Why I have cancelled my membership of the Green Party

Today I have cancelled my membership of the Green Party. Many of you may be surprised by this announcement, especially after the success of electing our first Green MP.

Despite our success in Brighton, I do not feel confident about our future growth as a party. Our share of the vote actually fell in the election from 1.1% to 1.0%. This is lower than UKIP (on 3.1%) and BNP (on 1.9%). Out of the 300+ seats we stood in we only managed to save our deposit in 6 constituencies.

We did not fare any better in the local elections. Although we gained a few seats we ended up with a net loss of 4 seats.

Proportional representation may help the Green vote, but I don't hold out much hope of seeing it arrive in the near future. Even with PR, there is no saying that it will help increase our number of elected representatives. The last Euro Elections, carried out under PR resulted in no extra seats.

I do hope I am wrong in my predictions and wish the Green Party ever success in the future. However, after spending 8 years on the political sidelines first with the Socialist Alliance, then Respect and finally the Green Party, I feel the time has come to move on.

I will especially miss my involvement in Green Left. I greatly admire the activists in Green Left and if not for GL I may have moved on earlier.

Climate and Capitalism seminar

Climate and Capitalism
Saturday 12 September
10.30 - 5.30, Friends Meeting House, Euston, London
A seminar organised by Socialist Resistance and Green Left

Sessions on:

* Global Fight for Climate Justice
* The economic crisis and the ecosocialist response
* Gender, ecology and ecosocialism
* Alternatives to the market
* Alternative production
* The impact in the global south
* Direct action prefiguring a sustainable society
* Sustainable cities
* The campaign for green jobs
* Building the fightback and organising for Copenhagen

Speakers: Ian Angus, Grace Livingstone, Raphie de Santos, Romayne Phoenix, Liam MacUaid, Helen Ward, Sean Thompson, Sheila Malone, Derek Wall, Terry Conway, Roy Wilkes and others...

Book now on-line for 1/3 off entry and £2 off new book by Ian Angus on "The Global Fight for Climate Justice" by clicking here.

Check out all the details on the seminar and get the leaflet here.

Green Left fringe at conference

Andrew Murray, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, will be speaking at a fringe meeting organised by Green Left at conference this Saturday.

The fringe which is at 1pm will be on ‘NATO Expansion to the East. A new Cold War in Europe?’ and is particularly timely as the NATO 60TH anniversary summit is taking place in Strasbourg on April 4th , at which President Obama is expected to announce new US policy in relation to NATO, missile defence, relations with Russia and the war in Afghanistan.