Green Party deputy leader hustings - only one candidate knows what a woman is

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Sorry if there's been a thread about this and I've missed it.

twitter.com/zeno001/status/1284958734612135936?s=20

Green Party currently having an election for Deputy Leader. Hustings over the weekend. Somebody asked 'What is a woman?' Here are the answers. Jawdropping.

However, good news! Andrea Carey Fuller, a candidate who was not at the hustings, has now clarified what she would have said - Adult Human Female. twitter.com/hullfair/status/1285193309959475200?s=20

It's a huge relief to find that at least one Green knows what a woman is but if she got elected she'd have her work cut out for her trying to change the internal culture in the Green Party. Good luck to her.

Yup.

@Socrates11 there is a safeguarding policy and 2 x women's sex based rights. They are in there with the usual bollocks but they are there. They need support to get them through though.

@GreenieFingers Thanks for that. Yes I know there are thoughtful people in the party trying to make changes. I know it's better to fight than give up as well. Just really makes me furious how tin-eared the leaders have appeared to be on this issue. Believe what you want but forcing everyone else into repeating falsehoods & pseudo science grrrrrrrrrrr

GREEN PARTY MEMBERS - If there are any members left on here who are interested in trying to overturn the current policies about women, and who want to know which motions to support , here are 3 that you may want to look at. The deadline is evening of Saturday 1st August

Each motion needs 11 votes in order to get onto the agenda , so even if you don't normally get involved in these things as a member, giving a vote to these policies is going to help the people trying to fight this within the party.

You can find the motions through this survey monkey link www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MotionsAut2020Mobile

These are 'E' motions, so you have to skip through A-D

'Reaffirming women’s sex-based rights (2)' (please don't click on the number 1 with the same title)
This motion is to make sure data is gathered on the basis of sex rather than gender

'Strengthening the rights of transgender, non-binary and agender people' -This proposal is to remove the 'trans women are women ' text from green party policy'

and
'Protecting trans-identified children and young people' This proposal is to strengthen the safeguards around young people wanting to transition

UPDATE - Green Party members are allowed to propose 4 motions, so as well as the 3 above , if you want to know what to do with your 4th vote,

The 'D' section motion 'Make membership of the Young Greens an inalienable right for young members'
is a useful one.

What this motion calls for is to make everyone over 30 ineligible to be in the young greens - at the moment mature students can be in young greens and there are people of 50 years old mixed in with them , which is not great, and is a safeguarding issue. The link is here:

www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MotionsAut2020Mobile

I am trying to join but their payment system is saying it is down and no one is answering the phone.

I got quite keen. I care about green policies. However am ordinary, not woke or left. I would be very happy to actively support a party that prioritised the environment.

Please can you DM me needsmore ? Might be too late for co proposing but the vote opens on Sat.

Ah, despite their website telling me there had been an error and I was not a member, they just emailed me to confirm it had. OHJ happy to help if I can.

Still enough time to co-propose motions (1st August?), however final applications to join close tomorrow, 31st July.

I've joined the Green Party and am on their webpage and I can't find out how to cast a bloody vote! Can anyone tell me how to do it please?

@thinkingaboutLangCleg
hi , it is a bit confusing because there are leadership elections coming up (they haven't started yet) but what we need votes for at the moment is the motions that are being put forward for conference . - deadline 01/08/20 You can find the motions through this survey monkey link :

www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MotionsAut2020Mobile
if it doesn't come up straight away, scroll down, it is

'Green Party Autumn Conference 2020 - surveymonkey.co.uk'

you should be able to use this link to co-propose any of the motions listed above , though it wont give you access to the text of the motion .

If you want to see the text of the motions themselves you will have to go on the members website which is a bit of a task to navigate :

spaces.greenparty.org.uk/s/autumn-conference-2020-agenda-forums/?contentId=32504

If you are a member you will have to sign in , then the top post from Adam McGregor ( 'INDEX of current pre-agenda motions')
has all of the links to the motions . - you can support up to 4
If you still have problems, let me know and I will try and give further assistant

Thanks, letterem, your advice has been very helpful. I've looked up those four motions and agree with them, so I've co-proposed them all. These are such major issues.

I used to vote Green but became less enthusiastic as it drifted away from a central concern with the environment and making a fair, sustainable future for everyone. When I discovered what a stranglehold identity politics has on it, I stopped voting Green.

Let's hope now people will vote for candidates who will steer the party back to what it was founded for.

I really want to see if this works 'the other way round'. Instead of the focus on woman, ask people 'what is a man'. I figure the blustery 'a shifting constellation of random things' type answers would be lesser.

"A ciswoman (what a twat) that can't give birth is no less of a woman than... a man."

Answers like^ give me the rage. As if anyone thinks that a woman who cannot have children isn't a woman, and an infertile woman is not a fucking man, in any sense. Its similar to the 'if a black woman is a woman then a man is a woman too otherwise racist!' types. Erm. No to that too you racist fuckwit.

I really want to see if this works 'the other way round'. Instead of the focus on woman, ask people 'what is a man.

There will be more hustings I think.

Also, there's a chance for flag flying for Int Men's Day in Nov

An update for green party members: Voting has ended for the motions now. Fortunately , a lot of the GC ones got through. Some of the ones i was less keen on also did too, but that was to be expected.
The next round is the prioritisation ballot. Members can vote on the order of the motions presented at conference . I am not sure how that is done , but I will post it up when I do .

In a separate vote, tomorrow the elections open for members to vote for the leaders deputies and other runners and riders. I prefer Shahrar Ali, Andrea Fuller, and Cleo Lake Then RON, but its a personal preference.
Members should receive an email to vote I believe.

The motion written by Green Party Women got through :

Reaffirming women's sex based rights
“Sex refers to biology which is immutable , gender is a social construction
Discrimination against women may be based on their perceived sex , however there are aspects of discrimination females face based on sex rather than gender.
To address discrimination it is imperative that accurate sex- segregated data is collected.

Motion
Insert into RR540
Women's Rights
The Green Party calls for a review of the language used in law, in government bodies and NGOs to ensure that sex and gender are not conflated, and that accurate terminology is used where relevant which recognises that the category 'woman', which was formerly a sex based category, is now, by some parties , considered to be gender based.
When data is being collected and analysed to form policy in relation to women, regard should be paid as to whether the data is segregated by sex or by gender, and sex segregated data must be collected in order to monitor the effect of the alteration in the categorisation of women is having on women”

Well done.

One comment though. I would like to see a Green Party that absolutely prioritises the environment, rather than motions, GC or not, on gender, on Brexit or whatever.

I would also like to see a Green Party that is open to all. We live on the same planet, and all need to change our behaviours, whoever we are. The "left wing" tag and the idea of motions that seem designed to ensure conformity of thinking on non-environmental issues is off-putting. Declaring "climate emergencies" and the like, is one thing. But should there not be a reaching out to main stream parties of all hues to encourage legislation that protects the environment. Whilst individuals, again of all backgrounds, should be encouraged to turn their heating down a notch or two, cycle or use public transport, and avoid single use plastics.

I've never been a member of a political party before. I suspect that I might not be suited to politics. however Shahrar Ali, came across as sensible during the Aimee Challenor episode, and I used to admire Jenny Jones. I will add my small voice to a push in a more mainstream and influential position.

@Needmoresleep, this is exactly what almost all of the members want.

There are only a few who (unfortunatly) dominate GPEW and the ridiculous direction our politics have taken, who want the issue of identity politics to be prioritised. The rest of us joined over the decades to promote the issues of environment, climate change and social equality.

The only way we can get GPEW back on the right footing is to remove the entryists from their posts, take identity politics out of the focus and then get back to grassroots Green issues and policies. One of the policies of GPEW is to carry out as much cross-party work as possible to bring climate change to the table and not be a convenient 'green-wash' lip-service tag on for politicians to use whenever they feel like virtue-signalling. This is what we should be working towards and not caving to identity politics and the demands of the few hundred nutbags who have rules GPEW over recent years from behind the scenes. Some of these people are very intimidating and manipulative.

We do appreciate all help in this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I would absolutely vote green if they sorted themselves out. Climate change scares the shit out of me, and this party prefers to pretend women don't exist.

If the Green Party can be intimidated into the ludicrous behaviour of recent years by a few hundred nut jobs then they are pretty useless!

@Portnlemon - it's exactly the same that's happened with the wider community and the activists who have gaslighted women into losing ground on our rights and being no-platformed everywhere.

The numbers on one side vastly outweigh those on the other, but the very small minority have made headway that is well beyond the strength of their arguments, their numbers and any alleged science involved.

Part of the problem with GPEW is that the majority are decent' and generally caring people, so their generosity of spirit was exploited by the entryists with an agenda that was dishonest and disguised within a Trojan Horse of the usual claims of most vulnerable, high suicide and murder rate, etc. The usual story.

The people who have continued to withstand the bullying and grinding onslaught are brave and determined, as are so many similar people in the Conservatives, LibDems and Labour. They will win, but only by working countless times harder than the activists on the other side of the debate who all operate with impunity.

Dare I say it, but wouldn't Stonewall be an example of a successful lobbying movement.

No one knows whether Stonewall is right or left wing or what its members think of Brexit. Imagine major firms having an executive responsible for promoting environmental issues, and an environment group. Delivering training for employees and schools about what will make a difference. (Wear a jumper at work days and turn down the heating 2 degrees?) Green lanyards because people care. An annual environment month and march, open to all. Influence over legislation and the interpretation of legislation.

Sort of what Stonewall was until 2016 when it added the T.

Pat of the problem seems to be that as a political party, the Greens seem to feel they need to have a full slate of policies, which mans investing valuable time and resources away from the main topic, and thus burning out some potentially valuable volunteers. And to compete with other parties. Environment policies are applicable to everyone. There should be a green voice in parliament, but equally there should be a green voice everywhere.

Any GPEW members not sure who to vote for in all the various roles up for election, this is a list of suggestions from Green Feminists UK. It prioritises those who understand the importance of sex-based rights, and includes some tactical voting suggestions where necessary: mailchi.mp/d1fee9db3d1f/who-to-vote-for-in-the-green-leadership-elections