GPUSA CALIFORNIA GREEN ASSEMBLY DEBATES BOSTON PROPOSAL



The GPUSA Green Assembly met Saturday, May 19, in Pasadena

and debated the pros and cons of the Boston Proposal, an agreement

to create a single electoral Green Party in the United States. The keynote

speaker was Blase Bonpane, former Green Congressional candidate

with the Office of the Americas and the Peace Center Coalition.

Bonpane, a former Maryknoll missionary expelled from Guatemala

for defending the human rights of the indigenous people, called on

Green candidates to use local campaigns to address global issues.

For instance, he said, a school board candidate could demand an end

to ROTC recruiting on high school campuses, calling for genuine

youth opportunities and dissociating the community from foreign

interventions.



Bonpane said that disagreements on the Left that were supposed

to be points of principle usually involved conflicts over status

and turf, and he called on Greens and those who want real

social change to work for unity.



In debating the Boston Proposal, Casey Peters presented the opposition

viewpoint, arguing that a negotiated unification of the Association of

State Green Parties and the Green Parties USA could only be done

after agreement was reached on a common platform, uniform bylaws,

and equal power-sharing.



Walt Sheasby, who had organized the Green Assembly, argued in favor

of the Boston Proposal, pointing out that the existence of two parties

claiming to be the real Green Party was untenable, that the State Parties

intended to form a Green Party U.S. that would ask for recognition by

the Federal Elections Commission, backed up by affidavits of its 2000

Presidential candidate and former Congressional candidates, and that

GPUSA had no basis for opposing that filing with the F.E.C..



Sheasby said many Greens support the formation of a new Green

Movement that would work within State Parties as well as independently,

maintaining and expanding the affiliation of former GPUSA locals.



Peters responded that there was no need to have a single electoral

Party representing the Greens, and cited the existence of a multitude

of socialist parties running Presidential candidates, including the

Peace and Freedom Party, the Communist Party USA, the Socialist

Party USA, the Socialist Workers Party, the Workers World Party,

the Socialist Labor Party, and several others.



Sheasby said that the public could easily accept the idea that a Green

Party wiould have both a right wing and a left wing, as with the

two major parties, but they could not understand two parties with

the same name competing for the title of real Green Party.



Ed Shacklett called for a fourth option on the printed ballot given

out at the meeting, and eventually his call for a fourth box for

‘Renegotiate’ as well as Accept, Reject or Abstain was accepted.

The completed ballots will be presented at the July 22 Carbondale

Green National Copngress along with other written ballots from

California GPUSA members.



The Green Assembly will meet again on September 22 in Idylwild

in Riverside County, California. The 24 members and guests present

and their GPUSA local affiliations were:

Appel, Doug; Venice Greens

Bonbane, Blase; Los Angeles Greens

Bonpane, Theresa; Los Angeles Greens

Cole, Ralph; Los Angeles Greens

Egan, Marc; Perth, Australia

Emmons, Cynthia, San Gabriel Valley Greens

Evans, Ed; Orange County Greens

Evans, Jay Orange County Greens

Hall, Joseph; San Gabriel Valley Greens

Hoffman, Renee, San Gabriel Valley Greens

Holmstrum, Britt; unaffiliated at present

Navarro, Tony, San Gabriel Valley Greens

Nelson, Susan B.; Los Angeles Greens

Pedroza, Donna; Los Angeles Greens

Peters, Casey; Peace and Freedom Party

Reutter, Chuck; Southwest Local, Riverside County

Riehle, Victor, unaffiliated at present

Shacklett, Edward; Ventura Greens

Sheasby, Walt Contreras; San Gabriel Valley Greens

Skye, Coby; Los Angeles Greens

Spillman, Julianne; San Gabriel Valley Greens

Tucker, Jan; unaffiliated at present

Weeks, Gabrielle; Los Angeles Greens

White, Gordon; Riverside Local, Riverside County