Vol. 1, No. 5
April 21, 2001
Welcome to another issue of the Green Party of New York State's E-News! Our goal is to update Greens across the state about important issues, news, events, and resources. We hope you will find E-News informative and entertaining. We welcome your comments, contributions and assistance. Send your news, events, and alerts for the next issue to Cathy Sadell and let us know if you would like to help write the next issue. Special thanks to Ann Link, who is now coordinating the News and Featured Local sections. Note that E-News will print letters to the editor from Greens, Nader supporters, and people with something interesting to say. Deadline for submissions to next issue: Friday, April 20, 2001. If you would prefer not to receive the newsletter, please notify Masada Disenhouse. To learn more about the Greens in New York or to contact your local Green chapter please visit our website.
2. ACTION AND ACTIVITY ALERTS ( AAAs)
Legislative Alert: Minimum Wage Update
A $6.75-an-hour minimum wage bill passed the NY State Assembly (A5132 - Nolan) in early March. In the State Senate, some are blocking a similar bill, saying the Senate should wait to see what the federal government does on the minimum wage. The Working Families Party is seeking help in targeting Senators Hannon and Marcellino on Long Island; Hunger Action is planning several phone-ins and actions on the minimum wage in the next month, and Greens plan to do a local minimum wage event (Albany) for May Day. For more information and to help, contact Mark Dunlea, Dunleamark@aol.com, or call 518 286 3411.
Campaign 2001: Greens In New York City Elections
By Jerry Kann
The Green Party offers an exciting message of environmental activism and political renewal - to quote Ralph Nader, "cleaning up the environment, but also cleaning up the politics." Obviously Greens want to hit the ground running in the race for New York State Governor in 2002. Certainly an excellent way to accomplish that is to promote Green principles and values to the eight million residents of New York City in 2001. The Green Party has three goals in running candidates for public office in 2001:FIRST, to elect Greens in those districts where they have a realistic chance of victory. SECOND, to train a whole new "generation" of Green activists in the practicalities of electoral politics. THIRD - and perhaps most importantly - to build the Green Party. The elections will give Greens a chance to present their ideas and show the voters that there is a progressive, commonsense alternative to the do-nothing Republicans and Democrats. Earlier this year, the New York City Greens constituted a Search & Screening Panel to recruit candidates to run as Greens for the citywide offices of Mayor, Public Advocate, and Comptroller. On the evening of Thursday, April 26, at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South, the Greens will hold a forum to "audition" a number of potential candidates. Among these will probably be such figures as writer and professor Stanley Aronowitz, former City Council member and mayoral candidate Sal Albanese, and Columbia University scholar and Black Radical Congress leader Manning Marable.
Activists such as Julia Willebrand and Mitchel Cohen may also be seeking the endorsement of their fellow Greens for citywide office. At present there are nine Green Party candidates for New York City Council. The most recent candidate-in-considering is poet and performance artist Penny Arcade, who recently announced her intention to run as a Green for City Council in the 2nd district in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Running in the 51st council district in Staten Island is experienced Green candidate Hank Bardel. In Queens there are fully five enrolled Greens running: Lori Zett (Dist. 24) in Briarwood; Jerry Kann (Dist. 22) in Astoria; Ann Eagan (Dist. 26) in Long Island City and Sunnyside; and two very well-known Greens, Evergreen Chou and Paul Graziano (Dist. 20) in Flushing. Running for borough president in Queens is Dorothy Williams-Pereira.In Brooklyn, Michael Emperor, who earlier this year organized a brand new Green local in Bay Ridge, will be running in the 43rd district. Craig Seeman, Green Party state chair and by far the most experienced candidate for public office among Greens in New York City, will be running in the 33rd district. This area - encompassing Greenpoint, Williamsburg, DUMBO, Boerum Hill, part of Park Slope, and portions of downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights - is notable for having more registered Green voters than any district in the city. Several Council candidates will be seeking the Green endorsement in their races - notably Democrats Jeanette Evans (Dist. 29) and Joan DeCamp (Dist. 30) in Queens, and Independent Gloria Mattera (Dist. 39) in Brooklyn. A delegation of Greens helped defeat an attempt by some current City Council members to overturn term limits, a decision made by New York City voters in two public referendums. There are 36 "open" (term-limited) seats in City Council this year. Also, the ghoulish Rudolph Giuliani will not be able to run for re-election as a result of the term limits mandate. Without a doubt, 2001 REPRESENTS A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY FOR THE GREEN PARTY. Greens can field a viable slate of candidates to present the Green message. Surely if Greens believe in the Ten Key Values, they ought to be ready and anxious to talk about those values to their fellow citizens. IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO GET INTO THE GAME! Greens from all over the city still have time to file the necessary papers and get out into their communities to spread the word. Nothing will be gained by sitting on the sidelines and tsk-tsk-tsking at the same old corrupt crowd that runs the city right now. Malcolm X pointed out a generation ago that the people in power had misused their power and he also understood that those people had to be challenged directly. Greens can have a tremendous impact this year. All they have to do is get out into the political arena and speak their minds. They are certain to find people ready to listen.
Support Free Speech, Help Grandpa Get His Show Back!
Dear Green Friends (and I don't mean Martians):
Please think about helping Grandpa Al Lewis in his current struggle for
Free Speech on WBAI 99.5 FM. Grandpa Al helped put the Green party on the
ballot in NY. We owe him. We should also want to help him because he is a
great activist for trying to reform the prison industrial complex and he
actually helps and writes to prisoners. Grandpa Al has had a show on WBAI
for many years. I am 99% sure that it is a
volunteer spot. But, it is so important that he have a voice and a platform
to preach about politics and prisons. Because of current anti-democratic
practices at 99.5 FM WBAI; a very controlling manager; and a National board
which is going corporate, Grandpa
Al has been thrown off the air for violating a "gag rule" and talking about
the struggle. Please call or FAX the Interim General Manager, Ms. Utrice
Leid, and demand that she give Grandpa back his show with NO CONDITIONS.
The station office phone is: 212-209-2800
The station FAX is : 212-747-1698
The on-air phone for when lines are open: 212-209-2900
Please do this little bit for Grandpa Al. Or, if you have time, learn more at:
WBAI
Save WBAI
Pacifica Campaign
1-800-825-0055 Concerned Friends of WBAI hotline
1-646-230-9588 Pacifica Campaign (the national struggle)
At the end of this conflict, decisions will be made about just how free OUR speech is. Congressman Major Owens has chimed in on this fight and aligned it with a fight to save all non-corporate media. So, it could have consequences for us in the next round of elections.
Tell Staples to Stock Recycled Paper
Send an e-postcard to Staples, telling them to start carrying tree free and 100% post-consumer recycled, process chlorine free paper in all of their 1,125 locations, but especially in their local store so you can buy it! A ton of virgin paper requires 17 more trees and 7000 more gallons of water than it takes to produce a ton of 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Process chlorine-free paper greatly reduces the release of the carcinogen dioxin and other toxins known to kill aquatic life and damage human health, particularly that of low-income people living near paper mills. You can do 2 things, each of which will take less than 2 minutes, to help this effort. First, please click here and send your own e-postcard to Staples. Second, send this message to friends who are interested in forest protection and responsible paper consumption (but please don't spam it).
3. MEETINGS AND EVENTS
NYC FUND RAISER FOR THE GREEN PARTY OF NEW YORK STATE WITH RALPH NADER! MAY 16, 5:30 PM TO 9 PM Tentative site: Orensanz Art Center in the Lower East Side
ALL PROCEEDS TO HELP OPEN A GREEN PARTY OFFICE AND HIRE A FULL-TIME STAFF PERSON! WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS! TO VOLUNTEER, CALL MASADA DISENHOUSE AT 718 855 2263 OR E-MAIL HER AT MASADA@AKULA.COM
STOP THE EXECUTIONS! RALLY FOR A FEDERAL AND STATE MORATORIUM ON THE DEATH PENALTY, MAY 5 IN NYC
The Campaign to End the Death Penalty is sponsoring a moratorium rally on Saturday, May 5 at Union Square in NYC at 1pm. The East Village Green Party chapter has been very involved in this fight to pass a moratorium resolution in the NY City Council. Featuring:
4. FEATURED LOCAL:
Tompkins County Greens
Tompkins County Green Activities
by Dave Breeden
Since the election, the Tompkins County Greens have been building on our successes in publicizing the Greens and Nader's campaign (we're now the "official" opposition in Ithaca, having come in second to the Democrats in city returns for the presidential election). Toward that end, we've started to establish our group by writing a constitution, establishing a website www.tcgreens.org - check it out!) and doing outreach to a variety of local activist groups. We're tabling at local events like Howard Zinn's talk at Cornell on April 12, have had members appear on a local cable TV talk show, and are generally working to grow the party. Our next big event will be an "Open House" on April 11. The idea behind the open house event is to encourage people to become active Greens. It's a get-together for current greens and a membership drive for anyone willing to listen. We want to educate and motivate! There will be literature on general green policies, topic brochures, petitions, and other tabling information. Mark Dunau (former NY Senate Green candidate) will be speaking on, "Why become an active Green?" It hits on the 'act locally think globally' issue. He will share his personal experience with us to help encourage people to jump on the Green wagon! Also, there will be a table of information on our events we are sponsoring for and after earth day! We have a lot of hope that this will help us find lots of new members. Greens from other areas are always welcome to join us at our meetings. We meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at Beverly Martin Elementary School in Ithaca. Check the website for further details.
5. NEWS, NEWS LINKS, RESOURCES
VOTE FRAUD IN TENNESSEE: WORSE THAN FLORIDA?
by Catherine Danielson, March 13, AlterNet,
Black voters were told to get behind the white voters. They were told to remove NAACP stickers from their cars, or leave the polling place without voting. "You know what it is to stand at the back of the bus," said one election volunteer. For full article, go here.
NO MORE HOT AIR FROM THE DEMOCRATS
by Molly Ivins, March 22, Chicago Tribune
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Democrats in the U.S. Senate have an unusual opportunity coming up in the next few weeks. One could even call it unique, if unique were not a forbidden word in newspapers. The Democrats can prove that everybody who voted for Ralph Nader was right. It's not often that a party gets to do a thing like that. The McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill hit the Senate floor this week with Democrats wobbling all over God's little acre.
Despite the heroic stand of several Republican senators who have come out in favor of the bill, Democrats will get--and deserve--the blame if the bill fails.
This is one of those rare moments when the political system has the clarity of High Noon. We like to think of political fights as a morality play of good versus evil, when in reality they almost never are. Most serious political fights are over decisions that are 51-49. This one isn't. It's about whether there are two political parties or one--the Money Party. Either the Democrats stand for something or they don't, and if they stand for letting the current system of legalized bribery continue, then we're better off voting for Ralph Nader.
The opportunity here for the D's is clear, particularly since the Republicans are off to such an incredibly fast sprint-start in proving the case for McCain-Feingold. Gee, what a record. Hard to see how the influence of campaign contributions on politics could get clearer than the credit-card industry's purchase of a harsher bankruptcy law, industry's purchase of the repeal of rules to prevent repetitive stress injuries and High George Dubya's 180 on CO2. As Joseph Welch once said to Sen. Joe McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
That McCain-Feingold is an imperfect instrument is beyond argument. It's not as though we are accustomed to flawless legislation from Congress. The truth is, unless we start by cleaning up the soft money in politics, we'll never get anything more done.
One understands the Democratic money people are in full flower against McCain-Feingold on the grounds that the D's actually have an edge in raising soft money. Are these, by any chance, the same people who have brought such distinction to their party via James Riady, a Buddhist temple, tangled flow-through schemes and their happy acceptance of immense donations from Marc Rich? Think how much these folks have done to improve the party's standing with the public. By all means, let's follow their lead.
President W. Bush, who is so fond of citing the Texas Legislature as a font of bipartisan wisdom, will be interested to learn that last week the Texas Senate voted unanimously for the first real campaign-finance reforms in the state's history. Since Texas is the Wild West of campaign finance--essentially no rules, absolutely no limits--this is a startling development.
True, state Sen. Florence Shapiro's bill is not strong gargle, but it does prevent hidden corporate contributions and forces out-of-state PAC contributions into the open.
One of the annual delights of the debate over campaign-finance reform is the appearance of new friends of the 1st Amendment; they spring up like dandelions in April. With a few honorable exceptions, those who carry on over the dire 1st Amendment implications of campaign-finance reform are summer soldiers and sunshine patriots when it comes to freedom of speech. Their sole interest is in the peculiar proposition that money is free speech.
We never hear from them when anything but big political bucks are at stake: In those nasty, gut-check fights when freedom of speech has to protect ugly and repellent ideas, these Fairweather Firsters are nowhere to be found. But their pompous and condescending lectures on freedom of speech are a treat for connoisseurs of hypocrisy.
Please believe that all citizens have a role in this fight: Wobbling Democrats and heroic Republicans need to hear a steady drumbeat of support from the public. From C-SPAN junkies to Americans so cynical they haven't bothered to vote for years, this fight is your fight. Speak up or forever hold your peace.
GREENS SEE BREAKTHROUGH IN FRENCH MUNICIPAL POLLS
March 12, Paris (AFP)
With its impressive result in Sunday's municipal elections, France's Green party has taken a step closer to achieving its goal of replacing the Communists as the second party of the left, commentators said Monday. The party scored well in a number of key cities -- notably Paris, where it won 12.35 percent of the vote -- and immediately struck a deal with Socialist front-runner Bertrand Delanoe which should ensure a strong Green presence in the city's municipal council.
The Greens won 15.5 percent in the northern city of Lille, 12.5 percent in Montpellier in the south and 16.5 percent in Besancon in the east -- here too requiring the Socialists to make an arrangement to ensure victory in next Sunday's second round.
The achievement was seen as a vindication of the party's decision to put forward separate lists in as many towns as possible, instead of running on a joint ticket with the Socialists -- a move preferred by other parties in Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's coalition, such as the Communists. "The tendency we first saw in 1995 (the last municipal elections) is firming up. Wherever the Greens were able to present a list, they had a vote worthy of a party with real weight inside the plural left coalition," a party statement said."The Greens have confirmed their progress throughout the country. Autonomy has paid off," said Le Monde newspaper. According to the daily Le Figaro, "the 'ecolos' see as within their grasp their hopes of supplanting the Communist Party (PCF) as the Socialists' main partner." The Communists fared badly in Sunday's poll, with Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot defeated in the southern town of Beziers, and the towns of Montlucon and Sens swinging to the right. After next Sunday's second round, the PCF could find itself without any town of more than 100,000 inhabitants, Le Monde reported. "The PCF was happy to strike a national deal with the Socialists, but it has been of absolutely no use," it said.
Under the deal, Socialist candidates agreed to stand down in a number of towns to allow the PCF to lead a united left-wing list, but in no town did Communists mount a serious challenge to incumbent right-wing mayors. The Greens have two ministers in Jospin's government, including Environment Minister Dominique Voynet, whose defeat in the eastern town of Dole was one of the party's few disappointments. The Communists have four ministers.
INTERVIEW WITH COLOMBIAN SENATOR INGRID BETANCOURT
Following is an interview with Senator Ingrid Betancourt, from the Green Party of Colombia, Partido Verde Oxigeno. She is planning to run as a Green Party Presidential Candidate in Colombia in the coming election and will be attending the Global Green Conference in Canberra. She has just written a book, La Rabia en el corazón (Frence title "La rage au coeur"), which is being distributed in France. During her visit to Paris to introduce the book, some of the media headlines were "Ingrid Betancourt, a woman threatened with death...", "The woman to kill...", "The warrior from the Andes", "The Passionata of the Andes", "Colombia is governed by mediocrity and Heroine." The following interview was made with Diana Rodriguez Rojas.
DRR: Why was the presentation of your book so successful?
IB: The French identified with a struggle motivated by ideals. They don't
act it out there because they have everything, but they appreciate that
there is a country where the struggle is necessary for human dignity. Nobody
before me succeeded in making a best seller of a book that speaks only about
Colombia. The media here in Colombia ignore it and there there [sic] is an
interest.
DRR: Ambassador Restrepo said that you promoted yourself at the expense of
the image of Colombia.
IB: That's a very selfish attitude when the possibility to inform the rest
of the world what we are experiencing in Colombia is offered
DRR: What positive result for Colombia stems from the boom in sales of your
book?
IB: Today, they no longer confuse Colombia with Bolivia. They now know what
is occurring here and there is an immense solidarity and willingness to
help. If the world takes interest, things will not be allowed to continue
this way.
DRR: Why did you write your book in French and launched it in France?
IB: I hope it gets to Colombia. I wrote a book two years ago and it was
never published here. It's the punishment towards someone who speaks without
fear or restrain.
DRR: Will you run for the presidency in 2002?
IB: Yes, I will run in 2002. The time limit has elapsed. Colombia has the
right to have a radical option, clean, and free. There is need for a
structure of Government that is decent and effective and I can't see that
the present options can do the job.
DRR: Why have you been absent from Congress during this term?
IB: Congress has closed all doors for me. I have introduced 15 projects and
they have all been refused. I have requested five debates and I have not
been allowed not even one. Each time I request to speak, I am denied. The
challenge is to succeed in making my voice be heard.
6. LETTERS: POETRY & PROSE
WAVES
by Ian Wilder
for Fritjof Capra
molding solar ellipses
measuring continental crusts
aching to be still
pointillist crests
canalizing troughs of sunlight
an emptiness closer to spirit than science
narwhals, seahorses, starfish, plankton
packets of electromagnetic energy
viscera constantly shedding
re-identifying
*****************
If
you can
read this you
are more qualified to
be president than George W. Bush
If you can understand this, then you could lead the whole, free world. And,
why not? You are good and wise and were taught some small lessons about
democracy at that school you went to. But, really, don't run for President.
It is a faraway, huge compromise with the greedy rich. Something ugly like
fame--a beautiful wish that devours you and causes you to go blithely
through life trampling on the rights of other people. Instead, take this
great ambition, this desire for good, this inner know-ing that your will
counts and run for local office. Find out about your hometown school board.
Consider running for city council on the Green Party line. Or, become town
dogcatcher and set all the puppies free!
By Kimberly Wilder
