"a bi-monthly journal of environmental news and commentary..."

Citizen Participation Strengthens Local Greens

by Chris Hawkins

The South Sound Greens have come together to organize a values-based and citizen-centered political force addressing social and environmental concerns in our community. The group supports candidates and pushes for public policies that are responsive to our Ten Key Values: grassroots democracy, social justice, community-based economics, non-violence, ecological wisdom, decentralization, post-patriarchal ethics, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and future focus.

Our community efforts will continue well beyond the November 7th elections, and will become increasingly focused on local and regional concerns. The Nader/LaDuke candidacy has provided us with the momentum of a very popular grassroots campaign and as a result the group has been steadily attracting new membership in recent months. The group has caught the attention of many folks around the state who seek a new approach to national politics, and who want to realize the main goal of the Nader candidacy: building the Green Party into a major political presence. By and large, these people are frustrated with the status quo of Republican vs. Democrat American politics, and they yearn for a way to utilize democracy to attain a just and sustainable society.

During this campaign season our group has adopted a pared down version of the Association of State Green Parties platform. The comprehensive and visionary nature of our interim platform shows that we Greens are not simply a single-issue party. Here's a sample from the Economic Justice portion of the platform (full text is available at www.greenparties.org ):

1. We believe that all people have a right to food, housing, medical care, a living wage job, education, and support in times of hardship.
2. We believe that work performed outside the monetary system has inherent social and economic value, and is essential to a healthy, sustainable economy and peaceful communities. Such work includes, but is not limited to: child and elder care; homemaking; voluntary community service; continuing education; participating in government; and the arts.
3. We call for restoration of a federally funded entitlement program to support children, families, the unemployed, elderly and disabled, with no time limit on benefits. This program should be funded through the existing welfare budget, reductions in military spending and corporate subsidies, and a fair progressive income tax. #}

   After the election, we will meet with other groups to begin the careful crafting of a platform that reflects the needs and aspirations of folks in this community. If you believe in these values and the rest of the platform that Ralph Nader is running on, and what he has stood for over the course of his decades of tireless public service, then perhaps you should join us in building this political organization. The major media have been portraying the Greens as "spoilers" (taking away votes from Al Gore's "legitimate" campaign), or "socialists in green clothing," two commonly heard refrains.

   Yet, the South Sound Greens will not back away from balanced, constructive, values-based political action, action rooted in local organizing and voicing the concerns of people in our area. With that in mind, we hope to engage with other groups in the community who have been working on social or environmental issues, and to be a conduit for political expression. There is much more that we can do to affect the needed changes in our political, social, and economic systems, but your help will be necessary for this effort to succeed. It ought to start here and now, with us.

   To date we have started to work with Alliance for Public Transportation to help defeat I-745, an initiative designed to ruin public transit and line the pockets of road-building contractors. The initiative will have the effect of creating worsened social inequity, less healthy living conditions (eg., more pavement means less green space and more air pollution), and more environmental impact as it forces more people to drive in cars or not be able to get around at all. We challenge all political parties and citizens of Washington State to oppose this regressive measure: vote no on I-745. See our newsletter and website for more information on the campaign.

   South Sound Greens look forward to collaborating with you on the many other issues we are facing in this region!

   For news about South Sound Greens' activities coming up, please visit our web page, http://www.southsoundgreens.org or look for our newsletter, The Jade Lantern, on local shelves. We could use help in membership coordination, media/outreach, and research on local/regional issues. To volunteer, e-mail us: mailto:southsoundgreens@yahoo.com or call 753-7052.

   Chris Hawkins and is a member of the South Sound Greens and serves on the organization's Coordinating Council.

   
   

   Back to Home page.