Greens for Grassroots Party Building
[This was posted by my friend, Brandon Lacy, to one of the many Green Party lists I’m on. -Thomas]
Hey Folks,
I received this letter today from a group of Greens in Minnesota, and I was
asked to pass it along. If you are interested in signing this letter, you
should contact Joel Sipress at jsipress@cpinternet.com.
The debate whether to run a presidential candidate or not is happening all
across our nation, and I believe it is important that we all take place in
the debate/discussion regardless of how we view the issue.
-Brandon
Greens for Grassroots Party Building
We are dedicated Greens committed to the goal of social transformation and
to the four pillars of the international Green movement: social and
economic justice, ecological wisdom, non-violence, and grassroots
democracy. We are committed to building the Green Party into an instrument
through which ordinary people can work to create a more just, democratic,
and sustainable world.
Building the Green Party into an instrument for democratic social
transformation can be accomplished only through methodical, bottom-up,
grassroots organizing. We must build an active and committed membership
base that participates in Green politics on an ongoing basis in their own
communities. Over time, vibrant local party organizations will become the
building blocks of vibrant and effective state and national Green parties.
At this point in time, the most important task of the Green Party of the
United States, and the state Green parties, is to foster the development of
active local party organizations.
While high-profile campaigns for national office may, at times, play a
constructive role in long-term party-building, we do not believe that such
campaigns should play a central role in our long-term party-building
strategy. We believe that the value of such campaigns must be evaluated on
a case-by-case basis. The Green Party of the United States should run
high-profile campaigns for national office only in those cases where clear
evidence exists that a particular campaign will contribute to grassroots
party-building. Where such evidence is lacking, we should refrain from
such campaigns.
It is our judgment that a 2004 Green Party presidential campaign will be
detrimental to bottom-up party-building. While we do not believe that the
Green Party should endorse the nominee of one of the two dominant parties,
for to do so would compromise the independent identity of the Green Party,
we do believe that the Green Party of the United States should refrain from
making a nomination in the 2004 presidential race. We will work actively
to secure a vote in favor of “no presidential candidate” at the 2004 Green
Party national convention.
Betsy Barnum
Green Party of Minnesota
State Coordinating Committee*
Iver Bogen
Duluth (MN) Area Green Party
Steering Committee*
Gael Entrikin
Green Party of Minnesota
State Coordinating Committee*
Darrell Gerber
Minneapolis (MN)/5th Dist. Green Party
Deborah Kirpach
Duluth (MN) Area Green Party
Jesse Mortenson
Green Party of Minnesota
State Coordinating Committee*
Kristine Osbakken
Green Party of Minnesota
State Coordinating Committee*
Will Rhodes
MN 8th Cong. Dist. Green Party Chair*
Joel Sipress
Green Party of Minnesota
State Coordinating Committee*
Russ Stewart
Duluth (MN) City Councilor*
*For identification purposes only
