Brazil's Green minister of culture calls for free digital society
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30/09/2007
fabiocchi[at]gmail.comNews from Green Parties throughout the World brought to you by Fabio Quattrocchi fabiocchi[at]gmail.com
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video review
Canada/Ont: Green Election Platform on Education
youtube.com/watch?v=EXWL0AkwoY0
Canada/Ont: Global Interviews Frank Before Debate
youtube.com/watch?v=HvJRe--zRcs
Australia: Pulp Mill report - Turnbull must act
youtube.com/watch?v=3Nsy00LkJUk
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Canada/Ont: Green Party leader fights fringe party status
www.cjnews.com/TOPScnCJN/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13236&Itemid=86
Canada/Ont: Election: A Green perspective on MMP
www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=27474
Canada/Ont: Green leader urges fewer cars
www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=b2590a6d-154d-4f2b-af38-3f39e8f98429
Brazil's Green minister of culture calls for free digital society
www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9786370-7.html
USA: Pruning the Green Party
www.counterpunch.org/frank09272007.html
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Australia: Greens make Liberal-Burma oil link
abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/29/2046940.htm?section=business
Australian Greens say pulp report damning
www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2044514.htm
Australia: Is it The Greens' time?
blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/eyeq/archives/2007/09/is_it_the_green.html
Australia: Greens the new QLD Opposition?
www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/greens-the-new-qld-opposition/2007/09/25/1190486286810.html
New Zealand: Climate tour response warms Greens
www.stuff.co.nz/bayofplenty/4218397a6014.html
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Austria: Greens protest the violence in Burma
www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4082&Alias=wzo&cob=304802¤tpage=0
EU: Greens to vote against EIT
www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200709/748c9c41-04aa-4c56-9880-a96934245201.htm
EU: China must bring pressure to bear on Burmese regime for peaceful solution
www.greens-efa.org/cms/pressreleases/dok/199/199170.burma@en.htm
Czech Greens to choose new education minister on October 7
www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=273310
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Deutschland: Joschka Fischer kritisiert "Illusionen" der Grünen
www.spiegel.de/spiegel/vorab/0,1518,508595,00.html
Deutschland: Die Grünen kämpfen um den "lieben Rangin"
www.welt.de/welt_print/article1221544/Die_Grnen_kmpfen_um_den_lieben_Rangin.html
Deutschland: Interview mit Renate Künast
"Einige haben einen Linksruck im Sinn"
www.welt.de/welt_print/article1219181/Einige_haben_einen_Linksruck_im_Sinn.html
Deutschland: Dany Cohn-Bendit "Immer radikaler"
www.cohn-bendit.de/dcb2006/fe/pub/de/dct/369
Österreich: Ulrike Lunacek kommt zum Abendessen
derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3052144
Österreich: Voggenhuber: "Kritik wird von breiten Teilen der Partei getragen"
derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3052406
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Czech press survey
www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=273461
There were no matter-of-fact reasons for Green Party (SZ) deputy chairwoman Dana Kuchtova being ousted as education minister, nor are the SZ's coalition partners behind her fall, SZ National Council deputy head Matej Stropnicky writes in Pravo, adding that Kuchtova's departure is to blame on the SZ leadership, including party chairman Martin Bursik. After Kuchtova announced her resignation on Wednesday, it turned out that the Czech Republic is not threatened with a loss of any EU subsidies. The EC voiced surprise at Kuchtova's departure, Stropnicky writes. A coalition party's weight in a government corresponds to what the party chairperson manages to attain in this respect, he continues. Bursik faced dual pressure. On the one hand, the SZ National Council backed Kuchtova when her seat started rocking recently. On the other, the coalition demanded through PM Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) that Kuchtova should go - the coalition wanted her departure not only in connection with the EU's subsidies worth billions of crowns, but also due to her negative stand on nuclear energy and on the military radar the USA wants to build on Czech soil, Stropnicky writes. Bursik preferred the coalition to his own party. He preferred yielding to the ODS rather than to his opponents in the SZ. In doing so he strengthened his position in the government but weakened his own party, Stropnicky writes. Bursik might have enhanced his authoritarian position in the SZ temporarily, but the ranks of his intra-party opponents have multiplied considerably, Stropnicky writes. The ousting Kuchtova undoubtedly took place on the political order, not with the aim to secure the inflow of EU money, which was in no way jeopardised, but to secure its dubious Czech distribution, which was threatened under Kuchtova, Stropnicky writes. As Kuchtova's successor, the coalition will choose someone who would either turn the blind eye to the continuous embezzlement of the EU subsidies or who really would not notice it at all, Stropnicky concludes.
Czech press survey
www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=273257
The departure of Education Minister Dana Kuchtova (Greens) will not cause any harm as the harm has already been done by her Ministry's inability to draw EU money for research and development, Martin Zverina writes in Lidove noviny. Paradoxically, the Greens may capitalise on the departure of the incompetent minister. Unlike the Christian Democrats, they can put on the face of the last righteous before the voters. This may happen despite the question of what was Kuchtova's qualification for the post apart from her dominating the Greens' national council, Zverina writes. It sounds paradoxical: Kuchtova was the best education minister over the past ten years, but still it is good that she is leaving her job, Lenka Zlamalova writes in Hospodarske noviny. The reason is simple. It was quite easy to show a better performance than her predecessors Petra Buzkova and Eduard Zeman, Zlamalova writes. As far as the second part of the conclusion is concerned, it should be stressed that Kuchtova is leaving after the dispute over the European billions for Czech science and schools, she adds. She had not committed any blunder and the two sectors will not lose the money, but she was showing for weeks that she was not good enough for her job, Zlamalova writes.
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INVITATION LETTER FROM THE BRAZILIAN GREENS
Sao Paulo, Brazil, 20th September 2007.
Dear Friends
Humanity is at a crossroads. We must act quickly to confront the global climate crisis that threatens our entire planet. While people around the world are willing to change their ways of living and consuming, major changes in public policy are also necessary to avoid catastrophe – from our energy policy, industrial processes and the use of technology, to the rules of commerce and international law. That’s where the Green Party comes in. It is from this perspective that we invite you to take part in the most exhilarating, challenging and inspiring meeting of the decade: Global Greens 2008 in Brazil! The focus will be the political, social, economical and ecological aspects of the climate crisis, so that the Greens globally can play a leading role in helping make our planet healthy and safe – for Humanity and all of Nature. The Greens constitute a global, social-political movement without precedent. During Global Greens 2001, in Canberra, Australia, we formed a Global Greens Network and Coordination, based upon our Global Greens Charter. With over three decades of experience serving in local, state and national governments on six continents, we recognize that to achieve our goals, we must think and act globally and locally. Global Greens 2008 will offer the opportunity to meet Greens from around the world, who share similar goals and ideals, and to learn specifically about the spirit and diversity of Latin America. Our main objective will be to establish a joint Green climate crisis action plan for the next decade, on which Green parties and movements around the world can work cooperatively, showing the way for governments and communities alike. Your participation will be crucial in producing an effective, achievable plan. Brazil was unanimously proposed by the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas and was chosen because it has a key role to play in what will happen to the planet over the next few decades. The conference will be held in Sao Paulo, at the Memorial da America Latina. The most populous South American city, with more than 18 million inhabitants, Sao Paulo presents all the problems and ingenious solutions of a mega-city side-by-side. Greens are elected there, and overall have hundreds of elected representatives overall in city, state and national governments across the nation. Preparations for the conference are progressing well. The Global Steering Group met in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2006, and, since then, has held monthly phone conferences. A Brazil-based organizing committee has also been established, led by Marco Antonio Mroz, and has an office in Sao Paulo, with Sergio Dialetachi in charge. A conference web page has also been created and is running (www.globalgreens.org.br ). To make our meeting in Brazil a success, the message must reach every Green. To help make this happen, please make sure all your affiliated members and supporters are duly informed. Global Greens 2008 will be a springboard for Green politics around the world, positioning us to act effectively on the climate crisis. In addition to being a center of Green politics, Global Greens 2008 will be a wonderful festival of friendship, fun and optimism. We hope to see you here!
Canada/Ont: Green Party leader fights fringe party status
www.cjnews.com/TOPScnCJN/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13236&Itemid=86
The CJN presents a leadership profile of Green Party leader Frank de Jong. The paper had intended to profile all major party leaders in the run-up to the Oct. 10 vote, but e-mail and phone requests for interviews with the other major party leaders were not returned.
TORONTO — Though he was frozen out of the televised leaders’ debate, is viewed by some observers as a “fringe” candidate, and often rides his bike across the province to canvass voters, Green Party leader Frank de Jong is persevering in the effort to publicize his party’s platform. The 52-year-old Arthur, Ont., native and school teacher comes by his environmental leanings honestly. Born to a Dutch immigrant family and raised on a dairy farm just north of Guelph, he describes his inherited values as “socially progressive, fiscally conservative and environmentally aware.” Speaking to The CJN, De Jong touched on a range of issues that are important to his party and discussed what he feels should be important to all Ontarians. Firstly, De Jong wanted to clearly distinguish his party from the New Democratic Party, as people sometimes falsely assume both are left-of-centre parties with similar goals. “The main difference between the NDP and the Green party is that the NDP is more about command and control, whereas the Green Party endorses the market,” he said. “If we modernize the market, it will achieve the goals of the party rather than regulations and legislation.” De Jong added that his party shares similar economic principles to the Conservatives and Liberals. “We’re a centrist political party. We share a lot with the Conservatives in our economic program. We want to allow the invisible green hand to get us to sustainability and run the economy,” he said. He quickly added that the Greens have also become chummy with the Liberals on the federal level, pointing to last April’s agreement between federal Green leader Elizabeth May and federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, who agreed to work jointly to try to defeat then-foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay in his riding in the next federal election. De Jong also spoke at length about the contentious issue of faith-based education funding, which is front and centre in the current election campaign, calling the Liberal’s status-quo position “untenable” and labelling the Conservative position as “divisive.” “We respect everyone’s moral, religious and ethical choices, but we believe [faith-based schools] shouldn’t be funded by government,” he said. In fact, De Jong is the lone major party leader – the Greens are running candidates in all 107 ridings – advocating the complete repeal of public funding for Catholic schools. “I was raised in the Catholic school system… I had a terrific education,” he said. But he said that contrary to Premier Dalton McGuinty’s recent assertions that funding faith-based schools would “segregate” students in a public school system, De Jong believes the system is already fractured. “When I was a Catholic school child, we were basically told not to play with the public school kids. We didn’t play sports with them or associate with them in any way,” he explained. “That’s the way it is in Ontario today. I teach at Fern Avenue Public School [in Parkdale], and our intramural system… never [interacts] with the Catholic school system for sports or musical exchanges, even though there’s a Catholic school one block from ours. Yet our kids have to drive across the city to find other public schools to play sports against. What a divisive system. That has to end.” De Jong also spoke passionately about the environment and how Ontarians are starting to “get” that climate change and pollution must be addressed. Citing a recent Ontario Medical Association poll, he said that the public “is connecting the environment with health care. “We see the stats. Smog costs Ontario $6.6 billion out of our health care costs. If we phased out coal… by 2009 and go to more walkable communities linked by transit, we could save $6 billion of our health bill budget and reduce taxes.” He argued that his party is not about raising taxes, it’s about “shifting” them. “The Green party is not a tax-raising or tax-cutting party,” he said. “We’d like to shift taxes off of individuals and businesses and onto resources and pollution and [the] optimal use of land.” On the issue of whether he believes his party is ready to govern, De Jong was firm. “We’re ready to be government. We’ve participated in governing coalitions all over the world. We’re not a new kid on the block… we’ve been around since the 1970s and are an international philosophy,” he asserted. “We’re just saying what’s self-evident to everyone. You talk to anyone and ask them if our governments should have more regard for the health of the planet and they’ll say ‘yes’ immediately. So what’s our goal? To modify and modernize our economic system [so] business and industry will change their behaviour to avoid taxation and make more money by taking care of the planet.”
Canada/Ont: Election: A Green perspective on MMP
www.sootoday.com/content/news/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=27474
TORONTO, September 27 - Green Party of Ontario Leader Frank de Jong [shown] held a press conference at Queen's Park today to reveal the democratic process his party would use to choose list candidates under the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system. "Some people are trying to mislead Ontarians by suggesting that MMP would allow parties to subvert the democratic process," Frank de Jong said. "They clearly underestimate the voting public. "The truth is that well-informed Ontarians recognize that MMP is a valuable opportunity to introduce real democracy to Ontario, and that democracy extends to choosing candidates in a transparent and equitable manner. Voters want Ontario and Canada to join the vast majority of democratic countries in adopting an electoral system where every vote counts and everyone has a voice." De Jong was joined at the press conference by Jeanette Fitzsimons, co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and an elected MP, as well as Steve Withers of the organization Vote for MMP. Together, they highlighted the advantages of MMP, which is the subject of a referendum being held concurrently with the October 10 provincial election. MMP, currently used with great success in New Zealand and Germany, among other nations, gives citizens two votes on their ballot: one to elect a local candidate, and another for the political party of their choice. The "local candidate vote" determines who represents each riding, just like in the current system. The "party vote" determines what share of seats each party will receive. Ontario's legislature will have 90 riding and 39 at-large MPPs. If, after the riding seats are filled, a party has fewer seats than its portion of the party vote, it is allotted the appropriate number of at-large seats to ensure fair representation at Queen's Park. These at-large representatives are elected from ordered lists of candidates nominated and made public by each party before the election, ensuring that voters can judge the candidates and vote accordingly. The Greens' list, de Jong said, will feature alternating male and female candidates, beginning with the party's leader and its deputy leaders, who are elected democratically in party-wide ballots. The current deputy leaders are Victoria Serra, the candidate in Huron-Bruce, and Dr. Sanjeev Goel, who's running in Brampton West. Also on the list are the top female and male vote-getters, by percentage, from the previous election, in order to reflect the will of party supporters. The balance of list candidates will be chosen through a democratic election among members at the Green Party's annual general meeting. "Under MMP, voters will expect each party to select its list candidates in an open and democratic fashion," de Jong said. "We are committed to using a transparent and equitable process to produce a slate of qualified Green candidates who accurately reflect Ontario's diverse population."
Canada/Ont: Green leader urges fewer cars
www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=b2590a6d-154d-4f2b-af38-3f39e8f98429
Some people brag about the power of their cars' engines -- but Green Party of Ontario leader Frank de Jong is more inclined to boast about his vehicle's ability to run on vegetable oil. "I got here without fossil fuels. It's guilt-free travelling," said de Jong about the red Volkswagen Golf he drove into Windsor on Monday night. Truth be told, the modified compact car still requires diesel to start up its engine. But once the vegetable fat reaches 80 C and loses viscosity, a push of a button switches the engine to a trunk-mounted fuel tank containing used cooking oil that's been discarded by restaurants. De Jong said he was told by the car's owner -- a Green Party member in Kingston -- that the parts for the conversion only cost $800. Although de Jong can point out the engine's extra filter and second heater, he admitted to not knowing a lot about how it works. "I'm not very good with cars. I don't even own one in Toronto," he said. It's all a part of the health-oriented, environmentally aware message that de Jong has been bringing to ridings across the province as part of the Green Party of Ontario's campaign for the Oct. 10 election. According to de Jong, communities such as Windsor need to rely on cars less, use public transit more, become more walkable, and embrace sustainable technologies. "You guys in Sarnia-Windsor, you're in the cancer corridor of North America. So we have to take a serious look at the water, the air, the soil and what we eat, in order to defeat this cancer epidemic." De Jong also noted the province's "obesity epidemic," and pointed out the health benefits of cycling and walking. The idea of manufacturing fewer vehicles might be a hard sell in a place where the auto industry is the backbone of the local economy, but de Jong argued that there are more jobs to be had in a "green society" than in a "grey society." "There's all kinds of jobs in building wind turbines and mass transit vehicles and conservation technologies. There will always be manufacturing, and we just need to choose the best technology so that we can live sustainably and make sure that future generations have a viable planet." De Jong said that, as premier, he'd provide "transition funding" to help industrial cities like Windsor make the change. He'd also shift taxes off jobs and onto polluters. "The Green Party does not want to raise taxes; we're not into lowering taxes," he said. "We want to shift taxes off of jobs and onto pollution and urban sprawl. It sends the message to industry that they can make more money by going green and hiring more people because we'll be untaxing labour." De Jong said the Canadian auto industry "needs to go to the California standards for emissions and be encouraged to be as clean as possible by producing more hybrids and vehicles which run on renewable electricity."
Brazil's Green minister of culture calls for free digital society
www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9786370-7.html
Free culture advocate and Brazilian Minister Gilberto Gil said that digital technology offers a rare opportunity to bring knowledge to under-privileged people around the world and to include them in the political process. Gil, a renowned musician and social activist who became Minister of Culture in 2003, laid out a vision of a global, collaborative digital culture founded in freely available technology during a speech on Thursday at the Emerging Technology conference, or EmTech, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He called for loosening intellectual property regulations to give more people the freedom to use and republish digital forms of content as a way of encouraging personal expression, culture and political participation. "Today's digital technologies represent a fantastic opportunity for democratizing access to knowledge," Gil said. "We have found that the appropriation of digital technology can be an incredible upgrade in skills of political self-management and the local political process." As Minister of Culture, Gil helped spearhead the creation of 650 "cultural hot spots" where people have access to free software and computers, typically for the first time. At these centers, digital content and technology rapidly becomes assimilated into Brazilian culture, he said. For example, Brazilian Indians have recorded their songs on video, participants have been inspired to pursue an "open-source hardware" initiative, and a well known Afro Brazilian spiritual leader found the means to make her tradition a "first class culture" within Brazil, he explained. Brazil is also using test versions of $100 laptops from the One Laptop Per Child project, which Gil admitted is not working as fast as he or Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would like. He said part of the problem is the lack of a network backbone to connect PCs to the Internet. Also, he said there are two proposals to supply low-cost PCs, one from the One Laptop Per Child program that came out of MIT and one from Intel, which has caused the government to slow down. During his speech, Gil called on other countries to adopt more liberal policies in regard to intellectual property, patents and copyright. Within Brazil, his ministry is trying to reform copyright laws that contain several "holes" that don't address issues such as personal use. At an international level, Brazil has, through a United Nations forum, called for international regulations that tilt the balance of control over content away from publishers and toward consumers, particularly in developing countries. The public domain should be a "necessary dimension of the intellectual property system," he said. This same philosophy applies to realm of software. He noted special effects producers in Hollywood have used open-source software because of the flexibility it gives them. "Open source as an instrument is more flexible and contributing to knowledge, ideas and possibilities," he said. "Of course we are going to face problems of guaranteeing property and renumeration of property on one side and the public interest on the other side." What's needed, he said, is more discussion of the proper balance in the political realm. Since being Minister of Culture, he has worked with the Creative Commons group to allow musicians to permit others to take their creations and use them in various forms. As a musician, he has taken the same route. He has chosen to republish some of his works under a liberal license to encourage republishing and remixing of his music. He said he intends to rerecord and republish his "hits" so that they can be shared and reused by others. "I would be pleased to see my other colleagues doing the same because I'm sympathetic. Also, it's a historical trend and it's going that way," he said. Gil said that Brazil is a fertile ground to experiment with remixing digital content because it is a culture that has often assimilated influences from the outside. "We (Brazilians) have kind of a thirst, a hunger for new things, for different things from the outside world that we can quickly swallow, digest and process. This is a characteristic of our culture and it is showing," Gil said.
USA: Pruning the Green Party
www.counterpunch.org/frank09272007.html
It may seem as if I have been unduly harsh to the Green Party in recent columns. However, my criticism is not with the majority of Green Party members but with their leaders who are preventing the party from developing into a truly progressive alternative to the corporate duopoly. The Greens have kept in place the same wrecking cabal that was responsible for the party's self implosion in 2004. Instead of ditching folks like Phil Huckelberry, they have promoted them. A few Green delegates tell me that back in 2005 during their annual convention in Tulsa, Huckelberry screamed at his fellow delegates, "I didn't join the Green Party to fight the Democrats!" In a recent message that Huckelberry sent to the National Delegates he cautioned the Greens for spending too much of their time "fighting with self-identifying progressive Democrats, one of the groupings on the political spectrum which is closest to us." He went on to advise, "[W]e should drop the pretense that they are somehow our vilest enemies, or worse, that people within our party are our vilest enemies." With friends like Huckelberry the Greens don't need enemies. Huckelberry is not only on the Green's Steering Committee, their main governing body, he's also in charge of the party's ballot access committee. Here's what is so ridiculous about Huckelberry's call to unify with progressive Democrats: It is the Democratic Party that is removing Green Party candidates from the ballot, not the Republicans. It is the Democratic Party that wants to destroy the Green Party, not the Republican Party. How can Democrats be seen as anything other than Green Party foes? How can those within the Green Party who continue suggesting that the Greens and the Democrats are ideologically aligned, not also be seen as the "vilest enemies" of the Greens? Keep in mind that it was progressive Democrat Dennis Kucinich who helped sucker off 50,000 Greens supporters from their membership rolls in 2004. It is the Democratic Party, especially the progressives, who are the greatest threat to the Green Party. Since Huckelberry does not realize that the progressive Democrats are their "vilest enemies" it is not surprising that he also does not recognize that an even more deadly enemy is the enemy within. The Greens like Huckelberry who refuse to recognize the danger the Democratic Party presents and the peril of not fiercely opposing their candidacies and policies every single election. Perhaps this was why Huckelberry, while running for election in Illinois, made certain he ran against a lone Republican with no Democratic opponent. Not all of the Green officers are unaware of the incompetence of some of their leaders. Members should salute Mike Cavlan, a delegate from Minnesota, who just published a letter detailing the history of someone he suggests is one of the most inept officers in the Green Party, Greg Gerritt. It seems that Cavlan's letter was initiated as a result of Gerritt's losing a $25,000 donation for the Green's Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC). As it turns out, according to Mike Cavlan, there really is no CCC. There are only two members of the committee; Gerritt and a delegate from Georgia named Nan Garrett. Gerritt counters Cavlan's claim that the CCC is useless, "Saying that the CCC is small is less of a slap at me than it is at all of the state Green Parties that did not offer up a candidate for the CCC in 2006." Huckelberry should have realized that on the one hand the Democrats are indeed their "vilest enemy" but the enemy within may be even more monstrous. Certainly it is just as destructive. As it turns out, according to Mike Cavlan, Gerritt, more than anyone else other than perhaps David Cobb, was responsible for the disaster of 2004 and that while serving as party secretary, personally disaffiliated the Utah Green Party which was recognized by the state of Utah. He had no power to do this, but his decision went unchallenged and consequently an artificial Green Party was set up -- a paper party which would give Huckelberry and Gerritt two more votes. Mind you Cavlin doesn't have an axe to grind over the Green folly 2004, for he himself is a recovering Cobb supporter. It turns out that Greg Gerritt not only has a history of incompetence within the United States Green Party but he has virtually destroyed the Rhode Island Greens which cannot even put together a gender balanced eight person coordinating committee. According to Mike Cavlan "one of the two co-chair seats is vacant. Nobody is running for anything in RI in 2007. Nobody ran in RI in 2005. Nobody ran in 2003. Nobody ran in 2001. For even numbered years, 6 people ran in 2002. 6 people ran in 2004. But only one in 2006, a guy who's run every two years for the same seat." Mike goes on to report, "There have been a total of 26 candidates in GPRI [Green Party of Rhode Island] history. Only one of those has run since 2004. The Rhode Island Green Party no longer exists. Greg Gerritt therefore should not hold any position in the GPUS." Gerritt has an incredible history with the Green Party of the United States as the head of its Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC) as well as its Presidential Candidate Support Committee (PCSC). In 2003, before Gerritt took over, the Green Party ran 400 candidates nationwide. With Gerritt at the helm that number dropped off to 200 in 2005 and will be around 100 in 2007. At this rate by 2011 there will be virtually no Green candidates running anywhere. Cavlan concludes, "Here we see the starkest display of the squandering of political capital gained during the Nader 2000 effort ... We're just scraping at the 1999 level now, and still in steady decline." Here's how it adds up with Gerritt heading up the Green Party's CCC in the aftermath of the 2004 debacle they helped engineer and for which Greg Gerritt recently took personal responsibility: A 48% total decline in candidates being run during the odd number years and a 32% decline since 2004 in the even numbered years. Gerritt has never so much as offered a hint of accountability in any of this, or any of his many and even more spectacular failures. Gerritt seems to have a reputation, according to Mike Cavlan, for being "always handy with a list of other people and outside circumstances that get his blame, and the majority of the NC rallies in his support in every instance, and elevates him to positions of ever-increasing authority over the future of GPUS." Gerritt's co-conspirator in the Coordinated Campaign Committee (CCC), Nan Garrett, co-chair of the Green's women's caucus, is currently a delegate from Georgia. But it is more likely to snow in the land of peaches than for something related to the Green Party to happen. Their latest action was to run African-American activist Elaine Brown for office, but due to their ineptitude the Georgia Greens didn't bother to check whether she met residency requirements. She didn't and was consequently removed from the ballot. Look at the situation in which the Green Party finds itself: It has a person in charge of its PCSC (Presidential Campaign Support Committee) and its CCC (Coordinated Campaign Committee) -- which means everything electoral in the Green Party of the United States -- who has a four year history of complete failure. How long will it take for Green Party members, the grassroots not the leadership, to call for dramatic changes to their party's structure? How much failure will it take? How much more humiliation can they tolerate? How long before they hold people like Greg Gerritt, Nan Garrett and Phil Huckelberry responsible? Tragically as George Santayana reminds us, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Australia: Greens make Liberal-Burma oil link
abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/29/2046940.htm?section=business
The Greens have called on the Federal Government to suspend corporate investment and security training in Burma until freedom and democracy is restored. A day after Prime Minister John Howard said Australia did not have trade links with Burma, Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says a Liberal Party-linked business, Twinza Oil, has signed a joint oil and gas venture with Burma. Senator Nettle says Mr Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer must follow the lead of France and suspend corporate investment in Burma until freedom and democracy is restored. "We are one of few countries in that we do not have trade sanctions with Burma," she said. "We have a trade relationship with Burma that is closely linked to the Liberal Party. "It is incumbent on the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to ask their Liberal Party friends not to continue to invest in financial dealings with the military dictatorship in Burma."
Australia: Is it The Greens' time?
blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/eyeq/archives/2007/09/is_it_the_green.html
Voters in Peter Beattie's old seat of Brisbane Central will have no-one from the two major conservative parties to choose from in the upcoming by-election. The Liberal Party ignored the wishes of its Queensland parliamentary leader and said "No, we're too busy with the federal election to bother," giving the National Party five minutes to find someone to run. They couldn't. Meanwhile The Greens simply looked for a strong local business person and said, "Hey, here we are and it is our time." They are already polling strongly in the area. The Greens say they are now a major party and are happy to tackle the ALP in this seat. They say the time has finally come for green politics in Australia. Are they right? Climate change, alternative fuel sources, sustainable industry growth, forest preservation, greenhouse gas emissions, water-saving strategies ... it sounds like the front pages of our newspapers for the past 12 months. According to the Australian Greenhouse Office - set up, but underfunded by the Federal Government - transport in Australia contributes 14 per cent of our greenhouse emissions. And sadly almost 90 per cent of this comes from freight trucks, cars, trucks and buses, emissions which are growing at 40 per cent. John Howard has finally become interested in green issues and announced a clean energy target earlier this week. Was it because of a personal belief or because the issues were pushed so hard he was forced to act? Is there a silent green wash diluting the impact of the two traditional "opposition" parties? Is now The Greens' time?
Australia: Greens the new QLD Opposition?
www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/greens-the-new-qld-opposition/2007/09/25/1190486286810.html
The Greens say they are not afraid to take on the ALP "head to head" in the state seat of Brisbane Central as both conservative parties throw in the towel to concentrate on the federal election. The Greens polled 18.2% of the vote against Peter Beattie and 21.4% in South Brisbane against Anna Bligh at the 2006 State Election. Greens candidate Ann Boccabella says the conservative parties' decision not to run a candidate in the Brisbane Central state by-election was the chance for people to see The Greens as a major party. "Bring it on," Ms Boccabella said. "I would like to see The Greens and the Labor people head to head on this because I believe the The Greens are a major party," she said. "It's not the Opposition Coalition anymore, it's The Greens as the opposition. "People need to understand we're mainstream now. All the things that The Greens have been talking about for about 15 years have come home to roost." The Paddington businesswoman also questioned why Grace Grace had been chosen as the ALP's candidate. "Well I've been in the area for 30 years and I must say I've never seen Grace Grace on the ground anywhere," she said. "As a unionist she may be quite competent, but her constituency is the trade union movement, she's walked on that." Ms Boccabella questioned whether she would have the local electorate as her priority. "Would you think it's an idea that she would walk on those people as well? Would she just be using this position to fast track her way into the ministry?" Ms Boccabella, the owner of the Paddington Plug, said she was not surprised that neither the Liberal or National parties were able to field candidates. She said the Liberals were concentrating on holding their federal seats. "I think they're struggling so badly in the federal election that they need all their resources out there. "Labor has turned on some of their safe seats and I think they're scrabbling to keep up." Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney this afternoon confirmed that the Nationals were unable to find a candidate in time to take the plunge in the seat which had been held by former Premier Peter Beattie. The organisational arm of the Queensland Liberal Party earlier this week rejected a plea from Liberal leader Bruce Flegg to stand a candidate in the seat. Craig Thomas, who stood as a Liberal candidate against Peter Beattie in 2006, is now standing against Kevin Rudd in the seat of Griffith.
New Zealand: Climate tour response warms Greens
www.stuff.co.nz/bayofplenty/4218397a6014.html
The Green Party's Climate Defence Tour has rolled into Rotorua with Co-leader Russel Norman convinced the global warming issue is finally hitting home to Kiwis. Mr Norman believes the Al Gore movie "An inconvenient Truth" played a major role in raising awareness here in New Zealand and overseas. "There has been massive media coverage on the issue and the evidence keeps mounting - there is definitely more awareness now," he says. The Green Party says New Zealand cannot hide away from an issue because of our isolation and small population. "New Zealand's greenhouse emissions are increasing rapidly - per capita we have the fourth highest of the OECD countries." Mr Norman was strongly critical of the Government's recent opposition to the target of a 25-40 per cent cut in greenhouse emissions by 2020 for industrialised countries. "Solutions to avoid catastrophic human-induced climate change must be negotiated at an international level and New Zealand could be part of that solution. "Consumers of our agricultural exports and tourists to New Zealand are already looking long and hard at our climate change record." The Green Party would continue to push for improved public transport as a means to reduce emissions. Mr Norman said more investment would be made in Wellington public transport while the electrification of the rail network in Auckland would be a positive. Mr Norman was buoyed during his visit to Rotorua by the release of the latest Morgan Research (Political Party) poll which gave the Greens 9.5 per cent support - its highest rating in five months. Of the minor parties the Greens were the only one to poll' over the critical 5 per cent threshold. At the last election the party ensured its solid representation in Parliament with 5.3 per cent of the party vote.
Austria: Greens protest the violence in Burma
www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4082&Alias=wzo&cob=304802¤tpage=0
Vienna/Yangon. The opposition Greens Party staged a demonstration on Friday morning in front of the Chinese Embassy in Vienna. The group called on Beijing to use its influence to stop violence by Burma’s (Myanmar) military regime against popular protests in the country. They delivered a letter of protest to the Chinese delegation. Ulrike Lunacek, the foreign policy spokesperson for the Greens, called on China to honor its international obligations ahead of next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. She said the Burmese government must open a dialogue with all political groups in the country and allow all people there to have a new democratic environment. Lunacek also called for the release of Nobel Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi who is under house arrest. Meanwhile, the foreign ministry is reporting that there are around ten Austrians in Burma, some of them working for non governmental organisations and others married to Burmese. The ministry has also issued a travel warning for Austrians wishing to visit the country. Between 1500 and 2000 Austrians spend their vacations there each year. The tourism season begins in November. More people were killed on Friday as shots were fired to stop protesters. Authorities also reportedly cut internet connections.
Czech Greens to choose new education minister on October 7
www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=273310
Prague- The Green Party's (SZ) national council will decide on October 7 on the successor to Education Minister Dana Kuchtova (SZ) who will hand in her resignation next week, Kuchtova said. Kuchtova announced on Tuesday that she would resign because of the tension that had built up around drawing money from European funds. She expressed certain disappointment at the coalition partners - the Civic Democrats (ODS) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) - not having created conditions for her to solve the problem with the preparation of projects within the Research and Development for Innovations for which money is to be drawn from the EU. She pointed out that the Greens leadership had not supported her in the dispute. Kuchtova said today she assumed that both Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (ODS) and President Vaclav Klaus would accept her resignation. She admitted it was not yet clear who would replace her and even whether the person would be a member of the Green Party. She said she planned to help the new minister at the beginning, although she did not want to stay at the ministry for more than three weeks. Kuchtova said many of the Greens were surprised that their leader Martin Bursik did not back her against criticism from Topolanek. Bursik said on Tuesday that Kuchtova enjoyed support of both the party and the deputy group. He dismissed the opinions that he had not backed Kuchtova, who is also a party deputy chairwoman. Kuchtova told CTK today she was not going to run against Bursik for the post of the party leader because of the conflict.
EU: Greens to vote against EIT
www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200709/748c9c41-04aa-4c56-9880-a96934245201.htm
STRASBOURG: The Greens will not support the creation of the European Institute for Technology (EIT) in its current form, says Monica Frassoni. “It has a nice name, but no funds and no idea of what it ought to be,” she told journalists on Tuesday morning. “We have therefore tabled an amendment to reject the institution.” “We are not against the idea, but we are against deluding public opinion.” Daniel Cohn-Bendit said that the Greens were in favour of what he called a “real” EIT. He added that should such an institution be established, it could be based in the Strasbourg parliament and therefore solve the problem of having two seats. The Greens also voiced support for a vote on a moratorium on the death penalty, and want the issue of clandestine CIA activities in the US to be investigated. “We have asked for a resolution, not just a debate on this,” said Cohn-Bendit. “The EU is acting like it never happened.” “We want a resolution but there won’t be one as other parties have governments to support.”
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