Greenactivist #Greensurge
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GreenActivist The newsletter for Green Party members • www. greenparty.org.uk • Jan/Feb 2015 #greensurge SEE THE NEW CAMPAIGNS & Membership overtakes EVENTS PAGE – UKIP and the JOIN IN WITH THE ACTION! LibDems! 2015 SPRING CONFERENCE, COME ALONG TO THE BIGGEST EVER YET ... GREEN PARTY MEMBERSHIP TRIPLES IN ONE YEAR TO OVER 50,000! CONTENTS Please click on the red titles to connect to that page. REGULAR 3 Hot News/Editorial Amazing surge in membership continues! 4 Message from Natalie Bennett Natalie advises on how to combat negative media coverage of the Green Party. 5 Campaigns & Events New section! Up and coming demos and events plus social media sites where you can make an impact. 9 Spring Conference 2015 Information on booking, travel, entertainment and candidate photos. 14 Green pioneers Watch the Leaders’ Debate on TV - Broadcasters have published Donella Meadows – best known as lead new plans for TV election debates which now include the author of the Limits to Growth, the Greens and leaders of six other UK political parties. work stimulated the formation of the Green Party. 15 Green Party Notices Check out the latest notices and take a TALKING POINT look at a few of the marvellous memes 10 Green means ecology being created by Green Party members. Richard Lawson on the fundamentals f 16 Who’s Who of Green politics NATIONAL WEBSITE Four pages of contact details of party FEATURES www.greenparty.org.uk officers, committees, policy groups and key activists. 8 Toolkit for the European MEMBERS WEBSITE activist https://my.greenparty.org.uk/ 25 Green Party activists needed for ELECTIONS this seminar in Brussels 6 Elections GreenActivist 11 Veganism – the green diet 7 Crowdfunding – the new way to Send your comments, contributions, ideas The green case for veganism. raise money and enquiries to: internalcommunica- 13 Citizens Basic Income [email protected] Read how Caroline Lucas has funded Clive Lord adds his perspective to this Editor: Peter Barnett her election campaign, and how you Green Party policy. Design: [email protected] can do likewise. 2 HotNews! (Graph depicts Jan 14 to Jan 15) The #greensurge continues with current Green Party membership figures up from under 15,00 in Jan 14 to over 50,000 members at January 2015. This means the Green Party has overtaken UKIP and the LibDems! The more members can engage on social media the more people we can encourage to join. Try sharing a few memes. See page 6 and https://www.facebook.com/GreenPartyMemes EDITORIAL by Peter Barnett [email protected] Amazing –the have heard the great news – that the Media attack – As a serious political force Greens have now been offered a place in at we can expect no quarter from the media #GreenSurge least one of the TV debates – so we are now or our opponents in the future. Already is more like officially a ‘serious’ or ‘main’ party. Thanks they are scrutinising our policies like to everyone for maintaining the pressure, never before, and of course in many cases a full-blown signing the petitions, writing letters and maliciously twisting and misinterpreting tidal wave! so on. (I suppose we should thank PM them. So if you hear terrible things about David Cameron too, even if his reasons for the Party, note first who is saying them, and As I write, membership of the Green Party supporting our cause were slightly different refer back to us before believing anything! of England and Wales has just topped from ours). See page 4 for further details. 50,000. It has more than tripled in under a General Election – We year. The Young Greens are bigger now than are now well on course I hope you like the new design the whole Green Party was a year ago to achieve our target of for Green Activist, it’s easier to So as ever, a warm and hearty welcome to standing in 75% of the seats, read on your smaller devices all our new members. We are working very and are very likely to go much and looks much more profes- hard to manage the expanding organisation further. It looks like most of sional. Our thanks go to Cherry and have almost tripled our paid staff at the the country will be able to Puddicombe for the design national office whilst recruiting more still at vote Green in the general revamp, and to Jenny Rust – for the regional level. We hope you have been in election – another milestone copy editing and proof reading. contact with your local party and are joining for the Party. But currently in the campaigns to help give the Green there are still many seats without Green Thank you all for your support and hard Party its best ever results in the General candidates, and we remain especially keen work in this, the most exciting time in the and local elections in May. But please let us to find more women candidates, as well as Party’s history. know if you are experiencing problems. BME, disabled, LGBTIQ – and demonstrate the Leaders’ TV election debates – You will party’s commitment to equality and diversity. Peter Barnett 3 MESSAGE FROM NATALIE BENNETT “The Green Surge will inevitably mean more scrutiny of our policies and an increase in negative media coverage. This is to be expected and is something we should all prepare for.” Combatting bad press Being a member of the Green Party means We will not win every battle with the signing up to a commitment to peace and media but that should not stop us from One of the things that makes us different is non-violence, as reflected by our commit- being bold, courageous and ambitious in the fact that our policies are democratically ment to the abolition of Trident nuclear setting out our vision for a Green society. decided by our members in a process that weapons and our opposition to the Iraq culminates in party conferences that take and Afghan wars. People should be free place twice a year. We are 100% transparent to believe in whatever they want to – but Don’t believe what you about what our policies are and they are supporting organisations that use violence read in the papers! published on our policy website against members of the public to advance This transparency does leave us open their cause is a criminal act and should be It is NOT Green Party policy: To put the to attack from journalists who can trawl treated as such. Queen in a council house - a malicious lie through our website and give their own spin The other major issue that has excited derived from taking an obviously playful to the policy statements published there. A sections of the media is the Citizen’s’ remark to be a factual policy statement. recent Telegraph article is a good example of Income (or Universal Basic Income). This is It is NOT Green Party policy: To remove how the Green Party’s fine sentiments can a long-standing Green Party policy and is all immigration controls and an have be twisted into a sensationalist headline. about recasting the social security system open door policy in 20 years time - a As the Leader of the Green Party it is my so that it is fit for the twenty-first century. wilful distortion of taking the bottom job to promote and defend our member- Universal Basic Income is about providing end of a vague estimate - in fact our made policies as best I can. economic security for everyone, removing policy is to remove immigration controls For the avoidance of any doubt the Green the benefits trap, making work pay, and at an unspecified time in the future Party is wholly opposed to violence. ISIS ensuring a reasonable work/life balance so when the pressures to migrate have (or Islamic State) is a violent and horrific that people get to spend more time on the been mitigated on a more equal and organisation – anyone involved in it should things that matter most. peaceful planet. be dealt with through the criminal justice We will include a fully-costed proposal system. Anyone who is involved in violence in our General Election manifesto but until – be it the violent act itself, the planning that point we will not be releasing costings. MUST READ: http://www.huffington- of violent acts, or the financing of violent The BBC and others are bandying figures post.co.uk/ian-middleton/green-party- acts – is a criminal and should be dealt with around but these are not Green Party figures policy_b_6551676.html?utm_hp_ref=uk- through the criminal justice system. and should not be taken as such. politics&ir=UK+Politics 4 CAMPAIGNS & EVENTS Join in ... Get your placards out and/or show Green GREEN PARTY CAMPAIGNS Party visibility at these events! [email protected] Twitter @gpewcampaigns Leaflets, posters and flyers ACTION FOR RAIL LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGN Facebook: /gpewcampaigns on a variety of Green Party We need activists to distribute Join Caroline Lucas MP this HELP FUND A CAMPAIGN! campaign issues (see right) our new Railways for People Saturday 31 January and if you would like to donate can be downloaded from not Profit flyers (out soon) at as campaign for Caroline’s Living money or resources please visit the Members’ website under many stations as possible. Wage to be implemented at a www.greenparty.org.uk ‘Campaigns’ or you can buy 27 February – Railways Bill national level. professionally printed versions comes up in the House of 10.00am to 16.00pm and placards from the Green Commons for its second Come for all or part of it! A Shop http://shop.greenparty.