2021

Working toward a future where people and planet are valued, and our government represents all of us.

PA Green Reflects on Summer Travel   by GPPA Co-chair Beth Scroggin

As we progress into August, I find myself reflecting on how this summer has brought awareness of political issues we face, and how the Green Party has always been on the right side of history. Nearly every summer of my adult life, I have traveled to a different place in the U.S. or Canada and have sought to experience all that nature has to offer. My travels have all reinforced my sense of urgency when it comes to protecting our environment, and have highlighted the importance of one of the Green Party’s four pillars: Ecological Wisdom.

In addition to drawing my attention to our environment, my travels this year have also made evident our collapsing economy. While visiting Ocean City, MD, I was struck by how many stores were closed due to staff shortages. While conservatives love to complain that “nobody wants to work anymore,” the reality is that fewer people are willing or able to work jobs with unreliable hours, no room for advancement, poverty wages, and inadequate or nonexistent benefits. Now more than ever, we must also draw our attention to the Green Party’s pillar of Social Justice and run candidates who are willing to fight for it. Although so many people had hoped that we could stop worrying about politics in 2021, we are all reaching a point at which our unstable environment and economy can no longer be ignored.

With absurdly high record-breaking temperatures this summer in the Pacific Northwest, a frighteningly lengthy and intense fire season on the West Coast, and increasing frequency of violent storms and odd conditions like the record wet-bulb temperature here in the East, we are all beginning to feel the impact of climate change. The Green Party of the U.S. (www.gp.org) has called for President Biden to commit the U.S. to a 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as well as to formally declare a climate emergency, embrace a robust carbon tax, and increase U.S. funding for the climate mitigation fund for developing countries. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the president’s climate goals fall far short of what is necessary. (show all)

GPPA News Highlights   

  edited by Chris Robinson 

PA Greens to March for Medicare For All”

The Steering Committee of the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA, www.gpofpa.org) is pleased to announce that it has endorsed the #M4M4ALL | Marches (https://m4m4all.org/) which will take place on Saturday, July 24. Many members of the Green Party will participate in this nationwide march to rally for the cause of universal health. (show all)

PA Green Party Remembers Mort Malkin (1932 - 2021)

Beverly Beers, chair of Wayne County Green Party, said sorrowfully: "I received news that Mort Malkin of the Wayne County Greens passed away today, July 11. Mort was a peace activist, writer and fitness guru. He was the author of several books. His most recent was Homo Sapiens: A Violent Gene? (Pisgah Press LLC), in which he argued that human evolution and survival depended on cooperation and peace not violence and war. Mort was a mainstay of our Green Party. Members of the Green Party often lamented our lack of power in the face of the two behemoths which rule our political system. Mort never ever did." (show all)

Pittsburgh Green Party joins Stop the Station

Stop the Station is a coalition of local activist groups fighting for police accountability in the city of Pittsburgh, PA. It was initially formed in the summer of 2020 to fight the relocation of the Zone 5 Police Station to East Liberty at a cost of $3 million. There was a backlash from the community to the project and to the city’s lying that the decision was by popular demand. . . . The Green Party of Allegheny County (GPOAC, https://www.alleghenygreens.org) is a member of Stop the Station’s Community Control Coalition. Riley Mahon, a Green Party activist, says, “Stop the Station has increased the scope of its demands, including an immediate halt to all police-related capital budget projects pending community review. It also supported the recent direct ballot initiatives in Pittsburgh to enforce Breonna’s Law and expand the power of the Civilian Police Review Board. Stop the Station now additionally pushes for a 50% decrease in police funding, which would essentially bring the police budget back to levels prior to the current city administration. The cut funding should be redirected towards democratically owned housing and social service.” (show all)

Campaign Updates   

  edited by Chris Robinson  

GENERAL ELECTION, November 2

Connor Mulvaney for Pittsburgh City Council District 4

Connor told GREEN STAR, “This campaign continues to grow toward a true left-unity movement as we recently garnered the endorsements of both Socialist Alternative and Sunrise Movement. In July, we started on-the-ground canvassing every weekend and intend to continue those efforts along with phone and text-banking until the November election. The campaign is finishing up nomination signature gathering while helping a local campaign to get a democratically-elected police review board initiative on the ballot. Connor for Council is a youth-led grassroots campaign to give working Pittsburghers a voice in city government. It is as yet the only City Council campaign this Fall to challenge an incumbent. Volunteer opportunities are available by signing up: https://www.connor4pgh.com/get-involved, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Kearni Warren, Chester City Council, Delaware County
For more information follow her on Facebook.

More Green Candidates for November 2, 2021:

• Ward Allebach, Bradford Woods Borough Council, Allegheny County
• Steven Martinez, Dormont Borough Council, Allegheny County
• Lorianne Burgess, Mayor, Ambridge Borough, Beaver County
• Matthew Reitenauer, Brandywine Heights School Board, Berks County
• Jay Sweeney for Auditor, Falls Township, Wyoming County
• Jay T. Walker, Judge of Elections Ward 7, District 6, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County
• Abigail “Abi” Hunter, Judge of Elections Ward 7, District 8, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County
• Bill Pilkonis for Judge of Elections, Scranton, Lackawanna County
• Ben Campman for Inspector of Elections, Lower Salford Ward 5, Montgomery County
• Karin Albert for Inspector of Elections, Exeter Borough Ward 2, Luzerne County

National Green News   

  Edited by Noah Alter

Latest Cuba developments show U.S. fingerprints

In July, we all witnessed yet another uprising in Cuba and also in the streets of Miami, instigated by the U.S. government against the Cuban government. These uprisings were presented by the mainstream media as a pro-democracy movement and as anti-Cuban government rallies. However, unaware to most Americans, the U.S. government has fingerprints all over it. Since the 1960’s, the U.S. government officially outlined in the infamous Mallory Memorandum, which was designed to starve out the Cuban people and to force them into the streets against their government. Most, especially the younger generations are completely unaware of what the U.S. has been engaging in for decades, waging both covert and economic warfare against Cuba, against international law. The embargo is opposed by the whole world, most notably in the latest U.N. vote on June 23, 2021 with only the U.S. and Israel opposing. The U.S. should relinquish these Cold War approaches, which do not at all benefit the people of Cuba or of the U.S. (show all)

Demanding Action on Reparations, Greens Release National Petition Pressuring Passage of HR 40

Since 1989, HR 40 has been introduced every single congressional session, however, it seems that both the Democratic and Republican parties are not overly concerned with bringing an end to ugly, systemic racism in the U.S. Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Daunte Wright and Andre Brown at the hands of police, it appeared briefly to have sparked a revival of concern for inequality, among those in Harrisburg and Washington. However, once again, the concern for equality quickly dissipated, even among members of the Democratic Party, who often portray themselves as being the leaders of the equal rights movement. According to Green Party National Co-chair and National Black Caucus Co-chair Trahern Crews, “it is shameful that legislation representing such rudimentary — and yet necessary — steps toward reparations has been allowed to languish this long. It is time for the American ‘conversation’ around the legacy of slavery to turn into action and restitution.” The Green Party’s petition calls on Congress to co-endorse and pass HR 40, which would establish a commission to study and develop reparations proposals and “examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the U.S. from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.” (show all)

As Extreme Weather Rages Globally, Climate Groups Demand Biden and Congressional Democrats Fund a Robust, Ecosocialist Green New Deal

As extreme weather intensifies across the planet, more than 110 green, community, labor and faith groups released a letter in July urging President Biden and Congressional Democrat leaders to fund a 10-year, $42 trillion ecosocialist Green New Deal. The groups advocate paying for the stimulus through: higher taxes on the wealthy (and cracking down on their tax evasion), at least a 50% cut in the Pentagon budget, and a robust carbon tax based on the principle of polluters pay and borrowing. The green stimulus program would have a goal of slashing greenhouse emissions as rapidly as possible (e.g., zero by 2030). Such a goal necessitates immediately halting any expansion or development of new fossil fuel infrastructure, including fracking and oil and gas pipelines. Existing fossil fuel use must also be rapidly phased out, as well. This is America’s last opportunity to avoid climate chaos. (show all)

Global Green News   

  edited by Hal Brown

Placing Youth back in Politics with the Young Green Party of England in Wales

[In] July, the elections for the new Young Green Executives will take place in England. The Young Green Party of England and Wales (YGEW) is the official youth branch of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). . . . This branch of the GPEW enables youth to get involved in politics, in some cases before the legal voting age. Young people tend to be set on the side of politics, but their involvement is crucial according to [Frank] Adlington-Stringer, [a candidate in this year’s election], for two reasons: their prominent place in the future of our societies and their creativity. “Young people are the future, it should be theirs to shape, and young people have creative ideas. Many of the people making decisions have been battered into submission by the system. They are products of it and their thinking is stuck within its boundaries. Young people push those limits with new ideas,” declared Adlington-Stringer to Global Green News. (show all)

Green Party of Mexico: a Bystander to the Climate Crisis?

Green parties across the world take pride in promoting ecological progressive values and the belief in Social justice. At the 2001 Global Green Conference in Canberra, Green political leaders founded the Global Greens Charter. This document outlines the founding principals and subsequent objectives that ecological political parties across the globe are to follow. Two of these principles are widely known as ‘Ecological Wisdom’ and ‘Social Justice’. However, the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) has raised eyebrows for its seemingly anti-Green political agenda in recent decades. . . . Following the electoral alliance between the PVEM and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 2003, many politically informed Mexican citizens hoped that the Green Party would encourage ruling government officials to promote environmental policies. However over the last 20 years, the Green party of Mexico has been involved in various scandals; from aligning with parties that promote anti-Green politics to corrupt initiatives that bring personal financial gain to party affiliates. (show all)

Australian Greens Support Direct Action to Stop Bulldozing of Temperate Rainforest

Tarkine, also known as Takayna, is a forest reserve in Tasmania made up of temperate rainforest, sand dunes, and coastal shrubland. Its temperate rainforest is the largest in the Southern hemisphere. The Tasmanian Aboriginal people have long had connections to the area. It is also a refuge for endangered species like the Masked Owl and Tasmanian Devil. It is situated in the North West of Tasmania and spans 447,000 hectares. . . . [Minerals and Metals Group] MMG’s destruction of the Tarkine has not gone unnoticed. For three months, people have been gathering at the base of the Tarkine near the town of Rosebery to stop MMG from moving forward. Peter Whish-Wilson represents the Australian Greens and has been a Senator for Tasmania since 2012. . . . Senator Whish-Wilson posted on Instagram a message of support to all those who were protesting. His message highlights how, despite being recognized as valuable territory, the state and federal governments have not yet labelled Tarkine as a world heritage site. Nor have they halted MMG’s destructive activities. Whish-Wilson encourages people to volunteer for the cause . . . . (show all)

Calls to Impeach Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s Green Party are Among those Advocating for his Removal

Opposition parties and citizens are calling for the impeachment of Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, among the growing corruption allegations. Specifically, these allegations involve the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic in regards to vaccinations and the lack of responsive measures. . . . A super impeachment document has been submitted to the national assembly. The collective request to remove the far-right president from power combines multiple former impeachment documents and requests. Brazil’s Green Party (Partido Verde) are among those entities that signed the request. In multiple statements on their website and social media platforms, the party has expressed their strong desire for the president’s removal and how a collective effort could succeed. (show all)

GPPA Meeting Dates for 2021:

2021 Meetings will be held the second Sundays of: January, March, June, September, November. If March is in-person, it will be in Harrisburg. All State Web Conferences will be 12:00 Noon to 4:00 p.m. September's meeting will be in-person, and it will take place in Bellefonte, PA, on Saturday, September 18. You can now register for the September meeting HERE.

• Sunday, September 18, 2021
• Sunday, November 14, 2021

Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team & Media Committee 

Issue Credits:

EDITORS: Chris Robinson and Hal Brown, Noah Alter. 
CONTRIBUTORS: Beverly Beers, Riley Mahon, Tina Olson, Chris Robinson, Beth Scroggin, and Jay Sweeney.
LAYOUT: Tina Olson & Sheri Miller 
GRAPHIC ARTS: Kevin Richardson 

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The Green Star is an official publication of the Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team * 2021