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July 30, 2001: Greens Emphasize Democratic Reform Movement |
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Greens stress election reform, globalization of democracy and power for the powerless as they file with the FEC for national party status. |
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Contacts:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the national meeting of the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) commenced at La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara, California this weekend (July 27 through 29), Green organizers discussed the significance of ASGP's plans to file with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to establish a formal national Green Party. "Women have always played a leading role in the Green Party," said Annie Goeke, former chair of ASGP, noting that feminism is one of the key values of the Greens. "At the same time the national party is being founded, we'll be electing a majority of women to the Steering Committee. This is the vision of the Seneca Falls Declaration of 1848, drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and others -- a political movement in which men and women are truly equals in power. What other American political party can claim this at its founding moment?" "The FEC filing and founding of the Green Party of the United States is a landmark among landmarks," said Nancy Allen, ASGP media coordinator. "Over the past two years, we've witnessed the rise of a protest movement against anti-democratic and anti-environmental 'free trade' authorities, beginning in Seattle in 1999; the Nader-LaDuke campaign, numerous local Green candidacies, and emergence of the Green Party in the national consciousness in 2000; and the outrage at the 2000 election scandal and the birth in 2001 of a new democracy movement, with protests at the Bush Inauguration and participation in the Democracy Summer Institute at Florida A & M in Tallahassee and Pro-Democracy Convention in Philadelphia. Greens took the lead in all of these." "Make no mistake -- this is a Green moment," said Allen. "Some progressive Democrats show up at anti-globalization protests and pro-democracy meetings. But the Democratic Party has given up on real election reform, and leading Democrats favor corporate globalization pacts like the WTO, FTAA, etc. instead of global democracy. No Democratic Senator, progressive or otherwise, stood up in support of the Black Caucus's challenge to Bush's election." "Greens are pushing for instant run-off voting, proportional representation, and other ways to give minorities of all kinds a greater say in government," said Holly Hart, Secretary of the Iowa Green Party. "We demand real campaign reform: free air time for candidates so voters know who stands for their interests, public financing of elections, an end to the privileged status of corporations, an end to ballot access restrictions designed by Democrats and Republicans to exclude third parties and independents, and, most important of all, the tools of civic participation -- ways for people to represent and speak for themselves." "The Mississippi civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer said that the standard of reform was whether it would make the system more fair for someone like Hamer herself, a poor woman of color," added Goeke. "We share this standard. From the rights and freedoms of the least powerful to the globalization of democracy -- these are the goals of the Green Party." \ MORE INFORMATION Association of State Green Parties: http://www.green-party.org search: gbl, prty, elct, elws |
