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A Green Party of NY State Committee meeting will be held Saturday, Jan. 28, in Rensselaer, NY, at the First Presbyterian Church, 34 Broadway. All enrolled Green Party members are welcome to attend and will have a chance to address the State Committee members during the morning enrollee speak out. Contact chair@gpny.org for more information. (Read more for agenda and directions.)
Kids from rich and poor districts compete against each other in a high-stakes game designed to reinforce a rigid class system. The plot to Suzanne Collins’ smash hit The Hunger Games, or Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new scheme for $200 million in “competitive school grants”?
Children apparently do not feel sufficiently pressured by the current battery of standardized tests, since filling in the right bubbles only determines their own futures. No…that is so early 2000s. Now kids can walk into a classroom knowing that the survival of their very community depends on how they perform in a high-stakes testing system that has been thoroughly debunked.
When economically suffering communities from Binghamton to Brooklyn have already been laying off swathes of veteran teachers, it’s hard to imagine how Governor Cuomo thinks pinning future funding to test scores is fair, humane or even sane. But the opportunities presented by masses of children competing for cash prizes in an era of austerity makes things clear.
For instance, it’s obvious now that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hire of glossy magazine maven Cathie Black as Chancellor of New York City Schools was an early attempt to cast his own Effie Trinket. And think of the revenue streams NY State could pull out of this racket, like a reality TV show depicting the progress, heartbreak and, of course, meltdowns of students and teachers during the lead-up to the big test day!
Obviously, tying school funding to mere academic performance will soon lose its excitement. In years ahead, New York students will compete for grants through traditional school sports like football and wrestling, followed by the introduction of a mixed martial arts tournament, until finally realizing Cuomo’s dream of a fully armed, child-on-child deathmatch broadcast live from an undisclosed location in the Adirondacks.
A Green New Deal, funded by taxing New York state’s corporations and wealthiest at their fair share, could ensure a quality education for every New Yorker up to the college level. Cuomo’s competition, by favoring affluent districts, will perpetuate unjust and unequal access and fail to prepare New York for the Green economy necessary to battle the ongoing environmental and unemployment crises.
It is cruel to pit children against each other and turn a human right into a winners-and-losers battle. Confront Cuomo at every opportunity with quotes and imagery from The Hunger Games series to unveil the brutality of the game he wants to play with the future of your children. Young people, who know the books well, will understand immediately that this scheme makes sacrifices of them to preserve an unfair system.
Finally, the competitive school grants plan is further proof that the Democratic Party leadership has embraced brutal principles of class warfare from above with imaginative enthusiasm. New York must build the Green Party to oppose the schemes of the 1% and create a Green New Deal for all. But until that day, may the odds be ever in your favor!
Michael O’Neil is the GPNYS Secretary. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
People’s State of the Union: A Green New Deal for America People’s State of the Union: A Green New Deal for America from Jill Stein for President on Vimeo.
READ THE FULL TEXT: http://www.jillstein.org/text_psou
Green Party to President Obama: Hands off Iran Green Party to President Obama: Hands off Iran; work for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and restore good will with the people of Iran
WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party candidates and leaders said today that the US must avoid a military confrontation with Iran by diplomacy based on the goal of ridding the Middle East and Asia of nuclear weapons, including Israel, Pakistan, and India.
The Green Party strongly opposes a military attack on Iran, a country that poses no threat to the US. Greens compared the deceptive rhetoric now being used to vilify Iran with the Bush Administration’s fraudulent justifications for a war on Iraq nearly ten years ago, with unconfirmed allegations about Iran’s plans for nuclear arms taking the place of Iraqi WMDs.
On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Green Party’s presidential contenders will discuss foreign policy and other topics in a live online chat with viewer participation during President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address, to be aired on the Green Party’s Livestream channel.
Green Party Says Cuomo’s State of the State Does Little for 99% of New Yorkers Governor Cuomo’s agenda for 2012 is designed to maintain the power and wealth of the 1%, promoting austerity rather than prosperity for the vast majority of New Yorkers.
“If we follow Governor Cuomo, the richest 1% of New Yorkers will still receive 34% of the state income. The janitor at Trump Tower will still pay a higher rate of state and local taxes than Donald Trump and Mike Bloomberg. The state Capitol will remain a source of corruption. The minimum wage will remain a poverty wage and hydrofracking for natural gas will harm our environment and health,” said state co-chair Howie Hawkins.
Cuomo, like most politicians, just offers lip service when it comes to job creation, while primarily promoting more corporate welfare. He also failed to address the growing crisis of poverty and homelessness in New York. His economic plan trades the old formula of prisons and road building for casino gambling and convention center expansion.
“We need a Green New Deal, financed through progressive taxes. We need a WPA style public jobs program to replace the 500,000 jobs the state has lost since 2007. Instead of rebating $14 billion annually to Wall Street speculators from the stock transfer tax, invest in creating a green economy in New York that relies on renewable energy, green manufacturing, sustainable agriculture, and expanded mass transit,” said David Doonan, the Green mayor of Greenwich, NY.
The Green Party was one of the first groups in the State to call for an outright ban on hydrofracking of natural gas. In addition to the main water and public health concerns involved with the process, the Greens support investment in renewable energy and conservation rather than further contributing to global warming with the development of natural gas.
In the last decade more than 5% of State legislators have been convicted for political corruption or otherwise forced to resign their seats. “Bribing legislators through campaign contributions and other graft remains the best investment that Wall Street can make. We need to curb the power of special interests by enacting public financing of elections and to end the practice of the two major parties running elections,” stated party co-chair Dr. Peter A. LaVenia.
“Cuomo’s New York is one where education is under attack, projects like a new Tappan Zee Bridge don’t get a rail link while climate change looms, and three-men-in-a-room politics continues to reign supreme. Cuomo cares about himself and his base, the 1%, while refusing to mention the Occupy Movement once. New Yorkers need and demand change, and they’re not going to get it from the governor. We’re building an alternative for the 99% to the Cuomo regime,” concluded party co-chair Hawkins.
Green Party To Host live Online Chat During President State of the Union Address The Green Party will host a live online chat during President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address on Jan. 24
The Livestream broadcast will feature Green presidential candidates Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay; viewers can participate in the chat and phone in with questions, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm until 11:30 pm.
WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party presidential candidates will participate in an online discussion immediately following President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Jan. 24. During the show, to be broadcast on the Green Party’s Livestream channel, viewers can call in with questions for the candidates. Viewers can also join in an online chat that will take place simultaneously with the State of the Union broadcast, which will be visible on the Livestream page. The public is invited to participate.
Green Parties in several states and the District of Columbia will hold presidential primary elections in 2012 similar to the Democratic and Republican primaries. The Green Party of the United States will hold its 2012 Presidential Nominating Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, July 12 to 15. Convention web site: http://www.
