GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 26, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
US Greens mourn Dr. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kenyan Green Party founder and leader
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States is mourning the passing of Dr. Wangari Maathai and celebrating the life of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Mazingira Green Party and the Green Belt Movement (http://www.greenbeltmovement.org) in Kenya.
In 2002, Dr. Maathai was elected to the Kenyan Parliament on the Green Party ticket in the first free elections held in the country in decades and later appointed Kenyan Deputy Environment Minister. She was a close friend to Greens in the US and throughout the world and in May 2008 hosted an Global Greens conference in Nairobi (http://www.gp.org/greenpages/content/volume11/issue1/world4.php).
Dr. Maathai and the women-based Green Belt Movement, which planted more than 30 million trees, received numerous awards, including the Petra Kelly Prize for Environment, named for the founder of the first Green Party in Germany. The first environmentalist and first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she was jailed in 1991 for working to stop deforestation in Kenya.
African Greens (Coalition of Green Parties and political movements in Africa) released this statement today: http://africangreens.org/spip.php?article61
• Theresa El-Amin, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "I heard Dr. Maathai speak at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, two years ago. Her influence was reflected on the campus with the planting of four trees in her honor. She was beautiful in her African dress as she told wonderful stories of her childhood and the awakening she experienced on how all life is interdependent. Several members of the North Carolina Green Party, along with students from all over the state, attended the special lecture."
• Marian Douglas-Ungaro, co-chair of the International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl), member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php), and DC Statehood Green: "I was in contact with Dr. Maathai when I lived in Kenya, 2001-2004. Almost everyday I drove past the Greenbelt Movement billboard in the Muthaiga neighborhood that inspired people to action. Black Greens will continue to work to encourage many more African and Afrodescendant women, men, and youth to continue the social and environmental work which Dr. Maathai both started and inspired."
• Morgen D'Arc, co-founder of the Green Party National Women's Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/women/index.php), recalling Dr. Maathai's 2002 visit to Maine as featured speaker for the Maine Green Independent Party: "At the time, I was working statewide with Women in Green Politics, an organization I had founded the year before. Dr. Maathai opened my eyes. Her courage, determination, focus on women, poverty and the environment, what she had accomplished and at the same time her gentleness, patience and warmth really reached me. The inspiration I gained from Dr. Maathai's visit was with me for years, as I first co-founded and then organized and led the National Women's Caucus. When I learned yesterday that she was gone, it was as if a gaping hole opened in front of me. It's just way too soon. She will not be forgotten and will no doubt continue to inspire many, as she did me."
• Thomas Muhammad, co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus: "The Green Party Black Caucus joins the whole world, particularly African Greens, in their loss of such a giant sister like Wangari Maathai. Her words should serve as a wake up call for all political parties the world over. She said, 'As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning will remain more important than service.' We will miss you deeply, soft-spoken sister."
• Greg Gerritt, Green Party of Rhode Island and International Committee member: "Dr Maathai's work on the reforestation of Africa has ben one of the more hopeful activities on the planet, a key to both ecological and economic revival."
• Audrey Clement, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and candidate for Arlington County Board in Virginia (http://www.audreyclement.org): "Women around the world are bereft of a great leader in Wangari Maathai. In drawing a connection between the environment and the power and rights of women throughout the world, Dr. Maathai altered the way we think about both. Wangari Maathai will be remembered as a visionary leader, like Rachel Carson, whose actions saved our planet."
• John Rensenbrink, Maine Green Independent Party and International Committee member: "Wangari Maathai was our keynote speaker at the Bowdoin College conference in February 2002 on Race, Justice, and the Environment. Having organized that three-day conference connecting social justice, race, and ecology, I was bowled over by her magic and warmth, her natural eloguence, and her powerful commitment to a new way to live on this earth. The day after the conference she stayed to address a special meeting of the the Maine Green Independent Party and thrilled everyone. And when, a few years later, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Price, I lost track of her but was told by those who knew her that she received her fame with poise and humor, threw herself into the often dangerous pit of Kenya politics, and continued to speak out and act for the land, the trees, and for justice. She is sorely missed."
• Dr. Wangari Maathai, 1992: “We have come a long way from ignorance to deep insight, from fear to courage and from the streets to Parliament. We moved from self to others, from 'my issue' to 'our issues', from home to communities, from national level to global. Now we embrace the concepts of our common home and future." ("Wangari Maathai’s quotable quotes," Agence France Presse, September 26, 2011, http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2011/09/26/wangari-maathai%E2%80%99s-quotable-quotes)
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
"Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Kenyan Green Party, Wins Nobel Peace Prize"
Green Party press release, October 9, 2004
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_10_08_04.html
"Press Misses Big Story, As Green Party Member Beats Bush and Blair -- for the Nobel Peace Prize"
Green Party press release, October 19, 2004
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_10_19_04.html
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
GP ADVISORY Green Party members speak out to stop execution of Troy Davis in Ga., urge end of the death penalty
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Friday, September 16, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party members speak out to stop execution of Troy Davis in Georgia, urge abolition of the death penalty
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on criminal justice and the death penalty: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-criminal.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States today called for a halt to the impending execution of Troy Davis, scheduled for September 21 in Georgia, and cited the case an example of why the death penalty must be abolished.
Green Party members will participate in public events urging the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to stop the execution when the board meets on Monday, September 19.
"Supporters of capital punishment insist that it should only used when no doubt remains about the guilt of the accused. The Troy Davis case shows that death-row inmates are facing execution even when significant doubts emerge. We know that racial disparities in sentencing and abuses by prosecutors such as the withholding of exculpatory evidence have led to wrongful sentencing. The only way to prevent erroneous executions is to end capital punishment altogether," said Leenie Halbert, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and formerly active in Angels of Mercy in Louisiana and a volunteer with Sr. Helen Prejean's Moratorium 2000 campaign.
Mounting doubts about the evidence against Troy Davis include seven of the nine witnesses recanting their testimony and the statements by several of the witnesses that they were pressured by the police to identify Troy Davis as the murderer of off-duty police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. Of the two remaining witnesses, one is the initial suspect.
Theresa El-Amin, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, has arranged for a bus from Columbus to Atlanta on Friday afternoon, September 16, for Greens and others to participate in a "Too Much Doubt to Execute!" march and prayer service at Ebenezer Baptist Church with national and local civil rights, faith, and community leaders. The event is sponsored by Georgians for an Alternative to the Death Penalty, NAACP, and Amnesty International.
Greens noted that the Supreme Court's McClesky v. Kemp ruling (1987) upheld the death penalty despite evidence of racial discrepancies in sentencing, which amounted to approval by the nation's highest court for racism in the application of capital punishment. (Mr. Davis is Black.) See "United States of America: Death by Discrimination -- The Continuing Role of Race in Capital Cases," Amnesty International, April 23, 2003 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/046/2003/en).
Furthermore, the Supreme Court, in Herrera v. Collins (1993), ruled that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment does not prohibit the execution of a person known to be innocent, if he or she has already been tried and sentenced to death. Greens have called this decision a license for the state to murder the innocent.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, signed into law by President Clinton, has imposed roadblocks, in the name of combatting terrorism, that have made it more difficult for death-row inmates to get new trials.
The Green Party Platform's section on criminal justice endorses abolition of the death penalty (http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2010/social-justice.php#1001998).
"We urge all states to follow the example of Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, who imposed a moratorium on executions in his state in 2000 because of the number of inmates whose sentences were overturned because of the flawed and biased justice system. Capital punishment is not only irreversible, it's barbaric and inhumane and a violation of human rights that calls into question all death penalty case convictions. Capital punishment does not deter crime, but instead has been used to exterminate the poor and people of color who are consistently treated unfairly in the justice system," said Rev. Darryl! LC Moch of Inner Light Ministries, co-chair of the DC Statehood Green Party and a member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php).
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Friday, September 16, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party members speak out to stop execution of Troy Davis in Georgia, urge abolition of the death penalty
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on criminal justice and the death penalty: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-criminal.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States today called for a halt to the impending execution of Troy Davis, scheduled for September 21 in Georgia, and cited the case an example of why the death penalty must be abolished.
Green Party members will participate in public events urging the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to stop the execution when the board meets on Monday, September 19.
"Supporters of capital punishment insist that it should only used when no doubt remains about the guilt of the accused. The Troy Davis case shows that death-row inmates are facing execution even when significant doubts emerge. We know that racial disparities in sentencing and abuses by prosecutors such as the withholding of exculpatory evidence have led to wrongful sentencing. The only way to prevent erroneous executions is to end capital punishment altogether," said Leenie Halbert, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and formerly active in Angels of Mercy in Louisiana and a volunteer with Sr. Helen Prejean's Moratorium 2000 campaign.
Mounting doubts about the evidence against Troy Davis include seven of the nine witnesses recanting their testimony and the statements by several of the witnesses that they were pressured by the police to identify Troy Davis as the murderer of off-duty police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. Of the two remaining witnesses, one is the initial suspect.
Theresa El-Amin, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, has arranged for a bus from Columbus to Atlanta on Friday afternoon, September 16, for Greens and others to participate in a "Too Much Doubt to Execute!" march and prayer service at Ebenezer Baptist Church with national and local civil rights, faith, and community leaders. The event is sponsored by Georgians for an Alternative to the Death Penalty, NAACP, and Amnesty International.
Greens noted that the Supreme Court's McClesky v. Kemp ruling (1987) upheld the death penalty despite evidence of racial discrepancies in sentencing, which amounted to approval by the nation's highest court for racism in the application of capital punishment. (Mr. Davis is Black.) See "United States of America: Death by Discrimination -- The Continuing Role of Race in Capital Cases," Amnesty International, April 23, 2003 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/046/2003/en).
Furthermore, the Supreme Court, in Herrera v. Collins (1993), ruled that the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment does not prohibit the execution of a person known to be innocent, if he or she has already been tried and sentenced to death. Greens have called this decision a license for the state to murder the innocent.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, signed into law by President Clinton, has imposed roadblocks, in the name of combatting terrorism, that have made it more difficult for death-row inmates to get new trials.
The Green Party Platform's section on criminal justice endorses abolition of the death penalty (http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2010/social-justice.php#1001998).
"We urge all states to follow the example of Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, who imposed a moratorium on executions in his state in 2000 because of the number of inmates whose sentences were overturned because of the flawed and biased justice system. Capital punishment is not only irreversible, it's barbaric and inhumane and a violation of human rights that calls into question all death penalty case convictions. Capital punishment does not deter crime, but instead has been used to exterminate the poor and people of color who are consistently treated unfairly in the justice system," said Rev. Darryl! LC Moch of Inner Light Ministries, co-chair of the DC Statehood Green Party and a member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php).
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
Friday, September 9, 2011
GP RELEASE Greens, responding to Obama's speech, call Green New Deal the key to job creation
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Friday, September 9, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party, responding to President Obama's Sept. 8 address, calls 'Green New Deal' the key to job creation
? Greens urge public works programs to provide millions of jobs and help convert America to a secure green economy
? Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on economic issues
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-sustainability.php
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-justice.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- Responding to President Obama's speech Thursday night, the Green Party today called for a 'Green New Deal' to put Americans back to work while helping the US transition to a carbon-free green economy.
"We need a Green New Deal that will put all of the unemployed to work rebuilding America on the basis of an economically and ecologically sustainable prosperity. The green in the Green New Deal means we must go beyond the old New Deal and bring an environmental focus to our public investments, including clean manufacturing processes, to not only address the crisis of climate change but to build the foundation of a sustainable green economy," said Jill Stein, co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts (http://www.massgreens.org) and author of "Jobs for All with a Green New Deal" (Green Papers, September 5, 2011, http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=164).
"Other countries are already making major investments to position themselves for this future carbon-free economy. America needs to catch up. A Green New Deal offers the opportunity to revive and reinvent American manufacturing, so we can have good jobs by making the solar panels and wind towers and transit cars right here in America," added Dr. Stein.
More on the Green New Deal: http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal
Green Party leaders said that President Obama's new jobs proposal will fall far short of finding enough jobs for the 25 million Americans who need employment. They sharply criticized the president for failing to call for revenue measures needed to finance a robust jobs creation program, including taxes on Wall Street speculation, off-shore tax havens, millionaires and multimillion dollar estates, as well as a 30% reduction in the trillion-dollar bloated military-industrial-security complex budget.
"President Obama refused to address the massive problem of income inequality, a major cause of the economic recession. The wealthiest 1% of Americans now take home 24% of the national income, up from 9% in 1976. The last time the US had such massive income inequality was in 1927, which pushed the country into the Great Depression because of the loss of consumer spending," said Laura Wells, Green candidate for the 2010 governor?s race in California.
Green leaders said that a payroll tax cut for working Americans will at best provide a modest economic stimulus, but agreed with President Obama's support for extended unemployment benefits.
Greens have long advocated the establishment of an infrastructure bank, noting that North Dakota's successful public banks have granted cheaper and easier access to credit to small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments.
"The path to full employment in America lies in building a green economy, not in caving to polluters as the Obama administration has done recently. The New York Times reports that the recent surge of the Green Party in many European countries was due to the recognition that building a green economy is the key to job creation (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/world/europe/02greens.html). Politicians in the US love to campaign on a green jobs agenda, but once elected, its back to pushing more tax cuts and handouts for large corporations," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Green Party's national Lavender Green Caucus.
"A Green New Deal will establish government's responsibility to guarantee the right to a job for every American willing and able to work. Let's turn the unemployment office into the employment office. If the private sector fails to provide you a job, you go down to the employment office to get work. We need to build ecologically sustainable energy and transportation infrastructure and production systems -- clean renewable energy generation, retrofitting buildings and homes and other projects for energy efficiency, intra-city mass transit and inter-city railroads, 'complete streets' that encourage bikes and pedestrians, regional food systems based on sustainable organic agriculture, and clean manufacturing of the goods needed to support a sustainable economy," said Howie Hawkins, co-chair of the Green Party of New York State and Green candidate for Common Councilor in Syracuse, New York.
Green leaders noted that the White House launched several successful public works programs since the 1930s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) in the 1970s employed millions to provide necessary public infrastructure and public services like education, health, child care, elder care, youth programs, and arts and cultural projects.
The net cost of a WPA-style jobs program to create 25 million new jobs would be $666 billion, only about 50% more than the $447 billion President Obama proposes and less than the $825 billion in the 2009 stimulus -- and miniscule compared to the trillions in Wall Street bailouts in 2008 and 2009. (See "Learning from the New Deal" (draft) by Philip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics at Rutgers School of Law, http://www.njfac.org/HarveyLearningND.pdf). Assuming that a public jobs program would stimulate about one private job for every two public jobs created, we would need about 17.5 million public jobs the first year. With pay between $14 to $17 per hour, plus benefits, the net cost per job would be only $28,600, compared to $228,055 per job cost of Obama's initial 2009 stimulus, which mainly consisted of tax incentives.
Greens warned that Obama's proposals also fail to provide enough relief from housing foreclosures. A July 2010 report from the International Monetary Fund shows that the foreclosure crisis account for more than 10% of the unemployment rate (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/cr10248.pdf). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage companies, must aggressively reduce the principal balances on underwater loans and make refinancing easier for underwater borrowers.
The cost of a Green New Deal jobs program would be covered through a combination of carbon taxes to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increased taxes on the wealthy and Wall Street, and major cuts in the military budget. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top four contributors to the federal deficit are (in order of importance) the Bush tax cuts, reduced revenues in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown, bank bailouts, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Defending America doesn't require a globally deployed military, with bases in over 100 countries and full-scale occupations and wars on several fronts. The military budget has doubled over the last decade. The US spends over $1 trillion a year on the military-industrial complex. If we cut military spending by two-thirds to fully fund an Employment Assurance program in the depths of the current Great Recession, we would still spend three times more than China, the world's next biggest military spender, China," said Mark Dunlea, New York Green and chair of the Green Educational Legal Fund, Inc.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
? Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
? News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
? Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
? Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
? Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
? Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
"Critics Still Wrong on What?s Driving Deficits in Coming Years: Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers"
By Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, June 28, 2010
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3036
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
? 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Friday, September 9, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party, responding to President Obama's Sept. 8 address, calls 'Green New Deal' the key to job creation
? Greens urge public works programs to provide millions of jobs and help convert America to a secure green economy
? Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on economic issues
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-sustainability.php
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-justice.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- Responding to President Obama's speech Thursday night, the Green Party today called for a 'Green New Deal' to put Americans back to work while helping the US transition to a carbon-free green economy.
"We need a Green New Deal that will put all of the unemployed to work rebuilding America on the basis of an economically and ecologically sustainable prosperity. The green in the Green New Deal means we must go beyond the old New Deal and bring an environmental focus to our public investments, including clean manufacturing processes, to not only address the crisis of climate change but to build the foundation of a sustainable green economy," said Jill Stein, co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts (http://www.massgreens.org) and author of "Jobs for All with a Green New Deal" (Green Papers, September 5, 2011, http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=164).
"Other countries are already making major investments to position themselves for this future carbon-free economy. America needs to catch up. A Green New Deal offers the opportunity to revive and reinvent American manufacturing, so we can have good jobs by making the solar panels and wind towers and transit cars right here in America," added Dr. Stein.
More on the Green New Deal: http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal
Green Party leaders said that President Obama's new jobs proposal will fall far short of finding enough jobs for the 25 million Americans who need employment. They sharply criticized the president for failing to call for revenue measures needed to finance a robust jobs creation program, including taxes on Wall Street speculation, off-shore tax havens, millionaires and multimillion dollar estates, as well as a 30% reduction in the trillion-dollar bloated military-industrial-security complex budget.
"President Obama refused to address the massive problem of income inequality, a major cause of the economic recession. The wealthiest 1% of Americans now take home 24% of the national income, up from 9% in 1976. The last time the US had such massive income inequality was in 1927, which pushed the country into the Great Depression because of the loss of consumer spending," said Laura Wells, Green candidate for the 2010 governor?s race in California.
Green leaders said that a payroll tax cut for working Americans will at best provide a modest economic stimulus, but agreed with President Obama's support for extended unemployment benefits.
Greens have long advocated the establishment of an infrastructure bank, noting that North Dakota's successful public banks have granted cheaper and easier access to credit to small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments.
"The path to full employment in America lies in building a green economy, not in caving to polluters as the Obama administration has done recently. The New York Times reports that the recent surge of the Green Party in many European countries was due to the recognition that building a green economy is the key to job creation (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/world/europe/02greens.html). Politicians in the US love to campaign on a green jobs agenda, but once elected, its back to pushing more tax cuts and handouts for large corporations," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Green Party's national Lavender Green Caucus.
"A Green New Deal will establish government's responsibility to guarantee the right to a job for every American willing and able to work. Let's turn the unemployment office into the employment office. If the private sector fails to provide you a job, you go down to the employment office to get work. We need to build ecologically sustainable energy and transportation infrastructure and production systems -- clean renewable energy generation, retrofitting buildings and homes and other projects for energy efficiency, intra-city mass transit and inter-city railroads, 'complete streets' that encourage bikes and pedestrians, regional food systems based on sustainable organic agriculture, and clean manufacturing of the goods needed to support a sustainable economy," said Howie Hawkins, co-chair of the Green Party of New York State and Green candidate for Common Councilor in Syracuse, New York.
Green leaders noted that the White House launched several successful public works programs since the 1930s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) in the 1970s employed millions to provide necessary public infrastructure and public services like education, health, child care, elder care, youth programs, and arts and cultural projects.
The net cost of a WPA-style jobs program to create 25 million new jobs would be $666 billion, only about 50% more than the $447 billion President Obama proposes and less than the $825 billion in the 2009 stimulus -- and miniscule compared to the trillions in Wall Street bailouts in 2008 and 2009. (See "Learning from the New Deal" (draft) by Philip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics at Rutgers School of Law, http://www.njfac.org/HarveyLearningND.pdf). Assuming that a public jobs program would stimulate about one private job for every two public jobs created, we would need about 17.5 million public jobs the first year. With pay between $14 to $17 per hour, plus benefits, the net cost per job would be only $28,600, compared to $228,055 per job cost of Obama's initial 2009 stimulus, which mainly consisted of tax incentives.
Greens warned that Obama's proposals also fail to provide enough relief from housing foreclosures. A July 2010 report from the International Monetary Fund shows that the foreclosure crisis account for more than 10% of the unemployment rate (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2010/cr10248.pdf). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage companies, must aggressively reduce the principal balances on underwater loans and make refinancing easier for underwater borrowers.
The cost of a Green New Deal jobs program would be covered through a combination of carbon taxes to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increased taxes on the wealthy and Wall Street, and major cuts in the military budget. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top four contributors to the federal deficit are (in order of importance) the Bush tax cuts, reduced revenues in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown, bank bailouts, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Defending America doesn't require a globally deployed military, with bases in over 100 countries and full-scale occupations and wars on several fronts. The military budget has doubled over the last decade. The US spends over $1 trillion a year on the military-industrial complex. If we cut military spending by two-thirds to fully fund an Employment Assurance program in the depths of the current Great Recession, we would still spend three times more than China, the world's next biggest military spender, China," said Mark Dunlea, New York Green and chair of the Green Educational Legal Fund, Inc.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
? Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
? News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
? Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
? Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
? Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
? Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
"Critics Still Wrong on What?s Driving Deficits in Coming Years: Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers"
By Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, June 28, 2010
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3036
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
? 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
GP RELEASE Greens blast Obama's capitulation to GOP & oil lobbies on tar sands pipeline, EPA smog regulations
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party leaders blast President Obama's approval of the tar sands pipeline and withdrawal of EPA smog regulations, calling White House policies a capitulation to Republicans and corporate lobbies
• Greens promote Green New Deal: real action to curb global warming and end oil addiction, create new jobs in energy conservation, alternate energy development, and public transportation
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on global warming and other ecological issues: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-ecological.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders strongly criticized President Obama's recent decisions on the controversial tar sands pipeline and EPA smog regulations, calling his support for the Keystone XL Pipeline and withdrawal of smog standards reckless and dangerous to public health and the environment.
"More respiratory disease, more dependence on fossil fuels, more greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere -- these will be the results of President Obama's latest capitulations to the oil industry and Republicans. The President is trying to appease anti-regulation ideologues and climate-change deniers in the GOP and corporate lobbies that place profits ahead of public safety," said Audrey Clement, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and a member of the party's Eco-Action Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php).
Greens noted that President Obama alone, without approval from Congress, has the power to approve or reject the tar sands pipeline from Alberta, Canada. Party leaders expressed admiration and gratitude to the protestors arrested during the White House demonstrations against approval of the tar sands pipeline (http://www.tarsandsaction.org).
“The courageous actions at the White House represent the voice of conscience confronting the dark forces of environmental destruction," said Jill Stein, co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts (http://www.massgreens.org). "I am so proud to see that America has so many people willing to put themselves on the front line of the battle to save our future. This action is a defining moment. It is the point at which the environmental community stops accepting inaction and excuses, and starts insisting that our government do the right thing. That courage to speak up clearly and not be silenced is critical for starting to save our imperiled planet.“
NASA's Dr. James Hansen, one of the nation's top climate scientists, said that development of tar sands in Alberta, Canada, would be "game over" for efforts to curb climate change (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/29/idUS257590805720110829). Mining oil from tar sands creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil extraction, and the oil will be transported by the hazardous 1,700-mile long Keystone XL Pipeline to refineries in Texas. Despite such warnings, the State Department gave the project a green light in its environmental impact statement, dismissing the threat of sharp increases in carbon emissions.
Greens said that President Obama's concern for the revenues of oil companies and the financial burden created by anti-smog regulations reflected an administration that measures the health of the US economy by corporate profits rather than by how many new jobs are created, how many Americans move out of unemployment and poverty, and how the US is meeting the challenges of global warming.
"Green candidates have called for a 'Green New Deal' with a plan to create millions of new jobs in conservation and conversion to safe, clean energy, the promotion of technologies to reduce air pollution -- such as anti-smog devices -- and expansion of public transportation to reduce car traffic. Such measures will help the US recover from the 2008 economic meltdown. Unfortunately, President Obama has retreated from his 2008 nomination speech promise that during his presidency the 'rise of the oceans will begin to slow, and the planet begin to heal.' He has capitulated to the corporate myth that environmental standards are job killers. In fact, they are job creators because they spur innovation and investment in cleaner technologies," said Howie Hawkins, co-chair of the Green Party of New York State (http://www.web.gpnys.com) and candidate for Common Councillor of Syracuse.
"Obama is ignoring the tar sands pipeline protesters and the whole movement to stop global warming. Street protests alone without a political alternative to vote for will just leave the protesters taken for granted by Obama and the Democrats again. We can multiply the power of the protests by mounting an electoral insurgency behind the political party that is dedicated to preserving the planet -- the Green Party," Mr. Hawkins added. (More on the Green New Deal: http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal)
Greens cited numerous other Obama Administration environmental retreats and capitulations: an industry-coddling response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico; paralysis in global climate protection negotiations and promotion of emissions-trading schemes that will grant polluting industries licenses to continue polluting; refusal to ban mountaintop removal mining; endorsement of 'clean coal'; approval of new nuclear power plants (despite the Fukushima disaster in March 2011) paid for by taxpayers for the benefit of energy companies that don't want to assume the high cost and high liability; plans to expand off-shore drilling with new operations in Atlantic coastal waters.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
"The Tar Sands Action (smile)"
By Ted Glick, September 5, 2011
http://www.tedglick.com/columns/102.html
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party leaders blast President Obama's approval of the tar sands pipeline and withdrawal of EPA smog regulations, calling White House policies a capitulation to Republicans and corporate lobbies
• Greens promote Green New Deal: real action to curb global warming and end oil addiction, create new jobs in energy conservation, alternate energy development, and public transportation
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on global warming and other ecological issues: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-ecological.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders strongly criticized President Obama's recent decisions on the controversial tar sands pipeline and EPA smog regulations, calling his support for the Keystone XL Pipeline and withdrawal of smog standards reckless and dangerous to public health and the environment.
"More respiratory disease, more dependence on fossil fuels, more greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere -- these will be the results of President Obama's latest capitulations to the oil industry and Republicans. The President is trying to appease anti-regulation ideologues and climate-change deniers in the GOP and corporate lobbies that place profits ahead of public safety," said Audrey Clement, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and a member of the party's Eco-Action Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php).
Greens noted that President Obama alone, without approval from Congress, has the power to approve or reject the tar sands pipeline from Alberta, Canada. Party leaders expressed admiration and gratitude to the protestors arrested during the White House demonstrations against approval of the tar sands pipeline (http://www.tarsandsaction.org).
“The courageous actions at the White House represent the voice of conscience confronting the dark forces of environmental destruction," said Jill Stein, co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts (http://www.massgreens.org). "I am so proud to see that America has so many people willing to put themselves on the front line of the battle to save our future. This action is a defining moment. It is the point at which the environmental community stops accepting inaction and excuses, and starts insisting that our government do the right thing. That courage to speak up clearly and not be silenced is critical for starting to save our imperiled planet.“
NASA's Dr. James Hansen, one of the nation's top climate scientists, said that development of tar sands in Alberta, Canada, would be "game over" for efforts to curb climate change (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/29/idUS257590805720110829). Mining oil from tar sands creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil extraction, and the oil will be transported by the hazardous 1,700-mile long Keystone XL Pipeline to refineries in Texas. Despite such warnings, the State Department gave the project a green light in its environmental impact statement, dismissing the threat of sharp increases in carbon emissions.
Greens said that President Obama's concern for the revenues of oil companies and the financial burden created by anti-smog regulations reflected an administration that measures the health of the US economy by corporate profits rather than by how many new jobs are created, how many Americans move out of unemployment and poverty, and how the US is meeting the challenges of global warming.
"Green candidates have called for a 'Green New Deal' with a plan to create millions of new jobs in conservation and conversion to safe, clean energy, the promotion of technologies to reduce air pollution -- such as anti-smog devices -- and expansion of public transportation to reduce car traffic. Such measures will help the US recover from the 2008 economic meltdown. Unfortunately, President Obama has retreated from his 2008 nomination speech promise that during his presidency the 'rise of the oceans will begin to slow, and the planet begin to heal.' He has capitulated to the corporate myth that environmental standards are job killers. In fact, they are job creators because they spur innovation and investment in cleaner technologies," said Howie Hawkins, co-chair of the Green Party of New York State (http://www.web.gpnys.com) and candidate for Common Councillor of Syracuse.
"Obama is ignoring the tar sands pipeline protesters and the whole movement to stop global warming. Street protests alone without a political alternative to vote for will just leave the protesters taken for granted by Obama and the Democrats again. We can multiply the power of the protests by mounting an electoral insurgency behind the political party that is dedicated to preserving the planet -- the Green Party," Mr. Hawkins added. (More on the Green New Deal: http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal)
Greens cited numerous other Obama Administration environmental retreats and capitulations: an industry-coddling response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico; paralysis in global climate protection negotiations and promotion of emissions-trading schemes that will grant polluting industries licenses to continue polluting; refusal to ban mountaintop removal mining; endorsement of 'clean coal'; approval of new nuclear power plants (despite the Fukushima disaster in March 2011) paid for by taxpayers for the benefit of energy companies that don't want to assume the high cost and high liability; plans to expand off-shore drilling with new operations in Atlantic coastal waters.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
"The Tar Sands Action (smile)"
By Ted Glick, September 5, 2011
http://www.tedglick.com/columns/102.html
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
GP RELEASE Green Party: US/NATO must withdraw from Libya, back African Union efforts to broker a resolution
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, August 22, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
The Green Party urges US/NATO to withdraw from Libya and support African Union efforts to broker a resolution
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders urged an immediate US/NATO withdrawal from Libya after the advance of rebel forces into Tripoli, and called on President Obama to support a political solution to the crisis in Libya through diplomacy, with the involvement of the African Union, Arab League, and United Nations.
"The African Union's mediation committee offered a positive outline for an immediate ceasefire, followed by negotiation without preconditions and democratic elections in Libya. This is the perfect moment for President Obama, NATO, and the UN to support the efforts of the African Union to broker a resolution. All elements of Libyan society must be invited to the table to determine the country's new direction. The Libyan people must be allowed to decide their own future," said Romi Elnagar, member of the Green Party of Louisiana and the Green Party's International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl).
"If US and NATO forces prolong military action and attempt an occupation to stabilize Libya, the result will be more civilian lives lost and a disaster similar to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the evaporation of hopes for freedom and democratic self-determination for the Libyan people," Ms. Elnagar added.
See "African Union Statement on the NATO Invasion of Libya: It's Time to End the Bombing and Find a Political Solution in Libya" by Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's Permanent Representative to the UN, New Vision (Uganda), June 17, 2011 (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/757904). According to the statement, "Gadaffi accepted dialogue when the AU mediation Committee visited Tripoli on April 10, 2011. Any war activities after that have been provocation for Africa. It is an unnecessary war."
The Green Party opposed the US/NATO assault on Libya from the beginning (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=399) and Greens have strongly criticized President Obama for public statements, after the beginning of the attack, in which he changed the goal from "humanitarian intervention" for the protection of Libyan civilians to ousting Gaddafi. Attacking a country to remove its leadership is a violation of international law. The Libyan war was also conducted without congressional approval, even after the US House in June voted against authorizing continued military operations in Libya for one year.
The Green Party supports nonviolent resistance to oppression, as most Palestinians have practiced for decades and Egyptians more recently, and deplores the killing of unarmed civilians.
"The severity of bombing raids over the past few months suggests that Gaddafi himself has been and may still be the target. The bombing inevitably turned indiscriminate and led to widespread civilian death and injury. NATO's claim of protecting civilian lives has become increasingly implausible. Unfortunately, Secretary of State Clinton's refusal to grant the Libyan UN ambassador a visa has censored Libya's own collected statistics on civilian casualties resulting from the raids," said Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.
Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee, recently conducted a fact-finding tour of Libya and reported on NATO's bombing of civilians at Al Fateh University, Campus B, in Tripoli on June 9 in her blog at Black Agenda Report (http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/more-nato-humanitarian-interventionthe-bombing-al-fateh-university-campus-b).
Green Party leaders noted that, while attacking Libya in the name of democracy and liberation, the US has withheld criticism of violent repression of popular movements for democracy in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, which are US allies.
Greens have agreed with the call by the United National Antiwar Committee "for an immediate halt to US intervention in regions and countries where mass mobilizations are challenging oppressive regimes" (Statement on Libya, http://nepajac.org/libya.htm) and warned against US efforts to co-opt movements for democracy in African countries and force them to accept Africom (United States Africa Command), a program to impose US military presence and strategic objectives in African countries.
"The unprovoked assault on Libya has constituted a third war, with US troops still occupying Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan, against the government of a majority Muslim nation. It has opened a dangerous new front in a wider unending US war that is at least in part motivated by a desire to control the planet's largest oil reserves in the coming decades. These policies, unless reversed, may eventually ignite a global conflict in this century of dwindling oil resources and advancing climate change. Already, the US has spent $3.7 trillion on wars during the past decade, draining sorely needed funds from public services and other domestic necessities and aggravating the current fiscal crisis. It's time to retire the Bush-Cheney-Obama policy of military aggression," said Muhammed Malik, co-chair of the Miami-Dade Green Party (http://www.miamidadegreenparty.org) and a member of the Green Party's International Committee.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Green Party International Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/
"Libyan Deaths, Media Silence: Were Dozens Killed in Majer NATO Airstrikes?"
FAIR media advisory, August 18, 2011
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4379
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, August 22, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
The Green Party urges US/NATO to withdraw from Libya and support African Union efforts to broker a resolution
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders urged an immediate US/NATO withdrawal from Libya after the advance of rebel forces into Tripoli, and called on President Obama to support a political solution to the crisis in Libya through diplomacy, with the involvement of the African Union, Arab League, and United Nations.
"The African Union's mediation committee offered a positive outline for an immediate ceasefire, followed by negotiation without preconditions and democratic elections in Libya. This is the perfect moment for President Obama, NATO, and the UN to support the efforts of the African Union to broker a resolution. All elements of Libyan society must be invited to the table to determine the country's new direction. The Libyan people must be allowed to decide their own future," said Romi Elnagar, member of the Green Party of Louisiana and the Green Party's International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl).
"If US and NATO forces prolong military action and attempt an occupation to stabilize Libya, the result will be more civilian lives lost and a disaster similar to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the evaporation of hopes for freedom and democratic self-determination for the Libyan people," Ms. Elnagar added.
See "African Union Statement on the NATO Invasion of Libya: It's Time to End the Bombing and Find a Political Solution in Libya" by Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's Permanent Representative to the UN, New Vision (Uganda), June 17, 2011 (http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/757904). According to the statement, "Gadaffi accepted dialogue when the AU mediation Committee visited Tripoli on April 10, 2011. Any war activities after that have been provocation for Africa. It is an unnecessary war."
The Green Party opposed the US/NATO assault on Libya from the beginning (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=399) and Greens have strongly criticized President Obama for public statements, after the beginning of the attack, in which he changed the goal from "humanitarian intervention" for the protection of Libyan civilians to ousting Gaddafi. Attacking a country to remove its leadership is a violation of international law. The Libyan war was also conducted without congressional approval, even after the US House in June voted against authorizing continued military operations in Libya for one year.
The Green Party supports nonviolent resistance to oppression, as most Palestinians have practiced for decades and Egyptians more recently, and deplores the killing of unarmed civilians.
"The severity of bombing raids over the past few months suggests that Gaddafi himself has been and may still be the target. The bombing inevitably turned indiscriminate and led to widespread civilian death and injury. NATO's claim of protecting civilian lives has become increasingly implausible. Unfortunately, Secretary of State Clinton's refusal to grant the Libyan UN ambassador a visa has censored Libya's own collected statistics on civilian casualties resulting from the raids," said Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.
Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee, recently conducted a fact-finding tour of Libya and reported on NATO's bombing of civilians at Al Fateh University, Campus B, in Tripoli on June 9 in her blog at Black Agenda Report (http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/more-nato-humanitarian-interventionthe-bombing-al-fateh-university-campus-b).
Green Party leaders noted that, while attacking Libya in the name of democracy and liberation, the US has withheld criticism of violent repression of popular movements for democracy in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, which are US allies.
Greens have agreed with the call by the United National Antiwar Committee "for an immediate halt to US intervention in regions and countries where mass mobilizations are challenging oppressive regimes" (Statement on Libya, http://nepajac.org/libya.htm) and warned against US efforts to co-opt movements for democracy in African countries and force them to accept Africom (United States Africa Command), a program to impose US military presence and strategic objectives in African countries.
"The unprovoked assault on Libya has constituted a third war, with US troops still occupying Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan, against the government of a majority Muslim nation. It has opened a dangerous new front in a wider unending US war that is at least in part motivated by a desire to control the planet's largest oil reserves in the coming decades. These policies, unless reversed, may eventually ignite a global conflict in this century of dwindling oil resources and advancing climate change. Already, the US has spent $3.7 trillion on wars during the past decade, draining sorely needed funds from public services and other domestic necessities and aggravating the current fiscal crisis. It's time to retire the Bush-Cheney-Obama policy of military aggression," said Muhammed Malik, co-chair of the Miami-Dade Green Party (http://www.miamidadegreenparty.org) and a member of the Green Party's International Committee.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Green Party International Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/
"Libyan Deaths, Media Silence: Were Dozens Killed in Majer NATO Airstrikes?"
FAIR media advisory, August 18, 2011
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4379
Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Greens urge national protest & voters' revolt over deal by Obama & GOP to cut Social Security & Medicare
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Greens: Obama has joined the GOP war against working people with his announced intention to roll back Social Security and Medicare
• Agreement with Republicans would gut key protections for Americans, push retirement savings in the Wall Street casino, and will mean "work till you die" for many working people; it's time for the 'Green New Deal' and a voters' revolt against both parties, say Green Party leaders
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on economic justice, budget policy, and sustainability
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-justice.php
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-sustainability.php
• Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest, Aug. 5-7 in Alfred, New York http://nygreenfest.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders warned that President Obama and Democratic leaders will betray the American people if they agree with Republicans to cut Social Security and Medicare, and demanded that such cuts be taken off the table.
The Green Party has challenged bipartisan claims that the deficit, rather than the recession and job crisis, is the major economic problem facing the US. Green candidates and leaders have promoted a 'Green New Deal' with an array of positive solutions for the economy and employment (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal).
• Holly Hart, secretary of the Green Party of the United States: "There are ways other than cutting Social Security and Medicare to end the federal deficit -- ending the three wars, sharply reducing the military budget, raising taxes on the wealthy. A modest raise in the contribution cap for the highest income brackets would keep Social Security solvent. Social Security and Medicare are accounts separate from the federal budget -- they play no part in the deficit crisis. But President Obama, compromising with congressional Republicans and fulfilling his own ambition to 'restructure entitlements', has signaled his willingness to roll back the protections that his party passed in the 1930s and 1960s to give working Americans their financial security and prosperity since the mid 20th century, saving millions of people from financial destitution. The President's deal, which we can count on Democratic leaders in Congress to support, may compel
people to gamble their retirement savings in the Wall Street casino. And pushing back the eligibility age will be a 'work till you die' sentence for many Americans, including Black people, the poor, and others with statistically shorter life spans."
• Jason Nabewaniec, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "It's time for a voters' revolt against both Democrats and Republicans. President Obama's compromise shows he has joined the GOP war against working people. There is no longer any reason to make excuses for Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats. There is no reason to vote for 'the lesser of two evils' if the lesser evil is so willing to cooperate with the greater evil against the rest of us. Two-party politics is more than a flaw in our democracy. It's a disaster that can only be solved by removing Democrats and Republicans from office and replacing them with Green candidates. Greens accept no corporate money and are committed to maintaining and strengthening Social Security, and to expanding Medicare to cover everyone. Mr. Obama's likely Social-Security/Medicare deal with the GOP is proof that the Green Party is an imperative for the 21st century. If the deal is
accepted, it will be time for people to gather in protest in Washington, DC, and throughout the US just as people protested in Wisconsin when Gov. Walker threatened public sector workers and union organizing rights."
• Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "It's no longer accurate to say we have two parties running the country. We have a single party with an extremist wing called the Republican Party and a slightly less extremist wing called the Democratic Party, both of which have made service to Wall Street and other powerful corporate elites their top priority. Most Americans don't want to see Social Security or Medicare reduced -- but most Americans don't contribute huge campaign checks. Unlike corporations, thanks to the Supreme Court's 'Citizens' United' decision, most Americans don't run endless campaign ads."
• Howie Hawkins, Green candidate for Common Councillor of Syracuse, New York and 2010 Green candidate for Governor of New York: "If MoveOn.org and environmental activist Van Jones believe that America's future should be in the hands of Democrats, they're as deluded as Tea Partiers who want a Republican future. President Obama's planned raid on Social Security and Medicare tops off the list of capitulations and betrayals since taking office: escalation of the Afghanistan War and air assaults on Pakistan; a third war, on Libya, in violation of the War Powers Act; continued warrantless wiretapping of US citizens, harassment of whistleblowers, and other legal abuses; plans to build more nuclear power plants, with taxpayers' money, even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan; plans for more offshore oil drilling despite the BP disaster; a health care reform bill designed mainly to enrich insurance companies, with mandates to purchase private
coverage and no reductions in medical costs; embrace of the myth of 'clean coal' and no interference in destructive, poisonous mountaintop removal mining... The list goes on and on, even surpassing President Clinton's fulfillment of GOP agenda."
• George Carlin, nonpartisan comedian and social critic (1937-2008): "The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out."
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest http://nygreenfest.org
• Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Green-Fest/71141014224
• Alfred University http://www.alfred.edu
• Green Party of New York State http://www.web.gpnys.com
• Directions http://nygreenfest.org/directions.html
• Green Party Annual National Meeting Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/anmc/index.php
"Trumka: Social Security Cuts Should Not Be on the Table"
AFL-CIO Blog, July 7, 2011
http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/07/07/trumka-social-security-cuts-should-not-be-on-the-table/
"Breaking Point: Obama and the Death of the Democratic Party"
By Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake, July 8, 2011
http://firedoglake.com/2011/07/07/the-breaking-point/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/08-3
GreenStream Live: News and discussion on the Green Party's Livestream channel
http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Fall 2010 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Greens: Obama has joined the GOP war against working people with his announced intention to roll back Social Security and Medicare
• Agreement with Republicans would gut key protections for Americans, push retirement savings in the Wall Street casino, and will mean "work till you die" for many working people; it's time for the 'Green New Deal' and a voters' revolt against both parties, say Green Party leaders
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on economic justice, budget policy, and sustainability
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-justice.php
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-sustainability.php
• Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest, Aug. 5-7 in Alfred, New York http://nygreenfest.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders warned that President Obama and Democratic leaders will betray the American people if they agree with Republicans to cut Social Security and Medicare, and demanded that such cuts be taken off the table.
The Green Party has challenged bipartisan claims that the deficit, rather than the recession and job crisis, is the major economic problem facing the US. Green candidates and leaders have promoted a 'Green New Deal' with an array of positive solutions for the economy and employment (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal).
• Holly Hart, secretary of the Green Party of the United States: "There are ways other than cutting Social Security and Medicare to end the federal deficit -- ending the three wars, sharply reducing the military budget, raising taxes on the wealthy. A modest raise in the contribution cap for the highest income brackets would keep Social Security solvent. Social Security and Medicare are accounts separate from the federal budget -- they play no part in the deficit crisis. But President Obama, compromising with congressional Republicans and fulfilling his own ambition to 'restructure entitlements', has signaled his willingness to roll back the protections that his party passed in the 1930s and 1960s to give working Americans their financial security and prosperity since the mid 20th century, saving millions of people from financial destitution. The President's deal, which we can count on Democratic leaders in Congress to support, may compel
people to gamble their retirement savings in the Wall Street casino. And pushing back the eligibility age will be a 'work till you die' sentence for many Americans, including Black people, the poor, and others with statistically shorter life spans."
• Jason Nabewaniec, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "It's time for a voters' revolt against both Democrats and Republicans. President Obama's compromise shows he has joined the GOP war against working people. There is no longer any reason to make excuses for Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats. There is no reason to vote for 'the lesser of two evils' if the lesser evil is so willing to cooperate with the greater evil against the rest of us. Two-party politics is more than a flaw in our democracy. It's a disaster that can only be solved by removing Democrats and Republicans from office and replacing them with Green candidates. Greens accept no corporate money and are committed to maintaining and strengthening Social Security, and to expanding Medicare to cover everyone. Mr. Obama's likely Social-Security/Medicare deal with the GOP is proof that the Green Party is an imperative for the 21st century. If the deal is
accepted, it will be time for people to gather in protest in Washington, DC, and throughout the US just as people protested in Wisconsin when Gov. Walker threatened public sector workers and union organizing rights."
• Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: "It's no longer accurate to say we have two parties running the country. We have a single party with an extremist wing called the Republican Party and a slightly less extremist wing called the Democratic Party, both of which have made service to Wall Street and other powerful corporate elites their top priority. Most Americans don't want to see Social Security or Medicare reduced -- but most Americans don't contribute huge campaign checks. Unlike corporations, thanks to the Supreme Court's 'Citizens' United' decision, most Americans don't run endless campaign ads."
• Howie Hawkins, Green candidate for Common Councillor of Syracuse, New York and 2010 Green candidate for Governor of New York: "If MoveOn.org and environmental activist Van Jones believe that America's future should be in the hands of Democrats, they're as deluded as Tea Partiers who want a Republican future. President Obama's planned raid on Social Security and Medicare tops off the list of capitulations and betrayals since taking office: escalation of the Afghanistan War and air assaults on Pakistan; a third war, on Libya, in violation of the War Powers Act; continued warrantless wiretapping of US citizens, harassment of whistleblowers, and other legal abuses; plans to build more nuclear power plants, with taxpayers' money, even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan; plans for more offshore oil drilling despite the BP disaster; a health care reform bill designed mainly to enrich insurance companies, with mandates to purchase private
coverage and no reductions in medical costs; embrace of the myth of 'clean coal' and no interference in destructive, poisonous mountaintop removal mining... The list goes on and on, even surpassing President Clinton's fulfillment of GOP agenda."
• George Carlin, nonpartisan comedian and social critic (1937-2008): "The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out."
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest http://nygreenfest.org
• Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Green-Fest/71141014224
• Alfred University http://www.alfred.edu
• Green Party of New York State http://www.web.gpnys.com
• Directions http://nygreenfest.org/directions.html
• Green Party Annual National Meeting Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/anmc/index.php
"Trumka: Social Security Cuts Should Not Be on the Table"
AFL-CIO Blog, July 7, 2011
http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/07/07/trumka-social-security-cuts-should-not-be-on-the-table/
"Breaking Point: Obama and the Death of the Democratic Party"
By Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake, July 8, 2011
http://firedoglake.com/2011/07/07/the-breaking-point/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/08-3
GreenStream Live: News and discussion on the Green Party's Livestream channel
http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Fall 2010 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
GP RELEASE Greens: US must support the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla aid boats, press Israel to end blockade
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party: The US must support the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla aid boats, press Israel to end the blockade
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy and peace
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-peace.php
• Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest, Aug. 5-7 in Alfred, New York http://nygreenfest.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders today called on the US State Department to support the Gaza Aid Flotilla, and to cease defending and assisting Israel's maritime blockade.
"The US should end its shameful complicity in the brutal siege on Gaza and pressure Israel to end its illegal collective punishment which has cost thousands of civilian lives in Gaza. The U.S. State Department should denounce the Israeli Navy's threat to use snipers and attack dogs against the 'Audacity of Hope' and other Freedom Flotilla II aid boats as intimidation tactics which clearly signal Israel's willingness to, once again, violate human rights and humanitarian law," said Muhammed Malik, co-chair of Miami-Dade Green Party (http://miamidadegreenparty.org) and a member of the Green Party's International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl). Mr. Malik recently co-organized a rally near the Israeli Consulate in Miami in support of Palestinian rights and the Freedom Flotilla II.
The Green Party of the United States has supported the Freedom Flotillas to Gaza (http://ustogaza.org), including the May 2010 fleet of humanitarian aid ships that were attacked by Israel in international waters near Cyprus which left 9 human rights activists dead and at least 50 wounded (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=321). In July 2009, Cynthia McKinney, a former US Representative from Georgia and the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee, was one of 21 human rights activists on board the Free Gaza relief boat seized by the Israeli navy in international waters when it tried to deliver medical and other humanitarian aid to Gaza in June 2009, in the wake of Israel's invasion of Gaza. Ms. McKinney and the other activists were held in an Israeli jail for several days.
The flotilla will begin its next voyage on or around June 24 with approximately 60 passengers, including Alice Walker, author of 'The Color Purple'; Col. Ann Wright, who resigned from the State Dept. in 2003 in protest of President Bush's invasion of Iraq; Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor; many other peace activists and journalists.
"The State Department has called the Gaza aid boats 'provocative' -- and this is entirely correct. By delivering humanitarian aid to Gazans, the Freedom Flotilla is undertaking a nonviolent, courageous, and justifiable act of defiance to provoke international outrage over Israel's actions in Gaza. The aid boats are calling attention to Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, murderous treatment of Palestinian people, displacement of Palestinian families from their homes, and internal apartheid. The US must cut off all military aid to Israel until the Israeli government reverses its current policies," said Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee.
The Green Party of the US has called for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and UN directives, ends the occupation of Palestinian lands, and observes full and equal human rights for Palestinians, including the right of return.
Greens leaders have urged support for Palestinian and Israeli peace groups and called for an end to all violence targeted at unarmed civilians, insisting that regional stability and security for all the people of Israel and Palestine are not possible until peaceful negotiation resolves the conflict.
The Green Party has condemned Israel's persecution of Palestinian peace activists, including the 2011 arrest of Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh (http://qumsiyeh.org), former associate professor of genetics at Yale University and member of the Green Party of Connecticut before he moved back to Palestine (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=307).
Greens expressed fear that peaceful resolution may be less likely after Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state" (http://www.haaretz.com/news/netanyahu-demands-palestinians-recognize-jewish-state-1.274207), which drew no protest from the White House. Contrary to Mr. Netanyahu's demand and President Obama's uncritical support for it, Israel-Palestine has always been multicultural, with Palestinians currently making up 20-plus percent of the population.
"We're very concerned that Israel will interpret the Obama Administration's refusal to criticize the attacks on peaceful aid boats as permission for even worse attacks on future flotillas. We urge the President to do the right thing -- to defend the Freedom Flotilla and see it as the equivalent of nonviolent civil disobedience by activists during the US Civil Rights struggle. We are embarrassed that Mr. Obama doesn't seem to understand this comparison," said Carl Romanelli, former Green US Senate candidate from Pennsylvania and member of the party's International Committee.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
US Campaign to End the Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org
Free Gaza Movement
http://www.freegaza.org
"Peaceful protest in Israel can lead to arrest"
By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyah, March 9, 2010, The New Haven Register
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/03/09/opinion/doc4b95ab40a3642160727871.txt
Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest http://nygreenfest.org
• Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Green-Fest/71141014224
• Alfred University http://www.alfred.edu
• Green Party of New York State http://www.web.gpnys.com
• Directions http://nygreenfest.org/directions.html
• Green Party Annual National Meeting Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/anmc/index.php
• Media Credentialing http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml
GreenStream Live: News and discussion on the Green Party's Livestream channel
http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Fall 2010 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Green Party: The US must support the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla aid boats, press Israel to end the blockade
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy and peace
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-peace.php
• Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest, Aug. 5-7 in Alfred, New York http://nygreenfest.org
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders today called on the US State Department to support the Gaza Aid Flotilla, and to cease defending and assisting Israel's maritime blockade.
"The US should end its shameful complicity in the brutal siege on Gaza and pressure Israel to end its illegal collective punishment which has cost thousands of civilian lives in Gaza. The U.S. State Department should denounce the Israeli Navy's threat to use snipers and attack dogs against the 'Audacity of Hope' and other Freedom Flotilla II aid boats as intimidation tactics which clearly signal Israel's willingness to, once again, violate human rights and humanitarian law," said Muhammed Malik, co-chair of Miami-Dade Green Party (http://miamidadegreenparty.org) and a member of the Green Party's International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl). Mr. Malik recently co-organized a rally near the Israeli Consulate in Miami in support of Palestinian rights and the Freedom Flotilla II.
The Green Party of the United States has supported the Freedom Flotillas to Gaza (http://ustogaza.org), including the May 2010 fleet of humanitarian aid ships that were attacked by Israel in international waters near Cyprus which left 9 human rights activists dead and at least 50 wounded (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=321). In July 2009, Cynthia McKinney, a former US Representative from Georgia and the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee, was one of 21 human rights activists on board the Free Gaza relief boat seized by the Israeli navy in international waters when it tried to deliver medical and other humanitarian aid to Gaza in June 2009, in the wake of Israel's invasion of Gaza. Ms. McKinney and the other activists were held in an Israeli jail for several days.
The flotilla will begin its next voyage on or around June 24 with approximately 60 passengers, including Alice Walker, author of 'The Color Purple'; Col. Ann Wright, who resigned from the State Dept. in 2003 in protest of President Bush's invasion of Iraq; Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor; many other peace activists and journalists.
"The State Department has called the Gaza aid boats 'provocative' -- and this is entirely correct. By delivering humanitarian aid to Gazans, the Freedom Flotilla is undertaking a nonviolent, courageous, and justifiable act of defiance to provoke international outrage over Israel's actions in Gaza. The aid boats are calling attention to Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, murderous treatment of Palestinian people, displacement of Palestinian families from their homes, and internal apartheid. The US must cut off all military aid to Israel until the Israeli government reverses its current policies," said Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee.
The Green Party of the US has called for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and UN directives, ends the occupation of Palestinian lands, and observes full and equal human rights for Palestinians, including the right of return.
Greens leaders have urged support for Palestinian and Israeli peace groups and called for an end to all violence targeted at unarmed civilians, insisting that regional stability and security for all the people of Israel and Palestine are not possible until peaceful negotiation resolves the conflict.
The Green Party has condemned Israel's persecution of Palestinian peace activists, including the 2011 arrest of Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh (http://qumsiyeh.org), former associate professor of genetics at Yale University and member of the Green Party of Connecticut before he moved back to Palestine (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=307).
Greens expressed fear that peaceful resolution may be less likely after Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state" (http://www.haaretz.com/news/netanyahu-demands-palestinians-recognize-jewish-state-1.274207), which drew no protest from the White House. Contrary to Mr. Netanyahu's demand and President Obama's uncritical support for it, Israel-Palestine has always been multicultural, with Palestinians currently making up 20-plus percent of the population.
"We're very concerned that Israel will interpret the Obama Administration's refusal to criticize the attacks on peaceful aid boats as permission for even worse attacks on future flotillas. We urge the President to do the right thing -- to defend the Freedom Flotilla and see it as the equivalent of nonviolent civil disobedience by activists during the US Civil Rights struggle. We are embarrassed that Mr. Obama doesn't seem to understand this comparison," said Carl Romanelli, former Green US Senate candidate from Pennsylvania and member of the party's International Committee.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
US Campaign to End the Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org
Free Gaza Movement
http://www.freegaza.org
"Peaceful protest in Israel can lead to arrest"
By Dr. Mazin Qumsiyah, March 9, 2010, The New Haven Register
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/03/09/opinion/doc4b95ab40a3642160727871.txt
Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting / New York Green Fest http://nygreenfest.org
• Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Green-Fest/71141014224
• Alfred University http://www.alfred.edu
• Green Party of New York State http://www.web.gpnys.com
• Directions http://nygreenfest.org/directions.html
• Green Party Annual National Meeting Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/anmc/index.php
• Media Credentialing http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml
GreenStream Live: News and discussion on the Green Party's Livestream channel
http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Fall 2010 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
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