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Program For 2012
Justice for Street PeopleA major initiative for 2012 will be an effort to regain control over the Olympia police, some of whose members are "problem cops" who target the more helpless members of society for harassment and eventual incarceration. We have some ideas . . . please attend monthly meetings for details.
WikiVoter site
We are working on a website where information on candidates for City Council and the Olympia Board of Education can be gathered for easy reference. Candidate statements, newspaper articles, and citizen comments will be located where voters can find it easily and use it as the basis for decisions. The website, which was operative in early 2011, had information on all City Council candidates and will be expanded to all Thurston County elected offices. The site is in the process of being transferred to our Green Party website, since the original WikiVoter site was too vulnerable to hacking and spam of all kinds. Stay tuned.
Presentations on Current EventsIn April of 2011, in cooperation with Media Island, we sponsored a panel discussion of Libya's history and the reasons for the U.S. invasion. We will have more of such events as needed. We wanted the presentation on Libya because we saw a lack of information on that topic, and were able to find speakers to fill us in.
AlliancesMany of our most important priorities are shared by other non-profit organizations in the area, such as Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the Israel BDS movement which is spearheaded by the Olympia Food Co-op, and the Local Food Movement. Green Party members add their weight as individuals to these movements.We gained an important ally when Occupy Olympia went into residence at Heritage Park. We share their commitment to social justice and many of our members were in residence before the camp was broken up. They continue to meet at the Capital Building, 1 PM Sunday afternoons; members are encouraged to attend and ad their voice.
For a year we have worked in tandem with Move To Amend to petition City Council to resolve that corporations are not persons and should not be protected by the Bill of Rights or the 14th Amendment. Click here to call up the petition, and several one-page fliers about the issue. Thurston Public Power Coalition has recently come into existence to effect a buyout of the local Puget Sound Electric power infrastructure, and transfer it to our local PUD. This effort resonates with our Green values (a strong local economy; democratic control over all aspects of our lives), and our members will be gathering signatures. We need over 14,000 by July 6 so we will have to move quickly.
Our members have also been active with CIVIL, Citizens In Violation of Illegal Laws, which arose in response to a campaign of intimidation and harassment that the OPD has been conducting upon the homeless population.
Moving Planet Day We sponsored Moving Planet Day on September 24, 2011, in cooperation with Transition Olympia-Climate Action; this was a demonstration that life works, and works better, without cars.
We hope to be annual sponsors of this event. The form changes every year, so be thinking of what we might want to do in 2012.
Green NewsClick on the top menu item to see news of interest to Greens. Items of local interest are prioritized over national issues; items will generally incorporate Green values, or there will be a Green Comment to explain how the news item fits into our value system.
Green Economics In 2010 we hosted a series of community discussions, each one preceded by an informative meeting (either a movie or a presentation). We ended up with a coherent vision of what a sustainable economic system would look like, and an understanding of where our current system departs from it. Background articles are still relevant and still on-line. Click on a topic to find background articles of interest, as well as summaries of some of the discussions.
- Topic One: The mania for endless “growth” vs. our world of limited resources
- Topic Three: Wall Street Casino running amok
- Topic Four: Reforming the current system
- Topic Five: Revolution! Replacing our current system with a more sustainable one – including descriptions of existing alternatives
- Topic Six: Where Do We Go from Here? Organizing around anything we’ve discussed during this series
Monthly Meetings On the third Saturday of each month we hold a potluck at Buck's Loft, 209 Fifth Avenue in downtown Olympia. There is good food and lively conversation from 6 to 7, followed by our monthly business meeting. Call Janet Jordan, 232-6165, for more details.
Green Issues ForumThis was our monthly TV program on issues of interest to local Greens. It is now dormant. If any member has an interest in reviving the program, call Janet at 232-6165. The basic need is for someone to be arranging next month's program while this month's program is being taped and edited. |