Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Green Party Leadership Election

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Green Party Leadership Election

    The deadline for candidates was today and we have four choices to make. In order of when they declared their candidacy they are:

    Tina Rothery and Martin Hemingway
    Amelia Womack and Tamsin Omond
    Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay
    Shahrar Ali

    Given the reason for Sian Berry standing down, trans issues obviously are a big part of this election, but obviously other factors too.

    Rothery and Hemingway basically represent a more traditional environmentalist focused approach, without much of a focus on social issues. I don't see that they stand much of a chance.

    Womack and Omond are more interesting. Womack has obviously been deputy leader for several years, but has proved much better at winning internal elections than getting elected to office. But she's an experienced and decent communicator. Omond, I hadn't heard of before the campaign but they have a background in direct action with Plane Stupid as well as being a councillor. This candidacy represent a clear attempt to combat the transphobic minority of the party, not just because Omond is non-binary but because they are making inclusivity a key part of their campaign.

    Denyer and Ramsay are the closest to continuity candidates and they are the ones who have had the most high profile endorsements so far, though the high profile figures haven't said anything yet. They have the most professional campaign and are likely to be the most professional at managing the party. Denyer has been vocally pro-trans previously but it's not been a part of their campaign as yet. Ramsay has a reputation as a very good organiser, but I don't know much about what he thinks.

    Ali is running on an explicit transphobic campaign and if he wins I'll be leaving the party. Very little support apparent from actual party members, but lots of GC people saying they are going to join/rejoin the party to vote for him. I can't see that he can get more than 25% of the vote, but it's possible that the lack of an overwhelming favourite among the other candidates might let him slip through, particularly if lots of Terfs do sign up to vote for him.

    #2
    Originally posted by Etienne View Post
    Ali is running on an explicit transphobic campaign and if he wins I'll be leaving the party.
    I can't help that this sort of the thing is the primary reason behind why Terfdom began its suspiciously well funded rise to prominence.

    Comment


      #3
      I'm just hoping Terfdom is amplified by wankers on Twitter beyond their numbers on the ground. Seemed to be the case with the Abla freaks at the Holyrood election. Though I guess it doesn't take too many entryist bigots to overwhelm current E&W Greens membership numbers.

      Comment


        #4
        7358 people voted in the last leadership election from a membership of roughly 50,000. But I think turnout might have been depressed by Bartley and Berry being such clear favourites. You're right that it's not much of a bar to entryism.

        Comment


          #5
          Transphobia seems to be an issue that motivates a relatively small number of single issue UK voters to the exclusion of virtually everything else.

          Those small numbers can be very significant in the context of elections with such a small electorate (and even smaller turnout).

          Comment


            #6
            It's an interesting consideration of how the party continues to build an electoral infrastructure at national level - obviously, as with the Lib Dems in previous decades, the focus has to remain on county and metropolitan councils, along with the London Assembly, but presumably Bristol West and Norwich will remain the immediate targets for Commons seats?

            Comment


              #7
              Well, certainly Bristol West, a) given that the constituency overwhelmingly voted Green in the last council elections and b) that it's Denyer who will surely be contesting it.

              If anyone fancies voting against Ali, you need to join before the 27th August. I believe it will cost you £3. https://join.greenparty.org.uk/
              Last edited by Etienne; 18-08-2021, 07:27.

              Comment


                #8
                Rothery and Hemingway to pick up the House Budgie/ Beaut South fans?

                Comment


                  #9
                  I am not aware of this Shahrar Ali of whom you speak

                  Is it a "trans women aren't women and shouldn't be allowed to identify as such" schtick?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Like Guy I'm confused by the transphobia of elements of the Green party. Do they try to justify it by reference to the natural world?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Guy Profumo - more or less.

                      Gert from the Well , it's nothing specific to the Greens, transphobia spans the entire political spectrum. I don't think it's more prevalent in the Green Party than it is in the Labour party for instance. But the internal structure of the party does allow scope for a hyper-committed minority to be very loud and disruptive if they choose to.

                      I don't think any of the GC people use Green philosophy to justify their position, except those who say that the party should be solely focused on the climate emergency rather than on social issues, ignoring the fact that we are a party not a pressure group and if we want to win elections we need a political programme not just an environmental one.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        The way the Greens work internally for some reason means that bigots can campaign loudly but others can't oppose them as loudly.

                        And indeed the absolutely disgraceful treatment of Kathryn Bristow shows that the bureaucracy of the party is very much open to anti-trans bigotry.

                        Ali should be drummed out of the party for his bigotry, not given a leadership role and put on election lists.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post
                          I am not aware of this Shahrar Ali of whom you speak

                          Is it a "trans women aren't women and shouldn't be allowed to identify as such" schtick?
                          Ali would specifically like trans people to be unable to get relevant healthcare and raised a motion in service of this at the Green conference. I'd rate him as worse than any Labour or Tory figure bar Baroness NIcholson, and his presence and the party's failure to deal with it is an indictment of them.

                          I'm surprised that the departure of Berry - one of the Greens' most capable and popular figures - over this very issue didn't prompt some reflection over a tendency that has the potential to destroy their party and tarnish the image of environmentally focused politics.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Indeed - filth like Shahrar Ali can spread the vilest of lies and propose the most disgusting of attacks on the welfare of trans people, and he gets a front-bench spokesperson role. Kathryn Bristow exists as trans and is suspended from standing in a council election.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              It has prompted considerable reflection. I hope that things will improve significantly after the election.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                I see that HWMNBN (the one who used to write comedy) is encouraging people to join the Greens to vote for the bigot.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Yeah, as are quite a few others with no discernible Green links.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    What, is he marshalling the troops on Parler or something?

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      His Substack blog is, I think, where he puts such things.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        I thought I might join, partly for a leadership vote, but also because the Green Party are the only "mainstream" political party in England that currently come anywhere close to my political beliefs, so I wouldn't feel bad about influencing things.

                                        But my goodness the website is shocking.

                                        Literally all I can see about joining is that page that Etienne linked, doesn't give any information about what joining involves, or costs, or gives you access to other than a few platitudes. If you enter your email address, it then asks for all your personal details (address, phone, DOB), and if you do all that it'll put you through to a payment option. But you still don't know how much it'll cost, nor what exactly you'd be paying for.

                                        There's no link to the main green party site on this page either, so I took a stab based on the URL and was lucky enough to find it. Clicked around loads of links and am still none the wiser about membership benefits, but I have found out that there is no common style guide for their web pages, I've already found three different ways to display the navigation menu, and that's not including the link to their Covid update which is hosted on something called medium.com, or the third-party site that hosts the donations page.

                                        I've done some web searches, but am still none the wiser. I've given up on joining for now.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          It's £3.33 a month to join lambers , you can cancel any time.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by TonTon View Post
                                            Indeed - filth like Shahrar Ali can spread the vilest of lies and propose the most disgusting of attacks on the welfare of trans people, and he gets a front-bench spokesperson role. Kathryn Bristow exists as trans and is suspended from standing in a council election.
                                            Whut?

                                            Is that suspended as in prevented from standing or not able to declare as a Green candidate?

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Etienne View Post
                                              It's £3.33 a month to join lambers , you can cancel any time.
                                              Joining for a month sounds as petty as the "£5 to vote for a Labour leader" idea from a few years ago

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Guy Profumo View Post

                                                Whut?

                                                Is that suspended as in prevented from standing or not able to declare as a Green candidate?
                                                My understanding is that the rules prevented her from standing as a Green candidate while the complaint was outstanding. Obviously the party can't prevent her from standing as an independent.

                                                I'd rather people join as permanent Green Party members, but I'm happy with pettiness that stops Ali becoming the leader of my party.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Yes she was prevented from standing as a Green candidate because a bigot complained about her. I imagine something else might have happened had she then decided to stand as an independent. Instead she has decided to stay in the Green Party and fight the bigots and the bureaucracy and complaints system which enable and encourage the bigots.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X