Brent Green Party's Shahrar Ali becomes male deputy leader of the party

Shahrar Ali and Dawn Butler at 2010 hustings

Shahrar Ali, of Brent Green Party was elected male deputy leader of the party yesterday. Amelia Womack was elected female deputy.

Ali contested Brent Central in the General Election and was both a GLA and European candidate.

In the live YouTube deputy leadership hustings he described himself as at the centre of a left-wing party. He lives in Kingsbury with his young family and lectures in philosophy.

Shahrar Ali is a confident media performer and has a lively debating style which is likely to raise the Green party's profile ahead of the General Election.

He narrowly beat Will Duckworth, the incumbent deputy leader, who is a member of Green Left and the Green Party Trade Union Group.

Duckworth was the first Green Party councillor in the Black Country with strong roots in the local  working class community.

Amelia Womack is a Young Green who campaigned on a clear ecosocialist platform. The Green Party is polling well in the 18-24 age group and Womack's election is likely to strengthen our appeal to many who are looking for an alternative to the neoliberal parties.

Derek Wall, a Green Party veteran and a former Principal , was elected International Co-ordinator.  Wall runs the popular and influential Another Green World blog and also writes for the Morning Star. He is an ecosocialist and a member of Green Left. A passionate advocate for indigenous peoples Wall advocates non-violent direct action to effect change alongside electoral politics.

Romayne Phoenix, another Green Left and GPTU member, was re-elected as the Green Party's Trade
union Liaison Officer. She has worked assiduously to build the Green Party's links with trade unions and was a leading member of the Coalition of Resistance to Austerity and is currently co-chair of the People's Assembly.

She brings energy and passion to the activist campaigning work of the Green Party and has played a major role in bringing together anti-austerity eco-socialist in Europe.

Together, alongside Natalie Bennett who was elected unopposed as Green Party leader, this is a team with wide appeal and a range of strengths and skills that should serve the Green Party well in the year ahead/

FULL RESULTS

These are the election results announced yesterday. In Green Party elections, locally and nationally,  members can always vote to Re-open Nominations (RON) if they are not satisfied with the candidate/s standing.

Party Leader: Natalie Bennett was elected 2618 Re-Open Nominations (RON): 183
Party Deputy Leaders:
In the first round – Amelia Womack was elected with 1598, Will Duckworth's 1108
In the Second round – Shahrar Ali was elected 1314 to Will Duckworth's 1277
Gpex Chair: Richard Mallender was elected 2640 to RON 101
Campaigns Co-Ordinator: Howard Thorpe was elected 2546 to RON 181
Elections Co-Ordinator: Judy Maciejowska was elected 2631 to RON 161
External Communication Co-Ordinator: Penny Kemp/ Clare Phipps/ Matt Hawkins were elected 2586 to RON 147
Management Co-Ordinator Mark Cridge was elected 2636 to RON 82
International Co-Ordinator: Derek Wall was elected 1416 to Anna Clarke’s 891
Trade Union Liaison Officer: Romayne Phoenix was elected 2639 to RON 94
Policy Co-Ordinator: Sam Riches and Caroline Bowes were elected 1786 to Rachel Featherstone and Anna Heyman's 839
Publications Co-Ordinator: Martin Collins was elected 2468 to RON 249

Greens to take to the streets over Gaza on Saturday - 'End military co-operation with Israel'

A child outside the Israeli Embassy on Friday

The Green Party will have a strong presence at the national demonstration for Gaza taking place in London on Saturday, August 9th LINK

Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett said:

It is important that maximum pressure possible is put on Israel to end the bloodshed that has claimed more than 1,800 Palestinian lives, at least 80% of them civilians.

Gaza has been subjected to 28 days of vicious, deadly bombardment, its people living in fear and almost unimaginable stress and pressure. The medical system is close to breaking down, essential infrastructure has been smashed, and, as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said LINK , its institutions have been subjected to ‘criminal acts’.

Everyone on the streets in London and around the world on Saturday will be contributing to the growing international pressure for not just a effective ceasefire, but for the commencement of negotiations towards a permanent peace. We cannot allow this cycle of violence to continue.

 Derek Wall, International Coordinator of the Green Party of England and Wales, said:

The Green Party opposes the continuing destruction of Gaza by Israel; the huge loss of civilian life increasingly resembles collective punishment. A long-term settlement based on justice and promoting peace is vital.

Prime Minister David Cameron's one sided support for Israel enables the wave of killings to continue. We must all make our voices heard this Saturday to show that British people oppose this war. 

The Green Party is calling for the UK government to cease all military co-operation with Israel LINK.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, who has deplored LINK both Israeli incursions into Gaza and Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel, has written to Cameron and Foreign Minister Philip 
Hammond to voice concerns over the UK Government's arms sales to Israel.

Reports suggesting that weapons containing components made in the UK are being used against Gaza - including weapons control and targeting systems, ammunition, drones and armoured vehicles - raise serious questions about the UK Government's complicity with the Israeli authorities.

The Government's failure to condemn Israel's actions is irresponsible enough; but recent evidence from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade suggesting that it has been continuing to arm Israel is nothing short of scandalous.

Over the past three weeks, London has held the biggest demonstrations for Gaza in the world, twice mobilising over 50,000 protesters. This Saturday’s demo promises to be the largest to date.

Note: Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity and Brent Stop the War will be attending the demonstration on Saturday along with many local activists

Greens call for Wealth Tax on the richest 1% with assets of more than £3m

THE Green Party, the only party committed to progressive policies that tackle Britain’s persistent inequality problem head on, is calling for a Wealth Tax on the top 1%, those with assets of more than £3million. 

The Green Party, which is already fighting for a Living Wage for all and fairer company-wide pay ratios, says a tax on wealth would help to ensure that the richest 1% (300,000 people) pay their fair share back to society. 

The richest 1000 people have doubled their wealth in the last five years . Meanwhile, the number in poverty has risen and the queues at food banks have lengthened. 

Policies that tackle the disparities in income do not necessarily address the problem of excessive wealth. That is why an annual wealth tax which taxes the assets of the wealthiest at a rate of 1% which would raise approximately £21billion is needed. 

Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, revealed the Party’s commitment to a Wealth Tax ahead of the General Election live on LBC’s Duncan Barkes Show. 
Bennett said:

Our strong General election polling and surge in membership goes to show that the Green Party’s commitment to people over profits policies are really hitting home. The Green Party is prepared to take principled stands and an increasing number of voters recognise and value this. 

Other political parties are offering business as usual, only minor changes to our failed economic system and policies that are helping the super-rich and making the poor pay for the economic crisis that they did not create.   

A Wealth Tax is part of the Green Party’s policy programme that will deliver real change for the common good. It is this change that British politics and British society desperately needs.

Greens call for an immediate end to the Israeli attack on Gaza as thousands prepare to demonstrate tomorrow

On the eve of the National Demo for Gaza (above) the Green Party has today called for an immediate end of the Israeli attack on Gaza, and for the British government to apply all possible pressure to achieve that end.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader, said:

With the death toll in Gaza soaring past 250, with many of them civilians, including many children, we need strong international pressure to stop this violence.

Israel’s actions extend very far beyond any reasonable response to the Hamas rocket attacks.

Killing hundreds of innocent civilians will worsen Israel’s security, not strengthen it.

An immediate ceasefire is essential, and it must be responsibility of all states and political actors in the region to stop this cycle of outbreaks of conflict.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has previously written to the Foreign Secretary to urge him to step up action to secure an end to the latest escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine, and to oppose any attempt by the Israel military to launch a ground attack in Gaza. Lucas has also called on the Government to do more to work towards securing a lasting and just peace in the region, based on a two state solution, and to urgently address ongoing human rights violations:

News of the latest ground offensive is horrific. The International community is compelled to condemn this offensive with a collective voice, to demand an immediate cease fire and to hold Israel accountable for the assault. Violence begets violence – and this cycle of violence must end now.

Green Party International Spokesperson, Tony Clarke commented:

World governments need to ask themselves some serious questions about their continued inaction and also of the failure of Israel to uphold UN resolutions, every incursion, every new settlement by the State of Israel simply acts as recruitment drive for those in Palestine who can only see resistance through violence. Each rocket launch from Gaza brings a heavier response from Israel, and the cycle of violence continues unchecked. We must bring about a ceasefire and must get talks on a two state solution back on the table.

Natalie Bennett added:

There are many heartrending tales of tragedy and loss from Gaza. But the damage to al-Wafa rehabilitation hospital is particularly disturbing. Israel needs to be held fully responsible for its use of missiles and artillery in densely populated civilian areas.

We need to not only see an immediate end to the current violence, but a renewed commitment to negotiating towards a peaceful, lasting two-state solution.

Greens support the Public Sector strike in Brent and Central London

Shahrar Ali (Green party) with pickets

Greens stand alongside unions in million strong public sector strike on Thursday

On July 10 the Green Party will stand alongside unions in the largest one-day strike over pay by public sector employees since 2010.

The Green Party have pledged to support the employees’ right to strike and to picket peacefully in order to assert their right to fair wages and proper treatment. Public sector employees are facing unprecedented financial hardship with part-time and female employees the most affected under the Government’s ideological austerity agenda.

The strike will see more than one million workers protesting the Government policy of frozen and restricted pay and will include workers from the PCS, The National Union of Teachers, Unison, and others.

Thousands of people around the country are forgoing a day’s pay to express their unhappiness with the Coalition Government’s economic attack on public sector employees.

Greens across the country will show their support:

Green MP, Caroline Lucas said:

"It is very clear that austerity isn't working. It's cruel and counterproductive. It should not be the most vulnerable who are paying the price of an economic crisis that was not of their making. People are struggling, the cost of living is rising and it's time the Government recognised the value of workers who provide us with crucial services every day.

"People have had enough, it is time for plan B and it's time for the Government to listen. On July 10, people from all over the country will stand together to make their voices heard loud and clear."

Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett said: 

 "This government's austerity agenda is making public sector employees, joined with benefit recipients, the increasing numbers of poorly paid, and insecure private sector employees, pay for the financial crisis that was not of their making.

“George Osborne is cutting the tax rate for multinational companies and inviting them to dodge even that reduced rate of taxes, and at the same time has slashed the real pay of the dinner ladies, the cleaners, and the local officers who keep our communities running. I'll be showing my support on Thursday by visiting picket lines around my local area of Camden before joining the march and rally in central London.

"We cannot continue to see soaring poverty and dependence on foodbanks in Britain; we need to make the minimum wage a living wage, and ensure local government employees have a chance of decent progression beyond that."

Green Party Trade Union Liaison Officer of GPEW national executive, Romayne Phoenix:

"The economic crisis was caused by the banks; how could it ever be fair - or effective - to fix it by cutting workers' pay? Our public services benefit the majority. This is about not letting those at the top blame the rest of us for problems we didn't cause."

Green MEP for South East, Keith Taylor:

“When the government decides to stop spending their time dismantling public services and oppressing the low paid and unemployed, and instead focusses on reigning in the power and wealth of the top 1%, then I'll have a shred of sympathy for them.

“Until then I am 100% behind the strikers and their efforts to defend our services, and seek decent terms and conditions for public sector workers.”

Kirklees Green Party Councillor, Andrew Cooper commented:

"I'll be joining staff on the Picket line in Huddersfield. Kirklees Jobs and services for local people have suffered greatly due to Coalition targeting of local government for cuts.”
 
 Dudley Councillor and Deputy Leader, Will Duckworth said:
 “I will be on the picket lines early in the morning and then going on the planned demonstration in Birmingham with Dudley Trades Union Council.  We need to fight the Government's attempts to destroy decent pay and pensions for normal working people.”

 The Group of London Green Party Councillors said:

“It can’t go on like this. We can't continue with rapacious cuts to the NHS, the closure of local children's centres, and mounting queues at foodbanks. The government must hear the public's message that cuts are hurting the people of Britain. An alternative economic strategy and an alternative future is possible and together with communities up and down the country we will be out promoting that message on Thursday.”

North West Green Party Representative, Laura Bannister commented:

“In the North West, members will be visiting and taking part in picket lines and supporting the mass rally in Manchester. We are also sending letters of solidarity to regional TU branches on behalf of the regional party"

As a member of the Green Party and the Green Party Trade Union Group, I will be supporting the picket of Brent Civic Centre and the Central London march.

Natalie Bennett: 'We are at a big change, a leap, in politics'

Natalie Bennett speaking at the Ecosocialism: Fracking, Climate and Revoution conference on Saturday whcih was organised by Socialist Resistance and Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century.

 

A particular strong speech was made by Fiona Brookes of the Campaign Against Climate Change

Greens celebrate election of three MEPs in Euro poll

I was relieved this morning this morning to find that Jean Lambert had been re-elected as a London Green MEP.  In the face of UKIP's gains and signs that the other parties are moving right in an effort to match their anti-immigrant policies, it is important the Jean's principled anti-racist voice has a platform.

In spite of the national swing to UKIP, the Green Party has been able to overturn the odds and now has triple the number of MEPs that the Lib Dems do. The wins, powered by 1.2 million people voting Green on May 22, come on the back of extremely positive local elections results which saw the Greens become the official opposition on Solihull, Liverpool, Lewisham, Norwich and Islington Councils.

Jean Lambert, who has been Green MEP for London since 1999, said:

I am delighted and honoured that Londoners of all backgrounds have supported the Greens in this European election and voted again for a strong Green voice in the European Parliament. Greens will continue to put forward positive policies to tackle the growing inequalities between rich and poor, whether in London or beyond, and to continue the push to a low carbon economy, which combats climate change while creating new jobs.

I was delighted to see Molly Scott Cato elected as the new MEP for the South West and reacting to her win she said:

It is fantastic that the South West now has a Green voice in Europe. I would like to thank everyone who voted Green on Thursday and I am looking forward to representing the South West in Brussels.

Keith Taylor was also returned again as Green MEP for the South East region. He tweeted:

So very proud to be re-elected as an MEP. Will stand up for my constituents, wherever they come from, every single day.

Green Party Leader, Natalie Bennett, put the wins in context:

The growth of our number of seats in the European Parliament reflects growing support for Green Party policies and values around the country. Increasing numbers of voters are inspired by our message of positive change for the common good. They support, as do a majority of the public, our views on many issues, from renationalising the railways and reining in banks, from banning fracking to making the minimum wage a living wage.

Ecosocialist Conference June 7th, London

A space for thinking and discussion after the local and European elections:

Saturday June 7th 11am-6pm

Venue:
SOAS, Vernon Square Campus, Penton Rise, Kings Cross, London WC1X 9EW
(not the main campus at Russell Square)

Speakers:

Natalie Bennett, Ewa Jasiewicz, John McDonnell, Daniel Tanuro, John Stewart, Jonathan Neale, Eva Barker, Tatiana Jarzabek, Estelle Cooch, Graciela Romero, Gareth Dale, Alan Thornett, Amy Gilligan, John Cowsill, Fiona Brookes, Brian Ashley, Sean Thompson, Clara Paillard, Ozlem Onaran, Derek Wall

Book HERE

Workshops on:

Fracking; Zero Growth; Food and Land Grabs; Transport; Ruling Class Strategies for Climate Change; Energy Justice; What Revolution Do We Want?; Climate Jobs, Marx’s Ecology.

Creche provided on reservation – Further details will be posted as speakers and other arrangements are finalised.
  
Hosted by Socialist Resistance and Revolutionary Socialism in the 21^st Century

Greens surge in Ipso MORI poll

Hot on the heels of the Greens surge in the polls ahead of the May 22nd European Elections, polling out today shows the Greens have jumped five points and are polling at 8% in non-European polling  ahead of next summer’s General Election.

Reacting to the Ipsos MORI polling, a Green Party spokesperson said:

“The Greens have not polled this strongly in non-European polling ahead of a General Election since 1989, the year the Green Party secured 15% of the vote. Our message of real change for the common good is clearly striking a chord.”

Reacting to the Ipsos MORI poll, The London Evening Standard  reported that, “today’s big winners are the Greens, whose support has shot up from three to eight points on the back of higher exposure in the campaign period.”

Green leader Natalie Bennett attributed the strong polling to the popularity of Green Party policies when given more media exposure and to voters’ disenchantment with the big parties. Speaking from Leeds, she said the polls “chime with what I am hearing around the country”.

According to ICM’s European Elections polling released on May 12th, the Green Party is polling at 10% ahead of the May 22 European Elections, putting it firmly in fourth place and three percentage points ahead of the ailing Liberal Democrats (7%).

The Greens are within touching distance of meeting their target of trebling their number of MEPs from two (Jean Lambert, London, and Keith Taylor, South-East) to six. Based on a national swing the latest poll would give the Greens five seats in England plus one in Scotland. The Lib Dems would have zero seats. Among 18-24 year-olds the Greens are the second most popular political party.

Police ask Green blogger to remove UKIP tweet

From the Guardian LINK

Police have asked a blogger to remove a tweet that fact-checked Ukip policies but did not break any laws after receiving a complaint from a Ukip councillor, prompting concern over attempts to stifle debate.
Michael Abberton was visited by two Cambridgeshire police officers on Saturday. He was told he had not committed any crimes and no action was taken against him, but he was asked to delete some of his tweets, particularly a tongue-in-cheek one on 10 reasons to vote for Ukip, such as scrapping paid maternity leave and raising income tax for the poorest 88% of Britons.

Abberton, a Green party member who writes a blog on science and green politics, described the incident on his Axe of Reason blog.

"The police explained that I hadn't broken any law – there was no charge to answer and it really wasn't a police matter.

"They asked me to 'take it down' but I said I couldn't do that as it had already been retweeted and appropriated, copied, many times and I no longer had any control of it (I had to explain to one of the officers what Twitter was and how it worked). They said that they couldn't force me to take it down anyway."
However, to show goodwill Abberton removed all instances of the offending tweet.

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said: "A Ukip councillor came across a tweet which he took exception to. The name of the person on the tweet was identified and that individual was spoken to. We looked at this for offences and there was nothing we could actually identify that required police intervention. Clearly, the councillor was unhappy about the tweets. If every political person was unhappy about what somebody else said about their views, we would have no politics."

As for being told not to tweet about the visit, the spokesman added: "I don't know if he'd have been told that. It's certainly not the advice I would have given him. A gentleman has a right to free speech – absolute total right to free speech – we can't tell people what they can and can't say on the internet, as long as it's within the law. We certainly don't go to people's houses and say: 'You can't tweet about this'. This is not 1930s Germany."

On his blog, Abberton made it clear that the two police officers were extremely professional and polite, but he did wonder why they had visited him at all.

"It wasn't until after they left that I questioned why they had visited me in the first place. A complaint had been made but with no legal basis. Not a police matter. So why did they come to my home in the middle of a Saturday afternoon? Also, seeing as my profile doesn't have my location – how did they know my address, or even the town I live in? … Why would a political party, so close to an election, seek to stop people finding out what their policies are or their past voting record? And is it not a matter for concern that a political party would seek to silence dissent and debate in such a manner?"

Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, who was contacted by Abberton, said he was awaiting a detailed response from the police.

"It seems astonishing for the police to get involved, there was nothing abusive or threatening in the tweets so I do want to know why they acted, and I want to know why the police told Abberton not to tweet about the visit."

Huppert said he was pleased that Ukip's policies were coming under scrutiny.

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party, said: "This police action is both disturbing and surprising. That an apparently general complaint from a political party about not liking what was said about them could have led to a police visit that many would find intimidating is an extremely serious incident that demands immediate investigation. Free speech is a precious right that we must defend."

Bennett said the party's only member in the House of Lords, Jenny Jones, would write to Theresa May, the home secretary, to ask her to investigate.

"What a waste of police time, energy and resources," Jones said. "Their job is to investigate crime and catch criminals, not restrict free speech."

Brent Labour councillor won't vote Labour in Euro election

Brent Labour councillor Claudia Hector has said she will not vote Labour in the European elections on May 22nd because of Labour's lack of concern over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The TTIP would open up public services to privatisation and un dermine workers' rights. In a Twitter exchange Cllr Hector expressed frustration at Labour Mep Calude Moraes' failure to engage on the issue:

1. Claudia ‏@HectorCllr Apr 24

   @ClaudeMoraesMEP Will you be supporting Andy Burnham's wish that the NHS be protected from the TTIP Treaty, as part of the euro platform?

   
   

   
   
2. Claudia ‏@HectorCllr Apr 25

   @ClaudeMoraesMEP You have not replied to my enquiry about TTIP. Is that because of ignorance or lack of interest?
3. Claudia ‏@HectorCllr May 5

   @ClaudeMoraesMEP Still no reply. I will not be voting Labour in Euro lctn, this is the greatest threat to our freedom in generations.
4. Benali Hamdache ‏@GreenBenali 9h

   @HectorCllr @ClaudeMoraesMEP @GreenJeanMEP & all @LonGreenParty MEP candidates pledged to oppose #TTIP.
5. Claudia ‏@HectorCllr 9h

   @GreenBenali @ClaudeMoraesMEP @GreenJeanMEP @LonGreenParty From the email I got from Claude Moraes it's clear he can't see the TTIP danger

    

 At the Green Party's Spring Conference, leader Natalie Bennett had this to say about the TTIP:

TTIP is a huge threat to hard-fought-standards for the quality and safety of our food, the sources of our energy and our privacy and risks undoing decades worth of EU progress on issues like worker’s rights.”

Bennett stated that the proposed deal threatened to “blow apart the power of our democratic decision making.” She raised the spectre of the Edward Snowden revelations to demonstrate that the US state was “profoundly untrustworthy”.

It’s not surprising, really, when we hear Lib Dems trumpeting the proposed US-EU free trade deal as some kind of economic saviour. The Lib Dems are the lapdogs of corporate Europe, while the Tories are its war horses. In their support for the trade deal, the Lib Dems are reiterating the propaganda of multinational companies interested only in swallowing up new markets, consuming new societies whole. 

Let’s make no mistake, the proposed free trade deal is a huge threat to hard-fought-for standards for the quality and safety of our food, the sources of our energy, workers’ rights and our privacy. One of the great contributions of the EU is to set a foundation of these standards – not good enough, not high enough – but a start. The proposed free trade deal is a supertanker of dynamite that would blow those foundations apart.

And more, it would blow apart the power of our democratic decision making. The deal provides corporations with new rights to sue the Government for legislating in the public interest – that’s definitely not acting for the common good. 

The banking lobby is so happy with the financial services proposals it has said that the text could have come straight from its own brochure – that’s acting in the interests of the 1%, not the common good.

And there’s more. It’s a deal being proposed with a state that the bravery of Edward Snowden demonstrated is profoundly untrustworthy. Yet there’s no openness – no democracy – about the negotiations: the mandate that the EU Council gave to the Commission is still classified as ‘secret’.

Greens describe their vision for education at official NUT fringe meeting

Natalie Bennett spoke at a NUT Conference official fringe meeting yesterday about the Green Party's vision for education. Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the NUT, said that the union saw the Green Party as an ally. He said that although the NUT was not affiliated to any political party, and not likely to be, this did not mean that they could not see who their allies were. He said, 'We meet regularly with Caroline (Lucas) in Parliament and she puts questions down for us in the House of Commons.' The Greens were a force for helping to put the union's message across. Earlier in the Conference, Caroline Lucas received a warm reception at a 200 plus strong meeting on 'Building the Fightback'. Play the video to see what Natalie Bennett had to say. It is good to see the NUT and the Green Party working together for the future of our children.

Both Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas to speak at NUT fringes this weekend

With a radical revised Green education policy ready to discuss both Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett, and Green MP, Caroline Lucas, will be speaking at fringes at this weekend's NUT Conference in Brighton.

Greens: The debate is over-act now on Climate Change

THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report’s stark warnings of the dire consequences of our continuing failure to tackle climate change on planet and people must act as a wake-up call, says the Green Party, the only party with workable policies in place to mitigate the threat and adapt for a sustainable future.

Climate change has already cut into the global food supply and is fuelling wars and natural disasters, but governments are unprepared to protect those most at risk, says the report (1) released today (31 March 2014) from the UN's climate science panel. 

Commenting on the publication today, Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said: 

“The scientific debate is over. Climate change is a reality, here, with us today. Its threat is enormous and can no longer be ignored. 

“On climate change, governments are taking too little action too slowly in part because they are overly and unduly influenced by oil, coal and gas big business interests. In Britain, we also have a government that is incapable of understanding that the old economic model is broken and needs to be radically changed, as it is not only incompatible with dealing with climate change, but also failing to meet people's basic needs.

"The Coalition Government’s flag-waving for fracking, which will only accelerate global warming, is the latest in a long line of destructive decisions driven by corporate interest with scant regard for the negative impact on people and planet.

“Climate change and the state of our environment is going to be one of THE issues of the European election on May 22 – and it’s only the Green group, already the fourth largest in the European parliament – who are going to put it truly front and centre.

“Greens are going to hold firm on fighting for a national renewables target for each European state, demanding that Europe provide global leadership in setting a target of provide global leadership in setting a target of at THE VERY least a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and demanding high, binding energy efficiency standards.”

A Green government will take bold, responsible and scientifically credible action to avoid catastrophic climate change. We will apply a contraction and convergence strategy to reduce emissions to a safe and equal per-capita level. Pursuing the necessary annual reductions of around 10% will create many jobs. We will provide free monthly carbon emission allowances and people wanting to use more than their fair share could trade allowances. Total emissions will be capped and will reduce each year in line with our 2030 emission reduction target of 90% on 1990 levels.

Natalie Bennett: Teachers are standing up for their pupils' futures as well as their own

Amidst the coverage of the NUT strike earlier this week readers may have missed the statement by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party. Here it is:

Teachers are understandably angry about a whole host of issues that are currently devastating our education system, and they are standing up for their pupils’ future as well as their own.

They’re defending the professional standing of teachers against Michael Gove’s push to have unqualified staff teaching in academies and free schools.

Performance-related pay threatens cooperation and team-work among teaching staff, reflecting the same approach being taken between schools, which are being urged to compete against each other for pupils and results, despite the fact that there’s strong evidence that cooperation between schools produces better results. That’s been demonstrated in Brighton and Hove, where the Green-run council has significantly improved GCSE results with a cooperative approach.

Greens denounce budget that ignores the needs of ordinary citizens

Responding to the Budget announcement, the Green Party today said the Budget was yet again ignoring the needs of ordinary citizens. With its focus on tax breaks for the rich, lack of concern over climate change, discriminatory childcare policies and economically illiterate housing schemes, the budget is not delivering solutions to problems facing us today, says the Green Party.

Green Party Leader, Natalie Bennett, said:

This was not a budget for a resilient economy but for a fantasy economy that exists only in Mr Osborne's head. It does nothing to address the need to transform the British economy for a low-carbon future that ensures everyone has access to a decent quality of life. Instead this budget clings to the dinosaur idea that growth towards a new model of 'Britain 2006' will not lead to even further economic and environmental disaster.

The budget promotes what can only be dead-end smokestack industries, the export loans are likely to benefit most notably the arms industry, and the offerings on ISAs will further expand our already dreadful levels of inequality.

The claim that this would be the 'greenest government ever' has long been a sick joke.

The Green Party is calling for an increase to the amount of social housing and commonly owned housing

  

Green Party Finance Spokesperson, Molly Scott Cato, commented:

A garden city built in a quarry and growth built on a re-inflated housing bubble are hardly reassuring evidence of the economy based on "more economic security and economic resilience" that Osborne claims to be his objective. While on the issue of finance, we should also tell George that his desperate attempt to re-inflate the housing bubble through extending the life of Help to Buy is storing up exactly the sort of catastrophic financial collapse that put us in this economic mess. It also does nothing for those who are most in need of reasonably priced housing, since it will only support mortgages they cannot afford and encourage house prices to rise even further beyond their reach.

Osborne claims that more people are in work under the Coalition, but many of these are low paid, low skilled and subject to zero hours contracts

Green Party Welfare Spokesperson, Romayne Phoenix, said:

Where we could have decent properly paid jobs for many thousands of experienced workers and those looking for their first paid employment we have unemployment, under employment, exploitation through zero hours contracts and low pay. The cost of living is rising, there is no genuine social security when job seekers can be sanctioned for minor errors.

People's Assembly makes itself fit for purpose

Today's recalled People's Assembly Against Austerity  began with a warm minute of standing applause for Tony Benn and Bob Crow which seemed to set the tone for a serious but friendly day in which the organisation sorted out its  aims, structure and priorties in an atmosphere refreshingly untainted by sectarianism.

I could have been there wearing one of several different hats but settled for the Green Party Trade Union Group which had put forward a resolution committing the PAAA to campaign for effective action against climate change. Natalie Bennett's moving of the resolution linking austerity, neoliberalism and clinmate change was well received and the resolution was passed overwhemingly.

The Assembly adopted the People's Charter for Change which states:

We need a government to reverse damagaing austerity and replace it with a new set of policies providing us with a fair, sustainable and secure future. We can no longer tolerate politicians looking out for themselves and for the rich and powerul. Our political representatives must start governing in the interests of the majority in the direction outlined by this statement of aims.

The aims were:

1. A fairer economy for a fairer Britain
2. More and better jobs
3. High standard homes for all
4. Protect and improve public servies
5. For justice and fairness
6. For a secure and sustainable future

Supplementary motions were passed adopting the People's Charter; supporting the  nationalisation of those firms and banks that do not invest to build a high-skilled, high-wage, high employment economy; supporting house building, rent capping and opposing fixed term tenancies and 80% market rents in Council and Housing Association properties and supporting regulation of rents, conditions and tenancies in the private rented sector;  stepping up campaigns to defend the NHS and abolish the NHS and Social Care Act, brnging privatised NHS services back under public ownership and control; and resolving to campaign for money to be spent on welfare rather than warfare,

The structure that was agreed created a body to be known as 'The Assembly' which would manage the PAAA between conferences and would be made up of one representative from each signatory group and one representative for each local, national or group assembly and this will nominate a management group to be endorsed by the Assembly. The Assembly will meet at least twice a year.

A supplementary motion from  the Coalition of Resistance was approved which set out the People's Assembly's commitemnt to be a broad united campaign against austerity, cuts and proiatisation in workplaces, commity and welfare services based on general agreement on the signatories' Founding Statement. It was made clear that the PA would be linked to no political party and would be committed to open non-sectarian working.

An amendment to adopt a less formal, decentralised structure with participatory democracy and consensus decision making, on the lines of Occupy, across the PAAA was defeated.

Two slightly contradictory motions were passed on Finance with some confusion about what constituted membership and membership fees, and whether these should be paid centrally or locally. This will need sorting out in the near future.

The Assembly adopted a future programme based on mobilising hundreds of thousands of people in activity and coordinating national events, days of action and support groups,

It was agreed to work to set up new People's Assembly groups, strengthen local groups and central organisation (finance will be essential for this) to hold 'meetings, rallies, protests and actions in every locality possible' and to mobilise for the following national events:

• March 19th Budget Day Demonstration 
• March 22nd Stand up to racism demo
• March 26th Support for NUT strikes
• April 5th Day of Action Against the Bedroom Tax
• May Day Events
• June 21st People's Assembly National Demonstration (support by the NUT)
• August 31st NATO Protest Cardiff
• September 28th Tory Party Conference protest
• October 18th TUC National Demonstration

 The day ended with a rousing speech from Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, making a strong case for community based campaigning in the form of the Stand Up For Education camaign that has seen NUT members out engaging with the public at high street and market places stalls throughout the country.

There is clearly a massive amount to do but the day left me feeling that we now had the beginnings of a structure to build a movement and the sense of shared purpose that can make it happen.

Natalie Bennett: Narrow schooling for a failed economic model betrays pupils

This article by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, was first published yesterday by the Huffington Post, LINK  under the title:

Education Reform - Why It's Time to Abolish Dictatorial, Oppressive Ofsted

When I talk to people in the schools system, there's a huge and growing concern that we are on entirely the wrong path in terms of institutional structures, teaching practice and direction. These were all issues addressed when we updated the Green Party education policy at our Spring Conference in Liverpool.
The policy calls for the abolition of Ofsted, which has become unduly dictatorial, oppressive and rigid in its views, while also being subject to political meddling.

It calls for its replacement with continuous collaborative assessment and for national council educational excellence working closely with local authorities. To further encourage local accountability and reaction to local needs, the policy calls for education authorities to encourage schools to set up parent councils or forums, providing a mechanism for direct local input, and also for representatives of older students to be able to attend governing body meetings and have input into their decisions.

This all reflects the fact that a general revolt against Ofsted is growing, with schools around the country (and their communities) saying that its processes are not fair or reasonable, its criteria arbitrary, and its inspections incredibly stressful and destructive.

From Hogarth Primary in London, to a range of Stoke-on-Trent schools; from Oldfield School in Bath to Sandy Lane Primary in Reading, and many more, there's grave dissatisfaction at Ofsted's behaviour and a failure of transparency and apparent fairness in its decisions.

Schools that serve disadvantaged communities, and community schools that the government wants to convert to free status, often despite the wishes of parents, seem particularly vulnerable to negative Ofsted inspections, despite the views of parents and their communities.

That's in part a function of the increasing pressure on all schools to produce test results at the expense of any broader quality of education, and to follow narrowly prescriptive recipes for teaching, of which perhaps the worst example is the phonics test.

The ideological attachment of our current education secretary to this single method, based on an extraordinarily narrow evidence base, is possibly the worst single example of 'goveism' - the attempts to decide the nature and content of what our children are taught according to the whims, prejudices and preferences of a single man.

It's telling that when I talk to sixth formers and university students around the country, one comment that invariably gets enthusiastic support is my call for pupils to no longer be treated like the material in a sausage machine, shoved through a series of gauges to force them into a uniform shape and size, with 'failure' penalised by them being thrown aside into the 'waste' bin. That's why we're calling for an end to the current testing regime and rigid age-related benchmarking.

Our new policy also highlights the way in which free schools, like academies, lack local democratic accountability and oversight, and calls for them to be incorporated back into the state system, with oversight from local authorities.

That reflects growing signs of collapse in the free and academies school systems, with disasters ranging from the E-Act education charity, which is to have nearly a third of its 34 schools taken off it, to the frankly incredible disaster of the Al-Madinah school in Derby.

There are huge numbers of empty places in free schools, and the lack of planning for future pupil numbers is having disruptive impacts around the country. The government certainly won't admit it, but this is an utterly failed policy. It was always clear that the free school programme was an attempt to open the way for private companies to make profits from teaching our students - threatening the same kind of destruction and chaos that companies like G4S, A4E and Atos have brought to so many other public services. But there's increasing hope now that the whole system will fall apart before getting to that point - which is great for the long-term future of our school system, but dreadful for the many thousands of pupils and parents caught up in this Govian mess.

There is an even broader problem with the nature of our education system that needs to be tackled. We're increasingly being told that its purpose is narrowly instrumental - to prepare pupils for jobs - despite the fact that many of the states we're now trying to copy - from Singapore to China - have released the limitations and problems of that approach and are frantically seeking to improve their students' creativity and general skills development.

Training pupils for jobs that often don't exist now, or may well not exist in the future, is an obvious, enormous waste. We're in a fast-moving world, and young people need to develop their ability and desire to learn throughout their life, to have flexible skills, whether intellectual or hands-on, to deal with what is going to be a rapidly changing economy and society. To prepare pupils for the narrow conditions of our failed economic model is a massive error that betrays our young people.

For more details on Green Party education policy and reforms follow https://twitter.com/GreenEdPolicy

Ministers who won’t act on climate evidence must go, says Green Party

Source BBC

The UK’s response to the flooding crisis must centre on a long-term strategy to address climate change the Green Party says today, as it recommends a series of ten measures to improve the country’s flood resilience in future.

It says sustained political action on climate change is crucial to reducing the risk of severe flooding happening again.

The Party is calling for Environment Secretary Owen Paterson to be sacked and for the Prime Minister to remove Cabinet Ministers and senior government officials who refuse to accept the scientific consensus on climate change (1). The Met Office has said (2) all the evidence points to climate change contributing to these extraordinary floods.

“Politicians who ride roughshod over the painstaking findings of climate scientists (3), sometimes motivated by their inappropriately close links to fossil fuel big business, endanger our future and our children’s future”, said Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett. 

“It’s a crying shame more of the recommendations made by the The Pitt Review into the 2007 floods (4) haven’t been taken seriously by Labour, the Tories, and their Coalition government lackeys in the Lib Dem Party. But it is not too late for action.”

 Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

“Across the country, homes and businesses are being devastated by the floods, and our hearts go out to everyone whose life is being turned upside down.  Nature is giving us another wake-up call.

“In addition to making sure everything possible is done to help people affected by the immediate crisis, we need a credible long term strategy to tackle the risk of flooding and extreme weather to people's homes and liveilihoods in the future.”  

The call to government urges ministers to adopt the recommendations of a major independent cross sector coalition[1]  for  a Cabinet-level committee on infrastructure and climate change resilience and a Royal Commission on the long-term impacts of climate change on land.

The Green Party is also calling for all staff cuts at the Environment Agency to be cancelled, planning rules to be strengthened to prevent further development on flood plains, and for increased levels of spending on flood defences to a level in line with expert recommendations from the Environment Agency and the Climate Change Committee.

And it is supporting the call of campaigners for  the billions of UK fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks to be used to help the victims of flooding[2]. 

“This redirection will address the underspend and assist the victims of flooding, as well as putting a halt to public money exacerbating the problem of climate change that is making the floods so much worse”, noted Bennett.

Notes

1)    International Panel on Climate Change Climate Change 2013 Report http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/#.UvuRuf3RozU

2)    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26084625

3)    http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/#.UvuRuf3RozU

4)    Pitt Report on floods: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7472813.stm