I have to admit, part of what drew me to the Green Party’s Annual National Meeting this year was the roster of people that were convening to discuss the past, present, and future of the Green Party. I thought just maybe I’d get to hobnob with Roger Waters, Briahna Joy Gray, Butch Ware, Craig Mokhiber, and Medea Benjamin. I’ve been to national gatherings before - 2010 in Detroit, 2012 in Baltimore, and 2019 closer to home in Salem. Much of what I’ve seen at the national level has been, to be blunt, quite a turnoff.

But 2026 was fundamentally different. As Jill said to me at this year’s May Day rally, “Gaza is the moral question of our time.” So it was with great weight that I took in the panel that Jill moderated on Gaza. Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada led off with a devastatingly stirring opening salvo, remote because his health limited his mobility. Then Craig Mokhiber followed up with the best speech I’ve ever seen at a Green gathering, calling us to action and lending his profound credibility to this burgeoning Green struggle against war, empire, and barbarism. Then Medea Benjamin, forced reluctantly to follow that duo, “thanks a lot” she said, and proceeded to tie it all together and remind us of our true power - the power of courageous and creative people coming together across the world to resist the domination of the war machine and its corporate collaborators. From the Palestinian Youth Movement to Irish organizers marching into stores and piling Israeli products at the front of the store, to an “Israeli Feta Cheese Stinks” campaign to purchase, open, and return Israeli feta that smells bad, like apartheid even. The power is in our hands and our hearts, and the panel reminded everyone in the room and on Zoom that the Green Party emerged from 2024 as the most credible force in the U.S. for stopping the U.S.-Israeli genocide.

Terrific programming and a return to in-person really made this national gathering stand out. Sam Husseini spoke to the UNGA’s Uniting for Peace potential. Briahna Joy Gray moderated a media panel with Nick & Rome from Revolutionary Blackout Network, Scott Free of the Green Livestream, and JT Cestkowski of Status Coup News. And Kshama Sawant joined virtually with Jill, Butch, Briahna, Cheri Honkala, and Nick Cruse for a powerful session in dismantling the duopoly together, just as Kshama’s campaign is truly heating up. Even Ralph Nader’s former campaign manager Theresa Amato made her way to Chicago and plugged in to this emerging party network representing hope for people, peace, and the planet. And oh so much more offering hope, vision, and crystal clear commitment to a values based party for all of us.

I went in a little skeptical, and had incredibly positive experiences that I dare say bordered on making the party, and the movement it best represents, feel irresistible. 

For me the Green Party national gathering in this historic moment, as empire melts down, was a homecoming, a pilgrimage and rite of passage all rolled into one. From the wisdom of national headliners to the powerhouse workshops on fighting ICE, stopping data centers and building local Green chapters, it was an uplifting, bonding, empowering experience beyond my wildest dreams. To paraphrase a New York organizer who commented at the closing: “I’ve been to conferences for 60 years and never expected to be inspired at this stage of the game. But this has me fired up like I’ve never been before.” Indeed, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

— Jill Stein