--------------------------------------------------
Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. III, No. 7, Nov. 15, 2003
--------------------------------------------------
Contents
1. National Party News – Presidential Candidates, Message from
Presidential Candidate David Cobb, Message from Presidential Candidate
Lorna Salzman, Nader Withdraws from Green Primary in California, Green
FTAA Protests Planned, National Green Staff – New Hires and Job
Openings
2. Special News Items of Interest – By Grant Lawrence
3. Opinion: Newsletter Editorial – Kucinich & the Green Party
by David Berenson
1. National Party News
A. Green Party Presidential Candidates
Five Green candidates have declared their candidacy for the Green Party
Presidential Nomination for 2004: David Cobb (from Texas, currently residing
in California – more at www.votecobb.org),
Paul Glover (New York – more at ithacanews.org/greenpresident.html),
Kent Mesplay (California – more at www.presidentkent.org),
Carol Miller (New Mexico), and Lorna Salzman (New York – more at
www.lornasalzman.com).
We contacted these five candidates and asked them if they had a special
message for Greens in Ohio. Messages from Cobb and Salzman follow. We
will publish other messages from announced candidates as they become available.
Ralph Nader, the party's 2000 candidate, has told the party that he will
announce his intentions by January 1st.
B. Message from Presidential Candidate David Cobb
Greetings Green Sisters and Brothers,
I am writing to advise you of my efforts to win the Green Party nomination
to run for President of the United States. I have filed a Statement of
Candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), created a FEC Candidate
Committee, am actively fundraising, and have been traveling the country
since late Sept. I have already traveled to 7 states, and will have traveled
to over 17 by the end of this year alone.
As many of you may know, I currently serve as General Counsel for the
national Green Party. I helped found the Green Party in Texas in 1999,
co-coordinated the Texas ballot access petition drive in 2000 (we collected
76,100 signatures in 75 days), managed Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign in
Texas, and ran for Attorney General in Texas in 2002. In that campaign,
I helped grow the GPTX from about 6 local chapters to over 20. Since I
am seeking the Green Party nomination for President, I believe I owe it
to Greens to articulate my personal strategy. I have consistently and
publicly said that I will follow the national Green Party's mandate for
a strategy if one is developed by the Coordinating Committee. I sincerely
hope that the party is able to come to general consensus on some agreed
upon strategy.
My personal goals, tactics and strategy is described at http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/cobb.html
It is my attempt to describe the nuanced strategy I believe will grow
the Party in 2004.
It is worth noting that I am (so far) the only candidate willing to make
public my personal preferred strategy, and the only candidate willing
to publicly pledge to follow the Party's direction if a different strategy
is developed. I am also the only candidate (to my knowledge) who is traveling
across the country in an effort to grow the Party and to earn the Party's
nomination.
The Green Party is the only non-corporate political party that is growing
and that runs sufficient candidates for office to be honestly described
as a national political party. I mean no disrespect to the Labor Party,
the New Party, or any of the various Socialist Party organizations. But
the reality is this: There is only one alternative to corporate controlled
politics at the ballot box. Only one political party consistently runs
candidates in active opposition to "Empire Building" foreign
policy. Only one party is poised to be the electoral arm of the growing
movement for peace, justice, ecology and democracy. That party is the
Green Party. I am proud to be a member of it.
In solidarity,
David Cobb
www.votecobb.org
C. Message from Presidential Candidate Lorna Salzman
Dear Ohio Green Party members:
Thanks to you all for allowing me to send you some of my thoughts about
the Green Party and its political future.
I decided to seek the GP nomination for President for one reason: to
promote an ecological vision and and environmental program with in the
Green Party, and by so doing to help bring environmental activists and
the broader environmental community into our party. This constituency
has been prominently absent, as several Greens have observed, and I believe
that the Green Party has been remiss in its public statements and actions.
This needs to be redressed and my campaign is intended to do this.
But our party needs more and different constituencies. It will not be
enough for us to grow or even strengthen our public credibility if we
limit our preaching to the converted or to those we consider "natural
allies": minorities, gays, workers, immigrants, the poor, the disenfranchised.
While we need to address the genuine concerns of these groups, there are
millions of ordinary middle Americans - farmers, ranchers, small businesspeople,
professionals, artists, artisans, laborers – whose livelihoods,
freedoms and security are just as threatened by the frightening turn of
events in Washington and the abandonment of social, economic and political
justice by our government and president as we are. The challenge to the
Green Party is to articulate how the Green Party values and principles
apply not just to the poor and disempowered but to all Americans.
In Washington DC the predominantly male congress are promulgating laws,
regulations and policies that affect the whole world, not just the US.
They are doing this with the help of unaccountable undemocratic institutions
and treaties like NAFTA, WTO, IMF and the World Bank, which are funneling
wealth upwards from all of us into the pockets of international financial
and corporate interests. All this is happening quietly, while the rest
of us pay little attention, having been sidelined by illegal immoral wars
and invasions.
Above all we need a new Green slogan: Think globally, Act globally. The
time to stop the onslaught against the undeveloped world and against the
planet is long overdue. We must focus our efforts on getting Greens into
the US Congress, where these policies can be reversed and where our issues
can be publicly presented without the funnel of a corrupt press squeezing
us into nothingness. All this must be done with the understanding that
the same things that threaten our freedom threaten our survival: corporate-directed
economic growth and political domination. These forces are destroying
both democracy and the planet.
Many Greens have, unthinkingly, not fully understood the political threat
that an ecological paradigm and environmental activism pose to the American
way of life and way of conducting business. They think that such activism
is relatively unimportant compared to the dire needs of the poor, the
homeless, the disenfranchised and the disempowered. They think that saving
the earth is something that can be postponed or sidelined until we achieve
radical political change in this country. This is a fatal delusion.
What they do not realize is that environmentalism properly defined is
the most effective way of achieving all the social and economic changes
that we seek. Environmentalism IS a social justice movement because it
questions - and ultimately subverts - the doctrines and credos that underly
corporate industrial capitalism, namely the need for continued economic
growth and the unquestioned hegemony of corporations and industry. Environmentalism
clarifies the fact that all of us are victims to one extent or another,
and that the capitalist growth model is neither sustainable nor equitable
but necessarily involves the exploitation and subjugation of workers,
communities and the natural world. Without this control, it will collapse.
Greens need to be ready with an alternative model to pick up the pieces
and create a new system.
The proof of the radical character of environmentalism can be readily
discovered by looking at the neo-conservatives, traditional economists,
corporate flacks and the business community. These groups are near coronary
arrest from ranting against environmentalism. Listen to them, read their
journals, and you quickly see that environmental activism is their frantic
obsession, their bete noire, the Devil Incarnate, the supreme enemy, hence
their attempts, overt and covert, to either destroy the credibility of
environmental groups, or to try and co-opt them. The latter effort has
succeeded with respect to the large national organizations such as the
Natural Resources Defense Council and, even more so, Environmental Defense,
which should really be considered as an appendage to the corporate sector,
so complete has been their willing appeasement of corporations and abject
deference to corporate wishes.
What is discouraging is the failure of the Green Party, and much of the
left in the US, to fully understand the radical character of environmentalism
and its threat to the American way of existence. What is equally discouraging
is that many Greens still do not fully understand the urgency of the ecological
crisis of the planet, namely global warming and the loss of biodiversity.
Without a 70% reduction in fossil fuel consumption (and this country consumes
one quarter of the world's oil supplies everyday), we will face catastrophic
social and economic consequences from floods, droughts, desertification,
loss of species, diminution of freshwater supplies, rampant infectious
disease, and the inundation of whole island countries and regions, by
the end of this century if we do not reverse direction in the next 30
years. And this is WITHOUT the disintegration of the west Antarctic ice
sheet, which could bring disaster far sooner if it occurs, as is entirely
possible.
The US Green Party seems to be the only GP in the world that has not
taken these things seriously enough to place them at the center of its
program and activism. It is time to ask ourselves just what purpose there
is to fighting for social justice while the earth's systems collapse around
us. What kind of earth will our grandchildren and their children inherit?
The concept of social justice will melt like the ice sheet if and when
the world has to deal with the dire consequences of global warming. And
surely the industrial world, primarily the US and western Europe, are
going to make darn sure that the protection of THEIR resources and people
will come before that of remote places like Somalia or Burkina Faso. The
scramble for economic control and resources will be one-sided and the
outcome predictable.
What should we do? We should, within our state parties, take up the challenge
and demand that the national Green Party become the voice, advocate and
warrior for an ecological sanity and sustainability, by taking on the
key environmental issues of our day and informing the public and decision
makers that this must be our top priority, immediately, not tomorrow or
the day after tomorrow. Unless we Greens do this within our own party,
there is hardly any reason for a Green Party at all.
Thank you for your attention and I wish you all a better future than
the one being planned for us in Washington DC.
Lorna Salzman
718-522-0253; 631-653-3387
lsalzman@rcn.com
D. Selected Items from “GREENSWEEK”
http://www.gp.org/greensweek/index.html
Green Party of the United States: http://www.gp.org
CAMPAIGN ALERT: Urgent! Matt Gonzalez, Green candidate for Mayor of San
Francisco in the December 9 runoff election, is facing "spoiler"
accusations from multimillionaire and machine Democratic candidate Gavin
Newson -- with help from Tipper Gore in the form of an ugly letter to
voters blaming SF Greens for Al's loss. You can help Matt by going to
his website to donate or volunteer or mail a check: <www.mattgonzalez.com>;;
Gonzalez for Mayor, 168 Seville St, San Francisco, CA 94112. The more,
the better: the donation limit is $250.
NOVEMBER 4 ELECTIONS: Greens made significant advances in several states
and regions, especially in New England, Pennsylvania, California, Washington,
and in a few Midwestern cities. For a comprehensive listing of Green campaigns
and results on Election Day 2003, visit <www.greens.org/elections/>;.
Special thanks are due to Mike Feinstein, Kendra Markle, and the Coordinated
Campaign Committee for all their work organizing and tracking campaigns
nationally. Out of 263 Green candidates in 2003, 58 won their races.
CALIFORNIA: On October 22, Ralph Nader sent a fax to the Green Party
of California formally removing his name from the Green Party primary
ballot in California. David Cobb, Kent Mesplay, and Lorna Salzman will
appear on the California primary ballot. Nader and other candidates can
petition for inclusion, but have forfeited the ability to be placed on
the ballot upon request.
FLORIDA: The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), an international
trade authority which will hold a summit in Miami from November 19 to
21, is aggravating poverty throughout the western hemisphere, eroding
democracy, and strengthening the US-based corporate agenda of privatization,
deregulation, and other 'free market' policies. The International Committee,
the Miami-Dade Green Party, and Campus Greens, are all helping organize
to "Stop the FTAA!" Protests, workshops, and a Green press conference
are planned: see the Schedule of Events below. *** Help needed! *** Green
organizers ask all Greens & friends who plan to attend and who support
the FTAA protests to contribute at least $5 -- and more if you can --
to the Miami-Dade Greens. Make your check payable to the 'Green Party
of Miami-Dade County,' and mail it to Miami-Dade Green Party, PO Box 560325,
Miami, FL 33256. More: www.gp.org/ftaa2003.html
www.miamidadegreenparty.org/Issues/WTO/wto.html
NATIONAL: Recent Green Party hirings and job openings....
-- Jason Ravin has been hired as Outreach Director, African American
Affairs, for the Black Caucus of the Green Party of the United States.
Jason is from Texas and currently resides in Washington, D.C., where he
is a member of the steering committee of the D.C. Statehood Green Party.
-- Emily Citkowski of the Green Party of Michigan has been hired as national
Operations Director of the Green Party of the United States. Emily currently
works for Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), where she serves as
Office Manager & Bookkeeper. She replaces Dean Myerson, who has been
hired as head of the Green Institute, a Green think tank.
-- The Coordinated Campaign Committee is hiring a Political Director
to support the CCC in its work for Green Party campaigns. Accepting resumes
and letters of interest until November 20 at <juscha@greens.org>.
More:
www.gp.org/committees/campaign/poldir03.html
-- The Green Party of the United States is seeking a Fundraising Director.
More: www.gp.org/committees/steering/fundraiser.html
2. News Items of Interest
by Grant Lawrence
Intentional Misleading
Recently, the Bush Administration has warned Syria and Iran to halt the
number of foreign fighters that they say are crossing into Iraq from their
borders. However, commanders of the U.S. military responsible for the
security of the borders are questioning Bush's view of the situation.
"If somebody is saying the Ho Chi Minh Trail runs through my area
of operations, I'm going to tell them they're wrong," said Lt. Col.
Joseph Buche, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne's 3rd
Battalion, referring to the infiltration route through Laos used by North
Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War.
Could it be that the Administration is intentionally misleading the American
people again?
Didn't they used to call that lying?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A31535-2003Oct28?language=printer
From Toledo Blade
Toledo Citizens and Council Members make a Stand Against an UnPatriotic
Act
Citizens and council members gathered again for a news conference yesterday
questioning the Patriot Act, but this time they were not forcefully removed
from the Government Center where City Council and government offices are
located. "No one is making a move to remove us today," Mr. Gerken
said. "Is it because there are more cameras here? More people here?"
"My heart is warmed by the outpouring of support today for something
we all should cherish: the right to open your mouth," Mr. Szollosi
said. Both said they plan to seek "additional remedies" from
the Ohio Building Authority, which owns and manages Government Center.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031111/NEWS16/111110085
A Blade Column from Roberta de Boar, free speech issues have filled up
her mailbox
From Ramona Henn: I was disturbed to read of the expulsion of [the] councilmen
..., and couldn’t help but feel ... our right of free speech was
being violated. I had the opportunity to hear a song ["Ashcroft’s
Army’’]... that says it so well, by folksinger John McCutcheon.
When he sang this satirical song ... in front of a crowd of thousands,
he received a standing ovation. Please know that you are not alone in
your pursuit of our rights.
From Lawrence P. Batton: Wow! As a conservative we have finally found
common ground ... You are 100 percent correct! I now would like to see
you ... start addressing the violation of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution
... [and] I think we should quickly examine the 2nd Amendment. ... Well,
at least we agree on one thing, eh?
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031111/COLUMNIST03/111110079
What Happened Last Thursday?
No Freedom of Speech for Elected Officials
From Toledo Blade and Courtesy of NBC 24
Two Toledo Councilmen and a band of citizens at a news conference protesting
the Patriot Act were kicked out of a government building housing city
council, and state and city offices in Toledo, Ohio on Thursday. The two
councilmen, Mr. Gerken and Mr. Szollosi, are co-sponsors of a council
resolution condemning the Patriot Act. The law, enacted after the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, broadens federal investigative powers. Critics
have said it gives investigators too much power to snoop on law-abiding
citizens.
Building Manager, Michael Sullivan, said. "This is a public area.
To avoid offending anyone, we say you can’t do it in a public area."
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031107/NEWS16/111070143
Councilman Peter Gerkin countered, "It's a public building. The
Ohio Building Association just manages it, and you had some mismanagement
here today,"
See Video and story on NBC 24
http://www.nbc24.com/Global/story.asp?S=1514997&nav=1aI4IyJa
I know He Cares
Oops, here is another story that can't be true.... Bush has never attended
one soldier's funeral killed in Iraq even though that is the normal duty
of a commander and chief. Perhaps Bush doesn't attend because the bodies
are hidden when they arrive in this country so the media will not have
pictures to show. Bush says he doesn't read (he leaves that for his advisors)
but he might have been able to see a picture here and there if the media
were allowed to get a picture.
"This country has a lot of history where commanders visit wounded
soldiers and commanders talked to families of deceased soldiers and commanders
attend funerals. It's just one of these understood traditions," says
Seth Pollack, an 8-year veteran who served in the First Armored Division
in both the first Gulf War and the Bosnia operation.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17079
3. Opinion
Editorial – by David Berenson, member of Coordinating Committee
of the Green Party of Cuyahoga County, Ohio Green Party and Green Party
of the United States. (DavidB@Berenson.net)
KUCINICH AND THE GREEN PARTY
The Green Party, at all levels, is attempting to balance the goals of
our party with the idea of Regime Change at the national level (namely,
removing the Bush/Cheney administration from power).
In Ohio, many of us are fortunate enough to be familiar with Presidential
candidate Dennis Kucinich, who has been, what I refer to as "The
Greenest member of Congress, while still in the Democratic Party".
He has shown a long history of support for all, or just about all of the
issues that Greens hold dearly (Environment; Energy Policy; Universal
Healthcare; Peace and Social Justice; Labor and Human Rights; and a degree
of integrity in office that actually fights fiercely against major corporate
control of government rather than being bought off by it). However, for
some among the Greens, locally and nationally, this doesn't automatically
translate into their support for him because he's still a member of one
of the two major, corrupt parties.
I have supported Dennis Kucinich in my many roles within the Green Party.
I have gotten mixed reactions to this – some out of fear, and some
out of obstinacy that we should only support candidates of our own party.
I have also expressed full support for the almost unanimous opinion that
we as a Green Party need to run a presidential candidate. Part of my reason
for agreeing is that, if we ever decided to NOT run someone, it would
give reason for the other parties to move farther away from our goals.
However, I'd like to put forth a bigger reason for how we need to proceed,
both with our own candidate but also allowing us to support "green"
candidates from other parties. Visible Green support for good candidates,
regardless of party affiliation, can be a sign of strength for the Green
Party. I believe it also takes power away from the unjust accusation of
the Greens as Spoilers (the cry of the democrats from the Nader campaign
in 2000). We can, and in some cases WILL, support candidates if they are
indeed good enough.
Many in the Green party are just waiting for more disenchanted Dems and
Repubs to join our ranks, when they get disgusted enough with the corruption
and insanity of those two parties. Many are waiting for Kucinich to lose
the democratic nomination to the bigger money candidates and then join
the Green Party. Personally, I'd rather he win the nomination, for the
safety and security of our world.
Publication Details
The Green Party of Ohio Newsletter is published by the Green Party of
Ohio. www.ohiogreens.org The Mission of the Newsletter is to aggressively
promote citizen involvement in making real the Green dream for Ohio and
America as stated in the GPOH Platform, the USGP Platform and those parties’
formal policy positions.
The Mission of the Green Party of Ohio is to focus the political power
of the people to:
1. preserve and restore viable ecosystems,
2. establish social justice and equity,
3. foster participatory democracy,
4. promote and practice nonviolence as a means of conflict resolution,
and
5. ensure the rights of a community-based economic system for all people.
Letters to the editor are accepted but please keep them brief and the
Editor reserves the right to publish or not publish any such letter and
edit them to fit the newsletter format. The Green Party of Ohio Newsletter
does not represent official GPOH policy unless specifically stated. The
Green Party of Ohio Newsletter operates under the guidance of the State
CC Media Committee, which can be contacted through the State Party Website.
Paid for by the Green Party of Ohio Political Action Fund (OH1066) P.O.
Box 112, Berkey, OH 43504
----------------------------------------------
______________________________________________
OGP_Newsletter mailing list
OGP_Newsletter@windfish.net
http://www.windfish.net/mailman/listinfo/ogp_newsletter
|