D.C. Statehood Green Party
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Contact:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty@greens.org
STATEHOOD GREENS TO DEMAND D.C. DEMOCRACY DURING MEETING IN D.C. OF
THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY & COOPERATION IN EUROPE
On July 1, D.C. Statehood Green Party members will
join numerous other local groups seeking international attention to
the denial of rights in D.C.; two rallies are planned; Statehood
Greens will stress statehood for D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- D.C. Statehood Green Party
members will join rallies planned for Friday, July 1 during a meeting
in Washington, D.C. of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) to call international attention to the denial of
basic democratic rights for residents of the U.S. capital city.
Statehood Greens will participate in two major
rallies on July 1 along with members of Worldrights, D.C. Young
Suffragists, D.C. Vote, Committee for the Capital City, D.C. for
Democracy, Black Reparations, D.C. Peace and Economic Justice Program,
and the Stand Up! for Democracy in DC Coalition.
The first rally will take place 7:30 a.m to 9:30
a.m. outside of the JW Marriott Hotel on 14th Street at Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, to greet OSCE parliamentarians. The second rally is at 12
noon on Freedom Plaza, between 13th and 14th Streets, NW, at
Pennsylvania Avenue.
The OSCE is holding its annual meeting in
Washington, DC, July 1-5, at which over 300 parliamentarians from 55
countries will be in attendance. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
will attend the opening plenary session on July 1.
The presence of D.C. Statehood Greens will be a
direct challenge, not just to the OSCE and to U.S. officials, but also
to other rally participants to support full statehood for the District
of Columbia, which would afford legislative and financial autonomy,
full constitutional rights, and voting seats in both houses of
Congress.
Statehood Greens have argued that gaining 'voting
rights' in Congress without winning self-government (i.e., statehood)
would not be a victory, but would hinder and distract from genuine
democracy for D.C.'s majority African-American population. Statehood
Green activists have disagreed with D.C. Vote, the League of Women
Voters, and other groups that have made voting rights the exclusive
goal.
Several of the D.C. organizations sponsoring the
July 1 rallies are seeking a resolution in support of 'equal voting
rights' in Congress for D.C. from the OSCE's third Committee on
Democracy, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Questions.
"'Equal voting rights' will merely raise the
District's status to that of 19th and early 20th century colonial
African and Asian nations, which enjoyed voting seats in the national
legislatures of European empires before they achieved independence
from political repression and economic exploitation," said Adam
Eidinger, Statehood Green and organizer of the annual October 1 'B.A.D.
Day' (Budget Autonomy for the District Day) protest <http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/press/press.php?annc_id=90§ion_id=2>.
"Voting rights alone will not grant democracy
and political rights to the people of D.C., and would probably
postpone these goals. We urge European parliamentarians to endorse
real democracy for the District of Columbia, in the form of
statehood."
Since the Democratic Party removed D.C. statehood
from its national platform in August, 2004, the Green Party
(represented locally by the Statehood Green Party) is the only major
political party in the District of Columbia that supports statehood.
Polls have consistently shown that a majority of D.C. residents favor
statehood.
MORE INFORMATION
The D.C. Statehood Green Party
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
"Statehood Greens to Bush: Democracy for DC, too?"
D.C. Statehood Green Party press release, January 26, 2005
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/press/press.php?annc_id=36§ion_id=2
Information on the movement for D.C. statehood:
"The Statehood Papers"
The Progressive Review
http://prorev.com/dcsthdintro.htm
