TEN GOOD REASONS TO VOTE GREEN 1. Labour 2. Conservative. 3. Liberal Democrat. 4. Respect. 5. British National Party. 6. United Kingdom Independence Party. 7. Plaid Cymru. 8. Ulster Unionist. 9. Democratic Unionist Party. 10. Scottish Nationalist Party. In fact there are many better reasons to vote green. ID CARDS. We will allow the data-bases to grow organically. File sharing is a fact of life. Credit data, health data, immigration data and suchlike cover most people in the UK. Vehicle licencing and mobile phone stuff will include most criminals and terrorists. High class terrorists leave a terrific audit trail all over cyberspace but the authorities have few maps or navigational aids except after the event. Rather than developing navigational aids to cope with the information age the current expensive policy involves an attempt to take a static snapshot of the current situation, and then to hope everything freezes. One of the selling points of ID cards is 'fighting crime'. In fact the 'creation of crime' is more apt. ID cards will be accompanied by a plethora of new laws forbidding forgery of ID cards, and mis-use or even loss of existing cards. In some countries with an ID card culture, ID cards are routinely given to traders as a form of security. An ID card or passport is accepted as security for hire of a motorbike, or prostitutes leave their ID cards with hotel receptionists to ensure their good behaviour with their guests. The ID card issue has been taken up by the Labour Party in response to concerted lobbying by the large IT companies looking for cost plus public sector projects. There is little evidence that 'biometric' ID cards will be much different from the 1980s Thai ID card which showed a mugshot of the citizen with a calibration scale in the background. American anti-terrorist screening is said to require new types of ID documents, but to be sure carriers also like records of passengers previous movements and financial transactions in order be sure. File sharing could take care of these requirements. A Green Party Government would put current ID card work on hold and tell the big companies involved to seek work elsewhere. New work on file sharing would be put out to universities and IT companies to get projects done as cheaply as possible with open source software and a complete ban on proprietry data formats. There needs to be much new work on fault tolerant systems. TRANSPORT For decades the biggest world industries have been firstly Oil & Gas, and secondly Automobiles. Travel is either elective or compulsory. In the UK a combination of labour market flexibilty and property market inflexibilty leads to a tidal flow of cars to and from city centers every day. Government policy exacerbates the problem. A Green Party government would undertake radical reforms in both transport and housing. Private car ownership would be replaced with leasing. Parking would be included in rental costs. HEALTH Don't get ill. Don't have sick kids. No fertilty treatment. Arms companies to finance landmine clearence, and weapons victims. When possible walk or cycle everywhere. CRIME Legalise all drugs. Overhaul legal system by abolishing most recent laws, and re-education of the judiciary with the aim of giving magistrates the power to conduct investigations. The adversarial system gives England one of the most expensive legal systems in the world, and a high imprisonment rate. Unify hate-speech laws into 'reckless speech' laws. Apply 'reckless action' laws to politicians and business magnates when they implement unsafe policies. With the growth of digital photography and the internet it is easier to circulate evidence of crimes such as paedophilia, police brutality and some war crimes. One of the main difficulties of law enforcement is labour involved in sorting and filing evidence. DEMOGRAPHY Up until recent times the Chinese relied on 'The Great Wall' to keep people out. With communism, then the 'Cultural Revolution' the start was made on the 'One Child Policy'. This 'Malthusian Policy' has transformed not only China, but the whole world. Writing in the early 1800s the Anglican priest, James Robert Malthus, suggested that human population tended to increase at an exponential rate while food supplies could only be increased in arithmetic progression. His economic insight made him so popular that the East India company seized upon his talents employing him at their business school for trainee imperialists. Malthus was one of the first political economists. Many of his ideas were condemned by Marx and until recent times many in the 'British Left' parties saw population limitation as a neo-con form of race war. China's One Child Policy seems a shotgun marriage between Marx and Malthus. The impact has been global and paradoxical. Falling birthrates have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, but have also lead to higher levels of consumption to such an extent that China's construction boom sets world prices for many commodities. Not only is lead disappearing from English church roofs, but copper cable is being stolen from UK railway systems. Discussion of demography or government imposed population targets are a taboo subject in many Western democracies. In America the debate is mixed up with the abortion issue and the religious fundamentalist vote. With the exception of the Philippines, East Asia seems rather different. Even India had its flirtation with a government sponsored sterilisation policy under the Gandhi dynasty. Before taking holy orders Malthus became a Cambridge wrangler, obtaining a first in the mathematics tripos. DISCLAIMER These views are not necessarily endorsed by the (UK) Green Party. They are personal opinions of the writer who was influenced by various consciousness raising authors such as cosmologist Fred Hoyle, Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing[2], and oceanographer Rachel Carson. GREEN REVOLUTION Rachel Carson's attack on the global agribusiness industry with the book 'Silent Spring' provoked a response. Epidemiologists pointed out that strong pesticides killed mosquitoes and controlled malaria. Nutritionists and development experts proclaimed the 'Green Revolution' whereby crop yields could be dramatically increased to cope with rising demand by the use of fertilisers. Many millions would thereby be saved from starvation. The Green Revolution was much praised in the 1960s and large companies such as Shell and BP were eager to promote their own role as doing good. There were many company sponsored school projects to show that these organisations were paragons of virtue. By the 1970s the gloss had worn off. The use of defoliants in the Viet-Nam war vindicated Rachel Carson's most excessive statements. The later tragedy at Bophal[1] occured against the background of widespread chemical warfare along the Iran-Iraq border. As Harold Pinter went on to say "Nothing Happened". These events could be easily managed by public relations and lobbying firms in London, New-York, Tokyo, and Washington. GREENWASH Capitalists and their supporters advovocate many panacea to the problems of excessive consumption. -- Biofuels. This is a technology which enables the rich to drive around in gas guzzling vehicles while putting up food prices for the poor. Biofuel is not a new idea. The UK made extensive use of biotechnology to make explosives during the first world war. Wood-gas was used as fuel for London taxis during this period. -- Carbon trading. Casino capitalists love this. It is simply a method to create new trades and up-front comission for a financial elite. The accounting will often be replaced by wishful thinking rather than relation to the facts. -- Carbon sequestration. The idea of putting CO2 (See-Oh-Two) underground involves heavy infrastructure costs. It has been welcomed by energy companies operating where power stations are situated near to depleted oil reserves. The UK and Manchuria are such regions. Pumping CO2 underground will enable old oil fields to yield new oil. -- Green taxes. Taxation is always unpopular. Green taxes are merely consumption taxes. These usually hit the poor more than the rich. -- Sustainable X. Because something is sustainable it is not necessarily good. Closing all the schools would be a good strategy for sustainable ignorance. -- Nuclear power. Nuclear power was a panacea of the 1950s. It was claimed that nuclear electricity would be too cheap to meter. The reality was that the radioactive cores of Soviet nuclear power stations were hand assembled by plentiful slave labour, and the US and UK nuclear power stations were essential components of atom bomb factories. Nuclear power[4] has justifiably got a bad reputation. -- Hydrogen economy. 2H2+O2 = 2H20 Cars run on hydrogen. There are no CO2 emissions. Basic chemistry. Where do we get the hydrogen? Electrolysis is the classical method. Burn hydrocarbons to generate electricity. Electrolyse water or a salt, and get hydrogen and something else. Collect the hydrogen and store it in a porous solid such as expensive palladium and you can burn it on demand. The hydrogen economy requires a distribution system just like electric power. The infrastructure investments may require considerable fossil fuel energy inputs. So we wait for Craig Ventner to engineer an organism which produces hydrogen. Alternatively we ask chemists to devise a process to give is real cheap hydrogen from solar power. This could solve energy problems much more quickly than the development of nuclear fusion power. 'Greenwash' is a public relations act by big corporations to disguise their ethical bankruptcy. The policy of these large organisations is very insideous because they have so much money that they can buy people. There are many people who moved from high profile ecological campaigning positions to merceneries working for the Fortune 500 corporations. It's also a revolving door: many great campaigners have made their first steps working for the multinationals. 'Greenwash' also deludes some people in various green movements. Campaigns against G.M. or concrete windmills or nuclear power stations etc. give various forces the ability to get people onto the streets. In fact many of these are 'middle class' campaigns which will just make things worse for the majority of the human race. Japan has had a history of really strong environmental protest. Back in the 1970s mobs trashed the newly built Narita airport just outside Tokyo in pitched battles that outdid any subsequent UK airport protest. The Japanese activists smashed up the terminal buildings with iron bars. It's also easy to mobilise opposition against clear felling Japanese forests. The rumour goes that the Narita airport protest was supported by farmers who wanted a better cut in the airport parking monopoly. Protecting nature is a sort of privilege of the rich Japanese with their artistic culture and tree revering Shinto ways. They can just get their timber from Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa. Japanese Environmentalists -> Exploitation of Phillipines, Indonesia The Japanese have learned the hard way. The industrial age gave them mass radiation injuries from American atom bombs and mass poisoning from mercury via their own metal processing industry. It is also true that the Japanese invented sustainable pearl culture and changed a whole industry. The sort of 'Single Issue Campaigns' against polluting industries seen in rich countries usually relocate the problems to poor regions. The industrialised world sees many such temporary mobilisations against the inherent evils of industrialisation, but the problems are more inherent in human organisation itself. Charismatic leaders may exploit mass movements for unstated ends. Large corporations seek to maximise their profits. Mobsters can go to the meetings of these corporations and get pay offs just like the Japanese Yakuza. The revolving door between positions of environmental campaigners and corporate spokesmen has to raise questions about the motivation of some environmental camaigners. In the UK the Guardian regularly advertises positions as fundraisers for environmental charities and the salaries offered put these fundraisers into the ruling class which can employ nannies from third world countries to look after their kids. It is interesting to note how the Putin government in Russia, which normally imposes draconian regulations on NGOs, has used Greenpeace reports on the oil industry to curtail British Petroleum's exploitation of Sakhalin. BP was forced to sell out because of alleged environmental misbehaviour, mostly exposed by data collected Western NGOs. Forget Greenpeace and friends of the Earth, but vote Green when possible. G.M. AND CRAIG VENTNER The race to complete the human genome project raises big problems in the traditional leftist versus capitalist debate. Craig Ventner used wideband computing to accelerate progress on the human Genome Project compared with similar efforts which had to be worked through by committee. This is relevant to the 'Green Party Leadership Debate'. Do we want to run big projects via long debates and boring meetings, or do we look for the style of leadership where Deng Xiao Ping who dismissed the annexation of Tibet as a minor problem in a fifteen minute meeting [3]. Craig Ventner built a small team and made an astute choice of a single vendor, Perkin Elmer, to supply the computing power needed to sequence DNA. As it happens the collaborative effort was held back by the need for different parts to get their own appropriations for funding, and to stroke the right backs when it comes to selecting computer equipment. Opposition to genetically modified crops seems to be a key principal for many environmentalists. There is good reason for opposition to any attempts to reduce diversity in a world where people are seeking new crops to solve the new problems associated with short population doubling times. Monsanto's efforts to introduce crops resistant to their weedkiller and create a 100% Monsanto ecology with predators. prey and customers all served by a single corporation with shareholders and investors and pension funds seem very ambitious but this is the nature of capitalism rather than science. Much environmental protest has been directed against one single corporation but there is little evidence that this corporation is inflicting a new form of damage on people. It is the nature of large organisations to attempt to monopolise the stuff of life whether it be food or energy, or the means of delivering education and training. In the UK environmental protesters take part in showpiece demonstrations where they tear up G.M. crops. These protests are part of a worldwide movement. Farming is changing (and has been changing for several hundred years) as a result of the introduction of new hybrid species, or finding new profitable markets for previously sidelined species. Genetic engineering holds the prospect of creating new species very quickly. Measurement of the behaviour of any new species can take years or decades of patient observation. The nature of human politics requires quick answers. Many of these answers are badly thought out or just paid for. Protests against G.M. crops have been going on for at least a decade. In the meantime biofuels give a potentially profitable market for sidelined species. Rather than being weeds, biofuels kill off food crops by pure commercial competition. Maybe the next lot of pesticides will target lawyers and accountants ? HOUSING POLICY British housing policy is an economic disaster. Labour market: The capitalist bosses attempt to whip the workers into line with unregulated hiring and firing policies. These bosses are admired by the elite of all three major political parties. At the same time the scarcity, and social stigma associated with the rented sector exerts a great break on labour market flexibility. Fri Sep 28 13:39:27 BST 2007 Larry Elliot quotes professor Danny Blanchflower, in The Guardian. Increasing the supply of rented homes is a better way to bring down unemplyoment than labour market reforms designed to weaken unions or weaken employment protection. Countries with the highest level of home ownership had the longest dole queues and there was no evidence that deregulating labour markets was a cure to unemployment. Economy: The UK has been kept out of the European currency union because no politician wants to affect the 'sacred cow' of the 'Property Market'. Failure to integrate economic policy with the rest of the EU make the UK an attractive base for major organised crime such as cigarette smuggling, carousel fraud, and suchlike. Retardation of sustainable technology: A common idea of sustainable technology is a middle class couple feathering their own nest with gee-whiz energy saving devices. In the meantime fruit pickers are 'hot-bedding' (night shift sleeps in beds of day workers) in rented accomodation paying exorbitant prices to working class landlords who made their money in the Middle East.(aka White Trash Sheikhs). Transport: People change jobs and commute by car, because of the difficulty of living near to work. The cash economy looks good because commuting supports the twin pillars of the economy: Oil and Auto Industry. Demolitions: In the UK, urban regeneration is seen as in terms of increasing property prices. One plank of this stratagy is 'stock reduction' of the council rented sector. This is really 'class war' waged by the middle classes against the 25% or so in the rented sector. WORK AND CLASS Arbeit macht frei. The British working class turned their back on democracy by voting in Margaret Thatcher. Class politics moved towards the transatlantic model of the mainstream and the underclass. About 25% of the population form the American underclass. These are people of colour, immigrants, and 'trailer trash'. Many new laws keep being passed to ensure a good percentage of the underclass experience jail. The mainstream (75%) expect about 50% of their children to go to university, and to have houses and cars and some health insurance. BUPA adverts sell this model to the British public. All of this depends on the USA being a major arms dealer and on being able to project its power so as to control more than its fair share of resources. For the underclass life is extremely competitive and brutalizing. In such circumstances the marginalised groups will often provide their own rough and ready justice in the form of vigilantism, shooting and stabbings, while other dispossessed people will demand a drastic and punitive clampdown on delinquant behaviour, thus playing into the hands of the ruling class. This sort of behaviour was documented by Primo Levi in Auschwitz, but it applies to the slums of Los Angeles or to the Gaza strip. The concentration of wealth needs a longer heirarchy from billionaire to cleaner, so there is a growth of middle manager positions, and these kapos usually have to retain their position in the heirarchy by bullying. Moreover his capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the oppressors, will double back beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded on to his underlings the injury received from above. We are aware that this is very distant from the picture that is usually given of the oppressed who unite, if not in resistance, at least in suffering. We do not deny this may be possible when oppression does not pass a certain limit, or perhaps when the oppressor, through inexperience or magnanimity, tolerates or favors it. But we state that in our days, in all countries in which a foreign people have set foot as invadors an analogous position of rivalry and hatred among the subjected has been brought about; and this like many other human characteristics, could be experienced in the Lager in the light of particularly cruel evidence. The 75% mainstream are expected to conform to employer dresscodes, accept inefficient ways of doing things, buy houses and cars, marry and have children. They are certainly not meant to question the billionaires who run the world, and it seems few of the mainstream do. They all can be billionaires themselves if they keep their noses clean and follow the rules. In fact the effects 'work' are often independent of the workers efforts. Whole industries shut down because of changing market conditions rather than because the workers are lazy. New service industries can spring up (call centers) because billion dollar corporations want to centralize their customer interfaces rather than renting high street offices. Much of what passes for 'work' is futile and pointless, and is better not done at all. In a world of labour saving machines steel factories and car plants can employ bery few people compared with the numbers of the earlier twentieth century. In 2007 there are still mines in places like Brazil, Africa or Asia where plentiful manual labour takes the place of machinary. Most of the ultimate profits are still realised by a very small elite with good communications infrastructure. Andre Gorz [5] (1923-2007) was one of the first political ecologists. As the son of a Viennese Jew, Gorz had escape the Nazis and completed his education in Switzerland where he achieved a diploma in chemical engineering. He wrote several books explaining how the working class would lose out if they did not pressure employers for basic changes in working conditions, rather than mere pay rises. These included 'Farewell to the working class' (1982), Paths to Paradise (1985), and 'Critique of Economic Reason' (1988). He was more influential in Europe, although almost unheard of in England. A socialist French government did adopt some of his ideas, including a shorter working week, but the 2007 French election saw the voters turn their backs on progressive such ideas, chosing a president who promised a clamp down on immigration and economic refugees. During 2007 the UK saw much celebration of the repeal of slavery laws two hundred years ago, but it is only necessary to stay at a luxury hotel near a big international airport to realise that working conditions for the chambermaids are very debilitating. Population increase means intense competition for very low paying jobs. Child labour is still common in much of the world. A total reform of the labour market should central to Green party policy. A social wage should be paid to people if they avoid some forms of consumption (paid avoidance society). ENVIRONMENTALISTS, ECOLOGISTS AND GREEN PARTIES. Environmentalists often set up campaigning organisations to save or protect some form of natural resource. Many environmental organisations are class based. The rich save nature for exclusive country clubs and big game hunting reserves. Others try to save the masses from the perceived deadly radiation emitted by mobile phone masts, or target windmills. Ecologists tend to study the relationships between different systems including humans and natural phenomena. Understanding takes time and effort, but most higher education institutions offer courses where ecology is covered: maths, social sciences, biology, geography, anthropology etc. For most people this knowledge is not economically useful, so it is not as attractive as law or accountancy. Ecologists have been politically active since the late 1960s. In mainland Europe they have enjoyed some success, where some leading figures [6] of the Paris demonstrations of 1968 went on to Green Party activism. Creen parties are generally composed of those who see the present system as dangerously wrong, but they do not necessarily have any particular program to take power. The problems involved in changing the way of thinking of rich in leading industrial countries are frequently so demoralising that it is difficult to maintain any real group solidarity. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH Al Gore got a share in the 2007 Nobel Peace prize for his sponsorship of a documentary film about global warming. The American Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader, took about 1% of the presidential vote in 2000 and many people (i.e up to 48% of voters) could accuse the Green Party of letting George Bush win the presidency, and letting Al Gore seek a different career. Many people opposed to capitalism, globalisation, poverty and war, want to improve the world by voting for leftist parties. A green vote will split the left. It is necessary to examine what passes for leftist thinking. In America the sort of people who try to get migrant workers into trade unions tend to see the Democrats as just another capitalist party. Before Ralph Nader (Green) they could have voted for Angela Davis (Communist), A Sorbonne educated woman who had also survived life as a fugitive, and a spell in American jail. In the USA people can buy 'The Nation', or 'Mother Jones' and post videos of police brutality on U-tube. None of these activities imply that someone will vote. General voter apathy loses elections. Only the Thai seem to have tackled this problem. Taksin Shinawatr started to look shaky when the Thais allowed a 'Non of these' option on the ballot forms, and the different opposition groups were able to unite in opposing all candidates. The truth is that apathy splits the left. In the UK people always say that Labour needs good weather on election day to win. Preferably election day should closely follow a football triumph. These are hardly issues about the liberation of the working class. In fact leftist parties have lost their links to the working class, and many supposed leftist parties, once in power, behave just like conservative parties. In fact the Marxist-Leninist government of Bengal has major problems in dealing with popular revolt against it's capitalist policies. If you wish to vote Green, and avoid splitting the leftist vote, then you should try to persuade people who would not normally vote at all to support the Green Party. GREEN PARTIES ARE INTERNATIONAL The problems raised by climate change and resource depletion are too important to be left to a single political party working in one country. [1] ../news/crises.lst [2] Doris Lessing. Nobel prize comments. [3] Jung Chang, Mao [4] Ahmadinejad nuclear program. Is it vaporware ? [5] Guardian 07/11/2007 [6] Daniel Cohn Bendit aka Danny the Red.
Web Pages
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  European Greens - http://www.europeangreens.org/
Information, latest news, links and election results for Green parties through out Europe.
  Green Parties Worldwide - http://www.greens.org/
A list of Green Parties and associated groups from across the world, divided by continent.
  The Green Party of England and Wales - http://www.greenparty.org.uk/
Detailed, up-to-date website, including in depth news and articles about national and international green issues, past election results and current campaigns.
  European Green Party links - http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/default/rubrik/7/7925.greens@en.htm
List of green parties throughout Europe.
  The Greens of Benin - http://www.greensbenin.org/
site in French with some information in English. Includes Party structure, news and press releases.
  Greens of Turkey - http://www.yesiller.org
Some information in English about this Turkish Green Party including meeting dates and contact information.
  Latvian Green Party - http://www.zp.lv/
Information about the Butinge Oil Terminal campaign.
  Green Party of South Africa - http://www.greenparty.org.za/
Formerly known as the People's Green Party of South Africa. Describes beliefs and goals, and provides an online membership form.
  The Green Democrats of Hungary - http://www.zd.hu
Some information about the party and its policies in English.
  Green Party of Iran - http://www.iran-e-sabz.org/eindex.html
Working for democracy and human rights in Iran.
  Green Philippines - http://www.geocities.com/chrisjsimon/greenphil/
Alliance's principles, policies, and platforms available, as well as environmental news and legislation.
  Greens of the Republic of Poland (Zieloni RP) - http://www.zielonirp.org.pl/en/
Policy aims and contact information.
  Green balkan net - http://www.geocities.com/greenbalkannet/
A network between the green parties and groups across the Balkan region. Including news, agenda, documents and links.
  Green Power - http://www.greenpower.org.hk/index_e.html
Green Party based in Hong Kong. Includes articles and studies, details of activities and a green school.
  Reform Party of Gibraltar - http://www.gibnet.gi/~emery/reform/
Green Party campaigning in Gibraltar. Website includes news, policies and links.
  Green Party of Ukraine - http://www.greenparty.org.ua/ua/index.php
Up-to-date information about the party including latest news, their charter, policies and photos. Includes a guestbook, polls and feedback area. Some content in English
  Die Grunen - http://www.gruene.de/
The Green Party for Germany. Contains an English language version of the site.
  Green League of Finland - http://www.vihreat.fi/en
A selection of information in English include a history of the party, contact details and policies.
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