Green-Rainbow Party Co-Chairs’ Statement: 

April 26, 2020:

We are living in a time of escalating crisis: pandemic, environmental collapse, perpetual wars, and an economic and political system incapable of meeting the needs of the people. This shocking reality has been decades in the making.

The Democratic and Republican Parties long ago abandoned working people to serve the wealthy 1%. They cannot lead us to a better future.

We urgently need a government that leads by listening to those who are suffering the most, and understands we are all connected. For this to happen, local, state, and national officials must be independent of the corporate parties and oceans of ‘dark money,’ that continue to block positive system change.

With leaders rooted in our communities, guided by a strong set of values and the genuine participation of the 99%, we can effectively address the current crisis and build a humane, ecologically sane future for all.

A true alternative party

The Green Party of the United States—in Mass, the Green-Rainbow Party—recruits and supports these kinds of leaders to run and win office. We can inspire millions in the state and nation to transform our politics, economy and healthcare for the common good if you bring your ideas and commitment, and join us.

The Green-Rainbow Party invites you to co-create this better future. Together, we have the power to build peace, justice and care for all people, and for all life on Earth.

Below are immediate and longer-term solutions proposed by Green-Rainbow members that we think Massachusetts residents like you will enthusiastically support. We believe the best solutions come from those most affected by the current crisis and long-standing injustices: please share your experiences and ideas with us and become part of the Green solution!

IMMEDIATE solutions

1. Prioritize Black, Brown, homeless, immigrant and undocumented communities for Coronavirus care

These communities, plus people over 60 and those in group living situations, are the hardest hit by the pandemic. We need extensive outreach in multiple languages, and testing for Coronavirus.

Provide free healthcare for those who cannot afford it. Testing without treatment hurts all of us.

2. Pay for the crisis response by ending “wealthfare,” the tax and public lands giveaways to wealthy individuals and corporations that are killing people and the planet. Fund healthcare, not warfare.

Move trillions of dollars away from military budgets and subsidies for Big Pharma, fossil fuels, banks and real estate developers. Fund the medical, economic and basic needs of the unemployed and those who lost their small businesses before the so-called “rescue package” gave away billions to big business and exhausted funding.

3. Provide healthcare, protective equipment, hazard pay and family care for the lowest-paid essential workers

Grocery store staff, postal and delivery workers, bus drivers, janitors, first responders, hospital, long-term care, home care, sanitation, farm and factory workers, and others are putting their lives at risk during this crisis. We demand they receive hazard pay, paid sick leave and a livable wage.

4. Use the law for the benefit of the 99%, not corporate carpet baggers

Invoke the War Industries Act to compel companies to manufacture needed medical equipment and supplies, and meet other basic human needs. Punish corporations and wealthy individuals who attempt to profiteer from the pandemic, by suggesting unproven treatments in which they have a financial stake, or by overcharging for needed supplies.

5. Make the banks, lenders, landlords and hotel companies do the right thing

A full one third of renters were unable to pay rent on April 1st. Banks must absorb the economic losses, not homeowners and tenants.

We call for rent forgiveness for tenants, and mortgage forbearance for small landlords and home owners of modest homes, particularly in neighborhoods and households hit hard by the 2008 financial and mortgage deregulation crisis: largely Black, Brown and immigrant communities, and woman-headed households. Suspend residential evictions and foreclosures.

House homeless people in hotels without charge to the public until they can be permanently and decently housed.

Cancel student debt.

6. Get the unemployment system on track to help everyone who needs it quickly

Increase state funding to speed up unemployment processing. Increase unemployment payments to provide the money people need to eat and stay in their homes. Cut the red tape that makes it harder to access benefits.

7. Provide payments to long-term unemployed people to cover basic needs, especially people who routinely experience employment discrimination, such as LGBTQ, people with disabilities, mothers, Black and Brown people, people over age 50, undocumented immigrants, and previously incarcerated people.

8. Release people held in overcrowded jails, prisons and detention centers so they don’t suffer a death-sentence-by-coronavirus. Stop deportations.

Release those awaiting trials for nonviolent offenses; those convicted of nonviolent offenses or who were scheduled to be released in the coming year; and undocumented immigrants in detention simply for being undocumented or for minor offenses.

Deportations endanger not only the deported immigrants, many of whom are refugees and asylum seekers; their relocation back to their home countries spreads the disease to communities least equipped to deal with the crisis. Deportations will prolong and worsen the worldwide pandemic.

LONGER-TERM Solutions (but ASAP)

1. Single-Payer health insurance/Medicare for All; end healthcare for profit

2. Fix our upside-down state and federal tax system so the wealthiest pay their fair share; make minimum wage a living wage; set a maximum wage

Reinstate the top marginal federal tax rate of 94% of 1944¹ for the wealthy, and restore intermediate tax brackets, lowering taxes for most working- and middle-class people. Restore estate taxes, to end wealth concentration in the hands of a tiny undeserving elite.

Create graduated MA state tax rates. Establish a state wealth tax for those with plentiful savings and investments.

3. Shift public money from the out-of-control military-industrial complex to re-employ people in jobs that will stem the climate emergency and improve people’s lives

Employ millions in construction of green-built public housing. Replace dangerous gas pipelines with decentralized, locally-owned energy microgrids using renewable solar, wind and geothermal sources.

Rebuild mass transit networks in the Northeast. Support low-carbon jobs in care for children, frail elderly and others needing assistance; social services; arts; and healthcare in hard-hit communities. Seed fund worker cooperatives.

Fund job training and education for these projects and more, to help revive the larger economy and save us money over time, while making the world safer for all.

4. Publicly fund our elections: end legalized bribery of government

Break the stranglehold of private money on elections and government.

5. Provide a Universal Basic Income, free education at all levels, and guaranteed housing for all

Our platform, including the Green New Deal and a Just Transition for All, is the only long-term solution to building a society that does not endlessly stumble from one crisis to another. Only an independent political party, answerable to our communities rather than lobbyists and dark money, can deliver the kind of government action we need.

What do you and your communities need in this crisis? What do you want our top priorities to be for this year and beyond? We look forward to hearing from you!

For People, Planet And Peace,

Charlene DiCalogero and Maha Gray, Co-chairs, Green-Rainbow Party Of Massachusetts