http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, April 5, 2012
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
Third Global Greens Congress, meeting in Senegal, passes statement of
support for the Occupy Movement, Arab Spring, and other democratic
movements
• US Greens attend the meeting, which also passes "Rio+20 Summit"
resolution in advance of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development
• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on
foreign policy: http://www.gp.org/speakers/
• 2012 Green Presidential Nominating Convention, July 12-15 in
Baltimore, Md. http://www.gpconvention2012.
Media Credentialing page http://www.gpconvention2012.
WASHINGTON, DC -- The third Global Greens Congress, meeting in Dakar,
Senegal, last weekend, has adopted a statement of support for popular
democratic movements around the world, including Arab Spring, the
Spanish Indignants, and the Occupy Movement. The statement is appended
below.
More than 400 Greens representing 76 countries including the US met in
Dakar from March 29 to April 1 for the third Global Greens Congress
(http://www.dakar2012.org). Dakar was chosen to highlight the growing
presence of Green Parties in Africa and the strength of the Green
Party (Fédération Démocratique des Ecologiste) in Senegal
("Congratulations to Senegalese Green Party Leader for becoming
Senegal’s Minister of Environment," African Greens, April 5,
http://www.africangreens.org/
The Green Party of the United States was represented by Bob Marsh
(California). Jack Ailey (Illinois) and Mike Feinstein (California)
attended as observers. The meeting was also attended by Eliza Diop, an
African-American (California) and Senegalese young woman attending
Oberlin College, class of 2014, who participated in the Global Young
Greens Congress (http://www.globalyounggreens.
"The Global Greens Congress in Dakar was a truly invigorating and
inspiring event; invigorating due to all the great discussions and
workshops with some of the 400 or so Greens present, and inspiring
because of the real successes of Greens in Europe, Asia and Africa,"
said Mr. Marsh, California Green, elected Global Greens Congress
delegate, and a member of the US Green Party's International Committee
(http://www.gp.org/committees/
Senegal for achieving a truly democratic presidential election and
succession just before our Congress began, and to the Senegalese Green
Party for a fantastic job of organizing under the uncertainty leading
up to the election."
The Global Greens Congress also passed by consensus the "Rio+20
Summit" resolution
(http://www.globalgreens.org/
preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development, to be held June 20-22 in Brazil
(http://www.uncsd2012.org/
the need to move toward a Green economy around the world, to curb that
advance of global warming and provide for the development and sharing
of green technologies, food sovereignty, employment in Green jobs, and
other urgent goals. The resolution is based in part on the "Green New
Deal" agenda supported by many US Green candidates.
The next Congress will be held in Europe, either in later 2016 or
early 2017. Previous Global Greens Congresses were held in Brazil in
2008 (http://www.globalgreens.org/
(http://www.globalgreens.org/
existed, a non-delegated planetary meeting of Greens was held in
Brazil in 1992, in conjunction with the UN Conference on Environment
and Development, of which the Rio+20 Summit is the next step.
• Global Greens Statement on the Occupy Movement
http://www.globalgreens.org/
April 1, 2012
The Global Greens applaud grassroots movements for self-determination
and justice. We view with hope and admiration, recent such movements
that are sprouting up around the world, from the Arab Spring to the
Spanish Indignants to the Occupy Movement worldwide.
Power structures that are unjust and out-dated are being rejected in
every nation, and people arising in one part of our world are giving
hope to people in others.
But to bring about truly transformative change, social movements need
to affect both attitudes and public policy, and to affect public
policy, one has to affect politics. This is a long and worthy process,
but one that doesn't come without risks.
The Occupy Movement is by nature and design an apartisan movement,
that is rightfully distrustful of politics as usual. The role of money
and corruption in politics is deep and pervasive around the planet,
and too often traditional, establishment political parties simply try
to ignore or co-opt social movements, rather than empower them.
Like the Occupy Movement, the Green Party has a deep commitment to
internal democracy. We believe everyone's voice must be heard, and
that there is a wisdom inherent in our diversity that makes us
stronger when we listen to it. Like the Occupy Movement, Greens also
believe we have to practice what we preach in our own lives and
organizations, in order to create the world we want to live in -- in
other words, to 'be the change' we want to see, including practicing a
deep and unshakeable commitment to non-violence.
In the case of the Green Party, in country after county for the last
forty years, social movement activists who were not initially
interested in electoral politics, but who found that the establishment
political parties were unresponsive to their concerns about peace,
justice, democracy and the environment, eventually concluded that they
needed to start their own, new Green political parties, rather than
accept the limitations imposed upon them by the establishment parties.
This step was often unanticipated by those who eventually came to this
conclusion. But in retrospect, this was a natural evolution from pure
activism, to seeking an electoral complement to that pure activism.
Without strong social movements pushing upon politicians, politicians
are unlikely to make the changes we need, and we must not sacrifice
activism to only do electoral politics. But at the same time, without
an electoral complement to social movements, transformative change can
often be very difficult to sustain.
Of course, no one political party has a monopoly on good ideas, and we
don't suggest that the Occupy Movement should tie itself to any
particular party or parties. But we do believe that it is absolutely
critical that strategies to increase democracy and representation
should be high on the list of the strategies of the Occupy Movement,
because with a greater voice for the people, the other demands of the
movement are more likely to occur, and to occur more quickly.
Ultimately greater self-governance, where all people have a say in the
decisions that affect them, from the local to the global, is our best
hope for humanity -- and by extension, for other life on this planet,
as the growing and kindred Rights of Nature movement is demonstrating.
With this in mind, the Global Green Party movement stands with people
all over our planet who seek that greater voice. Because as we know
from our planet's ecology, all of our fates are inseparable and
intertwined.
See also:
Global Greens Congress, Dakar 2012
http://www.dakar2012.org
http://www.globalgreens.org/
Global Greens
http://www.globalgreens.org
"Mike Feinstein reports from Global Greens conference in Dakar, Senegal"
Green Party Watch, April 3, 2012
http://www.greenpartywatch.
Rio+20 - United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
http://www.uncsd2012.org/
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• 2012 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention, July 12-15 in
Baltimore, Md. http://www.gpconvention2012.
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.
• Green Papers http://www.greenpapers.net
• Google+ http://www.gp.org/google
• Twitter http://twitter.com/gpus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/
• GP-TV Twitter page http://www.gp.org/twitter
• Facebook page http://www.gp.org/facebook
Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of
the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
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