Green Party policy advocates direct action

Hi people,


originally I thought one of the main things I would do on this blog would be to present some Green Party of England and Wales policies from the veritable Manifesto for a Sustainable Society....as you have seen I have been distracted by lots of other tasks.

Please join the Party we need you...much better than the Euston Manifesto but much sounder on human rights than Galloway!Join here

One myth is we just have environmental policy....in fact its a book manifesto covering all areas.

Another myth is that we lack a left dimension, I don't think so at all.

I am in some ways a policy sceptic the point is to change the world not to construct a blueprint to put into power in the year 2046...we need to be doing this stuff now and looking at the constraints.

Anyway here is the stuff on power, well Foucault argues that power is universal and inevitable, there are big theoretica debates about the nature of power but I like this stuff, very radical for a real life political party.

Of course many in the Party want to drop this and have a leader, leaders need followers and are part of the problem in my view. We live in wiki world so lets all do it, not wait for a parent figure, Green leaders have been great in other countries at moving us in a pro-globalised 'pragmatic' direction.

But if we are going to have a title of leader or co-leader which I don't want, lets go for a ital figure like Nandor!

All the policy is on the party website, which I highly recommend.

Hey don't forget to vote on thursday, vote Green and if not anything other than Labour and the BNP....a real shock to Labour and they may will cut their links with dodgy fascist governments in Italy...although Prodi is now in.


Empowerment

PB440 Power is simply our ability to be effective, but it takes different forms. 'Power over' is dysfunctional, succeeds only at the expense of others and should be limited and contained. 'Power to', or empowerment is our potential to co-operate and take control over our own lives. Organisations which have based themselves on empowerment have found that they are as successful, if not more, at achieving their aims, and have delivered considerable social and environmental benefits.

PB441 However, 'power over' remains the dominant force in our hierarchical, competitive society. We have to engage with it, but we do so only in order to transform it. This requires changes in law, culture and economics.

PB442 The Green Party does not believe there is an automatic moral obligation on all people to obey their governments. It seeks to maximise the extent to which obedience to laws is based on consent and minimise the need for conformity through deterrence. We believe there are occasions when individuals and groups in society may openly, and peacefully, protest at an unjust law or practice through civil disobedience.

PB443 We seek a society in which people are empowered and involved in making the decisions which affect them. We reject the hierarchical structure of leaders and followers, and, instead advocate participatory politics. For this reason the Green Party itself does not have an individual leader.