[Northampton-GP] Message from Michael Aleo

[Jim Bosman]

Northampton Greens:
Below is a message from Michael Aleo regarding the Green-Rainbow name change. Please keep in mind as you read this and complete your straw polls that as it stands now, the name change is a necessary condition of the formation of the Green-Rainbow coalition. 
Respectfully, 
Jim Bosman
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There has been a lot of discussion and tension around the issue of changing the name of the Massachusetts Green Party to the Green-Rainbow Party.  This is understandable.  The new name has failed to achieve popular consensus.  While I know it is difficult for many to accept the name for a variety of reasons, I also know that it is our beliefs and our convictions, not our name, that will compel people to support us in the future.  It is my opinion that the seemingly awkward name might one day soon roll off of our tongues with ease.  
Many people have struggled down a long road to get to the point where such a coalition could exist.  I had been involved with the Rainbow Coalition for several years before really considering joining the Green Party.  I joined the Green Party for one principal reason - because the Rainbow and the Green were joining together to form one strong, progressive party.  This move can help to build a bridge that is absolutely necessary for the success of our movement.  Our movement is one to create a more accountable, just and democratic society.  This cannot happen with out those Greens and Rainbows, and still many others, actively cooperating. 
Perhaps the name will not last forever.  Perhaps we will join with labor and call ourselves the Green-Rainbow-Labor party.  A name is indeed important, but I do not believe that this name change will in any fundamental way determine our future.  If we are successful with our effort to win Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation there may be more room for smaller parties to exist without the need for such mergers to occur.  Coalitions of independent parties could form effective political blocks.  But as politics stands right now, and into the near future, it works to our advantage to combine our efforts.  
Above all else, what we should not allow is for a splinter of our efforts based on racial issues.  This would be a disaster - one which I do not foresee occuring.  For myself, I came in with the Rainbow Coalition.  If such issues pushed the Rainbow out of the party, I would indeed go with it.  There is no reason for this to occur.  But for oh-so-many reasons, it is certainly a possiblity.  People's egos, their backgrounds and politics can clash to easily.  We should all collectively do our best to not have the clashes tear us apart. 
I do have a strong optimism that this whole experience can bring us closer together and make us more determined to win the struggles that lay ahead.  When the issue of the name is behind us we should be ready to build the base necessary to change the scope of politics in Massachusetts and beyond. 
Well, I wish you all the best.  Hope to see you soon. 
Michael



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