Well, tomorrow I'll be off to my very first Green Party conference, spending Thursday to Sunday in sunny Brighton.
I have absolutely no idea what to expect, but it will be interesting to see how it compares to other conferences I've attended. For instance, how many references to the Arctic Monkeys will there be? Of course that would be the very opposite of cool, i.e. a middle aged man's idea of what passes for 'trendy'. No offense meant boys.
I'm staying in the rather frighteningly named "crash accommodation" and I have been advised that conference embodies both the very worst and the very best of the Green Party membership, gulp. Double gulp.
I'm going to try to blog conference day by day - but we'll have to see what the facilities are like, you may have to wait until I get back, keep your fingers crossed. There will be at least one other blogger at conference Sian Berry, a very charming young woman, who can be found here during conference - maybe she'll have a laptop I can borrow...
So if there's anything you'd like me to look out for, Caroline Lucas turning up in a 4x4, ritual chanting and the burning of enormous wicker structures just let me know and I'll keep 'em peeled.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Will Brighton Rock?
Labels: Brighton06, Green Party
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12 comments:
>>the burning of enormous wicker structures>>
That's known as the 'Friday social'. :)
Matt
... Triple gulp ...
Greens? Ouch.
I remember their Euro election broadcast, calling on government to "Green up their act". Ouch. Nasty pun.
don't know about the burning of wicker structures, but there is the earth chant . . . ;) See you there!
I don't like one-issue parties especially since other left wing parties have the same type of policies. The Greens end up hurting other very similiar leftist parties and visa-versa
What one issue parties? I don't know of any... you don't mean the Green Party do you?
I guess you must be thinking of anti-war candidates like Rose Gentle and Reg Keys.
For a pun that bad you deserve to have a terrible time.
Greens encompass many tendencies, including neo-liberal,
Look forward to your blogging from the conference!
cheers
There's an easy dismissal of the Greens sometimes from people on the left which I find unfair and rather lazy(and I'm not in thre Greens). Re: Renegade Eye's comments - that's not quite so appropriate for the UK Green Party and, anyway, the response might be that Trot parties encompass many tendencies including the downright mentalist, and mass murderous.
Moll - I think I might - I've lost my sleeping bag! Argh! and you've been waiting to say that in revenge haven't you ;)
Renegade - I totally agree. The UK Green Party does not have a significant neo-liberal faction, I'd say even among the right of the party there is a prgoressive consencus (spell that worse i dare you!) - i think the main division here is actually not between left and right (in the Greens) but between those who think we need to get elected and deliver good policies and those who have a broader idea of being part of a movement for social justice...
I'm not particularly concerned to try to push policy to the left (because its pretty far left already) but I am concerned to encourage some members to turn away from a *purely* electoral approach.
yeah - I think you are completely right there Jim.
The area that the Greens need to give more thought to is strategy not policy.
they have loads of good policy, but an unstated strategy of maybe get one MP in 5 years, and in 70 years may have gradually built up enough electoral support to form a government isn't realy matching the urgency of the environnmental crisis.
To my mind this adds to the urgency of bringing the greens more unammbiguously (see worse spelling than you!) into the social justice camp - with an explicit recognition that capitalism is part of the environmental problem.
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