gagp-bids-adieu

On July 15th, the Accreditation Committee put before the National Committee a resolution to recognize the Unified Green Party of Georgia.  It read:
 

For some of you, the defeat of autocratic proposal 1064 is a bitter loss. The party failed to support censure of its five “principal transphobic organizers.” (tbh the premises of this are laughable). And we know how much scheming and how many threats were needed to achieve even this result! 

For me, the actual bitter loss is of a Green Party with integrity, honesty, and decency that I could fully support. A true “federation” of state parties. Rather more importantly, a party with the political maturity to contest the political space with the needed urgency. 

A Green I know has used the phrase "catastrophic dishonesty" with regard to the behavior of dozens of Green Party people. This tags the false connection between accusation and declaration of guilt.  In other words: no presentation or evaluation of evidence (and here), no fair opportunity to address accusers, no decent due process, and a pre-determined declaration of guilt by self-appointed judges. A totalitarian mentality - we do this because we can. Because we can, we are right. 

How did this start?  It came about because the Georgia Green Party was accused and then demonized for saying that biological reality of a person's sex is not the same thing as the gender identity people may choose to exhibit. But rather than engage in a party-wide discussion, as Georgia and its supporters desired, they were immediately called (without any evidence) "hateful, bigoted, and transphobic."  NONE of which had a shred of truth! Attending to the evidence available to this committee, I determined that the claims against Georgia were false. The crimes alleged in 1064 were simply responses to the dishonesty of the prosecution and censorship. 

In contrast, we affirmed the right of people who identify as transgender to present as they wish and to retain all the legal and civil rights as anyone. But the trans activists would hear none of it.  This mantra was repeated ad nauseum for two years, and Green Party members who should know better accepted it with no investigation at all. This represented a monumental failure of intellectual integrity by dozens in our party.  

The side that supported Georgia in its defense of feminist principles have tried to stay on the high road and not to slander those who were slandering us. Qui bono? Who benefits form this enormous and fully avoidable disarray within Green Party? It does not take a political genius to figure that out.  And the party is full of activists who know how dishonest this fiasco has been, and how destructive of trust and energy. 

Several AC people are leaders of this catastrophic dishonesty and epidemic of unwarranted hate speech. Thoughtless name-callers, all – and not even using the definition of their favorite slur. “Transphobic.”  The definition never actually invoked, because the evidence betrays its use. Deploying the term was its own proof!  I called this committee out for never producing evidence, and am vindicated by the continued failure to cite anything meaningful. Or have an honest discussion; there are people I’ve counted as allies who have never articulated their positions openly, and still reach easily for the slur (part of the catastrophic dishonesty). The Disaccreditation committee’s behavior in this regard is shameful; many made it clear they had no interest in the arguments or facts (or “could not read” them - -  would be “triggered” - -  what incompetence!). The Steering Committee and many members of the NC have been even more egregious in their intellectual dishonesty, and the Forum Managers have done their duty preventing anyone from dissenting or pointing out this discursive vacuity. I have run into a number of Greens who make clear by the way they express their distain regarding the “transphobes” that they do not understand even the basics of the conflict. 

I’ve been a Green activist for forty some years, across three states and multiple projects and issues. There are some bright spots in the party and I support those. There are some other projects supporting feminists and women that I am involved with. I have long worked against violence against women, in many ways the greatest nexus of oppression.

But I am done with this committee. 

I hereby resign. 

With warm regards to most, and a nod to the rest,

//jeff

Jeff Sutter (Indiana delegate)
20 Sept 2021 

It is a very sad day because the 10 key values of the national Green Party have been ignored, and distorted in favor of what has become an apparent effort on the part of a few to use authoritarian tactics to malign and misrepresent a state party that has walked the talk in representing their respect for these values since their inception.

For those who applaud the decision to disaffiliate the Georgia Green Party from the national party I suggest you examine your motives. Mob mentality to control and manipulate people's thoughts rather than discuss issues should not  be acceptable in any Party. Folks will run from, not toward, a Party that rejects honest dialogue and a fair process within which to accomplish that task.

To those who felt bullied and intimidated by the process I understand completely and wish more of you could have stepped up to voice your concerns instead of feeling paralyzed by the actions  taken by some Party members. To those who supported Georgia I am sincerely grateful for your courage and willingness to do so.  It has been ugly.

Do what you will come Monday. I still reside in Georgia and the residents there still face the same obstacles including voter suppression, limited affordable housing, poor access to education and healthcare, exposure to toxic chemicals and nuclear waste, unemployment and a corrupt 2 party system. The past 2 years has been joyless for me. I am moving on.

--
Denice Traina, MHe P.T.
Delegate on Green Party Affairs, Georgia

We have each had a front row seat to witness the ideological capture of something which was once worthy of our life energies, only to watch it be destroyed by bullies who have no respect for the blood, sweat and tears so many of us have poured into this project, often for decades of our lives.  

I have heard much speculation over the past year asking who in our ranks might be on whose payroll.  I see that Mr. Cooper in his parting comments has speculated that the operatives in our midst are actually democrats sent in to destroy our efforts to build an opposition party.  Those questions are now someone else's concern.  

snip

But the national party has just chosen to toss aside that institutional memory, the relationships and the infrastructure we have built as a party in Georgia.  People relatively new to the party, who have never met those of us in Georgia, who never bothered to pick up the phone and give us a call with their concerns, instead launched a 15 monthh long vicious tantrum mischaracterizing the work and positions and character of the good Greens working to build this party in Georgia.  

To all the wonderful, passionate, knowledgeable Greens who have operated with integrity, particularly those whom it has been my privilege to work with over the years, you have my number and I look forward to working with you for years to come.  Know that we have been at work for months developing an infrastructure to take the work we began in this organization and to leverage it to create a new political home for all the adults still committed to the project which has brought us together over the past thirty years.  

When the Great Purge in the Green Party started, first with Alaska, then Rhode Island, and then Georgia, I thought that it was the greatest tragedy in history, because I believed that the Green Party was our only hope for dealing with the Climate Crisis before it is too late, and I was watching the Green Party dismantle itself.

But over the next several months, I realized that the Green Party was NEVER going to accomplish that goal, because, although it was originally a great idea, and was founded by really good, sincere people, and although there are still a whole lot of good people in the Green Party, unfortunately it has been taken over by self-righteous elitist ideologues, and Democrats who have infiltrated the party in order to destroy it from within, and those people are NEVER going to let the Green Party become what it could become.

Since I became a member of the NC, I have seen a level of nastiness and pettiness among Green Party members that makes Republicans look like nice people. And it is not just over the emotionally driven LC vs. GA GP issue. It is this way with almost every discussion on the NC. Even when we were discussing something as non-ideological as the Daou contract, the level of ugliness exhibited by many of those who opposed it against those in favor of it, the stalking, name-calling, personal insults, accusations of all kinds, etc., reached a fever pitch.

This is what has become of the Green Party. I thought that this was supposed to be the party of peace and justice, and of Love, compassion, empathy, and respect for all.

I do not see any sincerity in people who claim to care about any other group of people, and then treat people, even their own allies like that, every time they disagree on ANYTHING.

I find it very disturbing that Make Gamms was allowed to make violent threats against a woman on FaceBook over and over again, and was allowed to keep posting while the woman he threatened was banned, and then he was rewarded by being made Co-Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee, OF ALL THINGS! I find it very disturbing that Rose Roby, Co-Chair of the Florida Green Party and Forum Manager of the NC, stated on this list that she was proud of Mike Gamms for that behavior.