is a strong economic argument that unemployment is more expensive than a plan to deal with unemployment,” Stein said.

The plan’s details have not been worked out, according to Stein, but she said it would be a community-based effort that extends to the local level. Her plan would aim to create 17 million new jobs, and she said that, through a multiplier effect, those 17 million would translate into the 25 million needed to achieve full employment.

And that’s not all.  Unlike Obama, whose record of suppressing civil liberties reads like something out of some other third world dictatorship, Stein is coming out swinging against the assaults by cops against Occupiers.

“The aggressive, needless police actions across the country against Occupy Wall Street (OWS) are an assault on civil liberties and an effort to suppress a much needed movement for economic justice and democracy,” said Stein, a Green Party member and past candidate in Massachusetts elections. “The courageous protesters who have stood up to intimidation by lethal force are standing up for us all.”

In the statement, Stein called upon mayors in occupied cities to “follow the example of Green Party Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, Cali., who welcomed the local occupation” and contrasts that with videos and reports from Wall Street, UC Berkley and Occupy Oakland, which she says show public officials are “suppressing rights of free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press.”

“The use of police in full riot gear with helicopters buzzing overhead to arrest peaceful and largely sleeping protesters is frightening commentary on the militarization of state and municipal security,” Stein said i nthe statement. “Unprovoked police violence against citizens practicing peaceful civil disobedience – clearly documented on videos gone viral on the Internet – is deeply alarming.”

Small wonder then, that in a mock election held earlier this month in Illinois (the largest in the nation), Stein and the Greens garnered twenty-seven percent of the vote.

The mock primary/caucus process produced three tickets: Democrats nominated Barack Obama for President and Hillary Clinton for Vice-President; Republicans nominated Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan; Greens nominated Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay. Then, at the mock general election, the results were 39% for the Democratic ticket, 33% for the Republican ticket, 27% for the Green ticket, and 1% other.

Libertarians were involved but they chose to work for Ron Paul in the mock Republican convention. Jill Stein spoke on campus, and this obviously helped the Green campaign, because no other actual presidential candidates appeared on campus.

In a race that, no thanks to Obama’s endless and ongoing betrayals of the public interest to curry favor with the top 1%, may be so much closer than it should be, that twenty-seven percent could make the difference.  This isn’t a bad thing by any means; Stein’s candidacy seems to be having an effect already by forcing Obama to adopt policies he ordinarily wouldn’t.  (For example, Hopey McChangerton seemed last week to back off of plans to open up even more public lands to oil drilling.)

The biggest problem of the 2012 election won’t just be the ongoing right-wing policies that have turned America into a fascist police state, but the exclusion of any left-wing voices from the national dialog.  But if Jill Stein keeps up her campaign and manages to resonate with more voters, this could change.

Oct 27 2010

A Green who can beat the Chicago Machine

Progressives often claim that they will gladly support Greens when they see a Green campaign that can win. Well, here's a Green who can win and a chance to put your money where your mouth is:

Jeremy Karpen's clean-money Green campaign for the IL State Assembly is poised to pull off an upset victory against his Chicago Machine opponent.

Jeremy and his volunteers have already knocked on 7,000 doors and made 3,000 phone calls. Jeremy has earned enthusiastic endorsements from leading newspapers, unions, and voter groups.

At this critical moment, Jeremy needs to raise $3,000 to air a bilingual TV ad, “I support Jeremy Karpen/Yo Apoyo a Jeremy Karpen.”

Watch the ad and make a donation at www.jeremykarpen.org/content/put-jeremy-tv.

Oct 20 2010

About that “Green” Lt. Gov Candidate- You’ll Find This Interesting

Jimi Castillo, the Native American  Green candidate for Lt. Gov, is affiliated by name with a tribe is on the verge of getting official recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on whether they are about to get official recognition so they could build a casino.  That decision was supposed to be made Oct 4th, but it’s been delayed post election to Dec 15th, no doubt to see how the election plays out plus this state is so amazingly crooked with this Casino lobbyist money flying like confetti everywhere at this time of year.

I don’t know of any Southern CA Indian tribes (or even the ones up here) with official tribal recognition which support Democrats.  

That being said, Mr. Castillo himself is an honorable person, other than his bio on his website is a bit sketchy,  but I am now pretty sure after my little side trip thru the archives that he definitely being backed by unseen business interests that would prefer to keep it that way.  THAT is also typical so that tribes can gain public media name recognition.

Hopefully his candidacy will not result in sticking us with Maldonado for a full term.  I really don’t think the anti climate change and anti women’s reproductive rights Maldonado is a net improvement over Newsom.  

Jimi Castillo is called, or refers to himself in interviews, as a Tongva, a Tongva Achjachemen (spelled several ways),   Gabriellino / Tongva ,   a Gabrielino – Tongva.

He is also mentioned on the Kumeyaay Tribal website news pages.

This site already did a background check on him http://www.newagefraud.org/smf…

The Achjachemen are also called the Juaneno.

Here’s the webpage for the Gabrielino – Tongva tribe  http://www.gabrielinotribe.org…

Here’s the webpage of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation

http://www.acjachemennation.co…

They all fall into the category of the Mission Bands of Indians who lived on the coastline of Southern CA from LA to San Diego area at the time of the invasion of the Spanish, 1769, when the Spanish re named them after whatever Mission they were living near.  

The fight over Federal BIA tribal recognition is of course, splitting off tribal factions.

He (Jimi Castillo, the Lt Gov candidate)  worked as an employee for the Herman G Stark Youth Prison for 20+ years until they laid him off last year.  He conducted weekly sweat lodges for the inmates.     They changed it over to an adult prison.  


Kumeyaay News

Sweat Lodge tradition ends at Stark site in Chino

http://www.kumeyaay.com/kumeya…

Castillo is outspoken about his troubles with drugs and alcohol. This is his 28th year being sober.

“I had a troubled youth,” Castillo said. “I would go to psychologists, priests, ministers….They would seem to give up on me just when I was ready to open up and spill my guts.”

Born and raised in Whittier, Castillo is a member of the Tongva tribe and now lives with his wife, Jeanette, in Rancho Cucamonga. Before being hired at Stark in 1998, Castillo worked as a cabinet maker. As a spiritual leader, he volunteered at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco and began volunteering at Stark in 1989.

I think working as a woodworker is also an honorable profession and I don’t see why that isn’t also mentioned on his campaign website.

I can find NO campaign finance filings with the state of CA for this candidate, not even who is his campaign manager and treasurer, which is typical of all the CA Greens I’ve looked at this cycle. (  We have one here in this district which has nothing I can find filed with the Federal EC, either.  )

Federal Recognition for Juaneno (Acjachemen) Tribe is pending, fr Sept 9th

9/9/10

http://www.ocregister.com/arti…

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – After nearly three decades of seeking federal recognition, a divided Juaneño Band of Mission Indians could get a final answer in the next few weeks.

R. Lee Fleming, director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Federal Acknowledgment, said in a letter to one of the tribal leaders that the office is making a final determination and that a decision is anticipated on or before Oct. 4.

If the Juaneños – also known as the Acjachemen Nation – become a tribe in the eyes of the federal government, the group will be recognized as a sovereign nation. This means it would be allowed to buy land anywhere in the United States for a reservation, where it could govern itself, get federal aid for things such as education and health care and, under federal law, be allowed to build a casino.


9/9/10

http://www.ocregister.com/news…

Final decision on Juanenos now expected by Dec 15

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – A decision on whether the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians will get federal recognition is now expected on or before Dec. 15, a ruling pushed back more than two months since it was originally anticipated.

R. Lee Fleming, director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Federal Acknowledgment, informed petitioners of the new decision deadline in a new letter dated Sept 24

“… the Office of the Solicitor General and the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs need this extension to allow for review of the recommended decisions,” the letter said in part.

The petitioning groups had expected a decision, called final determination, on or before Oct. 4, which was the date set in a previous letter by Fleming.

The divided group has been seeking federal recognition for nearly three decades.

In 2007, the Bureau of Indian Affairs dealt the Juaneños a setback in their continuing effort to become a federally-recognized American Indian tribe, saying the group did not meet four of the seven criteria required.

The negative finding indicated that if the group cannot provide more evidence, it will not be considered a tribe under federal law, a status that would allow it to own land, build a casino and get federal aid for things such as education and health care.

The lobbyists working this routine in DC  are not using the tribe’s name “Juaneno Band of Mission Indians” in this Casino tribal recognition wrangling, but calling them by the client name of a Texas lobbying company called “Hard Count.”

This is a BIG SH*T money deal to try to get a Casino opened in Los Angeles.  You see how it says Connecticut below ?  That’s Abramoff related,  and it even is Doolittle related, altho that’s another story.   You even have SoCal Rep. John Campbell(R, CA 48 ) chiming in, but he’s just trying to protect the turf of already established Casinos that are already funding Republicans.


Lobbyists spar over unrecognized tribe  9/9/2007

http://www.politico.com/news/s…

Two prominent Washington lobbying firms are representing rival factions of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians.

On one side is David Belardes and a Texas firm called Hard Count. Their lobbyist is Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a Republican-heavy firm with ties to the Bush administration and a firm that recently represented anti-recognition foes in Connecticut.

On the other side is Anthony Rivera, whose lobbyist is Paul Moorehead of Drinker Biddle & Reath. Moorehead was the Republican chief counsel for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Belardes and Rivera both claim to control the Juaneno Band. Whoever is in charge could land a lucrative casino near Los Angeles.

___

Suspicion is fueled by Hard Count’s contract. Its president, Billy Horton, is in line to receive 5 percent of the tribe’s business revenue for seven years if, at any point, the annual revenue exceeds $10 million.

___

Rivera’s lobbyist, Paul Moorehead, a former chief counsel to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, reported being paid $20,000 in his 2007 midyear disclosure form. Rivera denied having any connection to gaming but said he would not disclose the identity of donors to the tribe.

The lobbying firm Barbour Griffith Rogers (BGR) worked to REVOKE tribal recognition for 2 Indian tribes in Connecticut in 2005.  

Haley Barbour used to be a lobbyist with Jack Abramoff a long time ago.

Barbour Griffith Rogers also has a client list that would make your liberal head explode.  This includes the Iraqi Kurds, the same foreign government who use the Republican PR firm King Media aka the Russo Marsh/ Move America Forward / Tea Party Express.

Yes, I said Kurds and Tea Party Express, those swiftboating nuts who are currently running Tea Party candidates Sharron Angle against Harry Reid and Christine O’ Donnell in Delaware and Joe Miller in Alaska.  Or at least doing lots of “independent expenditures” for them.

This Shinnecock Nation Indian Casino feud in the Southhamptons of Connecticut has been going on for years, from 2003 – .    This year 2010 the Federal govt. finally recognized them as a tribe.

Another other tribe which was unrecognized was the Schaghticoke.  Also the Pequot were tossed out.


September 27 2009

http://www.indiancountrytoday….

NEW YORK – Almost five years to the date after the BIA issued a devastating reversal of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation’s federal acknowledgment, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the nation’s ongoing quest to restore its federal status.

The BIA recognized STN in a Final Determination Jan. 29, 2004, then reversed its decision on Columbus Day, Oct. 12, 2005, in an unprecedented Reconsidered Final Determination, taking away the federal acknowledgment of both the Schaghticoke and Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation.

In addition to direct contact with officials in the White House, Interior and the BIA, the lobbying was so fierce that it included the first termination bill in Congress since the 1960s, sponsored by a former Connecticut congresswoman, and a threat by a Virginia congressman to go to the White House and have former Interior Secretary Gale Norton fired if she didn’t reverse STN’s federal acknowledgment.

Jimi Castillo’s bio on his campaign website does not mention the Juaneno tribal name, nor any of the ongoing efforts by the two rival factions to get the Juaneno Acjachemen tribe official BIA Federal recognition.

This is just sort of ….. odd.


http://www.jimicastillo.org/bi…

Biography

Jimi Castillo (Tongva / Acjachemen), a respected Native American spiritual leader, has served as a mentor for young men at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility.  Born and raised in Whittier, California, Castillo is a Pipe Keeper and Sun Dancer for the People. He is also a proud member of the statewide Bear Clan Society and a Marine Corps veteran (1960 to 1965).  Jimi participated on the Board of Directors and also contributed as a counselor for the Southeast Area Counseling Center in Santa Fe Springs, California, actively helps plan and staff  UCLA’s annual Graduation Powwow and Youth Leadership Conference and donates much time to work with the UCLA Native American Student Association. Jimi is married to Jeanette Castillo and has four children and nine grandchildren.

Mr. Castillo has done much good in the world with his prison counseling work and in his efforts to protect Native American burial grounds in the Southern California area.

This does not mean on November 5th, because the Greens drew away so much support, that  I want to see the state of California with an ex e Bay executive billionaire Republican who bought the seat as Governor, a global climate change denier Republican as Lt. Governor,  and the woman who outsourced Hewlett Packard and never missed a photo opp with John McCain as Senator.   Especially with McCain being on the Senate’s Dept of the Interior Committee for Indian Affairs.    

Hard to compete for attention with this-


Be An Abel Fan   –  Abel Maldonado ’10 for Lt Governor

Fundraiser in Highland, California

Special Guests Gloria & Emilio Estefan

Where: San Manuel Casino

When: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 5:00 PM

Hosted by:

Alex Meruelo and Luis Armona

Special Guests Gloria & Emilio Estefan

VIP Dinner and Concert

$10,000 Per Couple

Oct 07 2010

Green Campaigns to Watch: Jeremy Karpen for Illinois Assembly

Jeremy Karpen is running for Illinois State Assembly in the 39th District, which covers Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. Karpen first ran against incumbent Toni Berrios, the daughter of gambling lobbyist and Chicago Democratic machine insider Joseph Berrios, in 2008, earning 21% of the vote despite being massively outspent. This year, Karpen's strong grassroots campaign and commitment to clean, progressive politics have earned him endorsements from Independent Voters of Illinois, Chicago Progressive Democrats of America, and the Chicago Tribune.

In endorsing Karpen, the Chicago Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America called him “an advocate for single payer health care” and proclaimed that he would be “the progressive voice in the Illinois General Assembly”.

The Chicago Sun-Times endorsed Karpen over Berrios in 2008, but the Chicago Tribune endorsement was unexpected, since the Tribune had previously sided with Berrios. This year, the Tribune called Berrios a “loyal soldier siding with entrenched power in Springfield” and agreed with Karpen's statement that his election would “shake the foundation of the political machine”. The Huffington Post reported on the game-changing endorsement:

“'This one would be a big story, being able to win against the daughter of Joe Berrios, who is a symbol of the Democratic machine and everything that is wrong with the machine,' Karpen said.
In 2008, Karpen won 21 percent of the vote against Berrios in the same race. This time around, though, he's raised more money, organized more volunteers and is co-ordinating his campaign with Green Party candidates for governor and U.S. Senate.
And with the endorsement from the Tribune, the unlikely Green Party candidate is heading into October with momentum at his back.”

Jeremy Karpen works as a therapist with at-risk boys and their families. He described his motivation for running in an interview with HuffPost Chicago: “Rather than being a janitor cleaning up the failings of the state, I'd like to be working on a legislative level, so when you give a referral to a family, you're making sure there actually is a mental health clinic, there is a hospital you can go to.” Karpen's platform calls for affordable housing, fully-funded schools, single-payer health care, affordable housing, and cleaning up Illinois' notoriously dirty politics. His campaign is funded entirely from individual contributions, while his opponent is busy shaking down her father's cronies and corporate interests. From the Huffington Post:

“Berrios has over $100,000 in her campaign coffers, donated from pharmaceutical PACs (she's the chair of the Biotech Committee), downtown lawyers (many of whom lobby her father about property taxes at the Board of Review), and a massive contribution from Joe Berrios himself. Karpen sends email blasts trying to scrounge up enough for his next mailer.”

A Green win against a corporate-sponsored Chicago machine insider would be a win for all progressives. Karpen needs money to get his message to voters and pull off an upset. Learn more about Jeremy Karpen's campaign and how you can help.

Oct 05 2010

Green Campaigns to Watch: Ben Manski for Wisconsin Assembly

When Ben Manski declared his candidacy for the Wisconsin Assembly, the Madison Capital Times wrote that the “veteran Green Party activist and nationally recognized advocate for democratic reform, [has] entered the competition in the west side district where he cut his political teeth.” Since then, the former national Green Party co-chair’s campaign has taken off. Manski has won endorsements from the Madison teachers union, student groups, Thom Hartmann, Progressive Push, and 21 local elected officials.

Progressive Push National Director Luis A. Cuevas wrote of Manski:

“Ben Manski is an outstanding candidate, the kind most needed to represent working families and progressive ideals in Wisconsin as well as our nation. We have very high standards, and don’t make endorsements in many races, but Manski’s record of proven activism speaks for itself… His goal is to empower the people of his district to take control of their lives, through participatory democracy, getting them involved in budgeting decisions, creating a better sustainable community where they can be sure that their children will inherit a better place to live. We urge all progressives to support Ben Manski, relentless, undaunted, and resilient, he is the candidate who best represents your values, we know he represents ours.”

A co-founder of Move to Amend, a national coalition seeking to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowing unlimited corporate spending in elections, Manski is a longtime fighter for democracy. His platform calls for instant runoff voting, proportional representation, public campaign financing, passage of a Wisconsin Equal Rights Amendment, and legislation to abolish the legal fiction of corporate personhood. He supports progressive taxation, a state bank, legalizing and taxing marijuana, and single-payer health care for Wisconsin. Manski is also a strong advocate for building a green economy and reforming public education.

Leading Democrats, including Progressive Democrats of America National Director Tim Carpenter, are supporting Manski, not only because of Manski’s strong progressive credentials, but also because his Democratic opponent Brett Hulsey has worked for the coal and ethanol lobbies. A member of the Dane County Democratic Party’s Executive Committee said, “If Ben were 50% better than Hulsey, then I would support Hulsey because he is the Democratic nominee… but Ben is more than 50% better than Hulsey.”

Manski has raised and spent nearly $20,000, and needs another $25,000 to pay for printing, mailing and radio, tv, and print advertising by October 15th.

Learn more about Ben Manski’s insurgent campaign for Wisconsin State Assembly at http://votemanski.com/.

Sep 24 2010

Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein – Strike a Blow for Independent Progressive Politics

Dr. Jill Stein is running an insurgent Green campaign for Governor of Massachusetts against 3 business-as-usual political insiders. Her platform reads like a progressive Christmas list. Now she has the chance to break this race open and show that clean, green, people-powered politics can succeed. If Jill Stein’s campaign can raise $125,000 in amounts of $250 or less by Friday 9/24 at 5 PM, it will qualify for 1-1 public matching funds.

The thermometer on Jill Stein’s website is rising rapidly. At 10:40 EST on Friday it shows $110,918, meaning Stein needs just over $14,000 to make it over the top. Supporters of her campaign have created a “Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein” facebook event, which is doing brisk business with 10,000 people invited so far.

Here’s why this is so important: progressives often talk about supporting independent progressive candidates, if a viable one comes along. Jill Stein is that viable independent progressive. She hasn’t taken a dime of corporate or lobbyist money. She was a leading activist for the MA Clean Elections public campaign financing law that the state’s Democratic establishment threw out after the people voted for it 2-1.

Jill Stein is the only candidate talking about replacing Romneycare with a vastly more efficient single-payer health care system. She is the only candidate calling for local green job creation, instead of the big corporate tax breaks and casino schemes that her opponents all agree on. On issue after issue, Jill Stein is unwaveringly progressive while her opponents pledge allegiance to the failed corporatist policies of the status quo.

If Jill Stein qualifies for matching funds, she’ll have a guaranteed place in the debates and a real war chest to spread her message of a secure, healthy green future. It will show that clean money campaigns can work – and that independent progressives are ready to support candidates who support them.

Make a little bit of history today. http://www.jillstein.org/

May 25 2010

NY Green Party nominates Howie Hawkins for Governor, Colia Clark and Cecile Lawrence for US Senate

On May 15th the Green Party of New York met in Albany to nominate candidates for statewide office. The Greens nominated Howie Hawkins for Governor, Gloria Mattera for Lieutenant Governor, Colia Clark and Cecile Lawrence for US Senate, and Julia Willebrand for Comptroller, as well as a number of candidates for state legislature.

Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate for Governor of New York, has been an organizer in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment, and independent politics since the late 1960s. Hawkins is running on a Green platform with planks including: Progressive Taxes; Reform Albany; Full Employment; Health Care for All; Clean Energy (ban hydrofracking, support public power); Good Schools for All Communities; Economic Democracy for Economic Renewal (establish a state bank); Sustainable Green Economy; Organic Food and Agriculture; Affordable Housing; Retirement Security; Workers Rights; Fair Elections (proportional representation, instant runoff voting, public campaign financing); End the “War on Drugs”; Reproductive Freedom; Gay Marriage; Peace (recall the NY national guard); Criminal Justice Reform (abolish the death penalty); Regional Planning; and Local Government and Grassroots Democracy. Emerging details can be found at HowieHawkins.com/2010.

At his website, Hawkins elaborates on why he is running and his campaign goals:

The basic issue in this campaign is: Will our state government be for the people, or continue to serve the super-rich and the giant corporations?

We are running because we are on the side of the people.

We are running – we, not me – because I cannot win the goals of our campaign alone. I will not have the tens of millions of dollars for media advertising that the corporate-financed Democratic and Republican candidates will have. But organized people can beat organized money…

We are running to offer a real alternative to the two-party system of corporate rule. The Democrats have replaced the Republicans in the State House and the Governor’s Mansion, and in Congress and the White House, but little has changed. The two-party system is a very sophisticated scheme for presenting the illusion of real choice when both major parties are funded by the same corporate, financial, and real estate interests. Whether the A Team of Republicans or the B Team of Democrats are in the majority, it is still corporate power dictating policy.

The ongoing Wall Street bailout is the greatest transfer of wealth in world history. If our schools were banks, they would have been bailed out. Instead the creditor class of wealthy elites is making the borrower class of working and middle class taxpayers pay for the whole bailout for their bad investments through higher taxes, lower wages and benefits, and cuts in public services. The catastrophic destruction of our climate and oceans is accelerating, but the incumbent fossil fuel and nuclear corporations still capture far more government subsidies than clean, renewable energy. Whether it is job creation, health care, housing, or the environment, the government sides with the corporate vested interests against the broad public interest.

The progressives and independents who voted the Republicans out and the Democrats in are now taken for granted by the Democrats in power, because these voters have no where else to take their votes. We are running to give these voters a place to go.

50,000 Votes Wins a Green Party Ballot Line

One key goal of our campaign is to build the Green Party as a powerful, well-organized alternative to the corporate state’s two-party system. With 50,000+ votes for the Green gubernatorial ticket – a very achievable goal – the Green Party wins a permanent ballot line and reasonable ballot petitioning requirements for the next four years, enabling us to contest elections at every level as we continue to build our movement. We are building this campaign county by county to leave in place a grassroots party organization that can carry on the movement for our policy platform after the November 2 election.

Putting Our Solutions into Public Debate

A second goal of our campaign is to move the policy debate in New York. We are going to present before the public – and make the mass media and corporate candidates deal with – our platform of solutions to the problems we face: progressive taxation and revenue sharing, fully funded schools, full employment, single-payer health care, renewable energy, a state bank to finance a sustainable green economic revival, clean government, proportional representation, and more.

Building Independent Power

We won’t be completely satisfied unless we win the office. But if that turns out to be beyond our reach in this election, every vote we win and every person we recruit to the movement builds our power. Our power is based on our political independence from the corporate interests and their political representatives in both corporate parties. Our votes cannot be taken for granted. We will make the politicians and the policy debate in the media and in our communities deal with our solutions. We will lay the foundation for winning future elections.

Gloria Mattera, a Brooklyn health care worker and activist who ran for Brooklyn Borough President in 2005 to oppose the incumbent’s abuse of eminent domain to benefit private corporations, received the party’s nomination for lieutenant governor.

Colia Clark, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement who worked with Medgar Evers and SNCC, was nominated as the Green candidate for the US Senate seat currently held by Charles Schumer. Immigration reform will be a key focus of the Clark candidacy.

“As US Senator from New York, I will work tirelessly with my colleagues in the Senate and on Capitol Hill to address the failing economy, failing schools, failing infrastructure, crisis in energy, health care, food production and other areas of the USA socio-political economy,” said Ms. Clark.

“The right of immigrants to live, work and have their families visit is a human right. NAFTA, CAFTA, Project Hope and other infringements on the right of workers in other nations is unacceptable and as Senator from NYS I will work on all fronts to cancel these hideous instruments of corporate power,” added Clark.

Clark said she was strongly opposed to Sen. Schumer’s proposal to require a new social security card that includes bio-metric information like finger prints for every U.S. citizen. Clarke compared this to the slave passes that Africans in USA enslavement carried up to 1865.

“The right to privacy, the right to move about the nation freely without police intrusion is quickly becoming an endangered right. Any remnant of slave pass laws/ Apartheid pass laws must be challenged and defeated in the interest of freedom for NYS and the nation,” Clark added.

Cecile Lawrence, a resident of Apalachin in Tioga County who has been active in the movement against hydrofracking and other health issues, will run for the Senate seat to fill out the term of Hillary Clinton.

Lawrence said that “We need to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan now and return the troops home in early 2011. The U.S. must cease its drive for empire and domination of the planet including the embeddedness of its military forces with corporations whose drive for access to the resources of other countries lead to the destruction of their environmental and socio-economic health. Corporations must be stripped of the artificial personhood granted them by an accident of the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting not in human personhood but in god-like status, since they never get sick, and can never die. Reform Wall Street, getting rid of the practices that led to the idea of ‘too big to fail.”

Active in the fight against hydrofracking for natural gas in the Southern Tier, Lawrence added that “the focus of my campaign will be on health in all forms, the health of individuals, the health of the soil, air and water, the health of all life forms, the health of society. This goal cannot be met without the elimination of for-profit health insurance companies, the complete renovation of our food system, which has led to astronomical rates of obesity nationwide, and the elimination of this country’s attitude of control over other countries.”

“We need to cancel all subsidies to CAFO’s (concentrated animal feeding operations) and rapidly phase out their existence nationwide. Transfer those subsidies to the development of small scale organic, permaculture, or biodynamic methods of farming at the state level. We should transfer all current federal subsidies to coal, gas, oil and nuclear to the development and installation of solar, small-scale wind farms disconnected from each other, ground source heat pumps and yet to be invented methods. We must ban all offshore drilling for gas and oil in U.S. waters,” stated Lawrence.

Julia Willebrand, a long time environmental leader from Manhattan, was nominated to run for State Comptroller, a position she received 117,908 votes for 4 years ago.

Other candidates petitioning to be on the Green Party ballot include Anthony Gronowicz (NY-7) and Hank Bardel (NY-13) for US House of Representatives, John Reynolds for State Senate (NY-33), and 5 candidates for State Assembly: Walter Nestler (NY-76), Carl Lundgren (NY-82), Trevor Archer (NY-83), Daniel Zuger (NY-85), and Mike Donelly (NY-119).

Like all Green Party candidates, the New York Green Party’s 2010 candidates pledge not to accept money from corporations and corporate-sponsored PACs.

You can learn more about the Green Party of New York’s 2010 campaigns and how you can get involved at the GPNY website, http://www.gpny.org/ .

May 07 2010

UK Greens win historic first seat in parliament

Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, won a hotly-contested race in Brighton Pavilion to become the Greens’ first-ever member of parliament. Lucas thanked supporters for “putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear.” In the election at large, Labour and the Liberal Democrats lost seats while the Conservatives gained; however, the Conservatives failed to win a majority, making it possible that Labour and the Liberal Democrats will form a governing coalition.

In the second constituency targeted by the Greens, Norwich South, Adrian Ramsay came in fourth despite doubling the Green vote from 2005 to 14.9%. Despite the loss, Greens pointed to recent local victories as evidence that they’re on track to take power in Norwich by 2011, which would mark another first for the party. In the third targeted seat, Lewisham Deptford, Darren Johnson took 11.1%, and Tony Juniper managed 7.6% in Cambridge.

At The Guardian, George Monbiot commented on Lucas’ election to parliament:

It’s a massive breakthrough, not only because she’s a brilliant, charismatic, humane politican who will enrich parliamentary life, but also because it proves it can be done, even under our antiquated political system.

Unlike many European countries that elect their parliaments using proportional representation, UK elections use first-past-the-post voting, contributing to electoral chaos. From The Guardian’s live election coverage:

A hung parliament is virtually inevitable. With more than 500 seats counted, the BBC is predicting that the Conservatives will end up with 306 seats, Labour 262 seats and the Lib Dems 55 seats [325 seats are needed for a majority]. The Conservatives are currently on 37% of the vote, Labour on 28% and the Lib Dems on 23%.

The Guardian reports that the Liberal Democrats may demand a switch to proportional representation as a condition for supporting one of the larger parties in coalition. The Greens, who won 8.7% of the vote in last year’s European elections, also support proportional representation.

After learning of her historic victory, Caroline Lucas gave the following statement:

“The emphatic support of voters in Brighton Pavilion show that they do want to support a party whose values represent fairness, social justice and environmental well-being. They have shown that they are prepared to put their trust in the Greens, despite the overwhelming national media focus on the three largest parties and a voting system that is fundamentally undemocratic. I feel humbled by their trust in me, and I am excited by this vote of confidence and I’m looking forward to the challenging task of fully representing the voters of Brighton.

“This victory is no accident: it is the result of the hard work and commitment of thousands of Green Party members and supporters not only in Brighton but from right across the country over the past months and years. It is their work and support that has helped deliver this win, and the victory is as much theirs as it is mine.

“Thanks to the confidence that the voters of Brighton Pavilion have shown, Green principles and policies will now have a voice in Parliament. Policies such as responding to climate change with a million new ‘green’ jobs in low-carbon industries, fair pensions and care for older people, and stronger regulation of the banks will be heard in the House of Commons. I will also use my influence as an MP in the city of Brighton & Hove to push for affordable housing for the city, a new secondary school for the city, and greater backing for the city’s creative industries.

“Finally, as this election shows, the first-past-the post voting system used for general elections is utterly discredited. I will be strongly backing calls for a referendum to replace it with a form of proportional representation that properly reflects the needs and views of 21st century voters. If a form of proportional representation is introduced, the Green Party is confident that its true level of support nationally can be represented properly.”

Originally posted on Green Party Watch

May 05 2010

Howie Hawkins announces Green bid for NY Governor

 Howie Hawkins of Syracuse announced his campaign for Governor of New York as a Green Party candidate in an Albany press conference on May 4th. The Green Party of New York will officially nominate candidates for statewide office at its May 15th nominating convention in Albany. If the Green Party candidate for governor earns at least 50,000 votes this year, the party will regain ballot status for the next four years, making it significantly easier to run candidates at all levels.

You can watch the video of Howie Hawkins’ campaign announcement:

Hawkins for Governor from david doonan on Vimeo.

Time Warner’s YNN network also covered the announcement.

Here is Hawkins’ statement “Why We Are Running” from his website www.HowieHawkins.com/2010 :

Why We Are Running

The basic issue in this campaign is: Will our state government be for the people, or continue to serve the super-rich and the giant corporations?

We are running because we are on the side of the people.

We are running – we, not me – because I cannot win the goals of our campaign alone. I will not have the tens of millions of dollars for media advertising that the corporate-financed Democratic and Republican candidates will have. But organized people can beat organized money. As the candidate, I am one spokesperson for this campaign. But we all need to be organizers and spokespeople for this campaign with our family, friends, co-workers, and neighborhood and internet communities.

We are running because only a grassroots movement of people reaching people by word of mouth can swell to the critical mass we need to achieve our goals. Personal contact is far more influential and persuasive than 30-second TV and radio spots. Every one of us can win over tens or hundreds or thousands of voters by consistent, persistent activity over the course of the campaign.

We are running to offer a real alternative to the two-party system of corporate rule. The Democrats have replaced the Republicans in the State House and the Governor’s Mansion, and in Congress and the White House, but little has changed. The two-party system is a very sophisticated scheme for presenting the illusion of real choice when both major parties are funded by the same corporate, financial, and real estate interests. Whether the A Team of Republicans or the B Team of Democrats are in the majority, it is still corporate power dictating policy.

The ongoing Wall Street bailout is the greatest transfer of wealth in world history. If our schools were banks, they would have been bailed out. Instead the creditor class of wealthy elites is making the borrower class of working and middle class taxpayers pay for the whole bailout for their bad investments through higher taxes, lower wages and benefits, and cuts in public services. The catastrophic destruction of our climate and oceans is accelerating, but the incumbent fossil fuel and nuclear corporations still capture far more government subsidies than clean, renewable energy. Whether it is job creation, health care, housing, or the environment, the government sides with the corporate vested interests against the broad public interest.

The progressives and independents who voted the Republicans out and the Democrats in are now taken for granted by the Democrats in power, because these voters have no where else to take their votes. We are running to give these voters a place to go.

50,000 Votes Wins a Green Party Ballot Line

One key goal of our campaign is to build the Green Party as a powerful, well-organized alternative to the corporate state’s two-party system. With 50,000+ votes for the Green gubernatorial ticket – a very achievable goal – the Green Party wins a permanent ballot line and reasonable ballot petitioning requirements for the next four years, enabling us to contest elections at every level as we continue to build our movement. We are building this campaign county by county to leave in place a grassroots party organization that can carry on the movement for our policy platform after the November 2 election.

Putting Our Solutions into Public Debate

A second goal of our campaign is to move the policy debate in New York. We are going to present before the public – and make the mass media and corporate candidates deal with – our platform of solutions to the problems we face: progressive taxation and revenue sharing, fully funded schools, full employment, single-payer health care, renewable energy, a state bank to finance a sustainable green economic revival, clean government, proportional representation, and more.

Building Independent Power

We won’t be completely satisfied unless we win the office. But if that turns out to be beyond our reach in this election, every vote we win and every person we recruit to the movement builds our power. Our power is based on our political independence from the corporate interests and their political representatives in both corporate parties. Our votes cannot be taken for granted. We will make the politicians and the policy debate in the media and in our communities deal with our solutions. We will lay the foundation for winning future elections.

Join Us: Donate, Volunteer, Vote

This website is your resource to find out about campaign activities and our policy positions as they develop. Much more information and interactive features will be added as the campaign develops.

But before you leave this website today, however, please visit the three links that will connect you with the campaign:

Donate: Even a grassroots campaign needs money to print literature, mail fundraising appeals, pay organizers, and, yes, do some media advertising. We can go a long way if we can reach our minimum goal of $100,000. It will give us credibility with the media and debate organizers as well as fund an effective grassroots campaign. That will take a lot of small contributors, including you. Please contribute what you can and consider the recurring donation option for the course of the campaign.

Volunteer: Sign up and indicate your interests. We will get back to you and help you.

Green Voter Pledge: We are taking names. We want at least 50,000 voters pledged to vote the Green ticket by the election on November 2. We will remind them and help them get to the polls on Election Day. Sign the voter pledge and ask other supporters you identify to sign the voter pledge.

It’s up to us. Millions of New Yorkers are angry about the corruption and incompetence in Albany that is assaulting our standard of living to pay for the Wall Street bailout. The anti-incumbent mood is palpable. We can reach those New Yorkers. The people have enormous power if they use their political rights and votes. If each of us joins in to do our own part, we can build a powerful movement to put our government on the people’s side.

I look forward to campaigning with you. Together we will make a difference for the better.

Howie Hawkins
May 3, 2010

Learn more about Howie Hawkins’ campaign and how you can help at www.HowieHawkins.com/2010

Originally posted on Green Party Watch

May 03 2010

Progressive Dream Candidate: Jill Stein for MA Governor

Dr. Jill Stein is a pioneering environmental health advocate, as well as a mother, physician, teacher, and community leader. Her record of public service and passionate advocacy for healthy communities makes her an exceptional candidate for governor.

For years, Jill Stein has been a leader in drawing the connection between clean environments and healthy communities. She is the author of two widely acclaimed reports, “In Harm’s Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development” and “Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging,” which promote green local economies, sustainable agriculture, clean power, and freedom from harmful chemical exposures. She has presented her teaching program “Health People, Healthy Planet,” to numerous government, public health and medical conferences. It links human health, climate security and green economic revitalization.

Jill Stein began advocating for the environment as a human health issue when she realized that politicians were failing to protect children from toxic threats revealed by current science. She played a key role in efforts to protect women and children from mercury contamination by helping to pass tighter regulations on the dirtiest coal plants in Massachusetts, and helping to preserve the state’s moratorium on new trash incinerators. Having seen firsthand the power of big money to prevent critical health protection, Stein advocated for the Clean Elections Law to establish publicly-funded elections. Massachusetts voters passed the Clean Elections Law by a 2-1 margin, but the state legislature later repealed it in an unrecorded voice vote.

Jill Stein’s first foray into electoral politics was in 2002, when the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party recruited her to run for governor. In a five-way debate that year, she was widely acknowledged as the winner for her clarity and knowledge of the issues. In a 2004 three-way race for state representative, she garnered more votes than the Republican candidate. She ran for statewide office again in 2006, earning over 350,000 votes for Secretary of State. In 2008, she helped formulate the “Secure Green Future” ballot initiative calling for renewable energy and green jobs, which won 81% of the vote in the districts where it appeared on the ballot. She has been elected twice as a town meeting representative in Lexington.

This year, Jill Stein is running for governor on a platform of pragmatic Green solutions to problems like unemployment, unfair taxes, faltering schools, and a broken health care system. As governor, she would seek alternatives to her predecessors’ failed attempts to attract big business by sacrificing labor and environmental standards. She would create incentives for small, locally owned businesses to thrive, especially in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable energy. She would take action to fix an unfair tax system that makes lower- and middle-income people in Massachusetts pay at twice the rate of the highest income bracket.

As a teacher, Jill Stein understands the importance of quality public education. She would fight the privatization schemes and bureaucratic power grabs that threaten public education, and work to ensure that all public schools are fully funded and accountable to their communities. She would also reverse the escalation of fees and tuition at public universities, which has threatened to price higher education out of reach for young people from low-income families.

Massachusetts’ health care system is still plagued with problems, despite its vaunted 2006 reform package that foreshadowed the 2010 national health insurance reform. The state’s healthcare mandate forces people to buy expensive, stripped-down insurance plans that don’t protect health or financial security when serious health problems occur. As governor, Jill Stein would extend affordable coverage to all by moving Massachusetts to a Medicare-For-All system, which would save billions by cutting out the insurance companies’ red tape. She would also help people lead healthier lifestyles by supporting urban agriculture, farm-to-school programs, local organic farming, and other programs to reduce health threats and ensure clean air, clean water, and nutritious food for all. Her plan to encourage healthy living would not only improve quality of life, it would also save billions on health care annually.

The November, 2010 race is shaping up to make Jill the sole challenger to three candidates widely regarded as business-as-usual insiders — in an anti-incumbent year. Specifically she is likely to face Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, Democrat-turned-independent Tim Cahill, and Republican Charlie Baker, three candidates who share very similar positions on most key issues. (Both the Democrat and Republican are likely to rout lesser known and relatively unfunded primary election rivals.) In a four-way race, Jill Stein could potentially be elected governor with as little as 26% of the vote, which translates to roughly 800,000 votes. This is not beyond reach considering the 18% of the vote she won in her race for Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2006. Stein refuses to take lobbyist money, and vows to end the “pay-to-play” politics that dominates the state legislature. Her campaign is eligible for 1-to-1 public matching funds for every dollar raised over $125,000, meaning that as soon as she raises $250,000 from supporters, she’ll be able to mount a half-million-dollar campaign. Along with her running mate, community activist and veterans advocate Rick Purcell, she plans to mobilize thousands of grassroots volunteers across the state to bring their message of a healthy green future to the people of Massachusetts.

To find out more about Jill Stein’s campaign and how you can help, check out her website at JillStein.org.

Originally posted on GreenChange.org

Apr 13 2010

Greens: US must press Israel to end settlements; divestment urged as Israeli outrages continue

Greens: President Obama must press Israel to end East Jerusalem settlements

• Green Party urges divestment as Israeli outrages mount

WASHINGTON, DC — President Obama must put pressure on Israel immediately to stop the construction of settlements and displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, Green Party leaders and candidates said today.

“President Obama should send Prime Minister Netanyahu a message: enough is enough. If Israel continues to violate Palestinian human rights, the US must cancel the $30 billion military aid package pledged to Israel for 2009-2018. The plan to build 1,600 housing units for Israeli Jews in East Jerusalem is the latest outrage. Although a rumored US abstension from a possible UN Security Council resolution against the settlements would be an improvement over its usual veto on Israel’s behalf, this would still be an act of moral cowardice,” said Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. (News story on the possible UN resolution: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8591714.stm)

“The White House’s angry response to the East Jerusalem settlement announcement was a necessary first step, but it needs to be followed by concrete action, like support for a UN resolution against the settlements or actually withdrawing military aid. President Obama should show the kind of leadership that led Eisenhower to demand that Israel leave Sinai in 1955,” said Ms. Everette.

The Green Party has demanded that the US end military assistance to Israel, which has used such aid to displace Palestinians from their homes and farm lands, hold them in concentration camp conditions, maintain Bantustans in the style of apartheid-era South Africa, and launch illegal military assaults such as last year’s bloody invasion of Gaza.

“While the international community has been unable to deal with Israel’s violations after decades of UN resolutions, civil society has increasingly endorsed BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) as a powerful nonviolent strategy to pressure Israel into ending the Palestinian occupation and guaranteeing equality for all in Israel-Palestine. In 2005, the Green Party endorsed a BDS resolution (http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_11_28.shtml) comparable to the one passed by the Senate of the Associated Students of UC Berkeley in March,” said Derek Grigsby, Green candidate for State Representative in Michigan, District 7 ([email protected]).

The Berkeley students’ bill calls on the university to divest its assets from two General Electric and United Technologies for “materially and militarily supporting the Israeli government’s occupation of the Palestinian territories” and to advocate that the UC, with about $135 million invested in companies that profit from Israel’s illegal actions in the Occupied Territories (http://blogs.asuc.org/2010/03/18/announcements/sb-118-amended-passed).

Greens have urged the White House and Congress to reject the influence of AIPAC and to establish Middle East policy based on recognition that the rights of Palestinians must be equal to the rights of Israelis, on peaceful negotiation to resolve the conflict, and complete regional nuclear disarmament. Greens have noted the hypocrisy of applying sanctions against Iran for its alleged nuclear ambitions without insisting that Israel get rid of its nuclear weapons — especially since Israel, unlike Iran, has launched military attacks on other countries. (See “Arab Leaders Call for Middle East Free of Nuclear Weapons” Earth Times March 28, 2010, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/316159,arab-leaders-call-for-middle-east-free-of-nuclear-weapons.html#ixzz0jUbcWzVi)

“We encourage Israeli and Palestinian leaders — and President Obama — to follow the lead of human rights activists like Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, organizer of the Wheels of Justice tour (http://justicewheels.org). In his embrace of nonviolent resistance as a tactic for justice, Dr. Qumsiyeh continues an often unrecognized history of Palestinian non-violent resistance and keeps alive the tradition of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King. In response, the Israeli army has targeted him for arrest,” said Tony Affigne, Rhode Island Green and member of the party’s International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl).

Dr. Qumsiyeh (http://qumsiyeh.org), former associate professor of genetics at the Yale University School of Medicine and a member of the Green Party of Connecticut before he moved back to Palestine, wrote about his experiences in a New Haven Register op-ed published on March 9, 2010 (“Peaceful protest in Israel can lead to arrest,” http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/03/09/opinion/doc4b95ab40a3642160727871.txt).

“The US’s uncritical support for Israel and flow of military and financial aid endanger US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and threaten US security and global stability. Even Gen. Petraeus and VP Biden have admitted this,” said Rodger Jennings, Green candidate for US Congress in Illinois, District 12 (http://www.rodgerjennings.org). (See “The Petraeus briefing: Biden’s embarrassment is not the whole story,” Foreign Policy, March 13, 2010, http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/14/the_petraeus_briefing_biden_s_embarrassment_is_not_the_whole_story). “The Gaza assault, which couldn’t have happened without US weapons, was a major turning point for people worldwide, including many American Jews. Like the misery that continues for Gazans, the memory of that horrific assault lingers.”

Greens note that, until recently, a campaign to silence critics of Israeli policies and actions helped maintain unilateral support for Israel, especially in the US, and that censorship of such criticism has sustained the conflict. Many US Greens expressed alarm when the Heinrich Boell Foundation (http://www.boell.de), a legally independent political foundation affiliated with the German Green Party, canceled February speaking engagements in Germany by Dr. Norman Finkelstein, an American Jewish scholar, child of Holocaust survivors, and author of books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust (http://www.normanfinkelstein.com).

“There is increasing recognition that the two-state solution is not viable. Israel-Palestine is already a de facto single state, mainly because of Israel’s illegal settlement policies, with over 500,000 Israeli Jews living in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. It’s time to consider the one-state solution — one homeland for both peoples — with a secular democracy that ensures full and equal rights regardless of religion or ethnicity, ” said Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. (See “Palestinians Increasingly Back 1-State,” Jerusalem Post, March 22, 2010, http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=171559 and “Who’s Afraid of a One-State Solution?” by Dmitry Reider, Foreign Policy, March 31, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/03/31/whos_afraid_of_a_one_state_solution)

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org

“Ensure Israel arms curbs, say MPs”
BBC News, March 30, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8594402.stm

“Open Letter to Berkeley Students on their Historic Israeli Divestment Bill”
By Naomi Klein, Common Dreams, March 31, 2010
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/31-9

“Palestinians increasingly back 1-state”
Jerusalem Post, March 22, 2010
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=171559

“US Can’t Afford Military Aid to Israel”
Josh Ruebner, The Huffington Post, February 26, 2010
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-ruebner/us-cant-afford-military-a_b_478104.html

“Evidence of misuse of US weapons in Gaza”
Amnesty International, February 23, 2009
http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/20277

US Campaign to End the Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
Winter 2010 issue now online
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php

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