All political organizations are comprised of an
internal political spectrum, and the success of a
particular party has much to do with how this diversity
within a political party is managed. The issue of how to
integrate left, center and right Greens is an
opportunity for at least our local and state Green Party
organizations to develop in a way that builds upon the
strength of our diversity. If not addressed these
different Green perspectives could cause problems, as
we’ve seen with regard to the G/GPUSA vs. ASGP.
So the question is how to use to our advantage this
natural dynamic of a political spectrum within the Green
Party.
A suggestion is to create committees within at least
the local and state Party organizations representing
each of these three primary Green perspectives, and give
them the autonomy to create projects and programs
respecting their missions. At the same time, affirm that
the Party organization as a whole, through its bylaws
and regular meetings, has oversight and overrule
authority, based on the right of any member to appeal
any committee decision. In this way, people with
different Green perspectives can work on issues of
importance to them, and collaborate as a whole when
desired, welcoming people from other committees to work
on a particular committee”s project.
The issue of how to
integrate left, center and right Greens is an
opportunity for at least our local and state Green
Party organizations…
In the Denver Green Party (DGP) we’ve created three
committees called “managerships,” which are areas of
responsibility created by the DGP through its standard
meeting process, with the work of the managerships
overseen by the co-presidents. Managerships may be
managed by a single person or by co-managers, with any
member of the DGP having the power to appeal any
managerial decision to the co-presidents. If any member
is not satisfied with the decision of the co-presidents,
they may then appeal the decision at a scheduled DGP
meeting using standard meeting process. These
managerships are:
1. Coalition/Diversity Committee (Left Greens, Radical
Politics)—which will tend to hold onto radical
interpretations of Green values, with a more
left/feminist/deep ecology/socialist/anarchist leaning
activist orientation 2. Campaign Committee (Centrist
Greens, Electoral/Realistic Politics)—as it races to the
political center for mass appeal 3. Green Economy
Committee or GECo (Right Greens, Conservative
Politics)—as it involves businesses, government
regulation of the economy and taxation.
Here are their job descriptions or committee mandates:
1. Coalition/Diversity Committee:
- Plan and maintain outreach programs including
statements of support for minority and ethnic
communities, intentional communities, neighborhood
initiatives, and issues and causes consistent with the
Greens 10 Key Values and the goals of the DGP;
- Contact other organizations and solicit their
support for candidates, initiatives and other
campaigns endorsed by the DGP;
- Provide networking services to nonprofit
organizations affirming Green values, and for
individuals looking for the resources provided by
these nonprofits.
- Build a bio-regional awareness, identifying as
closely as possible to local environmental quality.
2. Campaign Committee:
- Collect and make available to DGP members
information on local and state electoral, initiative
and other campaigns;
- Recommend that the DGP support specific individuals
for office, initiatives and other campaigns, according
to criteria to be determined;
- Coordinate support for candidates and those active
on initiatives formally endorsed by the DGP via
standard meeting process;
- Recommend that the DGP make statements of support
for issues and campaigns other than those in the
electoral or initiative process.
3. Green Economy Committee:
- Identify businesses that are willing to affirm
support for the Greens” 10 Key Values, and network
those as a Green chamber of commerce, perhaps evolving
into a 501(c)(6) business association providing
advertising, marketing, recruitment, finance,
planning, training or other services;
- Support and sponsor consumer and worker
cooperatives, worker-owned businesses and “open book
management” involving employee stock ownership,
financial literacy and full disclosure;
- Provide information on governmental agencies and
programs serving individuals’ and businesses’ needs,
and provide information on grassroots lobbying and
legislative activism supporting Green Values;
- Advocate Green Tax Policy creating a system of
public finance which maximizes incentives for the fair
distribution of wealth, environmental protection,
basic needs production, provision of adequate
government services and peaceful resolution of
territorial conflicts.
Green Commonwealth
A way is needed to express a participatory form of
self-governance, a concern for the general well-being,
and a respect and appreciation for cultural diversity.
The term that seems to do this best is “commonwealth.”
Not only does the term commonwealth refer to the public
good or a general prosperity through self-governance, it
is also scalable, referring to either a local community,
a regional association of communities such as a state, a
national organization, or a network of independent
nations, on each level respecting a diversity of
cultural traditions.
The idea of the Green
Commonwealth is to affirm that all of these
interests work together in a coherent framework,
through a committee structure…
Different people are motivated by different things.
Some of us get excited about electoral campaigns, others
of us get excited about Native American solidarity,
union solidarity, gay rights, controlled substances and
industrial hemp, guns, worker-owned businesses and
co-ops, environmental issues, appropriate technology,
nukes, Middle East peace, anti-globalism, and on and on.
The idea of the Green Commonwealth is to affirm that all
of these interests work together in a coherent
framework, through a committee structure providing ways
for people who want to do different things to focus upon
what energizes them. A diversity of opportunities for
involvement brings more energy to the Green Party, and
the more we are doing in general the more all of our
committees, campaigns and projects will benefit.
Think of it as a dynamic synergy. The more energy we
bring in for a variety of projects the more energy will
be available for all of our projects, because most of us
have more than one interest. As we see respect and
involvement on the part of others in the things that are
of interest to us individually, the more we individually
will be willing to help with other people”s concerns and
projects, and the result will be a cultural awareness
that we may call a Green Commonwealth.
The Statement Writing Process
The process within a Green local requiring the three
committees, to work together is that anyone may propose
a statement on any issue and submit it to these three
committees. With the Coali-tion/Diversity Committee
preferring a radical left orientation, the Campaign
Committee preferring a politically centrist orientation,
and of course the Green Economy Committee being the most
conservative, the three work out a compromise statement
that all can support, and propose that to the general
monthly Greens meeting for official action. If a
particular committee fails to respond in a reasonable
amount of time (like before the next meeting), the issue
may be taken directly to the general meeting. Using
email may aid the group writing process.
This structure serves to facilitate work getting done
in committees before issues are presented at a full
meeting, and helps to ensure that each wing of the Green
Party has a fair opportunity to see that their agendas
are represented and discussed with regard to particular
issues. At the same time, the process provides
experience in working toward a compromise of disparate
views.
If local and state organizations (at least) can develop
a process for honoring and expressing radical, centrist
and conservative Green views, and gain practice in
reconciling these, we will have a strong organization
that will be better able to carry us through future
issues and challenges. Such a process provides an
official avenue for encouraging and facilitating the
open _expression_ and discussion of different opinions
from the three wings of our party. Giving each faction a
recognized method of working together within the larger
organization may serve to ensure that people feel free
to express and are supported in expressing their views,
and to ensure that people respect and work with those
having fundamentally different Green orientations.
An example of the utility of this suggestion is how it
would facilitate progress on the issue presented at the
Green Party of Colorado meeting, spring 2001, having to
do with whether we would be willing to negotiate issues
with the local Democratic Party, making agreements to
support some of their initiatives if they would support
some of ours (as I understand it). The meeting was split
between standing fast to our values of not making such
political deals, versus being willing to negotiate deals
in the way that politics is generally practiced. Issues
such as this could be developed and reconciled by people
representing the radical and the centrist positions
before going for final decision by the Coordinating
Committee or the general Green Party of Colorado
meeting.
Community Control of Cultural, Political and
Economic Initiatives
For a local Green organization to adopt the Green
Commonwealth designation it would therefore implicitly
be accepting, and hopefully explicitly affirming, two
qualities. First, the ideology of “community control,”
via an organizational structure respecting a balance of
autonomy and responsibility through delegation of
authority and appeal processes, perhaps similar to those
used in the Denver Green Party. And second, work to
create and integrate the activities of cultural,
electoral and economic committees, perhaps using the
model of the Denver Green Party’s Coalition/Diversity,
Campaign and Green Economy Committees. This may indeed
be what Green Parties have always sought to do; yet
there is a need to express a model for affirming and
perpetuating the original ideals of a Green movement.
Change and growth on the local level may require a
basic organizational paradigm that does not represent an
agenda of a national organization, instead that provides
a local Party design that can be made relevant to and
replicated by any local Green organization. Such a
relational paradigm integrating action in cultural,
political and economic spheres, while preserving a focus
on the full range of Green values through integrating
them in one coherent concept, results in what we may
call the Green Commonwealth.
