20 Apr 2014

Green Party beer pledge 'as a bearded real ale drinker....'



As Green Party European Election candidate in the SE European elections I have been getting lots of emails about beer.

CAMRA and the Green Party have some shared goals and personally I am a bearded real ale drinker so this is what I have communicated.


Dear ,

The Green Party supports the aims of CAMRA and works hard to promote them.

I am a beer drinker and enjoy a pint in my local pubs the Squirrels, Duke of Edinburgh and Winning Post in Winkfield where I live.

Our leader  Natalie Bennett has supported the Save George IV pub campaign.  http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2013/01/09/green-party-leader-campaigns-for-local-businesses/

Our South East MEP Keith Taylor gave a beer award to The Jolly Anglers in Reading, noting “I think it’s important to support local pubs and the production of local beer and cider in the region. For this reason I have long supported the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in its mission to promote community pubs as a safe and sociable place to enjoy a pint. The Jolly Anglers is just such a place and I am proud to recognise it with this award.” http://reading.greenparty.org.uk/news1/green-mep-keith-taylor-presents-community-pub-award-to-reading-pub.html

I have pasted our policy on pubs passed at Green Party conference, do feel free to get in touch if you want more details.


thanks for getting in touch,

Derek Wall


South East Green Party European Candidate http://www.segreens.com/

Follow me on twitter @Anothergreen

East Berkshire Green Party @EastBerksGP



> Dear Dr Derek Wall
>
> I am contacting you as a member of CAMRA and as your potential constituent to ask you to show your support for real ale, community pubs and consumer rights if you are successful in May's European Parliament election.
>
> CAMRA is a consumer group with 160,000 members and acts as an independent voice for real ale drinkers and pub goers. Our vision is to have quality real ale and thriving pubs in every community.
>
> Pubs are a unique and valued British institution, contributing £22 billion to UK GDP every year and supporting more than 900,000 jobs. However, with new research showing that 28 pubs are closing every week, we are concerned that action is needed to protect and support them.
>
> As a member of the European Beer Consumers Union, a federation of 13 national beer consumer organisations across Europe, CAMRA is asking that election candidates commit to support beer and pubs. In particular, we are seeking action on:
>
> - Diversity of beer - British breweries are thriving with 1,100 small breweries currently operating. We support action to ensure consumers have access to a wide variety of beer in pubs, such as with the introduction of free of tie options and a guest beer right for licensees tied to large pub companies
> - Information about beer - in particular, we support ingredients listing and inclusion of the point of origin on all beer labels
> - Cost of beer - we encourage the consumption of beer (a low alcohol product) in the responsible environment of well-run community pubs, and so we support action to ensure the price of beer remains affordable
>
> Your support is very much appreciated, and I wish you the best of luck in the election.
>
>
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
>

15 Apr 2014

No to #TTIP Yes to Take Back the Power!

 
 
I have replied to several hundred requests for the 
Take Back the Power Pledge
as a Euro election candidate! 
Yep I have signed. No to TTIP! 
 
Dear Roger,


I have signed the Take Back the Power pledge (and had over four hundred emails 
asking me to!).

You can see that it is mainly Greens who have signed if you look here
 http://www.tjm.org.uk/take-action/candidates-who-have-signed-the-pledge.html

The Green Party opposes TTIP
And as Green Party International Coordinator I served on the European Green
Party TTIP working group and spoke up for rejection of this dangerous  
treaty that will destroy the NHS and smash environmental/labour  
protection.


Trade must be about economic benefits not corporate control.

thanks for getting in touch,

Derek Wall


South East Green Party European Candidate http://www.segreens.com/

Follow me on twitter @Anothergreen
Dr Derek Wall 
South East - Green 
 
 
Dear Dr Wall,
 
RE: Make trade work for people and planet. Request to sign Take Back the Power 
pledge
 
As a constituent of yours, I am writing to raise my concerns about the EU’s unfair 
trade and investment policy.  According to the Trade Justice Movement, EU trade 
and investment deals risk destroying jobs, small-scale industries and the livelihoods
of small farmers and businesses, as well as increasing environmental 
exploitation and the abuse of human rights. The deals will undermine developing 
countries’ efforts to provide for basic needs, reduce poverty, and develop in a way 
that is sustainable and protects the environment. Moreover, rules allow companies 
to avoid national courts and sue governments in unaccountable tribunals whenever 
they feel public policy will interfere with their current or anticipated profits. 
Not only does this deplete vital public funds but the threat of a costly legal 
dispute is sufficient to stop governments from introducing legislation in the 
public good.
 
MEPs must act now to ensure that trade and investment policy benefits people, 
the environment and development objectives. 
 
For more information about the EU’s trade and investment deals and the movement 
to promote an alternative trade and investment model visit: http://www.tjm.org.uk/
 
I am joining with others in the UK and across Europe in advance of the May 2014 
European Union elections to call MEP candidates to commit to take back the power. 
I urge you to sign the attached pledge - 
or you can sign online here: http://www.waronwant.org/power
to take action to bring about a full-scale re-think of the EU’s trade and investment policy. 
 
Yours sincerely,
 

7 Apr 2014

Fracking Insanity meeting, 8pm 10th April, Windsor Leisure Centre






 Fracking Insanity meeting, thursday 10th April, Windsor Leisure Centre, Clewer Mead, Stovell Road, Windsor, SL4 5JB

Speakers:
KEITH TAYLOR, MEP
DEREK WALL, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Windsor
PAUL MOBBS, environmental author and campaigner

The meeting will be in the Shallows Room.

With more than enough conventional coal, gas and oil to bring about extremely dangerous levels of climate change, why would any responsible government allow the extraction of even more fossil fuels by unconventional methods?

And especially when these methods carry significant pollution risks of their own.

Politically, The Green Party is virtually alone in opposing fracking in the UK. Come and hear why we cannot afford to be complacent about the threat, and how resistance has been taking shape across the world.

The speaker presentations will be followed by a Q&A session.

This public meeting has been organised by East Berkshire Green Party For further info, contact Mark Brown: 07971 829770 or eastberkshiregreenparty@gmail.com

4 Apr 2014

'Land Grabs' Mumia Abu-Jamal



Transcript of prison radio talk from http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/land-grab#.Uz6UZVdHdYE

With the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation, U.S. politicians have gone coo-coo, raising Cain about it, likening it to Hitler’s seizure of Poland, with Americans snarling about violations of international law, and “land grabs.” Almost immediately, Americans and Europeans, citing threats of “regional destabilization,” announced sanctions on Russian officials.
For Americans to crow about “land grabs,” is above all, an assault on U.S. history. For how did America come to be, if not for vast land grabs from the so-called Indians, and later, Mexicans? Was it illegal? Yep. Did it violate international law? You betcha!
Treaties are pacts between nations. The U.S. violated so many treaties with Native nations that it’s almost embarrassing to recount.
Remember Texas? It was part of Mexico, until the Americans rebelled. For almost 10 years it was its own country (The Republic of Texas), until 1845, when the U.S. annexed it.
Nevada? New Mexico? Arizona? Utah? Colorado? California? All of it was part of Mexico, until the US. started a war to justify a land grab. By 1848, it was over, and over half a million square miles became part of the United States.
I’m not a scholar of Crimea; nor of Russia for that matter. But I do know that it was originally annexed by Russia in 1783. It remained Russian until 1991, when it was ceded to Ukraine. Seen from this perspective, Russia had a better claim to Crimea than the U.S. had on northwestern Mexico.
Shall the U.S. return the land it stole from Mexico? Shall it then return the millions of square miles it swindled from Indigenous nations by violating international treaty law? The very question seems rather silly to us, doesn’t it? And yet, in 1999, our neighbor to the north, Canada, carved out a vast swath of its Northwest Territory and returned it to the descendants of the Indigenous, traditional people, the Inuit.
It’s called Nunavut — and it’s roughly the size of the so-called Louisiana Purchase, when France sold land to the U.S. — doubling it overnight. The very idea is crazy in America – giving back land.
In Canada, it’s history.

 

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