At 06:38 PM 11/24/98 -0500, Melanie Milanich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Have you heard of the Green Party, which now holds the balance of power
>in Germany and Sweden and has a fair representation in the European Party
>and has been organizing the North America over the past two decades?
>
>fran^don wrote:
>
>> At 09:49 AM 11/23/98 -0600, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> >fran^don wrote, in a small part:
snip
TA
>> >Vaclav Havel is quated as saying:
>> >
>> >Fear of History... is not only fear of the future but also fear of the
>> >past. he who fears what is to come usually also fears facing what has
>> >already been. and he who fears facing his own past must mecessarily
>> >fear what lies before him.
>> >
>> >and therein lies the problem.
>> >
>> >thoughts?
>> >
>> >tom abeles
>>DC
>> My thought is that the time for philosophy and navel gazing is past, and we
>> should think more of marketing strategies. That is, marketing and packaging
>> of information and ideas in ways which resonate with the general the public
>> and gives them something to by into. Jay's web page is great for people who
>> want a hit of reality from time to time - but then what? There no plan, no
>> movement. Surely a collective group could do more. There is a vast build up
>> of collective human intelligence and tools, virtually none of which has been
>> put to use against the problematique in a cognitive intentional fashion with
>> a stratigic plan.
>>
>> Don Chisholm
DC
Melanie:
With regard to the Green Party, my impression has changed recently. I'll
roughly chroniclize my familiarity with them:
Up to about 1993
I'd heard of them, but from what little I'd read, I thought of them as flaky
tree-huggers. I took the time to read a little about them then because I'd
eventually realized that the prevailing political paradigm was a paradigm of
death, a Gaian disaster in progress.
About 1995/6:
A couple of years prior, I'd formed the Gaia Preservation Coalition (GPC),
and we were having regular meetings in Toronto, having occasionally, a
speaker who may enlighten. One of these speakers was the leader of the
Green Party of Canada. My earlier opinion did not change much. It seems
there was no real political platform and the organization was built around
the current paradigm, and to nit-picking polices of existing government.
The big accomplishment of the year was a demonstration causing McDonald's to
switch from styrofoam, to cardboard boxes, for hamburgers.
About 1996/7 (this event not related to the Greens, but religious leaders)
[ -- BTW, Jay, with regard to your comment Nov. 24: >>IMHO, instead of
inventing a new earth-based religion of some sort, a better plan would be to
enlist existing religions in the fight to save the planet.<< About
'95 I'd given a copy of my manuscript, "A 21 st Century Steward's Handbook"
to about 15 local leaders of religious organizations. Feedback from readers
who responded (about 7) was shock/dismay, they seemed genuinely moved.
About six months after the manuscript distribution, I invited them all plus
others to a GPC meeting, as a roundtable discussion (about 25 in all).
During that six months, some of the ministers had spoken to their church
members about the issues - population, lose of Earth's living systems, etc.
Principal outcome of the GPC meeting was that their parishioners made it
clear to the clergy, that they were not interested in this kind of bad news
- get on with their messages of hope an inspiration. Like everyone else,
locked into today's paradigm, the ministers had a job to do, and it seems
that distributing physical, verifiable reality is not a part of that job!
[That meeting outcome reminded me of a letter received earlier from
Alexander King, co-founder of Club of Rome. He mentioned a Club sponsored
meeting of world's political leaders, including Trudeau. The net result was
summarized by King: They generally agreed with the realities presented by
CoR, but could never take action on it because they would never win another
election!]
Mid 97
On interenet I read about some inspiring activity of the Green Party in
South America (rebels, to the capitalist establishment), and also learned
the GPCanada had a new leader, so I sent in a few dollars to become a
member, to see if there was any improvement. I think new Federal leader,
Dr. Joan Russow, is doing a much better job, but I never got around to
looking at their policy changes.
Early 98
I began making a few email exchanges with Frank de Jong, leader of the Green
Party of Ontario, and I have come to have significant respect for Frank's
leadership, his understanding of the problematique, and of his political skills.
>From reading and lurking on listervers here and there, and from
communications on our GPC listserver, it seemed clear that a new form of
politics and political process needs to be invented. On GPC, we even had
discussions attempting to start a political process (not everyone agreed, as
is usual).
Communications with Frank caused me to check out the GPOntario a little
closer, I became a member and went to their AGM a couple of weekends ago.
Last weekend I finished reading a little booklet which states their position
on many many things. Called "Building a Sustainable Future", it can be
found at <www.greenparty.on.ca>
While many of the sections re-enforce my old impression, many of the new
positions are quite progressive to say the least. Some of their stated
positions would lead to:
++ a steady state economy in a steady state population - even the
requirement for a reduced population for Ontario is mentioned - and
Wackerneigle's requisit extra planets;
++ a radical change in the control of the Central Bank, and the way debt and
interest is handled. Some of their policies come from William Krem, a
respected economist;
++ a shifting tax from personal income to resource usage;
++ a guaranteed annual wage;
++ the placing a limit on maximum income;
++ the reduce/eliminate government subsidies on energy;
++ the elimination of nuclear energy;
++ policies which enhance co-op housing;
++ change voting system to proportional representation;
++ prohibitions against industrial corporate exploitation of undeveloped
countries.
So what have we here, pie in the sky? or a real but fledgling political
option in Canada? I've decided on the latter, partly because, a few years
ago I decided to never again vote for any of the pro-growth political
parties - I'd consider it, like, immoral, something like supporting the
Third Reich, but far more destructive in the big picture long term.
I suspect many of GPOntario progressive policies could use fine tuning from
groups of elders in a variety of interconnected specialty areas (energy
policy for one). Nevertheless, last weekend, I agreed to be named as a
contact/coordinator the local riding in my part of Toronto.
I have no idea how strong are the linkage between the Greens in various
countries, states or provinces, but hope to find out.
If all Green political groups were all as progressive as the Ontario Greens
now seem to be, and since they have global presence now, with a little help
from very many places, perhaps they could grow into a challenging force
leading to stage one of a social contract shift which gives due respect for
Gaia, in the human/Gaia relationship. This could give Joe public a viable
option, where we could, "Fight the bastards" as Victor Milne says.
solidarity in Gaia
Don Chisholm
////////\\\\\\\\
Don Chisholm
416 484 6225 fax 484 0841
email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Gaia Preservation Coalition (GPC)
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/gaia-pc
personal page: http://home.ican.net/~donchism/dchome.html
"There is an almost gravitational pull toward putting out of mind unpleasant
facts. And our collective ability to face painful facts is no greater than
our personal one. We tune out, we turn away, we avoid. Finally we forget,
and forget we have forgotten. A lacuna hides the harsh truth." -
psychologist Daniel Goleman
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