Save Sheffield's Street Trees

Demonstrate at Sheffield City Hall at 10am this Saturday, 7 April.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/jarvis-cocker-to-speak-at-major-sheffield-tree-protest-rally-this-weekend-1-9096116

United Against Fracking National March & Rally - Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, Saturday 12th November, 11am

Anti-Fracking Info and Resources

As the anti-fracking battle in the UK and elsewhere heats up, here are a few of the useful resources and web pages that activists can use to keep up to date and informed:

A good source of news on developments in Britain is Drill or Drop

For the currently immediately threatened areas in the UK - Lancashire, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire - there are the following campaign websites:

Frack Free Lancashire

Frack Free Ryedale

Frack Free South Yorkshire

Frack Free Notts

Here are the big environmental campaigns Fracking pages:

Friends of the Earth

Greenpeace

And for those who can see that direct action may be a required part of the resistance:

Reclaim The Power

Earth First

Corbyn Victory Makes Role of Greens More Important

Leading Greens Caroline Lucas and Natalie Bennett have welcomed the victory of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

These are very interesting times.

We Greens will continue to have more influence outside Labour than we would have within - we need a distinct voice on Climate Change, the most important issue of our age. Caroline Lucas has held out the hand of partnership to Jeremy and we wish the labour left well, but they still have a massive mountain to climb in the face of an overwhelmingly right wing PLP and councillor base.

The Green surge was partly responsible for Jeremy's rise IMO, with the raising of left green policies to debate in the election and engagement of a new generation. Now Greens must continue to use our leverage to push for commitments on electoral reform and climate change. This is crucial, as without electoral reform, if the establishment manage to defeat or more likely sabotage the Corbyn movement to reclaim Labour from the Blairite cuckoos it will be back to neo-liberal business as usual. With electoral reform Tory majority governments will hopefully be a thing of the past (24% of the electorate and falling?) and radical left and green views will be much much harder to push to the margins where FPTP and neo-liberal "consensus" in the corporate media have managed to contain them for so long. The left wing lever that the Greens, and to some extent the SNP and Plaid have applied to Labour can be continued and strengthened and a progressive alliance will be able to take on the Tories and their corporatist backers effectively across all the country and all its diverse sections.

If we play this right we can park our ecosocialist tanks on the lawns of the establishment and the corpocracy and build the kind of Parliamentary/extra parliamentary alliance that is required for the next stage....This will not be easy, mind. The ruling class can see the threat. Expect dirty tricks from the corporate media/foreign and domestic intelligence services.....

The fact that Caroline Lucas and the SNP and Plaid may now be able to attack the Tory Corporatist agenda in concert with a Labour Party Front Bench is immensely encouraging however.  The fightback just stepped up a gear.  A key aspect of the coming period will be to unite forces on the ground to fight things like fracking, Trident replacement and the anti-trade union bill.  There is everything to play for.

"Rise like lions out of slumber, 
Ye are many, they are few...."

Support Frack Free Lancashire

From 9am on Tuesday 23rd June, Lancashire County Council will be deciding on whether or not to approve two of the biggest fracking tests ever contemplated in the UK. If allowed to happen, each site would have 4 horizontal wells, producing tens of millions of gallons and radioactive and toxic waste and opening the door to thousands more wells to be drilled across Lancashire, and the rest of the UK. Preston Council have just recommended objection to the plans for Roseacre Wood.
Come down to County Hall, Preston, where Lancashire County council are due to decide on Cuadrilla’s fracking applications. Fishergate, Preston, Lancashire PR1 8RL


On the first day (and on subsequent days), concerned communities from around the UK will descend upon Lancashire County Hall in Preston for a peaceful show of solidarity and resistance. This is a huge deal that has implications for the entirety of the UK. It’s also a great chance to showcase the strength and solidarity of the of the UK anti-fracking movement by standing with the people of Lancashire!
Full Event Details Here!https://www.facebook.com/events/833975066650397/
Wear Yellow & Bring a Home Made Banner!
Register your Objection to Cuadrilla’s plans now!!!

After the election - get organised and resist!

Now that the general election is over and we face the full horror of a Tory Government, the Green Party are well placed to be a vital pole of attraction and organising base for oppostion to what the Tories aim to do.  I urge everyone who has supported the Greens in the election campaign to sign up, get involved locally and help build effective coalitions of opposition and resistance.
From the Human Rights Act to Hunting, from Trade Union Law to massive welfare cuts and from fracking to cutting renewables support the stage is set for mass opposition and anger against what this government of corporate shills and chancers have planned for us all.
Join the Green Party here: https://my.greenparty.org.uk/civicrm/membership/joining
Support the coming demonstrations organised by the People's Assembly and the actions arranged by UK Uncut and get active in your local community to build solidarity networks.
There is hope!  The Greens are committed to long term change, and to resisting every mean spirited, nasty, selfish and authoritarian move the Tories make.  Join us.

Three excellent books to read to understand politics before the election

Three books are doing very well in the bookshops at the moment in the run up to the General Election in the UK on 7 May.  This is a really good thing if it means people are getting a more accurate view of the issues and the system we face than that offered by the supine (oligarch owned and controlled) media and the muck-raking tabloids.

The three books are the paperback versions of Owen Jones The Establishment - and how they get away with it and Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything  and finally Caroline Lucas' account of her time as an MP since being elected as the sole Green MP in the UK in 2010 - Honourable Friends

I urge anyone wanting to prime themselves about the big questions facing us, the obstacles the establishment throw in the way of even the most modest attempts at change and the absolute necessity of quite radical and far reaching change to read these three books before they vote!

Big Green Comedy Gig

Some big comedy names lined up for this gig supportive of the campaign to re-elect Caroline Lucas.

Vote Green 2015

New book: VOTE GREEN IN 2015

Green Party Included In Election Book Series

The Green Party is pleased to announce its inclusion in the Why Vote book series, aimed at introducing the general reader to party policies ahead of the general election 2015. In the Greens’ edition, out on 29 January, Deputy Leader Shahrar Ali has recruited some of the Greens’ leading thinkers and activists to explore how the party provides a credible left-wing alternative to Labour in 2015. 

Darren Johnson, Green Party London Assembly Member said: 

“Green politics in the UK has been gaining rapid momentum in recent times. Membership and public support for the party is growing and voting Green is becoming a viable option for more and more people. Read Why Vote Green 2015 to find out what makes the Green Party tick and what its vision for the future looks like.” 

Among the contributors are Molly Scott Cato Green MEP for the South West on Economy, Sarah Cope, Chair of Green Party Women on Women's Politics, Deputy Leader Amelia Womack on Young People and Politics, Adam Ramsay on Constitutional Reform, and former Labour minister Tony Clarke on International Affairs. 

Baroness Jenny Jones, writing of the three crises in the Foreword, said: 

“Increasing numbers of people are mobilising against climate change. Increasing numbers of people reject the austerity agenda. Increasing numbers of people see the inadequacies in our political system. These people often think that all the parties are the same and that there is no one to vote for. Fortunately, they are wrong. The Green Party sees the crises clearly and has the policies to address all three of them.” 

Shahrar Ali, Green Party Deputy Leader and editor of Why Vote Green 2015 said: 

“It’s vital for Greens to be included at every turn, from the leader debates to an election book series. I feel proud to share with you our party’s key policies, commitments and ambitions in the voice of some of our leading spokespersons and activists. Why Vote Green 2015 creates a compelling case for the Greens as a party of government.” 

Dame Vivienne Westwood said: 

“There’s absolutely no other choice but Green. The others are all the same.” 

NOTES 

1. Full list of chapters and contributors: Foreword – Jenny Jones, Green Values - Shahrar Ali, Climate Change - David Flint, Economy - Molly Scott Cato, Education – Martin Francis, Women’s Politics – Sarah Cope, Welfare – Noel Lynch, Home Affairs – Peter Cranie, Young People and Politics – Amelia Womack, Constitutional Reform – Adam Ramsay, Housing – Tom Chance, Transport – Caroline Russell, Environment – Shasha Khan, International Affairs – Tony Clarke, Animals – Caroline Allen.

2. Why Vote Green 2015 https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/why-vote-green-2015

Green Party in Brighton Votes to Defy LibLabCon Austerity

BREAKING NEWS! Brighton Green Party passes motion supporting 'No Cuts' budget - Join the resistance

(Hat tip to Wembley Matters Blog)

Breaking news from Brighton

This is the full and final text (below) of the No Cuts motion passed by a large majority at a quorate and wellattended meeting of the Brighton and Hove Green Party today.  The General Meeting sets policy for the party, but cannot "instruct" Green Councillors. However, given that the General Meeting is "the prime decisionmaking and organisational body for the BHGP", and has now made this vital policy decision, the party expect Green Councillors to abide by it, and if they feel they cannot, to step down.  It remains to be seen what will happen when the Budget comes up for decision in late February, but the local party has now made its position very clear - Green Councillors should not vote for any cuts budget or abstain so as to allow one to pass; and after this the party and councillors should lead a campaign of resistance to imposed cuts. If Green Councillors vote for a cuts budget of any kind, then they would be defying the clear and democratically expressed wish and policy of the local party.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This General Meeting notes the Motion passed unanimously (with one abstention) at the December 2015 General Meeting that the Brighton & Hove Green Party supports the production of an alternative Budget for 2015-16 that would protect local services and employment, not cut them.

The cuts to local services required to "balance the budget" for 2015-16 are the direct result of massive and unprecedented cuts by central government to the local government support grant, cuts which could mean a further cut to the Brighton & Hove budget of over £100 million by 2020.  This will effectively destroy local services as we know them.

The cuts required to balance the budget for 2015-16 alone would require  a restoration of more than £20 million of government grant or a Council Tax rise of over 20%. The proposed 5.9% Council Tax increase is therefore not viable as a means to fight the cuts or defend the vulnerable. It is a regressive tax on the poorest, and it would hardly dent the massive cuts still required. To propose this rise in Council Tax in conjunction with a cuts budget would fatally undermine the Green Party's anti-austerity stance locally and nationally.  It is the worst of all worlds.

We are now seeing a "Green surge" and rising membership especially amongst younger voters, the primary reason for which is our inspiring anti-austerity message. If the only example in the UK of the Green Party in office were to implement a large cuts budget just before the 2015 General Election that would disillusion and alienate many of those new supporters. It is likely it would severely damage not only the local party but the national party's prospects in the election.   The Brighton & Hove Green Party will not support any Brighton & Hove Council Budget for 2015-16 that makes further cuts to local services. We support a no cuts budget identifying how much government grant now needs to be returned to Brighton & Hove to avoid horrendous damage to local services. It is therefore the policy of Brighton and Hove Green party that any budget that makes further cuts to local services should not be voted for by the Green Group of Councillors, nor abstained upon to allow it to pass.

The Brighton and Hove Green Party advocates a strategy of complete resistance to implementing further cuts to local services, including

·         A massive communications campaign to explain a) why the Green Party is adopting this policy, b) the devastating effect of the level of cuts suggested for 2015-16 and the years beyond, and c) that Labour and the Conservatives will deliver those cuts because they have no policy or strategy to resist them. 

·         Refusal to assist any officials sent by DCLG to enforce a cuts budget upon Brighton and Hove, and wide publicity to explain this refusal.

·         Working with the Brighton and Hove People's Assembly, local campaign groups and trade unions to publicise and implement this strategy and to create a focus of resistance to cuts and the austerity agenda.

Green Party Trades Unionists Support Firefighters in Dispute

The union representing Firefighters in England has announced a further strike on Tuesday 9th December.

Starement of The Green Party Trade Union Group:

The Green Party Trade Union group sends support to those FBU members who will
be striking on Tuesday next. We know that firefighters are dedicated to
ensuring public safety and saving lives, so they will not be taking this
step lightly. It is absurd, but regrettably not surprising, that the
government cannot reach or even approach a settlement to the pensions
dispute with the FBU in England whilst settlements and negotiations which
the FBU finds more acceptable can proceed elsewhere in the UK. This is
another sad example of the inept and dangerous handling of vital public
services by the current government. We hope the firefighters will be able
to win the just settlement that they deserve.


blogged at
http://gptublog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/firefighters-in-england-announce.html

More on the Green Surge

More on the Green Surge with comment from Natalie Bennett -
on the Green Party Website

Interesting article in the Independent also.

More from the Independent's "Green week"

Green Party TU Group Statement on NHS Industrial Action

Nine NHS trade unions are holding a four hour strike (7-11am) on Monday 24 November, and working to rule from 25-30 November by not doing unpaid overtime and taking their breaks. 

The unions involved in the action are:

- Unison
- Royal College of Midwives
- Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians
- Society of Radiographers
- British Association of Occupational Therapists
- GMB
- Unite
- Managers in Partnership
- Prison Officers Association

Green Party Trade Union Group Statement 

Unite the Union have announced that “NHS workers have had their wages cut by up to 15 per cent since 2010 thanks to the government's draconian pay policy of pay freezes and minuscule below inflation pay rise”. 

The Green Party Trade Union Group believes that this is characteristic of a nation where neo-liberal economics has run riot, penalising the poor, the sick, the vulnerable and also those who provide their health care.

Unlike Cameron’s cronies, nobody who works in the NHS expects to become a billionaire, but NHS workers will be striking again for decent pay on November 24th. The Green Party Trade Union Group sends it support, we all need the work that these workers do and they need a decent wage!

Green Surge!

This is an exciting time to be a member of the Greens in the UK.  Starting with the upsurge in political debate around the Scottish Referendum this summer and leading into autumn and the major parties' panic over the rise of UKIP there has been a marked surge in Green Party membership and support on both sides of the border.

This has been recently assisted by the massively supported online campaign for Greens to be represented in forthcoming UK election debates on TV and radio.  The desire of the Tories and Labour to ape UKIP (to - so far unsuccessfully - win over some of their support) and the continuing decline of the Lib Dems as the coalition "mudguard" have played a part in this.  Another factor is the increasing move amongst left of centre younger people to see the Greens as a viable expression of many of their progresssive and egalitarian views.  The unfortunate floundering of the "Left Unity" project (sadly locally now tagged "Left Disunity" due to ongoing quarrels) has led some towards, or back towards, the Greens as a relatively well established and internally democratic option  that can actually have some success in local politics.  It is my opinion that Leninism is a long term brake on the development of left and progressive politics in the UK and all projects that allow Leninists of whatever stripe to take a dominant role are doomed to failure.  The Greens do not have this baggage and the main left currents in the Greens are eco-socialist and libertarian socialist - currents that are far more in tune with the online, connected and eclectic activist world of today than the centralism and sectarianism of UK Leninists.

Whilst problems remain in the Greens in England and Wales (lack of political education, a shoestring organisational budget, off message councillors and the odd careerist,  and some infuriating administrative and financial communication barriers would be my personal bugbears) the Party remains the best short term option for anyone wishing to make a noticeable impact on British politics and create a space for dissemination and discussion of ideas outside the neo-liberal consensus.

The Greens face a major struggle to keep Caroline Lucas MP in Parliament (largely due to Labour now openly targeting the Greens for "elimination" - perhaps resenting us as an unwelcome reminder of the Labour Party's increasing inadequacy as a Party of the Left - and also some of the aforementioned "off message councillors"in Brighton).  But it should be possible to retain her seat and possibly even gain more next year if the current momentum can be maintained or improved upon, and particularly if we can get Natalie and/or Caroline onto televised and radio debates.

Austerity, fracking, attacks on civil liberties and sucking up to corporate and financial interests remain very unpopular despite the efforts of all the recent "governmental" parties to support them.  The reservoir of Green support is there for tapping into and articulating.  A key aim should be to strengthen all the movements fighting these things regardless of the election result next year.  So the Greens can play a key role in both building the fightback and putting forward positive alternatives.   Come and join us....

Support the People's March For The NHS

Support The People's March for the NHS

The march leaves Jarrow on 16th August and Arrives in London on 6th September - more information here -
http://999callfornhs.org.uk/home/4583720355

June 21st Anti Austerity Demonstration

Join the Saturday 21st June Anti Austerity Demonstration and Festival organised by the People's Assembly:

http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/national_demo_21_june

DON'T TTIP PUBLIC SERVICES DOWN THE DRAIN !

DON'T TTIP PUBLIC SERVICES DOWN THE DRAIN !
* A dangerous new treaty is on the way between the EU and the USA. It's called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

* It may make it impossible to re-nationalise any public service that's been sold off or contracted out - like the railways or bits of the NHS!

* It will let companies sue governments about almost any policy that's against the company's interest

* It may threaten environmental regulations, safety rules, and workers' rights

* It's being talked through in secret. The European Commission promised a public consultation period in March

* Similar treaties have got some governments (e.g. Equador) big fines even for trying to get a company to pay its taxes properly

More information and debate on the site of the Green group in the European
Parliament at http://www.ttip2014.eu/about.html

Green Left Statement on Local Authority Cuts

Green Left Statement on Cuts to Local Authority Services

The following statement was agreed and issued by Green Left, the ecosocialist platform in the Green Party of England and Wales, on 8th December 2013:

The Green party of England and Wales fought the 2010 general election in opposition to the savage public service cuts supported by the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. The Green party offered a different approach to reducing the country’s debts, which included making the wealthy (people and corporations) pay their fair share of tax, investing in the economy to produce sustainable growth through the Green New Deal, some cuts for example to Trident and pledging to protect public services particularly for the most vulnerable in our society.

Unfortunately, we did not win the general election and so are unable to put these policies into practice, although Caroline Lucas has almost single handedly taken the opposition to the Coalition government cuts agenda. The ideologically driven shrink the state policies of the Coalition government aim to reduce public spending and turn most of the public services over to private corporations. Our elected representatives in local government are on the front line in the assault on public spending, with local authorities having their funding from central government cut by around a third since 2010. Councils of all political stripes are hurting and they worry about whether they will even be able to fund their statutory duties in the future. Local government is under serious threat and everyone involved in it knows this to be true, despite the blithe statements about local authorities making efficiency savings and encouraging local business growth to pay for services, trumpeted by the Coalition central government. All the easy savings and many not so easy have been made now, and a future of even more of the same is daunting.

We in Green Left say enough is enough, and call on all of our existing elected Green party local councillors and any that are elected in the 2014 local elections, to firmly refuse to implement these Coalition government cuts to essential public services. If the government sends civil servants to carry out their dirty work then the responsibility for the cuts will be firmly in the public view, and our elected representatives can be in the forefront of a popular campaign against them. The time has surely come to make a stand, in solidarity with our communities that depend so heavily on the services provided and with the local authority workforce who have endured cuts in wages if not redundancy.

Land of Opportunity?

David Cameron thinks that the Tory-led government are creating "a land of opportunity". 

In a sense he is right, they are creating a land of opportunity for loan sharks, exploitative bosses, union bashers, immigrant haters, spittle flecked tabloid ranters, divisive fundamentalist "faith schools", badger killers, environment-wrecking Frackers, Rachmanite landlords, joke "training" schemes for the unemployed, free labour for corporations, US Healthcare corps salivating at rich pickings from the corpse of the NHS, principle-free careerist politicians on the make and far right demagogues. A land with the opportunity for ordinary people to experience poverty, exploitation, prejudice, all-seeing surveillance and political betrayal. 

Some land of opportunity!

Centenary of the First International Syndicalist Congress

100 years ago this week there took place in London the first International Syndicalist Congress, this came in part as an initiative of the Industrial Syndicalist Education League of Tom Mann, Guy Bowman and others who held a significant conference in Manchester three years earlier...It is interesting that on this anniversary weekend of an event that had so much promise, and that have might have led to great things had not the First World War intervened, the Unions in Britain are supporting a major demonstration in Manchester outside the Tory conference.  If workers wish to rebuild organisation and take the fight to the enemy in the era of zero hours contracts, exploitative agencies, workfare, poverty pay and food banks, they could do worse than look to the example of the industrial unionists and syndicalists of 100 years ago.  Reading facsimiles of Tom Mann's Industrial Syndicalist bulletin of that period, and the famous Tressell novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists that also grew out of early Twentieth Century social conditions the relevance to today is clear.

"The First International Syndicalist Congress was a meeting of European and Latin American syndicalist organizations at Holborn Town Hall in London from September 27 to October 2, 1913. Upon a proposal by the Dutch National Labor Secretariat (NAS) and the British Industrial Syndicalist Education League (ISEL), most European syndicalist groups, both trade unions and advocacy groups, agreed to congregate at a meeting in London. The only exception was the biggest syndicalist organization worldwide, the French General Confederation of Labor (CGT). Nevertheless, the congress was held with organizations from twelve countries participating. It was marked by heated debate and constant disagreements over both tactics and principles. Yet, it succeeded in creating the International Syndicalist Information Bureau as a vehicle of exchange and solidarity between the various organizations and the Bulletin international du mouvement syndicaliste as a means of communication. It would be viewed as a success by almost all who participated."

More here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_International_Syndicalist_Congress
and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Syndicalist_Education_League

The leading and growing advocates of radical Industrial Unionism in Britain today are the Industrial Workers Of The World  who will be represented on this Sunday's demonstration.  The current IWW pursue a strategy both inside and outside the existing TUC unions.