Sexism/other issues in the Green party England & Wales - Discussion Thread 2

[fromorbit]

Zack Polanski is making things bigger again.

We need a new thread to discuss all his antics and the ongoing situation in the Green party which is getting more ever more bizarre. While it is getting ever strident in denying biology it also has Mothin Ali as deputy Leader who clearly doesn't believe in trans thinking, but cleverly sidesteps round talking about it.

The fight back from Green Women's Declaration,(https://www.greenwomensdeclaration.uk/ ) continues and the court cases against GPEW from Emma Bateman and Shahrar Ali are developing.

In Bristol the Women of Wessex are causing panic amongst the ruling Green council just by turning up and asking questions. This may result in another court case.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5455053-bristol-council-is-about-to-be-sued

With local elections in May and elections in Wales incoming lots more to discuss and call out.

First thread - where you can follow the rise of Hypno Boobs:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5328986-greens-internal-drama-warms-up

Note the Scottish Greens which are a separate party to the Green Party England/Wales have their own thread for all their drama. They split off because GPEW didn't hate biology enough at the time.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5313420-scottish-greens-being-sexist-again?page=1

Remember how the markets reacted to the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini budget? And what that did to interest rates and the economy?

If the Greens get enough seats to force through what pass for their economic policies, we'll get that on steroids.

It's the big 'Rainbow family' innit? The family you 'choose' than the one you were born into. This seems also to coincide with the trend towards family estrangement and cutting off one's actual family

I realise it's Matt Forde who's basically a politician with BANTZ, and like infinite monkey cage these days any heavyweight stuff has to have a comedian on it, but his focus group programme covered this last week

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002sg20

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall is fully on board team Zack. Listen for the stunned mumbling after Henning Wehn says we know what we need to do to avert climate change (go vegan, not have pets for a start), but no one is doing that so we're actually screwed

I doubt if she does, it seems to be an activist turn of phrase. Angela Rayner says it as well.

I assume siblings is the 2020s version of 'brothers and sisters', which was a little too bioessentialist.

Siblings can cover all the very creative options, like your panbinary, imaginary, and nonhumanoid friends.

When you call someone 'sister' or 'brother' it is a way of shoring up community cohesion and collectivist/socialist ideals........but also religious ideals.

I used to teach in a catholic secondary school in Gloucester ( I'm not a Catholic myself) and the Head, a very devoted Catholic, used to refer to all of his female staff as 'sister'. I actually quite liked it, and you felt like he meant it too which was nice.

It makes me think of Hannah hanging out with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Or possibly Barney the Dinosaur.

I used to like Arlette Laguiller's speeches where she would always kick off with travailleuses et travailleurs. Arlette knew who her audience were.

Link to Spencer's speech. She does mention the residential environment briefly, but climate and biodiversity don't get a mention. It's pretty vacuous. A maiden speech is a chance to set out one's political philosophy and values - what one has come to parliament to do, to put it another way. She's got almost nothing, beyond saying 'Look! I'm a plumber and I made it into parliament, yeah me and my voters.'

I had to smile at her saying '...To the white working classes, who are always lumped into one group and never appreciated.' and then failing to disaggregate or further particularise in any ways or even to mention them again!

Lots of stirring emotional stuff. But some questionable foundations.

'My constituency has been hit hard by the ongoing cost of living crisis. None of this is fair, none of it is right and none of it happens by accident'

She is suggesting some people are intentionally keeping sections of the populace impoverished?

Would be good to hear more explicitly what this means.

I think there's a point where membership in the GPEW became less about environmental issues and more about signalling the kind of person you were. Probably all parties have that problem, but there seems to be more of it with the Greens these days.

Bastani has done loads of interviews with Zack, and he's a big Zack booster, but you can see in the interviews that Bastani gets quite irritated because he's trying to get Zack to articulate a political philosophy and Zack just regurgitates talking points from the last person he spoke to and it's become obvious that he doesn't have a political philosophy at all.

Less said the better about Bastani's interview with Hannah, where I can see the attraction as a candidate because she's got quite a likeable personality, but her political philosophy is basically the Brilliant Kid from the Fast Show.

I think there is a recognition that left wing politics can look and sound inaccessible- lots of 'comrades' and utility clothing. They are softening it up to attract the normies with 'siblings' and polka-dots.

Someone who used to represent GPEW in London but resigned from the party shortly after the GE, after more years of active involvement than I've been voting reckons that at this point the green label is just a historical quirk. I don't entirely agree - I think most of the electorate (who pay almost no attention to politics outside of GE campaigns and not much even then) still think of GPEW as the Net Zero party. Green-minded people who aren't on board with the leftie populism are a bit cross.

I'd bet that most of the STEM doctorates I know who backed GPEW at the last GE to signal that action on climate and biodiversity needed to be a much higher priority and that step changes in the scope and urgency of policy were imperative will back Lab next time, subject to certain conditions. Mind you, that cohort is probably only slightly larger than the cohort of GC women spoiling their ballots.

Sounds like Chatgpt politics.

Yeah, I don't think it's necessary for every MP to be Plato or Roy Jenkins or write books about the constitution, and there are quite a few who could do with having a less elevated view of themselves. It's perfectly honourable to be like Andrew Rosindell and spend 25 years on the backbenches representing the white van men of Romford.

It's just that, with Zack, the overwhelming impression I get is that he just really wants to be on TV.

To be fair, he also enjoys power.

From GPEW conferences/meetings, there was the edge of anger that would surface when people (especially women) refused to go along with whatever he said.

He really appears to despise women. And that motivation is sincerely felt and goes beyond just wanting attention. So he does have some principles, they just aren't good ones.

I think ZP and NF are two sides of the same coin. Both self publicising, grubby narcs.

Any thoughts on which constituency ZP might target to get himself a seat at Westminster?

He says, somewhere within easy cycling distance of where he lives. So, if not Hackney, maybe Walthamstow or Tottenham.

Actually, that's a thought - Zack v The Laminator would be a contest worth watching just for the epic amounts of bullshit both of them can produce.

Who is The Laminator?

It’s so she doesn’t have to use the unfortunately sex specified “brothers and sisters”.

He who believes some men have managed to grow a cervix

The Greens cycle through leaders quite regularly, they usually change every four years or so. Is that a policy?

If it is, would ZP get chance to be leader and in parliament with many MPs at the same time? I cant imagine him thinking he was the one who made them electable, but standing back from being leader.

Melanie McDonagh in the Speccie - don't be fooled, there's more there about the speech than the outfit:
Did Hannah Spencer’s outfit distract from her maiden speech? | The Spectator

Ah, that could be an epic battle.

Epic Battle you say?

🎤 EPIC RAP BATTLES OF WESTMINSTER 🎤
David Lammy
VS
Zack Polanski

Round 1 — David Lammy

Yo! It’s Lammy on the mic from Tottenham to the Chamber,
Foreign Secretary flow with the diplomatic hammer.
You talk revolution, mate, but it’s mostly Instagram,
I’m negotiating nations while you’re tweeting “Smash the Man.”
You’re Green Party radical, hashtag activist dream,
I’m actually running policy, not running a meme.
You’re doing TikTok socialism with a megaphone shout,
I’m doing statecraft while you’re figuring pronouns out.
You want a citizens’ assembly and a climate-justice spree,
But try running a country, not a student society.
You say the system’s broken — that’s a popular refrain,
But governing is harder than a protest in the rain.

Round 2 — Zack Polanski

Hold up, Dave, you’re acting like the system’s your throne,
But Labour’s been reheating Thatcher’s leftovers at home.
You say “pragmatic politics,” I say “neoliberal drift,”
Your manifesto’s basically a centrist gift.
You’re jetting round the globe with a diplomatic grin,
While rivers turn to sewage and the landlords always win.
You call me radical? Mate, I’ll wear that as a badge,
While you’re triangulating like a Treasury-trained cadge.
You say I’m on TikTok — yeah, I’m talking to the youth,
While your party’s terrified of saying simple truth.
If climate change’s coming like the science clearly shows,
Why’s your “green transition” slower than the House of Lords?

Round 3 — Lammy

You’re shouting revolution from the sidelines of the pitch,
But politics is compromise — that’s how you make the switch.
You want utopia tomorrow, nationalise the sky,
But someone’s got to pay for it — you ever wonder why?
Your manifesto maths is like a fantasy campaign,
You’re promising the sunshine without mentioning the rain.
I’m building global alliances, you’re building viral clips,
You’re leading Twitter spaces, I’m leading diplomatic trips.

Round 4 — Polanski

Compromise is fine, Dave — surrender’s something else,
You’re managing decline while congratulating yourselves.
The planet’s overheating, inequality’s obscene,
And you’re telling everyone to keep the optics clean.
You say “realism” — I hear “don’t rock the boat,”
While the billionaires are laughing on a yacht they barely float.
You’re proud of being sensible, the steady guiding hand…
But sometimes what you need is someone willing to change the plan.

🎤 Narrator Voice

Two visions collide in Westminster’s arena:
One says steady government, the other burn the old schema.
The crowd’s left wondering — who’s actually right?
The pragmatist in power… or the activist in the fight?