I think the point of this article is that if one is a true socialist, it would
be wrong to vote for a Green Party candidate. In an ideal world, that's true.
In an ideal world, socialists would be on the ballot. In an ideal world, we
wouldn't have an electoral college. In an ideal world, every US citizen would
be automatically registered to vote and would not have to show different forms
of ID at the polls in different states. In an ideal world, people wouldn't lose
the right to vote if they'd been in prison. In an ideal world, all elections
would be publicly financed and donations would be barred. But given the world
we live in, the choices we make are tainted. Each of us decides on which
factors are most important to us, and the decision about whom to elect is based
on those individual choices. We live in a country which, regardless of leftis
rhetoric, is very resistant to leftist politics. Socialists and Communists
don't get on ballots for many reasons. They almost never get elected to office,
aside from that gal in Seattle. But it's certainly OK to dream the dream.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey ;
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 12:51 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Green Parties: The real history
https://socialistaction.org/2016/10/23/green-parties-the-real-history/
Green Parties: The real history
/ 19 hours ago
oct-2016-steinBy MARTY GOODMAN
This year activists received an education in corporate politics when Wikileaks
revealed the dirty tricks played on Bernie Sanders by Hillary Clinton
operatives. Just as in corporate America, you can’t find two cents worth of
democracy in the Democratic Party. For those tired of the corporate rule of
both major parties, the Green Party (GP) seems a way out—or so you might think.
But, facts matter. A close look at the Green movement is overdue.
There are Greens in 70 countries. If you’re anti-capitalist, some of their
politics may surprise you. Some Green parties and many Green leaders have been
in capitalist governments, dishing out austerity and supporting imperialist
war. The Greek Green Party, for example, agreed to the SYRIZA government’s 2015
austerity “loan” package of the European Union on behalf of its crooked banks
and backed by the U.S.-dominated IMF. Below we’ll focus on Green politics in
Germany, France, and the U.S.
The German Greens
The Green Party movement began as an organized political force in Germany in
1979, during the intense struggle against deployment of U.S.-supplied nuclear
weapons and mass mobilizations against nuclear power following the Three Mile
Island nuclear disaster. They first entered parliament in 1983 with 5.6% of the
vote. Following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, the GP demanded the
immediate shut-down of nuclear facilities and gained in popularity.
Soon, an internal battle erupted between what was called the “realists”
(Realos) and fundamentalists (Fundis) over joining in coalition with the
mainstream, so-called party of labor, the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
In 1998, the GP entered the SPD government as a junior partner, which lasted
until 2005. A prominent Green, Joschka Fischer, became Foreign Minister.
Fischer also supported and helped draft the most severe welfare cuts since
World War II, known as Hartz IV, labor laws that slashed benefits.
In 1999, betraying the Green’s pacifism and opposition to the U.S.-run NATO
military alliance, Fischer voted for sending German troops to fight with NATO
forces in Kosovo and Serbia, and later, in the U.S.-led war drive in
Afghanistan in 2001. Kosovo and Serbia were the first foreign deployment of
German troops since World War II, officially banned in 1945, but rescinded
after the Cold War. Today, German troops are in 16 countries, from Afghanistan
to Mali—with the help of the Green Party!
When the capitalist financial crisis of 2008 erupted, the German GP supported a
corporate bailout and austerity aimed at working people.
Katharina Fegebank, General Secretary of Hamburg’s Greens, said, “Such a reform
could only have been launched by a red (SPD) and green alliance.
If the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and the FDP (Free Democratic
Party) had taken the initiative, it would have caused a revolution”
[note: the conservative CDU and FDP are mainstream capitalist parties.].
In fact, the GP is in a coalition government in Hamburg with the CDU of
Chancellor Angela Merkel—the same party that raped Greece’s working class via
its leading role in the European Union (EU), devastating Greece with unpayable
debt and austerity!
As a result, many Greens abandoned the party and joined the Left reformist Die
Linke, an amalgam of former East German Stalinists, Social Democrats, and
others. The German Green Party has continued its rightward spiral, in
particular advocating a bellicose policy toward Russia.
Jutta Ditfurth, a GP co-founder who quit in 1999, called the party, “a
neoliberal party on bikes.” Dirfurth says the Greens have “59 years of
experience” in numerous regional and national capitalist governments, that is,
administering cuts, worker exploitation, and “law and order.”
The French Greens
French Greens often express their political axiom as “neither right nor left,”
an opportunist view echoed by many German Greens.
In 1997, the French Green Party, as part of the Plural Left coalition, first
gained a parliamentary representative and later representation in the European
Parliament. In 2010, the Greens fused with Europe Ecologie to form the EELV. In
2012, despite a 1997 decision of the Greens not to enter government, the EELV
joined the administration of President François Hollande of the Socialist
Party, a capitalist government fully committed to imperialism.
EELV National Secretary Cecile Duflot resigned to take an appointed post as
Housing Minister (2012-2014) in the Hollande cabinet. Another leading Green,
Pascal Canfin, was Minister for Development under the SP’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs. In February 2016, Hollande named an EELV member, Emmanuel Cosse, as
Housing Minister.
The Greens achieved some gains in agreement with their SP partner: a pledge to
reduce nuclear energy from 75% to 50% by 2025 and to shut down
24 nuclear reactors, a tax on carbon emissions, and increased taxes on the
wealthy. Although the party has not backed Hollande’s austerity measures, as a
governmental partner the EELV has enabled France’s capitalist class to hammer
the workers—under the guise of being “pro-labor!”
In 2013, at a time when unemployment was 10.6%, Hollande sponsored a bill that
allows companies to temporarily cut workers’ salaries or hours during times of
so-called economic difficulty and makes it easier for bosses to fire workers.
In addition, workers’ pension contributions were increased by Hollande, despite
mass protests. Hollande vowed to cut 50 billion from public spending in 2017.
On the international front, Hollande’s SP government refused to back Greece in
its fight against the European Union’s austerity demands.
France retains membership in the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, which has
provocatively placed military units near the Russian border.
Moreover, the SP government has given military support for the reactionary
Saudi dictatorship in its deadly war on Yemen’s Houthi rebels. France sold $18
billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia last year.
Green Party of the U.S.
During the current presidential cycle, the Green Party’s presidential
candidate, Jill Stein, proposed to self-styled socialist Bernie Sanders to run
as the Green candidate. Although Sanders had voted with the Democrats 98% of
the time, Stein wanted him to switch parties as if it were merely a question of
changing hats! In California, Stein asked voters to back Sanders in its
primary. It was all quite at odds with her double-talk about the Democratic
Party as “counter-revolutionary.”
Some leftists in the Green Party now make the boast, echoed by the
International Socialist Organization (ISO) in the Aug. 9 issue of its Socialist
Worker newspaper, that the August GP convention adopted an “explicitly
anti-capitalist” plank (Amendment 835), which called for “an alternative
economic system” based on “workplace and community democracy.”
Where’s the socialism in this resolution? Are greedy Wall Street crooks to be
nationalized or not? And what does “workplace and community democracy” really
mean? It’s miles short of a socialist program—i.e., for nationalization of the
economy under worker’s control. How can “workplace and community democracy”
replace capitalism if society remains in the hands of the bosses? The GP’s
slight-of-hand here is meant to placate radicalizing youth, while not
alienating middle-class voters. (As of Oct 3, the “anti-capitalist” plank does
not appear on the GP website.)
The Greens do not call on working people themselves to take up the class
struggle, pushing aside union misleaders if need be. Nowhere does the Green
Platform advocate striking as a powerful weapon for workers, public or private.
Their proposals for a $15 an hour minimum are laudable, but there’s no call for
workers themselves to organize the fight for $15 (and more!), and not wait
years for politicians to bestow raises that have been lowered in value.
Lastly, the platform says, “End police brutality and mass incarceration.
Create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to understand and eliminate the
legacy of slavery that lives on as pervasive racism in the economy.”
Indeed, ending racist police murders is urgent, but a “Truth and Reconciliation
Commission?” Socialists demand, “Black control of the Black community,” not
“reconciliation” with racist cops! The GP doesn’t call for socialism, and like
Green Parties worldwide, is objectively a liberal capitalist party.
The Socialist Action campaign
Socialist Action is running Jeff Mackler, a decades-long antiwar and
anti-racist fighter, for U.S. president, and Karen Schraufnagel, an
anti-Zionist and antiwar activist from Minneapolis, for vice president.
Our candidates and members build struggles and demonstrations, unlike the
mainly electoral Green Party. We champion non-sectarian, democratic mass-action
united fronts.
We don’t expect to win the White House, of course, but we are bringing
socialist politics to a whole new generation as well as veterans of the
struggle. We never support Democrats. We seek a genuine socialist
transformation through revolution, without neglecting day-to-day struggles. And
we know that elections don’t bring socialism, only revolution does.
Agree with us? Join Socialist Action or check out our campaign at
http://www.socialistaction.org. In this election year, it’s the most ;
revolutionary thing you can do!
Photo: U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein takes a selfie with
supporters in Vermont.
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
October 23, 2016 in Europe, Vote Socialist Action. Tags: France,
Germany, Green Party, Greens, Jill Stein
Related posts
Irish Government Heeds Bankers’ Demands for Austerity
The Nader Campaign and ‘Lesser Evil’ Politics
Socialist Action sponsors election debates
Post navigation
← What does PROMESA Mean to Puerto Ricans living in the United States?
Vote Socialist Action!
Jeff Mackler for President and Karen Schraufnagel for Vice President
More information:
Newspaper Archives
Newspaper Archives Select Month October 2016 (8) September 2016 (10)
August 2016 (10) July 2016 (14) June 2016 (14) May 2016 (9) April
2016 (12) March 2016 (14) February 2016 (8) January 2016 (11)
December 2015 (11) November 2015 (9) October 2015 (8) September 2015
(10) August 2015 (7) July 2015 (13) June 2015 (9) May 2015 (10)
April 2015 (12) March 2015 (9) February 2015 (11) January 2015 (10)
December 2014 (12) November 2014 (11) October 2014 (9) September 2014
(6) August 2014 (10) July 2014 (11) June 2014 (10) May 2014 (11)
April 2014 (10) March 2014 (9) February 2014 (11) January 2014 (11)
December 2013 (10) November 2013 (11) October 2013 (17) September
2013 (13) August 2013 (10) July 2013 (11) June 2013 (15) May 2013
(14) April 2013 (14) March 2013 (12) February 2013 (10) January 2013
(17) December 2012 (7) November 2012 (8) October 2012 (19) September
2012 (2) August 2012 (27) July 2012 (18) June 2012 (3) May 2012
(19) April 2012 (14) March 2012 (17) February 2012 (19) January 2012
(17) December 2011 (3) November 2011 (33) October 2011 (14) September
2011 (13) August 2011 (34) July 2011 (24) June 2011 (19) May 2011
(19) April 2011 (15) March 2011 (15) February 2011 (16) January 2011
(15) December 2010 (17) November 2010 (1) October 2010 (6) September
2010 (3) August 2010 (8) July 2010 (7) June 2010 (2) May 2010 (9)
April 2010 (3) March 2010 (8) February 2010 (3) January 2010 (9)
December 2009 (6) November 2009 (5) October 2009 (16) September 2009
(3) August 2009 (2) July 2009 (5) June 2009 (2) May 2009 (7) April
2009 (6) March 2009 (16) February 2009 (9) January 2009 (10)
December 2008 (11) November 2008 (8) October 2008 (16) September
2008 (14) August 2008 (18) July 2008 (12) June 2008 (3) May 2008
(2) April 2008 (3) March 2008 (14) February 2008 (11) January 2008
(11) December 2007 (8) November 2007 (1) July 2007 (1) June 2007 (1)
April 2007 (1) March 2007 (1) February 2007 (3) December 2006 (11)
November 2006 (11) October 2006 (13) September 2006 (15) August 2006
(11) July 2006 (18) June 2006 (7) May 2006 (14) April 2006 (6) March
2006 (14) February 2006 (5) January 2006 (2) December 2005 (9)
November 2005 (8) October 2005 (13) September 2005 (12) August 2005
(9) July 2005 (16) June 2005 (16) May 2005 (16) April 2005 (12) March
2005 (14) February 2005 (19) January 2005 (15) December 2004 (14)
November 2002 (17) October 2002 (19) September 2002 (22) August 2002
(21) July 2002 (15) May 2002 (21) April 2002 (21) February 2002 (15)
January 2002 (15) December 2001 (17) October 2001 (24) September
2001 (18) July 2001 (19) June 2001 (18) October 2000 (17) September
2000 (21) August 2000 (19) July 2000 (16) June 2000 (26) May 2000
(21) April 2000 (22) March 2000 (28) February 2000 (18) January 2000
(20) December 1999 (20) November 1999 (26) October 1999 (25) September
1999 (18) August 1999 (40) July 1999 (38) June 1999 (24) May 1999
(27) April 1999 (25) March 1999 (26) February 1999 (29) January 1999
(24) July 1998 (12)
Search
Get Involved
Donate to help support our work
Get email updates
Join Socialist Action
View socialistactionusa’s profile on Facebook
View SocialistActUS’s profile on Twitter
View SocialistActionCT’s profile on YouTube
Subscribe to Our Newspaper
Upcoming Events
No upcoming events
View Calendar
Blog at WordPress.com.
