US Greens Today by Dean Myerson

Green Party Platform and Origins by Steven Schmidt

The Origins of Green Parties in Global Perspective” –
a forum of the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the German Historical Institute

The Heinrich Boell Foundation and the
German Historical Institute invited to a international Green convention
of a special kind: On Wednesday, May 26, 2004 in the German Historical
Institute in Washington a one-day forum on “The Origins of Green
Parties in Global Perspective” took place. Members of the Green Parties
throughout the world – from Australia, the United Kingdom, the US,
Finland and Germany – had gathered, discussing not only the origins,
but also the status quo and the future prospects of the Green movement.
One of the more tangible political results of the environmental
movement over the last thirty years has been the development of Green
parties throughout many parts of the world. As the situation of those
parties throughout the world differ, the conference tried to examine
the history of the Green parties and to evaluate their impact over the
past three decades.

Dean
Myerson, Executive Director of the Green Institute, welcomes the guests
of the reception of the Green Institute and the Boell Foundation on the
evening of the conference.

How it all started

Charlene
Spretnack, a co-founder of the Green network and a close observer to
the German scene, and Christoph Becker-Schaum, Head of the Green
Archives of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, described the historic
situation very clearly. The Green movement evolved in all countries
which were represented at the conference in the seventies of the last
century and were largely a response to a world which ignored social and
environmental justice. In Australia, the Green political party was
founded in 1972, with the insight that it is important to get electoral
seats in the parliament in order to really get ecological issues on the
political agenda. Especially in the USA and in Germany, the seventies
were a time in which the political situation provoked strong civil
rights movements as well as anti-nuclear power and anti -war movements.
Women’s and feminist groups entered the public stage, too. And in
Germany and France, strong conservative movements (for example the
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Deutscher oder Demokraten) also made a
claim to ecological issues. They partially stemmed from the youth
movements in the teens and twenties of the last century had ecologic
issues on the agenda.

USA and Germany

John Rensenbrink

Green
Federal Party founding in the US took place later than in Europe. In
1984, at the North American Bioregional Conference, several people met
to discuss the need for a Green movement. After a follow up meeting in
St. Paul, Minnesota, the US Green movement was born, a decentralized,
networked organization “Committee of Correspondence” was created and a
clearinghouse established. Especially the election of the German Greens
to the federal German Parliament and the outstanding work of the German
Green party leader Petra Kelly ignited the idea of founding a
comparable institution in the US, according to Charlene Spretnack in
agreement with each speaker. And both parties , the German greens and
the US movement had to face several problems: -struggles within the
different movements (left wing streams within the party who obstructed
the work) and -basic questions of identity such as a) whether the
Greens should be a party organization or stay a movement which is an
alternative to the established political parties; b) where were the
Greens heading to; c) whether political power should be achieved in
order to obtain changes by means within the political system or whether
the Greens should remain a movement beyond the conventional structures
and try to put pressure on the government and the legislative bodies.

Developments and Solutions

While
the different ecological and social movements in Germany finally
succeeded in working out a structure as a party body and in dealing
with questions of delegating power, within the US Greens on the federal
level, according to co-party founder of the US Green party, John
Rensenbrinck, the basic questions prevail until today. These questions
are to a high degree due to the different structures of the two
political systems. The US majority voting system (“winner takes
all”-principle) established a solid two party system with almost no
chance for third parties to enter the political bodies and therefore
keeps the Green party members and activists rethinking continuously
about the party’s role and its means and tactics. On the other hand,
the Greens have to tackle with a political culture with comparatively
high percentages of unpoliticized people and low turnouts, according to
John Rensenbrink, also one of the principal founders of the Maine Green
Independent Party, and Howie Hawkins, a leading activist in different
movements and of different Green party organizing efforts. The German
Greens, on the contrary, benefited from the political system in Germany
and high voter turnouts. Getting state funding offered the possibility
to establish professional party structures with an experienced and
skilled staff. On the other hand, the Greens were forced to discipline
themselves in order to jump the 5-%-hurdle, i.e. the minimum share
which is required in order to enter the German federal parliament.

Where are the Greens now

As
was agreed by all speakers, the Green history is a story of success.
Green parties have been established in nearly 100 countries. The
struggle for social and ecological goals has become a global movement.
On the local, on the state and in some countries even on the federal
level the Greens take part in political decision making. The German
Greens even have their stake in the federal government and in the
legislative bodies. The leading researcher on the German Greens, Helmut
Wiesenthal, pointed out additional significance: The Greens widened the
political agenda and changed the political culture in Germany so much,
that the other political parties were obliged to adopt Green issues in
order to secure their shares in the electorate. And Latvia is even
governend by a Green prime minister.

Carl
Lankowski (right), Foreign Service Institue, US Department of State,
and Pekka Haavisto, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and
former Finish Environment Minister

So everything is fine?

Not
quite. As Sara Parkin, one of the founders of the British Greens, made
clear, even in Europe’s first Green party, the British Greens, there is
total ambiguity on the role of the Greens. With regard to severe losses
of the Green party in elections and the very small gains they obtained
in recent elections, she called for a whole “psychology of change”. The
Greens, and not only the British ones, that was her thesis, lack a
clear vision of what exactly should happen politically in order to set
green ideas into reality. In the past, Greens not only failed to rely
on exact scientific data, but also lacked politically realistic and
coherent answers to the ecological, social and economic challenges.
There should be a concept and a strategy of policy making relying on
the fact that a majority voting system will, for the time being, not
allow the Greens to get political power in the sense of having elected
representatives.

Brian
Tokar, an activist, author and member of the Institute for Social
Ecology in Vermont, emphasized the problem of the US Green party on the
federal level, but maintained that the multiple success of the Greens
on the local level and on the state level has proved the strength and
the vitality of the Greens.

Hubert
Kleinert, a political scientist and once a member of the first Green
faction in the German parliament, outlined that the German Greens were
in good shape right now, given their defeat in federal elections in
1990. The rifts between “Fundis” (“fundamentalists”) and “Realos”
(“realists”) were overcome due to the disciplining effect of political
responsibility. The German Greens have even become the motor of social
and ecological reform in the German government. Although they were
confronted with fundamental issues – touching the very heart of Green
principles and beliefs (i.e. the intervention of NATO in the former
Yugoslavia), they succeeded in adapting to the needs of the hour. The
electorate of young civil and social servants, well-educated people
under the age of 40 in the cities maintain comparatively close and
stable ties to the Greens.

Sören
Haffer (right), Heinrich Böll Foundation, and Hubert Kleinert,
University of Wiesbaden, Germany, and formely Speaker of German Green
Party

The European dimension

Pekka
Haavisto, former environmental minister of Finland and now member of
the United Nations Environment Programme, outlined the success of the
Greens in Finland and Sweden as well as throughout Europe with Latvia
even having a Green Prime Minister Indulis Emsis. The long presence of
the Greens in the European Parliament is due to a very intense
cooperation between the different Green parties. With the founding of
the “European Green Party” out of 32 Green parties in 29 countries in
February 2004, the European Greens took, according to Haavisto, a
further step. With the new linkage, the solidarity among Greens
throughout the enlarged Europe will be strengthened. And Green work
within the political Europe will be increased. “This is the beginning
of a global orientation”, Haavisto prized the current situation.

And above all: what’s next?

Green
issues are current ones in the political field; environmental issues as
key issues will be the challenges of the 21st century. And the green
future is a global one. All speakers agreed on this.

Lorna
Salzman, Green Party of New York, Brian Tokar, Institut for Social
Ecology, Vermont, Frank Zelko, German Historical Institue and Helmut
Wiesenthal, Humboldt-University, Berlin) (right to left)

Senator
Bob Brown, co-founder of the Australian Greens, strongly called for the
further development of global Green structures. International relations
between European, American and Australian Green parties and movements
have already existed since the seventies. But globalization in trade,
in production of goods and the international structure of corporations
require much more political cooperation. That’s why Australia hosted
the first conference of Global Greens in 2001. Global ties will not
only help in fighting for issues. It will also give support to
developing countries in establishing political structures and thus
forming an international and therefore strong alliance against the
global ecological, economic and political threats. Lorna Salzman,
co-founder of the New York Green Party, put stress on a reassessment of
ecology as the key issue of the Green parties. She also underlined the
importance of the decline to all kinds of ideologies. “We need a
commitment to truth”, Salzman stressed. Brian Tokar mentioned the
ongoing task to combine party and social movements. This was consistent
with Bob Brown’s appeal never to forget the people as the owner of
political power. Political power should always be transformed to the
people, he said. The statements by conference speakers will be issued
online in brief and will be published as a book.

External Links:


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Global Greens 2008

In May of this year, Greens from all over the world will participate in the second Global Greens Gathering in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The objectives are to:
  • promote the Global Green Charter among the Green Parties of the world, as
    well as kindred groups and society at-large;
  • stimulate and facilitate action on matters of global consequence; and
  • deepen communication among Green Parties and Federations everywhere


The Green Institute will be attending with observer status and is conveing a meeting of Green think tanks and institutes from around the world.