Tuesday 13 January 2015

5 Reasons Why You Should Join Green Left



Green Left was formed in 2006 by members of the Green Party of England and Wales, as a grouping for ecosocialist and other anti-capitalist radicals and to raise Green party politics to meet the demands of its radical policies. As well as acting as an outreach body that communicates the party’s radical policies to socialists and other anti-capitalists outside of the party.

First off, you do need to be a Green party member to join Green Left. With the current surge in Green party membership (32,000 in England and Wales alone now), I think it is a good time to restate the case for joining Green Left.

      1. After a recent meeting of London Green Left, a new recruit said to me that it felt good to be around 'likeminded’ people. This is an important point, although most Green party members are somewhere on the left, for true socialists it can feel slightly like you are a fish out of water. Green Left does offer a comradely space to discuss ideas and to organise for ecosocialists within the Green party
      
      2. The Green party has had something of an image problem over the years. That being, white and middle class. To be fair there is some truth in this, but how will that change (and it is starting to change) unless we can address issues that are important to working class and ethnic communities? Green Left stands for a clear and unequivocal ecosocialism which champions the interests of, to coin a phrase, the 99%.
      
      3. One of the objectives of Green Left is of an outreach body, for the Green party, to socialists and other radicals from outside of the party. We aim to give such people the confidence that they are joining a party of the left, where their political thinking will be welcomed.
      
      4. Green Left strives to increase and improve the international links of the Green Party, building links with radical greens and ecosocialists across the planet. It works closely with members of other European Green Parties to reform the workings of the European Green Party structures that must be democratised. 

   
      5. Perhaps the most important reason for Green Left’s existence is to act within the Green Party so as to raise Green party politics to meet the demands of its radical policies. Green politics needs to be based on dynamic campaigning and hard intellectual groundwork to create workable alternatives. To this end, Green Left is kind of like the conscience of the Green party and helps it to focus on its fundamentally radical philosophy.    

In short, Green Left works to enable you to live in a society based on peace, ecological balance, economic equality and inclusion.


Come and join us, you can find out how here.

2 comments:

  1. I think this is an excellent, pithy piece - but the last sentence of para 5 is sloppy and suffers from a degree of arrogance.

    How about something along the lines of : - "To this end, Green Left seeks to act as the conscience of the Green Party by encouraging it to focus on its inherently radical underlying philosophy"

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  2. Well one of my colleagues will be using this post as a draft for our paper conference newsletter. So if he prefers your wording, he can use it.

    BTW - I would prefer that people identify themselves when commenting here.

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