From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Sun May 9 17:12:58 2010 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Sun, 9 May 2010 17:12:58 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: USGP-INT Green is for Go in Colombia from Counterpunch Message-ID: ----- Original Message ----- From: Julia Willebrand To: usgp-int at gp-us.org Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 1:02 PM Subject: USGP-INT Green is for Go in Colombia from Counterpunch Weekend Edition May 7 - 9, 2010 Mockus' Surprising Run Green is for Go in Colombia By W. JOHN GREEN The amazing rise of Antanas Mockus and his Green Party in Colombia belies the stereotype, common even among Latin America specialists, of a country irredeemably plagued by violence and appropriately known for its ?faux democracy.? Mockus and the Greens prove that Colombian democracy can be real enough, though admittedly conflicted. The sudden surge of Mockus is not completely surprising. It is, rather, a new chapter in an old struggle between two powerful political currents in Colombia?s societal evolution, where controversial movements of popular mobilization and democratic optimism have repeatedly had to face presidential administrations, now embodied in the ?lvaro Uribe administration, one that is no stranger to violence and intimidation. What is at stake is not just how Uribe will go down in history, but whether the harsh realities of the Uribe presidency will allow the White House to reverse itself and back the pending U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (which it seems to want to do) that President Obama opposed while he was a member of the Senate. Yet, this is something new. Mockus, a popular two-term former mayor of Bogot?, is a mathematician, philosopher, and former rector of the National University in Bogot?. The flamboyant and eccentric child of Lithuanian immigrants once mooned a student assembly to get their attention. As mayor, he donned tights and a cape as ?Supercitizen,? and was married in a circus tent while riding an elephant. In war-torn Colombia, he, on the contrary, has pacifist tendencies. Mockus teamed up with other former progressive mayors of Bogot?, Enrique Pe?alosa and Luis Eduardo Garz?n, who collectively joined the Greens to run in its presidential primary, with an agreement to support the victor. The Green Party?s rise was truly spectacular. Originally hoping to secure 500,000 votes in its primary, the Greens themselves were astounded when 1,822,856 Colombians voted. In the 3-way race for the party?s presidential candidate, the Greens chose Mockus. Columnist Daniel Coronell wrote in the respected Semana magazine that a Green/Mockus government ?would not look like anything we?ve seen before.? Jos? Fernando Isaza, rector of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University asserted that, unlike other recent governments (namely, that of current President ?lvaro Uribe) a Mockus government would not persecute political opponents. Elected in 2002 by a citizenry angry over kidnappings by the FARC, Colombia?s largest guerrilla army, and other security concerns, President Uribe slammed the door on almost twenty years of repeated attempts at peace negotiations that were invariably thwarted amidst the mass murder of leftist politicians and rightist hardliners, and those in between. Indeed, since the late 1940s, Colombia has endured recurrent cycles of reform and repression, in which attempts at political and economic change engendered violent backlashes, in the time-honored Colombian way of dealing with such pariah forces of the days. While the chances that Uribe?s aggressive approach would actually resolve Colombia?s 60-year-long political predicament have always been close to zero, it has nevertheless taken eight years for the current faith in hardliner strategy to fade. After President Uribe was barred by an unexpectedly feisty Colombian Supreme Court from running for a third term, war hawk Juan Manuel Santos, his former Defense Minister, became his anointed heir. Santos is the stand-in for Uribe?s ?Democratic Security? policy, consisting of a hard-line, no compromise nor negotiation approach toward the major guerrilla movements, the ELN and the FARC. The current policy amounts to placing the country on an eternal war footing. It cannot be gainsaid that this strategy is still very popular with a sizable percentage of Colombians, and until early April, Santos seemed to have a lock on victory; yet the various scandals and abuses of the Uribe years were rattling in the closet (especially the government and military connections to the paramilitary movement) and finally took their toll. The presidential election now suddenly looks like a potential game changer, particularly after the Greens did surprisingly well in the March Congressional elections, winning 5 Senate seats. Soon thereafter, Mockus secured Sergio Fajardo, another popular former mayor (of Medell?n, Colombia?s second largest city), as his vice presidential running mate. Fajardo is also a mathematician and former academic. Their somewhat vague program emphasizing anti-corruption and civic responsibility, turned out to be a surprise winner. It is pro-growth, and enjoys ample business support, with Mockus insisting that his government would not negotiate with the guerrillas as long as they continue to hold kidnapped hostages. He is clearly an ?anti-politician? candidate, and he certainly shot up as the ?anti-Uribe? standard bearer. In response to questions about bombing neighboring countries (as Uribe did in 2008 when he attacked FARC camps in Ecuador), Mockus insisted that he would respect the Colombian Constitution and international treaties. His supporters even turned his disclosure of early stage Parkinson?s disease into a strength when they joked that the real shaking is taking place in the Uribe camp, and is driven by fear. By early April, Mockus was surging into second place in polls ranking the various presidential candidates. These polls also pushed aside Conservative Party candidate Noem? San?n. By the last week of the month, polls showed Mockus pulling ahead, and indicated that he would likely defeat Santos in a second round. Mockus has even claimed that he could possibly win a majority in the first round of voting on May 30th. Naturally, Mockus? critics stress fears over security. This approach began at the top of the executive branch in early April, when a caterwauling President Uribe faulted Mayor Mockus (who was in office when Uribe was elected) for deploying feeble security measures during Uribe?s 2002 inauguration, during which the FARC attempted a primitive mortar attack. Weeks later, Uribe referred to ?lame horses? not being up to the job of protecting Colombians, in a not too subtle allusion to Mockus? Parkinson?s illness. This line was seconded by an Uribe devotee and would-be, if witless, presidential candidate, former Agricultural Minister, Andr?s Felipe Arias, who quipped that the FARC ?won?t be defeated with mimes and sunflowers.? Sunflowers, of course, are the Green Party symbol, and as Mayor, Mockus used mimes to shame traffic violators into responsible driving. Mockus, who repeatedly insists that he would not negotiate with guerrillas until they release their kidnapped hostages, and pledges that he will preserve the ?advances in security? achieved under Uribe?s administrations, points out that Uribe might recall that the latter had earlier praised his security work as Mayor, and even decorated him for it (of which there is plenty of inconvenient video to preserve the point). Forces of the progressive left believe that they are ready for a resurgence, even by a win. They have demonstrated that they comprehend the role of the new media, as in last year?s Obama campaign. Mockus and Fajardo are very popular on Facebook and Twitter, and can count on much of the urban and youth vote; they are making 10,000 new ?friends? a day, rocketing from 200 a couple of months ago to 450,000 as of April 29. The Mockus wave represents a new hope for Latin American left of center politics, and, closer to home, a significant rejection of the Uribe years, as well as promises to break with the policies of the recent past. Still, this may not be an easy victory. Mockus must win support in the countryside and on the Atlantic coast, where decades of paramilitary cleansing of the population, as well as continued threats to left-leaning voters and candidates, will make that trial difficult to tread. As its core, the Green message stresses the ageless theme of the redemption of morality in politics. This resonates with the most famous presidential campaign in Colombian history, that of the martyred Jorge Eli?cer Gait?n, who championed social and ?distributive? justice, and ran in 1946 for the ?moral and democratic restoration of the republic.? Though he split the Liberal vote and lost the election, historians widely agree that Gait?n, if he had been spared, would have been elected president in 1950. Gait?n?s assassination in 1948 is generally viewed as one of the key detonators of the ?Violencia? period that lasted until the mid 1960s, and in some ways, continues until today. Therefore, apprehensive Colombians are well aware that plucky candidates like Mockus have a tendency to get killed before they can be elected. The victory of a united left and center under Mockus?now a strong possibility?is refreshing, exciting, and potentially terrifying, given the likelihood of violent reaction, as all of Colombia?s woeful traditional problems and dangers still remain. W. John Green, one of this country?s most distinguished specialists on Colombia, is a Senior Research Fellow at the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which originally published this article. He is the author of Gaitanismo, Left, Liberalism and Popular Mobilization in Colombia (Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 2003) Julia Willebrand, Ed.D GPNY 212 877-5088 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ usgp-int mailing list usgp-int at gp-us.org http://forum.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/usgp-int -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From roseberry3 at cox.net Tue May 11 22:05:31 2010 From: roseberry3 at cox.net (B Barry) Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 22:05:31 -0400 Subject: {news} Proposed agenda for the 5-12-10 6pm EC meeting at 48 Village Drive, #204, Wethersfield, CT 06109-1072 Message-ID: <20100512020503.PKDI23683.eastrmmtao107.cox.net@eastrmimpo03.cox.net> agenda for the 5-12-10 EC meeting at 48 Village Drive, #204, Wethersfield, CT. 06109-1072 Develop the agenda for the 7PM 5-25-10 SCC CTGP meeting at Portland Senior Center Location: Portland Senior Center, 7 Waverly Avenue, Portland, CT 06480 Facilitator: To Be Determined A. Preliminaries: 1. (1 minute): Introductions of voting/non-voting attendees; chapters; if quorum was met; timekeeper; ground rules. 2. (2-4 minutes): Approval of tonight's proposed agenda, any deletions or additions. 3. (2-4 minutes): Review and approval of minutes of 3-2-10 SCC meetings. 4. (2 minutes): Review and acceptance of the minutes of the 3-23-10 EC meeting. 5. (2-4 minutes): Treasurer's report from treasurer: Christopher Reilly. B. Any proposals/referendums by chapters, committee: C. Reports: 1. (10-15minutes): GPUS reports from: a) CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and Charlie Pillsbury; b) National Committee Members. 2. (20-30 minutes): Review of the announced Green Party Candidates who will ran in the 11-10 election: G. Scott Deshefy, Green Party candidate for 2nd Congressional District; State-wide Green Party candidates: Stephen Fournier for Attorney General of CT; S.Michael DeRosa for Secretary of State; David Bue for Treasurer of CT; Colin Bennett for Comptroller; Rae Johnson for State Senate #9 (Middletown); Nicholas Payne, State Representative for District 67(New Milford); Magen Cassano, Stamford Board of Education; Ben Wojan for State Representative for District 84 (Meriden). 3. (30 minutes): Items to consider for state platform: Grassroots democracy: * Mandatory living wage, subsidized for small business/ State-sponsored public health insurance and universal health care / Free tuition at state and community colleges/ Expanded, state-financed health career education/ Public transportation fare subsidies/ Postwar planning/ Recall National Guard/ Crack down on privatization/ Liberalize ballot access/ Public financing of elections/ State aid to urban education/ End war on drugs/ Fair taxation/ Energetic, fine-producing regulatory enforcement/ Responsible government use of resources and careful stewardship * Public financing of elections (without favoring some parties over others) has been implemented successfully in Maine and Arizona. In CT, we just need to amend the flawed 2005 Citizens' Election Program. * Election Day registration is permitted in Maine, New Hampshire, and 7 other states. CT has same-day registration for presidential voting, but it should be extended to other elections. * Allow citizens still in the criminal justice system (in prison or on parole) to vote, as in Vermont and Maine. Felony disenfranchisement removes large numbers of the poor and racial minorities from the electoral process. Restoring voting rights is part of the civic engagement that should be part of criminal rehabilitation. * Instant Runoff Voting will probably have to be tested at the municipal level first--successful models exist in Minneapolis, San Francisco, Burlington, VT, and elsewhere. Willimantic might be a good place to start. (The Vermont legislature passed a bill to apply IRV statewide, for Congressional elections, but it was vetoed by the governor.) Social and economic justice: * Single-payer universal health care has not been passed by any state yet, but it exists in nearby Canada, and I believe it started on a provincial level there, in Saskatchewan and Alberta ca. 1950. Canada provides a working model. * Fund smoking-cessation programs. CT is one of just 5 states that don't cover smoking cessation programs for Medicaid patients. We should follow Rhode Island's lead, which requires insurance companies to cover all forms of smoking cessation treatment. We should use tobacco tax revenues to help people who want to quit smoking. * End war on drugs. The first steps should be to 1) legalize medical marijuana, as in Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and 11 other states; and 2) decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, as in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and several other states (it would still be a civil offense involving a fine, but no prison sentence). And if the California ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana passes this November, we'll have a model for our next goal. * State aid to urban education: Equalize education funding through state spending. CT schools are among the most segregated in the nation because, more than other states, they rely on local property taxes for funding. This creates huge disparities between urban and suburban schools. Environment: * CT has already adopted California CAFE standards for vehicles, and I believe California has a number of other environmental initiatives we should look to as models. Or we could endorse the Connecticut Fund for the Environment's legislative agenda: http://www.ctenviro nment.org/index.php?option=com_content&id=296&Itemid=120 * Fund bicycle education. The League of American Bicyclists ranks CT 44th out of 50 in its ranking of bicycle-friendly states, and 50th out of 50 in terms of bike education. * Pass enabling legislation so more towns can enact a Land Value Tax. CT approved a pilot project in New London, and LVT is widely used in Pennsylvania. This allows towns to tax land and buildings at different rates and encourages clustered, downtown development instead of sprawl. Nonviolence: * Abolish the death penalty--like our neighbors Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York, and 12 other states. Replace with life in prison without parole. 4. (20 minutes): Review of the CTGP 4-24-10 Annual Meeting at Portland Senior Center. 5. (5 minutes): Discussion in support of single payer healthcare: a website with links to CTGP has been developed. 6. (2 minutes): GPUS Green Pages/website. 7. (2 minutes): CT Green Times News via website/internet: ctgp-news at ml. greens.org is not functional. 8. (10-15 minutes): The GP of CT appeal hearing at the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, 1-13-10 in Manhattan, NY. The State of CT appealed our successful lawsuit against the State of Connecticut regarding the 2005 Campaign Finance Reform laws. Their appeal was heard at that this U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The initial decision was handed down by U.S. Judge Underhill on 8-28-0. He found that the 2005 CT Campaign Finance laws were unconstitutional. He found the laws violated third party's (and other groups) constitutional rights under the 1st Amendment (free speech) and 14th Amendment (equal protection under the law). 9. (5 minutes, each): Chapter reports: 10. Any additions. 11. Next SCC meeting=Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at the Portland Senior Center. Date, place and time of next EC meeting: to be determined. Green Party Key Values: non-violence, respect for diversity, grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, decentralization, community-based economics and economic justice, future focus and sustainability, personal and global responsibility, feminism and gender -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Fri May 21 10:42:28 2010 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 10:42:28 -0400 Subject: {news} GP RELEASE Greens to OECD: Reject Israel's bid for membership until Israeli gov't observes human rights Message-ID: <898F0460D33A4936B5FAF2AA34AC3C35@JUSTINE> GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 20, 2010 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty at greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at gp.org US Greens urge Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to reject Israel's membership application until Israeli government observes international law and the rights of Palestinians . Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php . The Green Party's 2010 Annual National Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, June 24-27 http://greenpartymeeting2010.wordpress.com Media credentialing page: http://www.gp.org/forms/media More information: 1-866-41-GREEN, office at gp.org WASHINGTON, DC -- Leaders of the Green Party of the United States are urging the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) not to accept Israel's application for membership until Israel observes international law and alters its human rights policies in its treatment of Palestinians. "Israel continues to violate the OECD's fundamental values and should not be rewarded with increased trade -- which would access to more military contracts," said Michael Canney, Florida Green and member of the Green Party's International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl). "Israel's intractable, brutal, and humiliating treatment of Palestinians within its own borders and in the Occupied Territories, including the recent invasion and mass killings of civilians in Gaza, deserves international condemnation. Greens have called for economic boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until it reverses its current policies. The OECD should deny Israel membership until the Israeli government lifts the strangling economic restrictions it has placed on the Palestinian people, cancels the construction of settlements and displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and abides by international law and the OECD's own principles." The OECD's convention, under "Fundamental Values and Likemindedness," states, "These fundamental values include a commitment to pluralist democracy based on the rule of law and respect for human rights, adherence to open and transparent market economy principles and a shared goal of sustainable development." Formal acceptance of Israel's application for OECD membership will not take place until the latter's ministerial meeting to take place on May 27-28, despite the unanimous vote of the OECD's 31 member countries to admit Israel. The Green Party of the United States, along with Green Parties throughout the world, have called on national leaders to place strong pressure on Israel to end the occupation, respect Palestinian human rights and equality, and eliminate its nuclear arsenal. US Greens have supported an economic boycott and cutoff of military aid, since the US contributes billions in aid to Israel (with a $30 billion military aid package pledged to Israel for 2009-2018) that includes weapons used against Palestinians. Greens everywhere have encouraged negotiation for a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict, praised nonviolent Palestinian and Israeli groups working for peace and human rights, and condemned all violence targeted at unarmed civilians. 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 . Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml . Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers . Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections . Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus "Greens: President Obama must press Israel to end East Jerusalem settlements" Press release: Green Party of the United States, April 8, 2010 http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=307 "Public Figures Appeal for Delay to Israel's Membership of OECD" Hold Israel Accountable, May 9, 2010 http://holdisraelaccountable.net/2010/05/09/bnc-press-release/ Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee http://www.bdsmovement.net The Green Party's 2010 Annual National Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, June 24-27 http://greenpartymeeting2010.wordpress.com Media credentialing page: http://www.gp.org/forms/media More information: 1-866-41-GREEN, office at gp.org Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States Winter 2010 issue now online http://gp.org/greenpages-blog ~ END ~ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: