COMMITTEE and CAUCUS REPORTS
By Various

CAUCUSES

Report from the sticks
By Aimée Dunn
Rural Caucus

The Bylaws Committee of the Rural Caucus (RC) has agreed on the definition of membership within the RC. Section II of the bylaws reads, "A Full Member of the RC is a Green Party Member who lives in a rural area or who has lived enough of his/her life in rural areas to have firsthand knowledge of rural issues and concerns. A Supporting Member of the RC is someone who does not fit the above criteria but has a deep and active interest in addressing rural concerns. Supporting Members can fully participate in discussions and on committees but cannot vote or hold elected office." Those interested in full or supporting membership within the RC should send their mailing addresses and phone numbers to Linda Cree at creelinda@hotmail.com or to Aimee Dunn, PO Box 1153, Marquette, MI 49855. This information is required for membership.

Rural Greens also maintain an active listserve with over 90 subscribers. Topics discussed on this listserve include forestry concerns, the effects of genetically modified organisms or foods on tribes and small farmers, economic philosophies and the effects industrial society has on rural areas. The key issues Rural Greens discuss on the listserve include support for small-scale sustainable organic farming; development of an economic philosophy regarding land rents and homesteads; wilderness protection on the part of government policies and private landowners; the sustainable and earth-friendly revitalization of rural economies and communities; protection of rural areas from gentrification and industrial development; and support for the Bioregionalist and Traditional Ecological Knowledge movements.

To join these discussions, send an e-mail to ruralgreen-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
The RC webpages can be accessed at http://ruralgreens.blogspot.com.

Dear Abby, we finally have a voice
By Nan Garrett, Spokesperson
National Women's Caucus

"If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."
-Abigail Adams to her husband, John, 1776

On Nov. 23, 2004, the Green Party of the United States announced the accreditation of the National Women's Caucus (NWC) after the party's national Coordinating Committee voted overwhelmingly to grant the caucus a voting seat. As conditions for women around the world continue to balance precariously between hope and horrific challenges, the newly accredited NWC is eager to work toward substantive change, using their greatest resource, their members.

Morgen D'Arc, NWC co-chair and co-founder, noted: "Now that we're accredited with the fastest-growing political party in the nation behind us, we are poised to enter the national and world stage for women. The NWC, in emphasizing social justice and women's rights with an electoral imperative, will help define the Green Party as the party that prioritizes women."

Holly Hart, as delegate to the Coordinating Committee, is another voice for the NWC. She commented: "We're proud the Green Party recognizes the need to give voice to communities such as women that have been historically oppressed, underrepresented, and disenfranchised. We're concerned with issues that aren't getting enough attention, such as the staggering poverty of single mothers, violence against women, living wages, and the continuing reality that women live without the security of constitutional equal rights."

Accreditation marks the victorious culmination of over two years of organizing by the NWC Coordinating Committee and other organizers. "I am in awe of the work done to get us to the point of accreditation," said Sanda Everette, NWC treasurer. "I admire this commitment and am honored to continue working with the NWC for women in the party and throughout the world."

The Green Party platform on women's rights, written by D'Arc, can be accessed on line at www.gp.org/platform/2004/socjustice.html#998980.

Additional information, including a caucus application, is available by request from natlwomens-caucus@gp-us.org.

COMMITTEES

Communications
By Katey Culver
The Communications Committee is excited to announce a new working relationship with the Green Code Weavers' Network. Through this relationship the Green Party will have access to volunteers qualified and ready to keep our communications systems running and improving. Code Weavers provide mutual support and technical assistance to their members.

The Communications Committee will continue to provide information about delegates, voting and communications within the party.

The committee webpage is http://gp.org/committees/communication/.

International
By Tony Affigne & Julia Willebrand

Green Party of Rhode Island & Green Party of New York; Co-chairs, International Committee
2004 was a very good year for our sister parties in several countries. In October the Green Party of Brazil elected 55 mayors and 771 local city council members nationwide. While representing the International Committee (IC) at the September annual meeting of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas (FPVA) in Curitiba, Brazil, Julia Willebrand, N.Y., and Alan Kobrin, Fla., were able to participate in a variety of pre-election events in several cities. At the meeting, Federation delegates decided that trade issues should be the Global Green focus at the 2005 World Social Forum. Julia Willebrand was re-elected co-chair of the Federation and accepted for the IC responsibility for contacting the leadership of the Green Parties of Haiti, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The Green Party of Canada (GPC) passed the 4 percent vote threshold that qualified the party for more than a million dollars in federal support. Brian Lutenegger, Wis., represented the IC at the GPC annual meeting in Calgary, Alberta in August.

Mike-Frank G. Epitropoulos, Pa., presented a letter of congratulations from GP-US to Oikologoi-Prasinoi, the Green Party of Greece, at their annual meeting in Athens.

The first council meeting of the newly formed European Green Party was held in Dublin, Ireland in November 2004. Julia Willebrand represented GP-US, and Mike Feinstein, Calif., attended as an observer. A very full agenda included vigorous debate on the upcoming EU vote on a constitution, discussion of gender balance proposals and many reports from newly admitted Green Parties of former Eastern Bloc countries. In one striking report, the president of the Green Party of the Ukraine explained Green demand for a new election in which, with many misgivings, they would be supporting Yushchenko.

The first meeting of the Asia-Pacific Greens was held Feb. 11-13 in Kyoto, Japan. Mike Feinstein, IC observer, attended.

In response to public questions as to the GP-US position on Israel/Palestine relations, the IC prepared a detailed analysis and rationale for the party's position in support of an unconditional right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Merchandising
By Peggy Lewis
The Merchandising Committee (MERCH) has been working to make Green Party products readily available to the general public. The committee's web presence provides local parties and individuals a variety of resources such as bumper stickers, buttons and t-shirts that help increase the Green Party's visibility. MERCH also makes donating to the GP-US and ordering bundles of GreenPages very easy. Besides increasing the Green Party's visibility and facilitating its fiscal growth, the online store offers appealing products that help Green efforts, such as selling "Fair Trade" Coffee and featuring the sounds of 14 bands on two CDs.

Orders for these products may be placed at the online store, easily found by following the Green Merchandise link from the main GP-US website, www.gp.org.

Those who wish to participate on the committee or who have retail suggestions should contact Peggy at pegola@greens.org.

Green Code Weavers' Network
By Susan Dridi
The Green Code Weavers' Network (CWN) creates computer software that Green parties, especially the GP-US, need. The group was born at the GP-US convention in Milwaukee when a group of technically minded Greens decided to come together to share the software they created and to collaborate on developing new IT (information technology) tools for the Green Party at the local, state and national levels.

The CWN shares the philosophy of the Free Software Foundation. Members of the CWN believe that people should be able to control their own data and should not be subject to the whims of monopolies or other corporate entities. The programs the CWN develops will be released under a free software license. Although CWN programs will be provided at no cost, freedom here refers to freedom of speech and not price. The CWN will allow anyone who uses their software to see the code and to modify it, as long as they allow others to do the same.

"The CWN has adopted one of the best proven, most successful, and, I think, Greenest economic and management models there is," said Cameron Spitzer, a founding member of the CWN.

The CWN provides mutual support and technical assistance to its members. Members share code and useful software tools and learn from one another in ways which will support the development of the Green Party in their respective communities and states and at the national level. Greens who are engaged in providing IT development services to their party are invited to join the CWN by following the links on our website: http://greens.org/cwn/. 

For more information on the Free Software Foundation, see their website: http://fsf.org.

Contact GPWV at www.gpwv.org.

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