The Green Party: Woodies In Politics

The Election Series

Word. THE ELECTION HAS NOW BEEN CALLED. Things are hotting up and with less of a 2 horse race perhaps than ever before its an exciting time to welcome you to The SpanThatWorld.com Election Series where members of the movement give us a case for why “their party” is playing for the same team as Woodcraft Folk.

We have already heard from Kieran Ford begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting for Liberal Democrats (Click HERE), Daniel Rawnsley for Labour (Click HERE) and Kit Jones for The Conservatives (Click HERE)

Now Fresh from Brighton Allie Cannell presents the case for The Green Party

DISCLAIMER: The views presented in this series are of the individuals not of the organisation. Woodcraft Folk and The District Fellows Movement remain party politically neutral.

The Green Party – Woodies in politics

By Allie Cannell

Everybody knows that the Green Party do the environment, it’s their issue. They “own” it as my politics lecturer would say. But I always felt uncomfortable voting for a single issue party. Yes, Climate Change is a HUGE issue but there are lots of other crucial issues as well.

Just look at DFs, we know that Climate Change is an issue worth fighting for that’s why we ran the C-Change campaign.  But we have now got the No Nuclear Future and Stop the Traffik campaigns as well. And Woodies itself is more about empowering young people and changing society then any campaign for a single issue.

But the Green Party is not a single issue party. It recognises that the most important thing, in order to achieve a society which values the environment, is to achieve a society with values of inclusivity, fairness and democracy.

All Green Party policies are based on the 10 Green Party ‘Core Values’ and the Green Party ‘Philosophical basis’ which says what we want our society to be and how we propose to get there. And along with all Green Party policies it is online here: www.policy.greenparty.org.uk.

In the Empowerment section of the philosophical basis PB443 states that:

“We seek a society in which people are empowered and involved in making the decisions which affect them. We advocate participatory and democratic politics. Leadership should always be accountable, consensus-driven and moral. We reject the hierarchical structure of leaders and followers.”

Those sound like Woodcraft principles to me.

Many of the Green Party Core Values are extremely similar to Woodcraft values.

(1 & 2) The first two Values are about the environment and how the Green Party values all living things just as Woodies ‘claim kinship with every living thing’

(3) The third Core Value shows that that ‘if any are weary we will help them along’ is also a Green Party value. It states that:

The main policy that would achieve this is the introduction of the Citizen’s Income, a wage paid by the government to everybody as a right of citizenship irrespective of whether they’re working or not. It would be a proper safety net for people who lose their jobs, or have an insecure wage. And would also ensure that the most vulnerable, the young and the old , have material security. It would replace tax free allowances, JSA, all forms of benefits, and state pensions.

It would be paid for by an increase in income tax. For most people this would be more than offset by the Citizen’s Income they would receive. Those on low or moderate incomes will gain by the change. Some top earners would be financially worse off though.

(4) Number four says that the Green Party believes:

Which seems fairly obvious to Woodies, but the actions of some politicians show they do not prioritise this.

(5 & 6) Numbers five and six of the Core Values, are about democracy and inclusivity. They state:

And how the Green Party emphasises “democratic participation and accountability by ensuring that decisions are taken at the closest practical level to those affected by them”

(7) Number seven talks about a key Woodcraft principle, peace and non-violence. It states that the Green Party looks for

Which is why the Green Party was strongly opposed to the Iraq war and wouldn’t have jumped into war in Afghanistan in the same way as the Labour Party.

(8) The eighth Core Value is the reason I originally became interested in the Green Party, it’s not strictly a Woodcraft value but is something that I think most Woodies would agree with.

The epiphany I had was when the leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, pointed out that the ultimate goal of all government economic policy is higher GDP growth, which basically means making more money. Most people realise that on an individual level more money doesn’t necessarily make you happier, so why is it what we aim for on a national level?

It is actually more important to promote things which make people happier. Whether that is issues like keeping the Community Garden, rather than building a supermarket on it, here in Brighton. Or spending less time working and having more time for leisure.

That is why number eight of the core values is:

(9) Number nine commits the Green Party to being part of a wider movement, how organisations like Woodies are vital to the new society Greens want to build, how we have to fight for change on all levels, that’s why number nine of the core values states:

This is also why non-violent direct action comes naturally to most Greens. The Greens have supported the occupations at Sussex University against the higher education cuts. And there are Greens who are active in Climate Camp, CND and many other NGOs.

(10) Finally the last Core Value, number ten, shows how the Green Party wants the ‘fashioning of a new world’ too. It says

Woodies is about so much more than just socialism. Just like the Greens are about so much more than just the environment.  I think the Green Party and the Woodcraft Folk have the same aims. Woodies are using education for social change whilst the Greens are using electoral politics for social change.

And this is a very exciting time to be a Green Party activist. In Brighton Caroline Lucas has a really good chance of becoming the first Green MP. Not only do the Greens have the highest number of councillors in the constituency and came top in the European elections, an ICM poll in December put Caroline Lucas 8% ahead of the Tories, 10% ahead of Labour and 24% ahead of the Lib Dems!

Also in Norwich South, Adrian Ramsey has a good chance of getting elected. They also have the highest number of councillors and the lead in the 2009 European elections.

But even where the Greens have no chance of getting an MP elected, I would argue that a Green vote is not a wasted vote. The most likely effect of getting Green MPs elected is that the Labour party and possibly the Lib Dems will move back towards the left as they realise that there are still many people who want those policies. If there is also a strong vote all over the country, this is more likely to happen.  With Green MPs in Parliament to lobby the main parties to commit to the right policies and a strong backing nationally, the Green Party can start to implement their policies on a national scale.

So the Green Party are environmental activists. But they’re not just environmental activists, they’re Green Party activists fighting for social justice in every corner.

If you want to get involved in getting Green MPs elected come down to Brighton any Saturday between now and the General Election and help out at one of our action days. Go to www.carolinelucas.com for details.

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