Back to the Philosophical Basis

 Thank you to Ecosocialist Alliance for publishing my piece in time for last week's Green Party of England & Wales, Spring conference:

Back to basics – back to the Philosophical Basis

"We’re not in the orchestra – but they’re playing our tune"

We’re in an ecological crisis, it’s the greatest threat we face and is the absolute definition of an emergency - yet politics continues to dance around the edges of the action required to save ourselves and all else that depends on nature and the environment as a life-support-system. Does our Party have the right focus for right now?

Each member has their own particular take on what the purpose of the Green Party of England & Wales is. Of course: ‘a political party seeking electoral power’ but what is it, that we want that power for? GPEW makes clear in the Philosophical Basis that it’s not about being IN power, it’s decidedly more moral than that:

>>PB503 We will even work with those who disagree with us where sufficient common ground can be found to do so. However, we do not seek power at any price, and will withdraw our support if we are asked to make irreversible or fundamental compromises.<<        

When I first read this and the rest of the Philosophical Basis, I felt aligned enough to join the Party. I saw GPEW as the ‘political wing’ of a global movement of honest campaigners; facing each crisis head on with science-based facts and stubborn determination to protect our life-support-system.

I’ll admit a certain UK-politics naivety as I wasn’t in the UK for much of my life and had no interest in politics – until there was no choice. Realising how unjust life was and how dangerous many political decisions were, I came to GPEW to see if anything could be done and with others, try to stop the nonsense masquerading as democracy.

Then I discovered First Past the Post voting and it was made clear that we don’t stand a chance in a 2-horse race where neither horse is willing to give up the chance of winning, by introducing Proportional Representation. I was broken at the realisation but not deterred. GPEW is clearly the Party that we need during an ecological crisis – it’s the very reason it was formed!

We’re not in the orchestra – but they’re playing our tune

I noticed though that GPEW was at least being heard by the creators of Manifestos for other Parties – in fact the Labour Manifesto of 2019 was so similar to GPEW’s Manifesto that it ended up coming out on top! Friends of the Earth said at the time:

“The Labour party has come out top in Friends of the Earth’s environmental assessment of the main UK-wide party manifestos, with the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats also putting forward a wide-range of significant policies to respond to the climate and ecological crisis.”

Would Labour have done as much, if they weren’t being reminded constantly by Green Councillors, Green Peers and our Green MP – that the issues can’t be ignored? It may be near-impossible to gain enough MPs to impact Parliament but at least we can champion truth and force other parties to include our policies. We only fail at getting the credit we deserve.

Politics aside (I know, this is a political publication) – the fact is, every person of every Party or none, needs to breathe unpolluted air and needs clean water, a survivable climate and nature with its essential biodiversity. What sets us apart from the other parties is that we have an urgent mission that’s been there since the start.

>>PB201 The human species is a latecomer to the biosphere. Our survival depends upon the continued survival of all the ecosystems which evolved before us. The Green Party therefore sees humanity as necessarily a dependent part of the natural environment. When human activity threatens the environment around us, that activity threatens our future survival. Political objectives should accept our dependence, not seek to transgress it. We do not believe that any other species is expendable.<<

When I first started opposing fracking, I saw stopping it as a ‘red-dot’ in the distance to aim for. Every decision I made was based on whether it would get me closer to the 🔴 ...or be a time-consuming distraction.

A lot of GPEW members I speak to, feel we may be caught up in distractions and that the ‘elections-first’ approach is damping down our other campaigns. Although many (most?) GPEW members are already active in local or national environmental campaigns like XR, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace or challenging HS2, fighting for clean air, opposing sewage-dumping, defending trees etc., we don’t see these as particularly GPEW campaigns. Taking credit isn’t a thing these campaigners do but perhaps we should. Our Green Politics is about more than our Party or just politics as per the Philosophical Basis:

>>PB501 We do not believe that there is only one way to change society, or that we have all the answers. We seek to be part of a wider green movement that works for these principles through a variety of means. We generally support those who use reasonable and non-violent forms of direct action to further just aims.<<

Sustaining our moral core and our aims is a tough one though in the world of party politics, First Past the Post voting, dubious funding and biased media where so much is staged and lacks any authenticity. I recall how out of place yet refreshing it was to see Caroline Lucas go on a tour of ‘leave’ areas to better understand what the real issues were; it was clear she genuinely gave a damn and not just because it might look good in media. Not that the media paid much heed of course.

Clearly we need political change and GPEW has the genuine focus on the environment that’s needed – the other Parties merely paying lip-service for votes. Realistically though and while we’re striving to add to our impressive list of Councillors or more than one MP, there has to be more to us doesn’t there?

As agreed by most ‘the house is on fire’ and we need to be continuing to act beyond politics, with the visible urgency that’s needed. People like Rupert Read and Greens CAN (Climate Action Network) get this. Whether you believe rapid change is possible or not – it’s going to happen ‘naturally’ as nature continues to be depleted, agriculture continues to pollute soil and waters and fossil fuel projects still get approval to do more harm.

With that 🔴 in mind but this time for genuinely life-saving Green policies - every decision we make as a Party must surely have first considered “where’s the environment/climate/nature/ecology in this?”

What are we putting our personal and party energy into?

We all want GPEW to ‘win’ and to be much more than a pressure group – but we aren’t winning quickly enough and at least, we are a really good pressure group. In 2020 Caroline Lucas introduced the Climate & Ecology Bill that has received cross-party support and is making its way through Parliament. Many GPEW Councillors have succeeded in putting motions to Councils and members when they hear of it, are supportive. IF the CE Bill was to pass – it would mean that plans to frack, to build new coal mines, to pollute etc would be illegal. It also crucially would mean that allowing nature to waste away would be illegal. Not only halting the harms to and loss of nature but the restoration of it.

On top of this, the CE Bill (supported by the Zero Hour campaign) would thankfully take away the need for us to spend so much of our time protesting to save the environment – the law instead would simply yet firmly, make that sort of thing… illegal. Phew. If we focused valuable energy and campaigning into getting Caroline’s Bill into Law, we will have achieved what our Philosophical Basis expects of us as a Party and maybe too, we’d have the breathing room (literally) and credibility to get into power despite FPtP.

Although it feels like the cost-of-living crisis, social injustice, class wars, privatisation of vital public services and corrupted politics should be a priority as they ensure that the vast majority suffer whilst the very few succeed, in the end everything depends on the environment; the economy, our health, society etc.

All our fights for a fairer, greener society will count for nothing if we stay on the planet-wrecking trajectory we’re on and there will be no justice, no anything.]

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