[Northampton-GP] Reposting Text of Aviles Strategy/Vision

[Jim Bosman]

This should be readable by all machines, I hope. - Jim Bosman 

Northampton Green Party January 7, 2003 Following the gubernatorial and statewide elections of 2002, Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party locals across the state find themselves wondering what to do next. In a recent planning meeting for the Northampton Green Party meeting the idea was agreed to that a “statement of strategy,” for lack of a better term, was to be written to guide our actions as a local for the coming future. The following is a draft of such a statement that will be hashed out by us as a group. Once finished, the document will hopefully be the basis upon which we decide our future political and community work. 

“The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party is the fastest growing political party in the state. The success of the statewide campaigns of Jill Stein, Anthony Lorenz, and James O’ Keefe have increased knowledge of the Greens and our ideas amongst the electorate. However, as we face a interim period before the next election cycle, the question before us as a party is: what does a radical, grassroots political party do when not running elections? What should be our goals for the next two years? This is as much a question for our local as it is for our party as whole. 

“What are our goals? Our main goal is to improve the quality of life of present and future residents of the Commonwealth, our nation, and our world by making our government and society reflect the vision expressed in the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party Platform and in the Ten Key Green Values, a vision that includes commitments to ecological wisdom, non-violence, feminism, participatory democracy, social justice, community-based economics, and anti-militarism. 

“So then how do we go about making our ‘government and society’ reflect this vision? 

“First, we commit ourselves to the cultivation of an engaged citizenry, of cultivating a fighting spirit amongst the residents of Northampton to challenge business as usual, to demand greater power and control over the decisions that shape their political, cultural, and economic lives; to dare to dream and fight for a world where power belongs to the people and not to the corporations, where great care is taken to preserve our planet for all future generations, where the values of love, compassion, and sympathy for our fellow humanity are social norms and not mere ideals, and where “democracy” defines our actual way of life and not just a word abused in the self-congratulatory cant of our nation’s leaders. 

“Second, as a local of a nascent political party, we commit ourselves to building and strengthening this party, to increasing our membership base among local area residents, to advancing the progressive vision outlined in the Ten Key Values and the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party Platform in our local and state governments, and to compete with existing political parties for the mantle of political leadership in Northampton and the Commonwealth as a whole. 

“We do both, but both are not equal. An empowered citizenry is democracy realized, and encouraging a mobilized and active citizenry fighting for a progressive vision is a goal in itself. As a political party we pursue our own agenda as long as we do not compromise our overall commitment to the empowerment of the people. We enter into a dialogical relationship with community residents, take cue from them in identifying the pressing needs of the town, work with them to forge solutions that works simultaneously to empower citizens and realize our party platform, and campaign in local elections with an agenda truly representative of the aspirations and concerns of the city’s residents. With time, our local and its representatives will earn the faith and party loyalty of Northampton’s residents, making our party the dominant political force in the region. While we build a party, we also build a political movement that seeks to transform our society from the inside out. 

“Thus, the criteria for choosing with projects we work on as a local are (1) to what degree the project will help encourage and activist citizenry and (2) to what degree the project will help strengthen the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party. When projects are proposed to our local for consideration, they should demonstrate how they intend to advance these two objectives. 

“Having an established criteria for projects still does not answer the question of how many projects we take on and/or the manner in which we work together as a group. How we decide to answer these questions will not be spelled out here. However, there have been some models that have been floated in our meetings that I will mention here briefly. 

“One is to be a clearinghouse of projects, whereby any and all ideas consistent with our party program are welcomed, and each local member would be free to choose the issue of their liking. Another model is one where we decide to function more as one group by first selecting and limiting the number of projects we work on, followed by prioritizing the projects we as a collective most want to spend our time and energy on. 

“There are strengths and weaknesses in both models. Whether we choose one of these, a variation of these, or something altogether different is a question we will need some time to answer.



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