GreenLine December 2019

Hi Greens!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! I hope you all get to relax and enjoy time with your family and friends. For my opening message this month, I thought I'd share this poem that comes from the Green Party of the UK:

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the land
Division and conflict, red lines in the sand.
War and racism with no sense or reason.
It’s hard to feel merry come this Christmas season.

While children were nestled all snug in their beds,
Elsewhere young lives had been torn into shreds
With mum in detention, dad taken away,
Held without cause for a long winter's stay.

Then out in the Arctic there arose a wildfire,
It spread through the trees as the smoke billowed higher.
When, what in the thundering sky should appear,
But a sweltering sleigh, and eight tired reindeer,

With a little old driver, exhausted and sick,
Still alive for the moment, it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than missiles the reindeer came flying,
He took off their gas masks and checked they weren’t dying.

And out in the distance the borders shut tight,
Refugees stranded, no cot for the night.
Compassionate voices to kindness beholden,
Drowned out by the haters the papers emboldened.

For so many obstacles, who was to blame?
He grumbled and shouted and called them by name;
“Out Theresa! Out Boris! Your words highfalutin!
Bolsanero! Erdogan! Out Donald and Putin!”

He was dressed all in red, from his head to his foot,
But his clothes were all tarnished with carbon and soot;
So past the landfill the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys that’d end up there too.

He looked at his list of both naughty and nice,
But this year the naughty side reached to new heights!
And wiping a tear from aside of his nose,
He thought “Please be grateful if you’re one of those

Who’ll have a nice Christmas with family and friends,
But never forget to help those who depend
On the actions of others to conquer their plight.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!”

- Starlene Rankin, GreenLine Editor and Green Party Staff Member

The Green Party’s Banking and Monetary Reform Committee (BMRC) wishes to be a resource for all 2020 Green Party candidates seeking a deeper and more critical understanding of the current Federal Reserve monetary system. We believe understanding monetary policy is essential to understanding many of the nation’s (and the world’s) problems – social, environmental and economic.

We encourage you to read our committee website, GreensForMonetaryReform.org. This site explains simply the problem with our current monetary system and the solution, “Greening the Dollar”, found in our national platform.

Money is a form of power. The 1% have money and therefore power. They rule. How did they get all this money and power?

The 99% have lots of debt, which can be an oppressive burden. They do not rule. How were we burdened with so much debt? CONTINUE READING

A site map for www.gp.org has been added and can be found at https://www.gp.org/site_map.

It was created as a supplement to the search page (https://www.gp.org/search) in an effort to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. The site map includes direct links to multiple donate page, a link to the individual ballot access pages for states and territories, as well as a listing of all of the locations for current and past press releases.

Just click on the pic below to order your merchandise today!

The newest items to become available in our store for 2019 are the individual caucus buttons.

Created by the Merchandise Committee, we are earmarking portions of the proceeds to benefit the caucus directly.

PA Greens support formation of Federal Renewable Energy Commission (FREC) On December 1, the Steering Committee of the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) endorsed the formation of a Federal Renewable Energy Commission (FREC). This newly created national agency would have the mission of organizing the Green New Deal and creating a sustainable energy structure for the U.S.

"The creation of FREC has been demanded by Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE), an activist organization, to replace the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)," reported GPPA Co-chair Sheri Miller of Adams County. "For the last forty years, FERC has been under the thumb of the fossil fuel industry. With the current climate crisis, we must sweep out the old structure which has brought the world to the brink of destruction. The GPPA Steering Committee recognizes that Green New Deal proposals are not enough; we also need a new governing structure." CONTINUE READING

The Pacific Green Party announces it's winter state convention The Pacific Green Party will be holding it's 2020 Winter State Convention in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, January 11, 2020. Join us at the Gresham Public Library from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for a day of organizing and campaign planning. Registrations are now being accepted. Please indicate your needs for housing, transportation or other accommodations (special foods, translation, etc.) CONTINUE READING

This is no time to sit back and watch As the Wisconsin Green Party (WIGP) gears up for a successful Fall and 2020 election cycle, we hope to see you out at our events and in the many exciting movements we are a part of. We have a lot of great opportunities for Greens to get involved including our fantastic commitiees which are always in need of writers, designers, communicators, tech savvy people, organizers and more. In addition, we will elect a new coordinating council at our Fall Gathering, and we would like to empower all Greens to think about nominating themselves or others to lead the charge as a secretary, treasurer, CD representative, at-large member, or even as a co-chair. CONTINUE READING

Greens stand with students at #freezethefuels climate strike Green candidate arrested MILWAUKEE – Friday, December 6th, 2019 hundreds of students and other local activists rallied in Zeidler Union Square Park to demand action against global warming. Students from all walks of life joined the strike including elementary and college students. North Division High School brought student speakers and a drumline which led the march. Among the speakers was Cheyanne Rupert (Sunrise Milwaukee Coordinator), and prior Wisconsin Green Party mayoral candidate for Racine, Fabi Maldonado (who currently serves on the Racine County Board). The climate strikers marched to Wells Fargo to demand their divestment of fossil fuel companies and their executives, as they chanted "people over profit" and "planet over profit." They also demanded the bank invests, instead, in green infrastructure and energy as well as fair labor practices. Though the Wells Fargo building was the focal point for the march, JP Morgan Chase was another bank the from which the protesters demanded action these actions. CONTINUE READING

DEC 06, 2019 Green Party says strengthen the Paris Agreement, shut down NATO The Green Party of the United States today called for NATO to be shut down and for an expansion of measures in the Paris Climate Agreement in light of the deepening global crisis. The NATO summit and 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) are both taking place this week. Dismantling NATO and redirecting military spending towards a Green New Deal would result both in honoring the US's pledge not to expand NATO and help to drastically reduce the U.S. military's carbon footprint, said Green Party leaders.

Greens noted that the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty is inadequate to address the climate change crisis. 195 nations pledged to reduce greenhouse gases. However, the pledges are not mandatory, the treaty does not require a phase-out of fossil fuels, and it delays higher aid levels for poorer nations until 2025.

"What is the point of trusting the governments who sign up to this agreement with one hand while investing ever more in fossil fuel extraction, combustion and consumption with the other? The Green Party's platform demands legally binding commitments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2020 and a 95% reduction by 2030 over 1990 levels," said Tina Rockett, delegate from Virginia to the Green National Committee. CONTINUE READING

DEC 19, 2019 Green Party launches ballot line initiative for 2020 elections The Green Party has launched an initiative to get ballot lines for all 50 states and DC and the U.S. territories in 2020. Green Party leaders said that increasingly restrictive ballot requirements were setting the stage in an attempt to eliminate all competition against the Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2020 presidential election. Greens said that voters deserve the right to vote on a ballot that gives them a choice of more than two candidates on Election Day and that limiting the choice to two is a severe blow to fair and open democratic elections.

“An overwhelming majority of citizens support the building of a new major political party, and more choices on their November ballot,” said Brendan Phillips, co-chair of the Green Party Ballot Access Committee. “Unfortunately, in most states, the two major parties have created terribly restrictive ballot access laws designed specifically to keep third parties and independent candidates off the ballot, furthering the two-party stranglehold.”

“Restrictive ballot access laws severely limit voter choice and democratic participation. The Green Party of the United States calls for reasonable ballot access thresholds and debate requirements, both of which would help to provide a more informed and participatory electorate,” said Phillips. CONTINUE READING