I went to the Green Party Conference today - you could try Asking Me Anything but I was a bit confused

[JigsaurusID]

I'm not sure how many other feminists are still interested in the Green Party (of E and W) so I won't do a big report but if anyone is interested, ask away.

I didn't go to Friday's Women's Committee meeting so I only have second-hand info on that. I did listen to the new Deputy leader's speech (oh dear oh dear) and the Welsh leader's speech (most Welsh problems will disappear once they are independent including tax avoidance, er confused face).

I hadn't read Woeful Womack's report in advance so was pleased to hear she is very disappointed the party hasn't been taking her seriously enough these last few months. No idea what that's about.

Whooping for Womack seemed to be a big part of proceedings, another confused face.

Anyone want to know any more? Or is that more than enough?

Please, no more. I joined in expectation of the Greens remembering their primary purpose (the clue is in the name) but they are far too bonkers and amateurish for me to give them any more attention.

what was Amelia Womack's report about?

Yes please!

I'd like to hear more, OP! I couldn't make it to conference and am rapidly losing the will to stay a member ... despite there being some great people in the party, there is so much that makes me wilt.

Did they have the heating on?

"bonkers and amateurish" Bonkers can have its charms. I have never been to a big conference before so have no idea if the extended dramas over proxy votes was more amateurish than the average...but it certainly wasn't slick.

Amelia Woemack's report was the deputy one. I will see if I can copy and paste the disappointed bit as that seemed to be her main message.

Any questions Eresh and Arabella? I have a tendency to ramble so give me a focus.

Would you like to hear about "atunement"?

It seemed really sparsely attended but I don't know if that was down to the train strike as I would guess Greens are more likely to use public transport. You can see how a pretty small number of the party can have a big influence on party policy. They had to do a count for one vote to see if they were quorate and I think the guy said there were 250 ish in the hall and 100 on the online platform...seems small to me but like I say, no experience.

i am going again tomorrow for a GPW event and you get to vote on some influential roles - so again, those who go to conference get a disproportionate say - ironic considering how much they want PR!

Any sign of some policies to help tackle climate change and a plan for building consensus around them?

Or is the main focus being used as a pawn by a minority political group obsessed with getting into the ladies’ loos and chatting to children about sex?

What's the GPW event about tomorrow?

It seemed a lot warmer inside than out but I guess that is down to the conference centre. The car park was pretty empty so they get points for that - I din't check how many were electric but I'm going back tomorrow...

I have never posted a pic before so I hope Amelia's sadness can be appreciated as it desreves.

I need to leave the Greens. I joined their conference online earlier this year and it’s was batshit. Pronouns everywhere, open misogyny in the chat groups. It was awful.

What is she talking about with "unelected spokespeople being given more prominence in our communications as well as additional support from the team"?

GPW event is Global Women for a Greener Future:

twitter.com/GreenPartyWomen/status/1574519510568165401?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Yes, a tiny handful of members can make all the decisions. I also find all the very arcane and labyrinthine rules and acronyms confusing. I have no other experience of a political party, though, so don't know if that's standard.

Don't talk to me about attunement ...

I'm a new member but haven't got involved in anything yet. This thread is troubling?!

Pineapple, "Any sign of some policies to help tackle climate change and a plan for building consensus around them?"

I think the working groups do that and I only saw one in action. It was a motion from the Land Use group. I found it really interesting because it's not something i'd ever heard of before. They had obviously put a load of work into the policy but it got totally derailed as deemed as racist.

They had a policy of restricting speculative land ownership to residents of E and W. It seemed to have been developed to tackle the Russians buying Britain but members said it would be racist to black and brown people.

So even though that was a tiny part of the policy it got torpedoed.

New Dep leader Zach Polanski says there is no climate justice without social justice and racial justice. Much whooping from the floor.

Pasta, if you attend conference in person then you will see plenty of sanity mixed in. it did tend to be amongst more mature women though.

Conference was an hour's drive for me this time. I wouldn't attend online as it seemed hard work.

Reluctant,you may well find your local party completely sane. Mine is mainly about the environment and no pronouns as yet.

But if you live in Bristol, Cambridge, London, a few other places then carry on being troubled.

Eresh, I don't know what she was on about - Shahrar Ali maybe? Or the new spokespeople aren't showing her 'nuff respec?

I will try and get the lowdown tomorrow.

How was it today, @JigsaurusID ?

GPW event was good, all interesting women who I wouldn't have heard from usually. I enjoyed the rabble rousing that one of the Ugandan women did at the end of the session. Harriet I think, She wasn't a designated speaker but slotted in at the end.

Much more satisfying than whooping for Woemack. I managed to miss poor disappointed Amelia's speech. I couldn't find anyone who knew what has upset her and I asked 4 people but obviously not the right people. 2 of them suggested she's a natural whinger (my words not theirs.)

I went in the audiotorium for some more complicated policy decisions. Something about having a plan for going back into Europe when the time was right...wouldn't be a vote winner round my way but I suppose times change.

Actually, scrub what I was going to say...I just went to check I remembered what motions were discussed - and they've only gone and passed the We Love DQST motion after most people went home....they were supposed to be doing them in likes order and DQST was way behind so looks like a bit of jiggery pokery to me.

For a party that bangs on about representation they are pretty keen on only representing a tiny fraction of the membership.

I went to the Diverse Matters report too (sian Berry and Sharar Ali also there for some of it) but I'm really not sure how they will practise what they preach when the leadership position is that we should all be re-educated. IMHO of course - they call it facilitation and diversity training something something toolkit for healing.