October 2002 The Green Party: A Movement for Ecology, Nonviolence, Justice, Democracy By Mark Dunlea

 

Ecology, grassroots democracy, peace, nonviolence, and social and economic justice are the core pillars of the Green movement worldwide. In the U.S., our ten key values also include decentralization, community economics, feminism, respect for diversity, visionary thinking, and personal and global responsibility.

What began as a local movement in Europe and New Zealand in the late 1970s is now an active political force in more than 80 countries, with elected Green Party officials at the national and state levels in two dozen countries. The Greens are also gaining ground in the U.S. and now win about one third of the several hundred elections they are involved in annually.
More than a political party, the Greens believe that electoral politics is one part of a larger approach to social change. Particularly in the U.S., where we have perhaps the least democratic government compared to the other democracies in the world, the Greens use elections as an educational tool.

At the state level, the New York Green Party wants to enact single-payer universal health care; create sustainable, living wage jobs; protect our food, water and air supplies; hold corporations accountable for their actions; protect reproductive freedom; ensure the protection of civil rights for people of color, gays, lesbians, disabled people, and the poor; enact universal child care; and, make tuition at public universities free.

The New York Green Party has a clear stance on the environment and supports a state Superfund program that cleans up and prevents toxic waste dumping and makes sure that corporate polluters pay the bill, not taxpayers. The Greens want to shut down all nuclear power plants due to the risks they pose to national security and the environment, and their financial costs. The Greens have played a leadership role in organizing community residents to call for the immediate shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear plant in Westchester County. The Greens want an energy policy that promotes conservation and efficiency, and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. The Greens have been active in opposing the use of pesticides and promoting organic and sustainable agricultural practices, as well as promoting community gardens and Community Supported Agriculture.

Peace and nonviolence are key components of the Green movement. The Green Party’s immediate response to the September 11th tragedy was to call for those responsible to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, rather than launching a war against Afghanistan and other countries. The Greens have spoken out against the efforts of Bush and Congress to use September 11th as an excuse to curtail civil liberties and increase funding for corporate welfare and the military budget. The Greens have also opposed Bush’s effort to launch a war against Iraq. Medea Benjamin, a recent California Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate and co-director of the social justice group Global Exchange, led a protest in Congress last month during Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s testimony in support of war against Iraq.

One issue that the Green Party has kept a close watch on is the genetic engineering (GE) of the American food supply. Genetically modified crops are produced from plant varieties created using techniques that alter the molecular or cell biology of an organism by means that are not possible under natural conditions or processes. Dramatic increases in the planting and consumption of such crops over the past several years have far outpaced our understanding of their immediate and long-term effects. Currently, most GE crops in the world are grown in the U.S., with one fourth of American cropland containing GE crops, which includes more than 35 percent of all corn. More than 50 genetically engineered crops have been approved by the USDA for consumption, including potatoes, tomatoes, melons and beets. The USDA does not presently require any health or safety tests before GE crops are marketed, leaving it to biotech firms to decide whether they are safe.

The Green Party supports a moratorium on the marketing of GE crops that would give the government and researchers time to evaluate the potential risks to human health and the environment. In New York, the Greens have led the fight to get the State Legislature to halt the genetic engineering of our food supply, and, at a minimum, require foods with GE products to be labeled as such. In New York City, the Greens have organized campaigns to pressure the Board of Education to stop selling milk from cows who have been injected with the recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone.

Vote Green This November!
In order for the Greens to continue as a political party in New York State, they must receive at least 50,000 votes for Stanley Aronowitz for Governor (Row G) in the elections on November 5th.

The Green Party has nominated labor and peace activist Stanley Aronowitz for Governor, a former steelworker and union organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers (now UNITE) and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers. Aronowitz was the chief New York organizer for the Independent Committee to End the War in Vietnam. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center, and an elected officer of the university’s faculty and staff union.

Dr. Jennifer Daniels, who ran for Mayor of Syracuse last year as a Green Party candidate, received the highest vote total ever for a third party mayoral candidate, and is now running for Lieutenant Governor. Organic farmer, homesteader and National Lawyer’s Guild member Mary Jo Long of Afton is currently running for Attorney General. One of the founders of the New York State Greens and the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance, Howie Hawkins, is running again for State Comptroller. The Green Party is also running about a dozen candidates for Congress in New York this year, and scores for state and local office. Visit www.greens.org/elections to learn about the Green candidates who are running in your area.

Promote Peace—No War with Iraq
Perhaps the most noticeable political difference post-September 11th is that the Democratic Party has made it even clearer that they fully embrace the agenda of corporate America and the military-industrial complex. Our world is poised on the brink of war and Democrats and Republicans are committed to the use of crushing force to affirm the global supremacy of the U.S. American and multinational corporations have been rapidly expanding their political and economic control worldwide, leading to increased conflict with both local residents and regional power élites. The only way to peace is peace. Killing more civilians and repressing political dissent will not produce a more peaceful and just world.

We need to curb the powers of corporations; they should not be allowed to be our rulers or to buy off politicians. It is also clear that we need to create an independent media movement to ensure that we hear the truth that is hidden from us by our government and mainstream media. We need to allow communities to control economic development rather than be controlled by it. We need to promote sustainable development that preserves our national resources, community and worker ownership, fair wages, stronger unions, and labor rights. We need to stop allowing corporations to pollute our environment and bodies.

Another world is possible. The Greens need your help to build a different world, a world where everyone has a right to their personal security, to be a contributing member of society, to have food, housing, clothing, healthcare, education, civil rights. We have a right to prosper, not merely survive. A Green world would be quite different than the one currently run by the Democrats and Republicans.

Mark Dunlea is Chairperson of the New York State Green Party and chairs the Greens’ Legislative Committee. For more information about the NYS Green Party, visit www.gpnys.org or call (518) 286-3411, or (718) 797-0045 in the NYC area. You can register to vote as a Green by contacting your local Board of Elections; in NYS, call 1-800-FOR-VOTE or visit www.elections.state.ny.us to find out more.