Detroit Greens a local of the Green Party of Michigan

Good morning everyone and welcome to the 1st quarterly state membership meeting of the Green party of Michigan for 2009.

I am Fred Vitale and I am one of the chairpersons of the Green party of Michigan. I want to acknowledge my honorary co-chair, the Reverend Edward Pinkney, veteran fighter for social justice in Benton Harbor and our candidate for Congress in the 6th District. I also want to thank my fellow officers for their work for the Green Party in the last year. Please stand, state your name and office.

Over the past year we have seen extraordinary events in the world. We have seen an unprecedented presidential campaign. We saw the election of the first African-American president in Barack Obama. We witness the largest and most tumultuous economic crisis of our lives. The world has changed deeply and profoundly over the past year. Before we deal with these events, I want to review a little what has happened with the Green Party.

2008 was a turning point for the Green Party.

The Green party nominated Cynthia McKinney to be its first African-American candidate for president. She is an experienced Democratic Party politician who spent most of her adult life working as a politician in US government. She is one of the most outspoken fighters for truth and social justice. She questioned the role of the Bush administration in and around the events of 9/11, she challenged unconditional support to Israel, and she vigorously supported the people of New Orleans, flailing the racist response of the Bush administration to the devastation in the wake of Katrina.

Not only did she run on a very strong people oriented program, including such things as the withdrawal of US troops from all 100 countries where they are stationed; single-payer health care for every resident of the country, but she has continued to fight after the election. In December, she was on the boat called Dignity bringing emergency medical supplies to Gaza when it was rammed by Israeli gunships.

So the nomination and support to Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente marks a turning point for the Green party as it moves away from the limitations of the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, of the Nader and Cobb campaigns into new alliances with new people, organizations, and movements. The Green Party has made some progress in overcoming its previous limitations, its problems on the issues of race and class, and kept its radical contributions on, among other key values, ecological wisdom and grassroots democracy.

It is a turning point also because together – with our new friends, alliances -- we can begin to influence more and more people who are our natural allies – those most affected by the profound crises rolling over our land. Together with our allies, we can become a force to be reckoned with.

It is a turning point because we can have an impact, we can really change our state, nation and society, radically and forever.

During 2008, the Green Party also managed to resolve a long standing problem and source of tension – representation on the national committee, the lead committee between annual meetings.

The reason for the tension is that the Green party of the United States is a federation of state parties. To be both a federation and representative we needed to balance two things -- the federative character of the Green party, where each state is treated equally, and the need for increased representation from growing Green Parties. It was resolved and Michigan has 6 out of 200 delegates.

The party held its convention in Chicago last July and nominated Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente as its presidential slate.

After the convention, the state party devoted a lot of resources to support Cynthia McKinney and the rest of our slate. We attracted new candidates, we built relationships with organizations such as Michigan Welfare Rights and Call em Out among others. We increased the presidential votes for the Green party over our 2004 numbers by 68%.

Of course, we have very far to go and our gains are fragile. If we do not press forward and continue along these new lines – a determined effort to transform our organization around the issues of race and class, a reevaluation of our place in the larger struggle, developing coalitions and alliances -- we could easily become irrelevant.

Nevertheless, with the relative successes of the past year -- what challenges do we face, where do we go from here?

CRISIS

We are experiencing a global economic crisis which, by most accounts, is the worst crisis since the great depression. More importantly, it represents the end of an era. The Bush administration, the most conservative and pro-free-market neoliberal regime in US history, ended its existence with the effective nationalization of the American Insurance Group (AIG) and an unprecedented bail out of Wall Street bankers. The Obama administration is continuing much of the Bush economic policy, even as it attempts to address the suffering of the American people from job losses, foreclosures, and the other devastating effects of the economic crisis.

I think that the cause of the crisis is ultimately, the incredible productive power of the billions of working people clashing with the narrow system of private ownership of social property. I think that the cause is the fact that under capitalism, there is a constant drive to increase production of goods and services to make a profit, while decreasing the percentage of wealth owned by the majority so that they cannot buy these things. This is a powerful contradiction. I also think that the Green Party as a whole will likely not come to agreement about ultimate causes.
I firmly believe that the only source of real change is in the collective action of millions of people. Only millions of people in action have ever made serious, radical change in the U.S. Neither the Green party, nor any other organization can will into existence such action, such large social movements. We can, however, encourage and support every small effort towards such progressive social movements, and make our contributions in the realms of Green Party values, vision and votes. We can prepare for the time when such movements will appear. We are at the very beginning of a large, social movements for change, movements like the civil rights movement which I joined when I was 15 in Milwaukee over 40 years ago.

All leftwing and independent political organizations are very small and completely inadequate to provide a real alternative now. However, the times will help us all grow, if we work together in mutual respect and common struggle.

I think the Green party nationally and in Michigan is in a good place to make an important contribution to placing this country on the right path towards economic and social justice inside and outside its borders.

So we need to place the Green party of the United States, the Green Party of Michigan in the context of this larger, broad movement, just beginning, for social change. The Obama campaign has been a starting point for many people. Tens of millions of Americans hope that simply by voting for Barack Obama, or even by continuing to participate in his house meetings and forums, that they will be able to substantially change the direction of America. They are wrong. But, their increased participation in political actions can only help them realize the need for more collective actions, for clearer understandings of the true causes of the tumultuous events around them. They will learn, through their experiences and our help, the need to think and act independently of the Democrats and Republicans, to vote for their own interests and values.

The current situation in Michigan is dire. We lead the nation in unemployment at 12% and Detroit was just found officially to have reached 22%. Unemployment in the African-American and Latino communities especially among young people probably approaches 50%. We have enormous deficits at almost every level of government, the city of Pontiac was recently placed under emergency financial management, and the Detroit school system was once again taken over by the state. Efforts are being made daily to continue to privatize the Detroit Water Department.
The auto corporations, including the company that I retired from -- Ford, as well as General Motors, Chrysler, are in deep economic trouble, and their time of providing jobs and sustaining Michigan's economy is over. Returning to the past glory days of the US economy is not an option.

We need to be firmly rooted in our values. From them we can project a strong and clear Green vision, an alternative to the Republican policies of soak the poor, feed the rich and the Democratic Party policies of bailing out the bankers.

Here is what I propose:

1. A real safety net – protect the people, not the bankers -- unemployment benefits extended for all unemployed until the recession is over; 100% increase in food stamp allotments; medicaid for all unemployed and all unable to work; an adequate income now for all; moratorium on foreclosures and utility shutoffs; full amnesty for immigrants.

2. A Green economic alternative -- a Green public works program -- jobs for everyone who wants to work at a living wage with full healthcare and other benefits -- rebuild infrastructure, build mass transit, schools, create and support public spaces, gardens, organic farms – all as part of a green program of revitalization for the state. Develop alternative sources of energy – solar, wind, earth. We need drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to stop global warming. Nationalize the banks and auto industries; place resources in the hands of communities and workers.

3. A democratic foreign policy – Immediate withdrawal of all US forces and contractors from Iraq and Afghanistan; boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

4. Future focus and grassroots democracy -- we need to completely redesign our economy and our government which are failing both the people and the planet. We need grassroots democratic control of all the resources of society so that we focus on the needs and potentials of people and the planet, not serve a wealthy minority.

So please join in the discussions, sign up for committees, reengage and recommit yourself to this grand effort so that we can go forward, save ourselves, our communities and our environment.