OntheWilderSide

frmr Green Party NYS co-chair Ian Wilder at OWS

Green Party leaders sharply criticized Democratic Party supporters online and in the media who have tried to turn the ongoing Occupy Wall Street, Occupy America, and October 2011 demonstrations across America into an appeal to vote Democrat and reelect President Obama in 2012. Many of the protesters have expressed their disgust with two-party politics (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wall-street-protesters-disgusted-parties-14687840) and the influence of corporate money.  Organizers have rejected attempts to shoehorn the movement into any party and assert that the protesters come from diverse political persuasions. Greens Party activists, who are participating in the protests and among the organizers, have pointed to the Green Party’s alternative vision for America, as expressed in the Green New Deal (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal).

The Green Party offers a platform for peace, economic security for working people, millions of new green jobs in conservation and clean energy development, an end to fossil fuel addiction, real steps for curbing global climate change and restoring the health of the planet, universal health care (Medicare For All), and reforms that would limit the power of corporations and restore the promise of participatory democracy and fair elections.  Green candidates do not accept corporate money.

The Democratic Party does not speak for the Occupy Wall Street, Occupy America, and October 2011 protesters.  No political party speaks for the protesters, not even the Green Party.  The protesters speak for themselves.  The Green Party has endorsed and joined the demonstrations because we share the same frustration and anger as the other protesters.  Greens are there because we bring alternative ideas like the Green New Deal.  And we’re there because we encourage the 99 percent — We The People — to organize, end pro-corporate two-party rule, and replace the politicians in public office who enabled Wall Street’s theft of America’s future.  This can only happen through an independent alliance with the same diversity we’re seeing at the protests: labor activists, Greens, progressives, anarchists, libertarians, nonvoters, disappointed Democrats and Republicans, and all others who want real change.

Farheen Hakeem

• Farheen Hakeem, Green Party candidate for the Minnesota State Senate in District 61 (http://www.farheenhakeem.org) and co-chair of the Green Party of the United States: “Say no to the parties of war and corporate money!  That’s our message to all Americans who are worried about the dangerous direction that the two Titanic Parties have steered our country.  If the field of presidential candidates is limited to incumbent Obama and the Republican nominee after the primaries, then everything the Wall Street protesters are talking about will be erased from the election season debate and from the media.  Hopes for a progressive challenge in the Democratic primaries are unrealistic.  The challenger will inevitably be defeated by the Obama campaign juggernaut, which is already loaded with corporate campaign checks, and the challenger’s supporters will find themselves muzzled, with the expectation that they’ll vote Democrat.”  Read more »

Filed under: activism, Corporations, Election 2012, Green Party, News | Tagged: democratic, green, Green New Deal, Occupy Wall Street, wall street | 7 Comments »