Why I’m Voting Green VI

This post is by Kieran Anderson from Norwich, about why he’s voting Green in tomorrow’s local elections. After May 6th, we will be accepting submissions on this blog on all topics. If you have a topic you’d love to write about or if you’d like to be put on our bloggers list, drop us an email on younggreensblog@gmail.com.

Why am I voting Green?

This is hard question for me to answer simply. For the past few years I have been very heavily involved with the Green Party, for many reasons. But I find myself wondering why I am still here. Is it simply that it would be terribly embarrassing at the moment to stop? Is the Green Party just a bad habit I’ve picked up and haven’t received the appropriate support to stop yet? Have I ended up a party political creature, and is it to be the Green Party right or wrong for ever? Well, maybe.

But looking at society, and how over the past thirty years successive governments have put a blind faith in the markets, that no matter what the problem is there is a universal cure of privatise and open to increased market forces, give people choice, this is the solution. There has been no consideration that this approach has increased inequality, driven people further into poverty and is leaving our society a more brutal, more wasteful, selfish and cruel place. It may be naive, but I do not want choice for the sake of choice. I want to know that when I need a hospital, or a train or get to go to university that its a good quality and reliable, the best our means allow, not to be told that any problems I encounter are my fault because I didn’t chose the right service.

The other parties are standing for a society where politicians are abdicating their responsibilities to the whim of free market profiteers, too busy stuffing their own pockets and ensuring that their own kids get the best schools and damning the rest of us.

So I’m voting Green for something different. The Greens are admitting that there is something fundamentally wrong about our society and wants to do something about it. Society cannot continue being as environmental destructive as it is for much longer, society should not continue to be as unequal and cruel as it is. There is an alternative, the Green Party thinks that we can take action to help improve society for everyone, so that’s why I’m voting Green.

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Why I’m Voting Green V

This is from Chris Jarvis, about why he’s voting Green on May 5th. We’re still taking submissions for this series, so email yours in to younggreensblog@gmail.com.

I’m voting Green on May 5th because the Green Party is the one real political alternative to the government agenda of cuts.

The Liberal Democrats are in government with the Tories and the Labour Party is also committed to cutting huge amounts of public spending, making their opposition a sham. It is the Green Party who have highlighted the fact that, although the deficit is a major economic issue, it should not be used as an excuse to throw people out of work and push public services into the hands of the private sector for idealogical reasons.

The Greens have demonstrated through work in local government, in Brussels and with Caroline Lucas’ work in Westminster that they will continuously fight to ensure that the principles of fairness and equality are always protected. Therefore, by voting Green on May 5th, you are voting to ensure that the cuts pushed by central government on local councils are applied in the fairest possible way in order to protect the lives of those most vulnerable.

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Why I’m Voting Green IV

Today’s post is from Duncan Davis, who doesn’t actually have a Green candidate to vote for. Instead, he writes about why it’s important to vote for people who will represent you, including the Greens.

More contributions to this series are always welcome, just email 200-300 words on why you’re voting Green to Ash at younggreensblog@gmail.com.

“We emphasise democratic participation and accountability by ensuring that decisions are taken at the closest practical level to those affected by them – The Green Party’s Policies for a Sustainable Society (PSS).

Local democracy is vital because it deals with the issues that will affect you and your local area directly. This is why, if you live in one of the areas with local elections on May 5th, you should use your vote wisely.

As stated in the above quote, decisions affecting you should be taken at the lowest practical level to you. Put simply, you should have a fair say in local issues. For this to happen, you need to elect councillors who will represent the view of the local people.

I believe that Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors are not doing this. This opinion comes from my experience growing up in Stoke on Trent – particularly the threat to close my high school (Trentham High). This was part of Labour’s so called ‘Building Schools for the Future’, which actually meant selling off the schools to private companies against the will of the community. The important thing was that the people of Trentham didn’t want their school to be closed.

After some ‘consultations’ it was decided that the school would be closed. ‘consultation’ is Newspeak for being told what is going to happen (whether you like it or not). This, of course, outraged the community so Save Trentham High, a grassroots campaign, began.

The council at the time was made up of a coalition of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors. The rest were independents, BNP and other small, basically independent groups. Naturally, the Save Trentham High campaign went to their ward councillors – two Conservatives and an independent. The Conservatives went along with the coalition and against the will of the people they were supposed to be representing. Luckily the independent councillor was on the side of the community.

This turned into a crazy situation where the community, supported by the independents, BNP and Labour MP was fighting against the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors and the Labour elected mayor. Absurdly, the council was saying this was required by the (then Labour) government but the government was saying that it couldn’t interfere in local issues!

After a long and very hard battle, the community finally won and Trentham High was saved. However, there shouldn’t have needed to be any kind of battle. The elected councillors should support the local people not fight against them.

So who should you vote for at the local elections?

Well, that is completely your choice but I would say that the Green Party with democracy as one of their core principles are a safe bet. Some people don’t have Green Party candidates to vote for though, including me. I will be voting for independents (including the one who helped the Save Trentham High campaign) because I am confident they will represent the people not their parties. Don’t let the big parties fool you into voting for them. Labour would like you to vote for them as a protest against the coalition, specifically the Liberal Democrats. This is not the place to do so – that’s what peaceful protest is for.

Local elections are for local issues. Vote for candidates that will represent you.

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Why I’m Voting Green III

Another post in our series. This one is from Douglas Rouxel, a Young Green from Westborough. He blogs here: http://greenwestborough.wordpress.com/. Enjoy!
In the first instance, I’m voting Green because I’m standing in the ward that I live in, and not voting for myself would be a silly thing to do. There are however much broader reasons why I’d be voting Green even if I wasn’t standing.

I’m at the older end of the young greens spectrum at 29, but at the young end of the “3 kids and a mortgage” spectrum. I really can’t see the three main parties putting together anything cohesive or forward thinking enough to really give me anything to look forward to, let alone my kids.

It is looking certain that our generation (and for me my own kids too) will be the first for many years to have a lower quality of life than our parents. The precarious jobs, the out of reach housing and the destruction of pensions, coupled with the distinct lack of concern for the future of the planet which has galvanized me to do something about it.

I’m voting Green not because they are going to get elected and change the world because of the X I put in a box on polling day. Far from it. I’m voting Green because I don’t believe that as a party that’s what we are about. Crosses in boxes are an important part of it, but it’s only a part of it. In reality it needs more than just voting. Democracy needs more than just voting and the Green party is an real part of that. I’m voting Green because it promotes an active democratic engagement, more than just the ballot box.

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Why I’m Voting Green II

Another post about why we’re voting Green, this time from Jack Parker in Cardiff. We’ll be running posts on this subject until the local elections on May 5th, so if you’d like to contribute email 200-300 words on the subject to younggreensblog@gmail.com .

Why am I voting Green? It’s difficult to sum up in so few words, but in summary I guess it’s because my generation is being increasingly burdened by decades of short term thinking. When we as a nation dream of the future we see tall shiny buildings, super-fast computers and space tourism. But whilst our generation has cheap and accessible technology to look forward to, we also have to worry more about the basics – things like jobs, housing, water and oil.
When it comes to young people right now, it’s education that’s on the political agenda. The average graduate facing the upcoming £9000 a year tuition fees can expect to be paying back their loans beyond the point at which their own children graduate 25 to 30 years later. That’s if they’re able to have children so young- too many of us are going to be stuck living with our parents for years as we save for a deposit on a house, the price of which is unjustifiably high because of previous financial speculation and a lack of affordable home building.
Maybe living cheap with your parents and saving some cash wouldn’t be so bad, if it wasn’t for the fact that we’d paying out such a substantial portion of our wages on petrol, food and other vital resources that are rapidly going up in price. We’d best get used to these levels of expenditure though- climate change is only going to exaggerate them in the medium and long term future.

The solutions to these problems are complicated, sometimes harsh, and sometimes involve sacrifice, but they’re solutions that we desperately need. The political parties of the UK, and seemingly every other major country, are dealing only with the short term issues that are going to pop up between now and the next election- short term economic woes, the NHS, and intervention in Libya. These are important issues that require our time and effort. But the Green Party goes one step further, and considers the long term too. Whether it’s tackling tax dodgers to pay for our education, building sustainable new homes and making better use of empty ones or improving public transport, the Greens suggest real, affordable solutions, rather than saying whatever looks good on an election leaflet. As young people, we’re going to be around for the longest. We need our politicians to think long term and at the moment, it seems as though only the Greens are doing so. That’s why they get my vote.

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Why I’m Voting Green

Here’s the first in a series of posts about why we’re all voting Green in the May elections, from Norwich City Councillor Ash Haynes. If you’d like to contribute, send 200-300 words on why you’re voting Green to younggreensblog@gmail.com.

Technically, I’ve already voted Green as my postal vote arrived on Wednesday. But never mind that.

There are lots of reasons I’m voting Green. One of them is rather selfish, I have to admit, in that I would love to have more Green colleagues on the council. Norwich has the largest group of Green councillors in the country with fourteen of us. Five are Young Greens, including national Green Deputy Leader Adrian Ramsay. Obviously, we’re aiming to grow our group even further, a good reason for me to vote Green.

But what about national reasons? The Greens are the only anti-cuts party, and we’ve got to send a message to the Tories that what they are doing is completely wrong. Voting Labour is useless; the only difference in their cuts is that they would be slower. I graduate in a year and would quite like a job when I do. My little sisters are off to university soon and don’t need the crippling debts they’ll incur. My mother works in the public sector and is terrified of losing her job. I’m sure the vast majority of us can think of ways it’s going to affect those we know and love.

A Green vote is the only option for those of us who want to keep public services and jobs intact. A Green vote shows that we don’t agree with the cuts and that we are prepared to fight for them. A Green vote is a vote for something positive, and that’s why I’m voting Green.

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