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State didn't seek Federal money for independent living
Palestine group defies a Zionist effort to shut down April conference
An Nu'uman Before
2005 SDP initiative petition
Stop the War Against Sudan
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American human rights activists stood with the people of South Africa against apartheid—We will do the same for Palestine.
Statement of support from the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts (GRP) and Green party of the United States (GPUS) by the GRP's interim State Secretary.
I’m very proud to be here on this historic occasion when Somerville Divestment Project is announcing that the people of Somerville are going to be allowed to participate, via the ballot box, in an important step towards ending apartheid in Palestine and bringing justice, peace and human rights to the Middle East and to the whole world.
The Green-Rainbow Party fully supports Somerville Divestment Project and we urge Somerville residents to support human rights by voting “yes” on both questions.
For the past 60 years the Israeli apartheid regime has been using extreme violence to oppress the remaining Arab Palestinians in Palestine and to attack nearby countries.
We were all reminded of the reality of Zionist expansionism this summer as we were able to see images of the brutal unprovoked bombardment that the Israeli regime perpetrated against the people of Lebanon. This, as well as the terribly unjust apartheid system in Palestine, is made possible by military and economic support from the USA.
Therefore the Green-Rainbow Party calls on Americans to divest from Israel and stop supporting Israel as a step toward ending violence and oppression. We are very pleased that people in Somerville have this opportunity to vote for divestment.
Through grassroots educational and divestment efforts, American human rights activists stood in solidarity with the people of South Africa and participated in ending legal apartheid in South Africa. We will do the same for Palestine.
Ending legal apartheid does not eliminate all injustice. There are still economic disparities in South Africa that are the legacy of years of oppression. There need to be reparations and a shift away from capitalism to a just and sustainable economic system.
There is still institutionalized racism in almost every country. But the only place in the world where racism is the official basis for governance is in Palestine under the current “Israeli” regime.
protocols?
It's nice that Mr Haber is able to toss around those mysterious numbers ("38 people") and give his analysis of why David Rolde isn't Secretary of the Green-Rainbow Party. That's because of a policy called called transparency—The Green Parties, unlike any others, publish their official correspondence and minutes online for anyone to read. The down side is that a lot of misquoting and misunderstanding is possible if the person reading said correspondence and minutes is blinded by hostility and lacks scruples.
No conspiracy needed
Regarding intergalactic conspiracy theories, there are none needed. The SDP is small, and the Green Party (while larger than SDP) is certainly not so huge as to avoid manipulation. Indeed, the Green story from 2000 until now has been one of manipulation and infiltration: first by the major parties trying to use the organization's ability to siphon votes one way or another to their advantage, and now by single-issue extremists who would like to leverage the party's reputation to give their own issues more weight than they would deserve if it was SDP, ISM or Al Awad presenging them as their own.
As was explained to me by a former Green Party candidate for president, and I quote:
"In theory, the Green Party charter reserves decision making to individual state parties. In practice, however, a National Committee (NC) consisting of state-party delegates has pre-empted local power, establishing divestment from Israel as party policy with no attempt to communicate, much less receive input, from individual state parties or their members. In a recent "national" vote on whether to officially support the campaign of the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP), the number of voters who actually took part in that decision numbered less than 100. For the sake of a appeasing a group of committed fanatics who now control certain state parties, the Greens have become one of the least democratic political institutions in American life."
With that in mind, perhaps this writer can explain to us just how many people actually got to vote on whether or not full support of SDP would be a national Green issue and how this number (which the writer implies is greater than the 38 people I noted) communicated and confirmed with members of state parties that this is what they wanted the Greens to stand for in '06.
Jon
No conspiracy needed
Regarding intergalactic conspiracy theories, there are none needed. The SDP is small, and the Green Party (while larger than SDP) is certainly not so huge as to avoid manipulation. Indeed, the Green story from 2000 until now has been one of manipulation and infiltration: first by the major parties trying to use the organization's ability to siphon votes one way or another to their advantage, and now by single-issue extremists who would like to leverage the party's reputation to give their own issues more weight than they would deserve if it was SDP, ISM or Al Awad presenging them as their own.
As was explained to me by a former Green Party candidate for president, and I quote:
"In theory, the Green Party charter reserves decision making to individual state parties. In practice, however, a National Committee (NC) consisting of state-party delegates has pre-empted local power, establishing divestment from Israel as party policy with no attempt to communicate, much less receive input, from individual state parties or their members. In a recent "national" vote on whether to officially support the campaign of the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP), the number of voters who actually took part in that decision numbered less than 100. For the sake of a appeasing a group of committed fanatics who now control certain state parties, the Greens have become one of the least democratic political institutions in American life."
With that in mind, perhaps this writer can explain to us just how many people actually got to vote on whether or not full support of SDP would be a national Green issue and how this number (which the writer implies is greater than the 38 people I noted) communicated and confirmed with members of state parties that this is what they wanted the Greens to stand for in '06.
Jon
open democratic
democratic forum. That David R. is openly criticized and questioned by members of GRP,
and the possibility that members of GRP have a consensus on issues that are not acceptable
by certain constituencies is evidence of a process where people are coming together in
agreement on certain issues - who may disagree on others.
Let's hope we can continue to present our messages without fear of the censorship that
has plagued our community for years.
Outgoing Party
More to the point, didn't this author also post on this site regarding the horror of Darfur where 300,000 black Africans have been killed and thousands more made refugees, raped or sold into slavery, claiming that anyone protesting this massive human rights catastrophe was a Zionist stooge, just because some synagogues have joined Christian Churches and African American organizations to call for an end to the bloodshed in Sudan?
And we are supposed to take it for granted that you have the moral high ground on every human rights issue because...why?
I'm glad the Green Party is a home for people, even those with massive chemical imbalances. It's too bad the party has become such a top-down, hierarchical, anti-democratic organization that 38 members could determine that support for the SDP was now a national Green issue.
But then again, what do the party's key principles matter as long as the SDP (the tail wagging the Green Party dog) gets its way.
Hope you can make it to the graveyard of failed third parties before completely immolating on the way.