 Campaigns Committee is looking back on a busy year, which has included campaign material for you to use on toxic landfill, the housing crisis and the growth of the racist far right.
Thanks so much to all who have taken part in these campaigns! We have more in the pipeline for the new year, but this month we’re focusing on the terrible situation facing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This Christmas, nearly two million people – almost the entire population of Gaza – face the most desperate of circumstances. Refugees crammed into makeshift ‘tent cities’, whose homes and communities have been devastated by over a year of relentless bombing that has killed nearly 45,000 people – the majority of these women and children. Witnessing horror and cruelty on such a massive scale can make us feel powerless to help. But there are things we can do – and Green Party Conference has re-iterated the party’s support for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the state responsible for this genocidal violence and companies that are facilitating it. You’ll find resources to campaign on this in this month’s campaign flatpack: 10 things you can do about the genocide in Gaza. Our thoughts this Christmas are with these people, and with all the hostages and unjustly imprisoned in both Gaza and Israel. Our hope is that the new year will bring progress towards peace and justice for all those who have suffered so much for so long. In solidarity, Green Party Campaigns Committee PS: One other (easy) thing to do over the Christmas break: The Climate and Nature Bill first introduced by Caroline Lucas will have its crucial second reading in Parliament on Friday 24 January. This Bill would make a huge difference to efforts to address the climate emergency. Please take a moment to write to your MP asking them to support the Bill. Zero Hour have made this easy to do, here.
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 Natalie Bennett with Zane's parents and Fire Brigade Union leader Ian Murray in Downing Street This month:
A milestone win for Zane’s Law campaign! Help push for essential Covid protection Support our Climate and Nature Bill A Milestone win for Zane’s Law campaign It’s been another busy month for Campaigns Committee, supporting the March for Clean Water and a big Stand Up to Racism rally in London, and celebrating another milestone win in the campaign for Zane’s Law. The London Assembly passed a unanimous motion, brought by Green Assembly Member Zack Polanski. This requires the Mayor to call on the Prime Minister to bring forward new legislation addressing the rising risk of leakage from toxic waste dumps. The Zane's Law campaign is now supported by many major unions and by the TUC. Find out how you can help here. Help push for essential Covid protection Despite government silence on the subject, Covid hospital admissions are still rising! Our campaign flatpack gives you resources to push for essential public health measures. Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has again been giving evidence to the Covid-19 Inquiry. He revealed, among other things, that Boris Johnson’s Cabinet had refused to accept that Covid could be asymptomatic – well after this was known to scientists. This failure to follow the science led to many avoidable infections and deaths. Yet even now, with the NHS once more under severe stress, the government is failing to take simple measures to protect people from the risk of Covid and Long Covid. Help push for the essential public Covid health measures that the Green Party is calling for, at local and national level. Support our Climate and Nature Bill The Climate and Nature Bill originally introduced by Caroline Lucas will be back in Parliament in January. Our four brilliant Green MPs will of course be backing it, but we want to see as much cross-party support as possible to help turn this potentially game-changing bill into law. Please write to your MP to ask them to back the bill. It just takes a moment – Zero Hour has made it super-easy for you to do. In solidarity, Green Party Campaigns Committee  We’ve all seen the violent riots staged by far-right thugs in towns from Southport and Hartlepool to London. What can you do to combat this? There’s no easy answer. Combatting the rise of fascism is one theme that Campaigns Committee is now working on. We have just launched a "Greens Against Fascism” flatpack with advice and ideas you can use, including a placard/poster that you can download and print off. We also warmly applaud the leadership shown by Green councillor Mothin Ali in Leeds in bringing his community together in the face of those who seek to divide it and inflame violent unrest. Laughter is the best medicine The worst thing we can do is respond to violence with violence. Fascism feeds on violence and chaos. Politicians of the far right aim to use fear of violence to win votes on the promise to “restore law and order”. By contrast, your best bet is to keep your sense of humour. You may have read that the leader of the French Greens fought the French far-right with humour. The extreme right hate nothing more than being laughed at. Download your flatpack now  Green MPs bring fresh energy to Westminster
Meanwhile, it’s been an incredible month for the Green Party – the biggest Green vote ever at a general election and four brilliant new Green MPs at Westminster! They’re already making a big impact, speaking up for climate, environment and social justice. After 14 years of Tory misrule, a new government opens up exciting possibilities for positive change that our Green MPs will be pushing for at every opportunity – as will Campaigns Committee. Carla Denyer And it was great to see several of our campaigning themes mentioned in their maiden speeches in Parliament. Follow the links to access campaign materials on all the issues they've spoken about. Bristol’s first Green MP, Carla Denyer, highlighted the housing crisis and the need to give councils the power to introduce rent controls. As she noted: “Private rents in Bristol have increased by 52% over the last decade, while wages have not even increased by a quarter. This is an untenable situation, but one that around half my constituents find themselves in as private renters.” Carla also looked forward to a future where the UK can rejoin the EU, and deplored the damage to the UK’s reputation caused by our government’s refusal to clearly condemn the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza. Adrian Ramsay Fresh from winning Waveney Valley in Suffolk – a feat many imagined to be impossible – Adrian spoke of the horror his constituents feel about the state of their rivers, and called for our campaign for tackling the sewage scandal to be made a top government priority. Like Carla, he also underlined the extreme urgency of the climate emergency and the insanity of opening up new North Sea oilfields. Ellie Chowns Ellie achieved one of the biggest swings of the election when she unseated a seemingly impregnable Tory MP in North Herefordshire, spoke of the desperate need for new social housing, and for this to be “accompanied by the right infrastructure so that health, education and transport services are not put under yet more strain”. She also highlighted the need to repair and properly fund our NHS, and to reward public-spirited health workers “not just with warm words and applause, but with training bursaries and salaries that keep pace with inflation”. Sian Berry In her maiden speech, Sian paid tribute to the remarkable legacy of Caroline Lucas, her trailblazing Green predecessor in Brighton Pavilion: “I know that all of us sitting here today are humbly aiming to live up to the high standards, values and work ethic that she represented, and to serve here with the same energy and enthusiasm.” Sian particularly noted “Caroline’s steadfast and long-standing opposition to threats to the public’s right to protest” – another of out long-standing campaigns - and a threat that was very much underlined by the savage jail sentences meted out to peaceful Just Stop Oil protesters earlier this month. In stark contrast to both Labour and Tory governments kowtowing to roads being blocked by farmers and truckers, protesting against fuel costs and food imports. It will be interesting, too, to see how the sentences handed to peaceful Green protesters compares with those given to the far-right thugs arrested last week. Yours – nevertheless - with renewed hope for a Green future! Campaigns Committee |
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