Mozambican Liberation Day and Green Party Ecological Wisdom
GREEN PARTY OF PHILADELPHIA
FOR RELEASE
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Mozambican Liberation Day and Green Party Ecological Wisdom
Belinda Davis, chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia, spoke at Philadelphia City Hall during the flag-raising of the Mozambique flag on September 25, 2023. The event took place on the 59th Mozambican National Liberation Day.
By Belinda Davis (she or they)
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I am truly honored to be speaking to you today, among such distinguished guests. In the name of the Green Party of Philadelphia (www.gpop.org), I want to welcome the ambassador of Mozambique, members of the consulate, and the other dignitaries who have come to join in this flag-raising.
We know the green in the flag stands for the gifts of nature and living in harmony with it, and that is what we too are about, as Greens. We are here in the interests of friendship and building on that friendship in peace and justice. I have been asked to talk briefly about Ecological Wisdom, one of the Green Party’s four pillars, and connected with the messages of the Partido os Verdes de Moçambique and the Ecological Party of Mozambique.
I believe, as an historian as well as chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia, that it is especially important for those in the U.S. and the global north generally to recognize the historical and the ongoing ecological damage rendered out of all proportion in the global south, including and even especially in Mozambique. Friends don't let friends contend alone with destructive droughts and related fires. Friends don't cause friends to confront catastrophic floods and cyclones, with their devastating immediate and also cumulative effects.
Aside from exponential increases in the spread of disease that can be linked to climate change, there are now already extremely serious deficiencies in the availability of surface water, despite the country’s many rivers, and the intrusion of saltwater deep into the country. Average temperatures are quickly climbing, especially in the southern and central regions, challenging the survivability for people, animals, and plants alike, even as conditions have paradoxically caused an astronomic increase in fossil fuel consumption from the mid-‘90s to present.
These conditions also deeply threaten relations with Mozambique’s neighbors, such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, while at the same time foreboding a crisis of climate refugees. Even in moments as celebratory as the present one, we need to all take action to halt further climate change, as well as to deal equitably with its already drastic effects in Mozambique as in the U.S., and across the world in the spirit of friendship and peace.
We are one planet. We are here to celebrate and build on relations. Building those relations means knowing one another better. I look forward to learning more about the vibrant nation of Mozambique today - - including what we can learn from Mozambicans about ecological wisdom. Thank you!
Belinda Davis (Mount Airy) has been chair of the Green Party of Philadelphia since 2019.
The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP, www.gpop.org) is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPOP candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPOP, please follow GPOP on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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GREEN PARTY OF PHILADELPHIA DENOUNCES CORRUPTION OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS
GREEN PARTY OF PHILADELPHIA DENOUNCES CORRUPTION OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS
The Greens offer different priorities
By Jarrett Anderson.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon joined the long list of local elected officials who have been convicted of corruption. In 2015, Councilmember Henon was in discussions about renewing an agreement between Comcast and the City of Philadelphia. The agreement would, among other things, increase internet access for low-income Philadelphia residents and students.
One might assume that a City Councilmember would view themselves as a civil servant, but the federal jury’s recent decision in Henon’s case suggests otherwise. Audio and text exchanges revealed that Councilmember Henon had gone to bat, not for his constituents, but for his powerful labor leader friend and campaign donor John Dougherty.
Recently, the following local Democratic elected officials have gone to jail:
- City Treasurer (2005),
- PA State Senator (2014),
- PA Representatives from Districts 198, 191, and 192 (2015),
- U.S. Congressman (2016),
- PA Representative from District 197 (2016),
- Philadelphia District Attorney (2017),
- PA Representative from District 190 (2018),
- another PA Representative from District 190 (2019), and
- Philadelphia Sheriff (2019).
Philadelphia has seen so many examples of political corruption in recent years that we wonder if local politicians remember that they are not supposed to work to enrich themselves and their campaign donors—they are supposed to work to advocate for and protect us.
Sadly, corruption is endemic to corporate political parties and political systems that prioritize profit before people.
Councilmember Henon will likely not be the last corporate politician to use his connections and political leverage to benefit his own career and that of the powerful entities that fund his campaign. History shows us that corporate Democrats and Republicans are beholden to their corporate sponsors, not to the people they are meant to represent. The Philadelphia Democratic Party dominates local politics, and yet their elected officials frequently fail to live up to their stated democratic values. Councilmember Henon is just the latest example.
“I am seldom surprised at the rampant corruption within the Philadelphia Democratic Party since the 1970 Abscam investigation sent three Democrats on City Council and two Democrats in the U.S. Congress to jail,” said Chris Robinson, a Green Party member from Ward 59 (Germantown).
“Of course, many questions from the Henon/Dougherty conviction remain open,” Robinson said. “Green Party members would like to know what measures Mayor Jim Kenney (Democrat) will propose to plug the leaks in our city’s ethics laws, and what ethics proposals will appear in the platform of any of the eight Philadelphia Democrats who are often spoken of as candidates for Mayor in 2023? They have all been quite silent.”
Democrats and Republicans have a business-as-usual culture that manifests in their policies, party structure, and how their elected officials conduct themselves in the workplace. Hence, corrupt Henon funnels money to his donors and considers it good economic policy.
In contrast, the Green Party has a grassroots culture that manifests in our policies, party structure, and culture. Green Party policies include campaign finance reform to make elections more fair and democratic, a locally administered universal health care system, and local and regional initiatives in sustainable economic development. Our national party is largely managed, not by untouchable bureaucrats, but by delegates from our state parties that are elected at the state level.
You don’t see Green Party officials indicted for corruption scandals. All this to say, the Green Party is a viable alternative to the two dominant parties.
The Green Party of Philadelphia recently requested that Mayor Kenney nominate our endorsed candidate, Richard Garella, to fill the open position as the minor political party member of the Philadelphia City Commissioners. Garella is eminently qualified and is a champion of election integrity, proven by his involvement in the Election Verification Network and his role as co-founder of Protect Our Vote Philly. Local organizations joined the Greens in our request that Mayor Kenney choose a progressive candidate; instead, he chose a Republican.
Recent local elections point to Philadelphians’ desire to see truly progressive answers to our city’s problems. The Green Party of Philadelphia and many of our endorsed candidates for local office have proposed a variety of solutions to solve inequality and corruption.
We have advocated for a democratically elected civilian review board of the police. We denounced and miliated against the construction of the SEPTA fracked gas power plant in Nicetown. We have proposed community-based land trusts of currently vacant homes to combat housing insecurity. And we joined and supported advocates for housing justice at the James Talib Dean camp in 2020. These examples speak to the Green Party’s priorities.
We invite our neighbors to reject the political corruption of the corporate duopoly and demand that local officials be the type of civil servants our communities need.
Jarrett Anderson is a member of the City Committee of the Green Party of Philadelphia. The Green Party is on Twitter @GreenPartyofPHL and Facebook @GreenPartyOfPhiladelphia.
Green Party Supports Divest Philadelphia from the War Machine
GREEN PARTY OF PHILADELPHIA
News Release
For release: Saturday, October 30, 2021
For more information please contact
Green Party Supports Divest Philadelphia from the War Machine
The Green Party of Philadelphia City Committee (GPOP, www.gpop.org) continued its support for Divest Philly from the War Machine by calling on people to join a campaign to divest the Philadelphia Board of Pensions from the nuclear weapon industry.
Divest Philly is a coalition of 27 local organizations which desire a cut in the Pentagon budget and greater investment in public services. At the present time, the managers of Philadelphia’s pensions have more than $11 billion invested in the nuclear weapon industry. Divest Philly would like the pension board to screen Philadelphia’s funds to eliminate all investments in the nuclear weapon industry. The leaders of Divest Philly from the War Machine have been in negotiations with members of Philadelphia City Council to enlist sponsors for their proposed bill.
GPOP City Committee Member Olivia Faison from Ward 60 (Garden Court) explained, "The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was entered into force in January 2021, made nuclear weapons illegal. The Philadelphia City Council has already unanimously passed a resolution calling on the U.S. Government to comply with the treaty. This fills me with hope that our City Council has shown some common-sense leadership on this economic and moral issue. The Green Party platform has long called for the U.S. to ‘end the research, testing and stockpiling of all nuclear weapons of any size.' Philadelphia is in the unprecedented position to uphold the integrity of the UN treaty, and of our own city, by supporting this courageous display towards nuclear disarmament and world peace by passing this bill proposed by Divest Philly from the War Machine."
“The public sector at all levels of government has historically invested resources in military technology and not civilian technology," said GPOP Recording Secretary Tre Schumacher from Ward 17 (Logan). "So many of our scarce resources -- land, labor, and capital -- are allocated to unproductive or harmful activities like rents, pollution, speculation, and war. (Re-)Allocating our resources to meaningful production -- for example, creating jobs for regenerative agriculture, education, civilian R&D, and green infrastructure, utilities and manufacturing -- is impossible without first divesting resources that are currently dedicated to unproductive pursuits like nuclear weapons."
"We have to put our money where our mouth is," said GPOP Treasurer Hillary Kane from Ward 46 (Cedar Park). "It's not enough for us to take a stand as a City in words only; we must also back that sentiment up with clear action. Divestment is an important way to do this in the language that corporations and markets speak -- the language of money."
“Since Philadelphia is the poorest large city in the U.S., we should divest our funds from (often failed) military efforts of any kind,” said Chris Robinson, a GPOP member from Ward 59 (Germantown). “Instead, we should invest in affordable housing, economic development, safe public schools, city infrastructure, sanitation, or any of the countless dire needs facing us right now.”
Volunteers who wish to join Divest Philly from the War Machine may register right here, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15cAI8Y48IxLjragHw7N5egsOywiiAhJDy5IoJx5oC9A/. Community organizations which would like to endorse this Divest campaign may sign up right here, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGq6N4-1BUJv_tfmw5xiySlKvYQgpRwXM8TXaKNcdjxlyeHw/viewform.
The Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP, www.gpop.org) is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPOP candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPOP, please follow GPOP on social
media: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/GreenPartyOfPhiladelphia/, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/green_party_of_philadelphia/ and Twitter, https://twitter.com/GreenPartyofPHL.
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