The Green Party Of Brooklyn

Join local activists as we prepare to put Cynthia McKinney on the ballot as GREEN PARTY candidate for PRESIDENT!

You’ll learn all about how to do it, meet cool like-minded folks, and enjoy great food and music. Listen to Randy Nerve and Tah Phrum Duh Bush, alt punk acoustic and smart freestyle hip hop and feast on BBQ goodies!

Join us:
Tuesday, July 8 @ 8PM
VoxPop 718-940-2084 www.voxpopnet.net
1022 Cortelyou Road (just off Coney Island Avenue)

We’re looking forward to a successful petition season, starting July 8th, to get our Green Party candidate for president on the New York State ballot…but we need your support! To find out how you can help with candidate petitioning email info@gpbk.org.

Our next training session will be on July 8th, 8:00pm at Vox Pop, 1022 Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn (ph: 718 940 2084)!

Come to Park Slope United Methodist Church and learn everything you need to know about the 2008 Petition Season, how to petition to get Green candidates on the ballot, and meet your fellow petitioners. We need all experience levels at this meeting!

Park Slope Methodist Church, 410 6th Avenue at 8th Street!

GPBK will have its official nomination and endorsement meeting on Thursday, June 26. All candidates wishing to run for NY State or Federal office in Kings County (Brooklyn) should attend. There will also be an opportunity to attend a petition training!

Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church
85 South Oxford Street
Brooklyn, New York 11217

Michael O’Neil of Bushwick and Michael Emperor of Bay Ridge have joined our GPBK officer team as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. They will be helping us build our GPBK structure and support our fabulous 2008 candidates through the end of this year, until the January 2009 GPBK meeting, when all officerships will be up for election.

The Green Party of Brooklyn, in coalition with groups and activists across New York City, will be joining with the Harlem Tenants Council on Saturday, June 21st in Harlem to march and rally against yet another neighborhood being targeted for destruction at the hands of developers and city officials.

Please mark your calendar and plan to join us as we continue our fight for the future of New York City. Click on the image below to download the flyer — spread the word!

Greens, Green allies converged on Hunter College to discuss progressive issues and solutions.

“Good government is everyone’s issue.” When David Lussier, a Green Party candidate for Albany County Legislature in 2007, made that comment at the New York City Green Conference on May 31, he was responding to a question about how Green Party candidates could run for office successfully in conservative districts. The statement also summed up how the Green Party hopes to be seen as a central hub of the progressive movement, and a means to translate progressive beliefs into actual policy.

The conference was held at Hunter College on Manhattan’s east side. About 100 Greens from around the city and state attended the meeting. Many attendees were longtime Greens, but organizers observed many new faces in attendance as well.

The conference had three major aims:

• Discuss what the Green Party is doing, and what it could do, to provide a political alternative to the two major parties.
• Select delegates to the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) National Convention in Chicago, July 10-13.
• Issue a call for candidates for New York City elections in 2008 and 2009. Seats in Congress and the State legislature are up this fall, and city offices from City Council to Mayor will be up in 2009.

Twelve delegates to the convention from New York City were chosen, who will be part of a 44-member state delegation. Most of the delegates spoke passionately about their support for Cynthia McKinney, the former congresswoman from Georgia who is seeking the Green presidential nomination. Steffie Brooks of Brooklyn said of McKinney’s candidacy, “This opportunity for the Green Party to build alliances with other social justice activists and movements is a precious one that we should not squander.” Michael Acosta, a Queens resident and student at Lehman College in the Bronx, supports Kat Swift, a 35-year-old member of the Texas Green Party, and credited her with inspiring him to become active in the party.

Workshops touched on a range of issues that New York City Greens are working on, including affordable housing, the Iraq war, universal single-payer health care, and global climate crisis. The workshops were led by Greens and other local activists, educators and writers, including Zena Nelson (South Bronx Food Coop) Joel Kovel (author, The Enemy of Nature), Scott M.X. Turner (Develop Don’t Destroy – Brooklyn), Paul Steely White (Transportation Alternatives), Dr. Donald H. Smith (Baruch College), and Gwendolyn DeBrow (Co-chair, Free Mumia Coalition).

The day opened with a discussion of “Green Politics in NY: Past, Present, and Future.” This discussion included some highlights of Green achievements, such as the Green Party of Germany’s successful campaign to end nuclear power in that country, and challenges facing the party, such as getting progressive organizations to back Green candidates.

Other workshops covered electoral issues including proportional representation (PR). New York had PR in the past, but it was voted out with a Red-scare campaign in the late 1940’s. Activists hope to launch a new campaign to bring it back. Lynne Serpe, who led the workshop, showed how Green candidate Robyn Sklar, who got 13% of the vote in a recent Queens election, could have been elected under a multi-member PR system. Other candidates urged members to step forward to swell the number of Green campaigns, and talked about how to run a successful campaign. David Doonan tapped a vein of resentment against arrogant officeholders when he talked about the day he decided to run: when his local mayor was quoted as saying “it’s better when the public doesn’t get involved [in government decisionmaking].” Doonan, Green mayor of Greenwich, NY (which he described as “1900 people and no four-lane roads”), said what he enjoyed most about running for office was “being invited into people’s homes, hearing their concerns – and winning.”

The 2008 NYC Green Conference

www.greenpartynyc.org

Peace • Social & Economic Justice
Grassroots Democracy • Environmental Wisdom

WHO: Hunter College chapter of Campus Greens and Green Party NYC

WHAT: The 2008 NYC Green Conference

WHEN: Saturday, May 31st from 9 AM to 6 PM

WHERE: Hunter College — 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, Room 714

On Saturday, May 31st, activists, educators, students and community members from across New York City will gather at Hunter College to take part in the 2008 NYC Green Conference, sponsored by the Hunter chapter of the Campus Greens and Green Party NYC.

Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Cornell Global Labor Institute, Physicians for a National Health Program, and FairVote USA — to name just a few — will serve as panelists and guest lecturers. They will focus on uncompromising critiques of the problems facing us and action-oriented strategies that can be built into the larger network of progressive solutions.

Visit the Green Party NYC website (www.greenpartynyc.org) today to RSVP, find out more about the amazing workshops and other events.

9 AM
Registration

9:45 AM
Invocation by Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping

10–11 AM
General Session 1
“Green Politics in NY: Past, Present, and Future”
A panel of Green political activists and representatives, as well as past candidates, will provide an historical perspective and future strategies for Green politics in New York State, with a focus on New York City.

11:15 AM–12:15 PM
Workshop Session 1
“Sustainability, NYC and the Global Climate Crisis”
Sean Sweeney, Director, Global Labor Institute, Cornell University
Zena Nelson, South Bronx Food Coop
Joel Kovel, author of The Enemy of Nature and 1998 Green Party candidate for US Senate

“Everybody In, Nobody Out: Single Payer Health Care Initiatives”
Gloria Mattera, Co-Chair, Green Party of New York State
Don A. Dayson, MD, Physicians for a National Health Program, NY Metro Chapter & attending physician at Harlem Hospital
Mark Dunlea, New Yorkers for Single Payer Universal Health Care

“Proportional Representation in NYC — Then & Now”
Lynne Serpe, FairVote

12:15 PM
Lunch

1:30–2:45 PM
Delegate Nomination & Election
Voting will take place to decide who will represent Region 2 (New York City) at the National Nominating Convention in Chicago, IL, this summer.

2:45 PM
Afternoon break

3–4 PM
Workshop Session 2
“Recharging the Anti-War Movement”
Jose Vasquez, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Prof. Susan Cushman, Chair, Peace Task Force, All Souls Church
Sander Hicks, founder, Soft Skull Press; independent media activist

“Our City: Development and the Fight for New York City”
Scott M.X. Turner, Develop Don’t Destroy — Brooklyn
Laurel May Turbin, Chinatown Justice Project, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities
Paul Steely White, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives

“There Is an Alternative: Running Progressive Political Campaigns”
Julia Willebrand, 2006 Green Party candidate for NY State Comptroller
David Doonan, Green Mayor, Greenwhich, NY
David Lussier, 2007 Green Party candidate for Albany County Legislature — others TBA

4:15–5:30 PM
General Session 2
“NYC, Race and Building Multi-cultural Alliances”
Gwendolyn DeBrow, Co-chair, Free Mumia Coalition
Donald Smith, Baruch College — others TBA

5:30–6 PM
Conclusion

www.greenpartynyc.org

Cynthia McKinney
Statement on the Sean Bell Verdict
April 26, 2008

“[T]he legislation and histories of the time, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument. . . . [A]ltogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

And with that, the United States Supreme Court ensured that the 20th Century would be defined, as W.E.B. DuBois wrote, by the color line. So, while we might be outraged at the Sean Bell decision itself, it comes directly from the flawed jurisprudence that gave us the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Bakke in 1978, Croson in 1989, Adarand in 1995, Gratz in 2003, and all of the Ward Connerly-inspired attacks on the very same affirmative action hard won by students facing water hoses and dogs; men and women facing jail, lynch mobs, and death.

Interestingly, according to Attorney Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement’s International Secretariat, the criminal justice system in this country “always finds a rationale for letting off cops who kill black and brown people.” Indeed, police officers seem to know that they can kill certain people with impunity. Read the rest of this entry »

WHO: The Green Party of Brooklyn and the Park Slope Greens local

WHAT: The 5th Annual Brooklyn Peace Fair

WHEN: Sat., April 26th from 11AM - 6PM

WHERE: Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus

The Green Party of Brooklyn and the Park Slope Greens are proud to be participating in the 5th Annual Peace Fair, brought to us by Brooklyn for Peace.

Please stop by our table and take part in many of the great activities planned for that day.

For more information, please Click Here.

We’re looking for volunteers to help. Interested? Send us an email.