GPNJ Meetings/Events:

Saturday, Jan. 9, 11:00am: Joint meeting of the Essex and Bergen County Greens. Location: 49 Park Street, Montclair. Info: Joe Fortunato (973-744-5958; EssexGrns@aol.com).

Sunday Jan. 10, 4:00pm: Global Cinema Cafe (Free afternoon film series--video for peace, justice, and human rights). Today: "Miami-Havana." This film by Estella Bravo examines the impact of U.S.-Cuban relations, U.S. immigration policy, and Cuban emigration policy on Cuban Americans. Introducing the film will be guest speakers Dr. Gerald Groves and Andrea Saenz. At the Third World Center in Princeton, Corner of Olden St. and Prospect Ave. The Green Party is a

co-sponsor of the Global Cinema Cafe. Info: 609-497-3998.

Sunday, Jan. 10, 5:00pm: Monthly meeting of the Middlesex-Somerset Greens. Location: Palmyra Tea Room on Hamilton Street in Bound Brook--just a half block from the Bound Brook train station. The agenda includes discussion and resolution of a motion to support the Friends of the Rutgers Ecological Preserve in their efforts to prevent destruction of 40 acres of this Preserve by the Department of Transportation. Info: Mark Grieco (732-545-5187; barnaby@thethinker.com).

Monday, Jan. 11, 7:30pm: Monthly meeting of the Mercer County Greens. Room 3 of the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library. Darrah Lane just off Alternate Route 1. Info: Nick Mellis (609-393-4349; MercerGrns@GPNJ.org).

Saturday, Jan. 16, 10:30am: GPNJ Executive Committee meeting in Bound Brook. Call 732-560-0276 for directions.

Thursday, Jan. 21, 8:30pm: Online (IRQ) meeting of the GPNJ Communication Committee on EICN #acomcom. Please note the change in network.

Saturday, January 23, 1:00pm: GPNJ Green Council meeting. Mark your calendars! At the Rutgers Labor Education Center, Ryders Lane, just off Route 1 in New Brunswick. Info: Gary Novosielski (201-507-5477; gpn@bigfoot.com) or Madelyn Hoffman (973-252-0797; Organizer@GPNJ.org).

Tuesday, Jan. 26, 6:30pm: Monthly meeting of the Monmouth/Ocean Greens at the Dover Township Municipal Building on Washington Street in Toms River. Info: Earl Gray (732-219-5841; EarlGray@exit109.com).

Saturday, Feb. 6, 11:00am: Monthly meeting of the Essex County Greens, 49 Park Street, Montclair. Info: Joe Fortunato.

Thursday, Feb. 4, 8:30pm: Online (IRQ) meeting of the GPNJ Communication Committee on EICN #acomcom. Please note the change in network.

Sunday, Feb. 7, 3:00pm: Global Cinema Cafe. "W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices." This definitive film restores Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois (1863-1963) to his rightful place as one of the commanding intellectual presences of the 20th century. Filmmaker/director Louis Massiah enlisted four leading African American writers (Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amiri Baraka) to guide us through Du Bois' long and multi-faceted life. Louis Massiah will personally be present to introduce the film. At the Third World Center in Princeton, Corner of Olden St. and Prospect Ave. GPNJ is a co-sponsor of the Global Cinema Cafe. Info: 609-497-3998.

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 7:30pm: Monthly meeting of the Mercer County Greens. Room 2 of the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library. Darrah Lane off Alternate Route 1 in Lawrence. Info: Nick Mellis (609-393-4349; MercerGrns@GPNJ.org).

Thursday, Feb. 18, 8:30pm: Online (IRQ) meeting of the GPNJ Communication Committee on EICN #acomcom.

Activities of Interest to Greens:

Saturday, Jan. 9, 2:00-4:00pm: "Two Humanist Perspectives on the Vietnam War." Humanists of North New Jersey present Joe Wallinsky, Vietnam War veteran, and Stuart Hutchison, Vietnam War resister (and GPNJ Treasurer). Location: Maurice M. Pine Public Library, 10-01 Fairlawn Avenue, Fairlawn, NJ. The closest highway connection to Fairlawn in Bergen County, is Route 208 -- exit at Fairlawn Ave. in Fairlawn, and the library is just a few blocks southwest of Rte. 208, right next to the Fairlawn Police Dept. building.

Sunday, Jan. 10, 11:00am: Bob Bender, formerly of New Jersey Peace Action, will speak on "Abolishing Nuclear Weapons" at the Ethical Culture Society, 516 Prospect Street, Maplewood. Info: 908-755-5846 or 973-763-1905.

Friday, Jan. 15, 6:00pm: Potluck dinner and meeting of the Diversity Committee of NJ Peace Action at the Peace Action Office, 89 Walnut Street, Montclair. Info: 973-744-3263.

Friday, Jan. 15, 6:00pm: "Answering the Call for Justice, from the Grassroots to the Highest Courts," a dinner and celebration of the life of Arthur Kinoy, sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights. At Synod House, St. John the Divine, 110th Street & Amsterdam Avenue, New York City. 6:00pm cocktails; program begins at 7:00pm. Featured speaker: Howard Zinn. Info: Joe Fortunato.

Sunday, Jan. 17, 1:00pm: Presentation by David Schilling of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR): "Ethical Guidelines for Global Corporate Practices." ICCR was instrumental within the faith community in gaining cooperation of corporations in ending apartheid in South Africa. It has now turned its attention to gaining corporate support for a set of principles for global corporate responsibility. Mr. Schilling will describe how religious organizations can play a role in this effort. Location: Channing Hall, The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton (corner of Route 206 and Cherry Hill Road). Coffee and dessert provided. An RSVP would be appreciated--to Green member Carol Allen (609-921-2987) or Judy Morgan (609-912-0408).

Sunday, Jan. 17, 1:30pm: Meeting of the newly formed NJ Coalition Against Police Brutality at 46 Paterson Street, New Brunswick. Info: Joe Fortunato.

Monday, Jan. 18, 7:00pm: Martin Luther King Day Celebration. Speaker: Jean Young, MD, former SNCC Field Secretary. Freedom Songs by various artists. Advent Lutheran Church, W. 93rd St & Broadway, New York.

Friday, Jan. 22, 7:30pm: The Montclair Civil Rights Coalition, the Green Party and the New Jersey Coalition Against Police Brutality will be holding a forum on "Racism and the Criminal Justice System" at the Montclair YWCA, 159 Glen Ridge Avenue, Montclair. Featured will be Lawrence Lucas, Catholic Chaplain of the NYC Dept. of Corrections, and the singing group, "Righteous Sisters." Refreshments will be served. Info: Steve Shalom (973-783-4778).

Saturday, Jan. 23, 1:00-4:00pm: Seminar on the proposed Nuclear Weapons Convention/Plan for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons. Speaker: Alyn Ware, Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. St. Peters Claver Church, Montclair. Info: NJ Peace Action, 973-744-3263.

Saturday, Jan. 30, 1:00-3:30pm: UNPLUG Salem planning meeting. Probably at the NJ Environmental Federation office, Lower Ferry Road, in Trenton. Discussion of problems at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and strategies for shutting the mf down. Planning for major demonstration March 27. Info: Norm Cohen (norco@bellatlantic.net) or Madelyn Hoffman.

Reservations must be made soon if you'd like to attend the March 6-16 International Women's Day Conference/Delegation on Health and the Environment, being held in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Contact Jan Strout (609-448-3819; jan.strout@fex.org) for details.

Call for Proposals for Annual Convention

The annual GPNJ convention provides the opportunity for the membership-at-large to discuss and vote on issues of interest and concern to the party. In order to allow time for members to think about issues and promote focussed discussion at the convention, all members are invited to submit agenda items to the Membership Committee or to any member of the Green Council. Please provide some explanation of the item, perhaps with a recommended action. We plan to publish all of this input in the March (pre-convention) issue of the GreenGram.

Items that might be considered include policy initiatives, membership development activities, potential alliances, party governance including bylaws and organizational structure, election policies, and any other item of concern to the membership. Please submit proposals for agenda items to GPNJ Secretary Joe Mosley (135 Throop Avenue, New Brunswick 08901) or via email to: webmaster@GPNJ.org. They will be distributed to those responsible for the agenda (members of the Membership Committee and the Secretary) and to the editor of the March GreenGram. With concurrence of the Secretary, the webmaster will post the items in a special section of the website.

From the Locals

The Mercer County Greens welcome Sue Deckert as their new Co-Chair, assisting Nick Mellis. Sue, who resides in Hamilton Township, has long been a disability advocate in New Jersey. Goals for the local during 1999: expanding membership; launching a program to get I/R (Initiative and Referendum) instituted in Mercer County. Other good news: effective immediately, the Mercer Greens will have a chance to join a focused email dialogue by subscribing to the MercerGreens@e-groups.com listserve. Once subscribed, a participant will be able to start or engage in a dialogue that speaks to the concerns of Mercer County. Email Nick (Nick@NewFrontierConsulting.com) for more information.

Last month the Essex County Greens, along with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, NJ Peace Action, and others organized a demonstration to protest the renewed bombing of Iraq. Held on December 17 at the Montclair Post Office, the event attracted about 30 protesters and garnered front page attention in the local newspaper, the Montclair Times. Some of the indefatigable Greens then headed for Times Square in New York for a spirited demonstration of about 600 people. On January 1 several members attended the Grand Opening of the headquarters of the Unity and Struggle newspaper in New Brunswick. Important contacts were made throughout the evening event.

Earl Gray reports that the Monmouth/Ocean Greens now meet on the last Tuesday of every month at the Dover Township Municipal Building on Washington Street in Toms River -- so their next three meetings will be on January 26, February 23, and March 30. They are currently investigating the following:

- Affordable housing problems in the Beckerville section of Manchester Township (Ocean)

- The sale by the Ocean County Municipal Sewerage Authority of sewage sludge in bags labeled "Organic fertilizer"

- Toms River cancer clusters and autistic children problems

- The plans for eliminating the "hot spot" which will exist in Lacy Township when the Oyster Creek Atomic Power Plant is demolished next year

Individual members of the Monmouth/Ocean local are participating in the following:

- Research on election districts

- Activities of the recently formed NJ Coalition Against Police Brutality, with meetings bringing together New Brunswick and Montclair African-American community members and Greens; attended an open house held by the New Brunswick group on January 1

- Activities of the Corporation Forum Committee; on January 17 a presentation will be given in Princeton on Corporate Behavioral Codes (see calendar above for details)

- Urging Monmouth and Ocean Counties to institute Drug Courts

- State DEPE meetings on the merging of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan and the CAFRA Plan; in the shore area, three meetings have been scheduled: Jan. 6 (Dover Township), Jan. 19 Freehold (Hall of Records), Jan. 21 (Dover Township Municipal Building, Toms River)

As per agreement at the 11/19/98 Executive Committee meeting, Jim Mohn, Madelyn Hoffman and Bill Colucci met in early January to formulate a proposed agenda for the 1/23/99 Green Council meeting:

1. Jim Mohn will start the session on a positive note and provide a constructive context by giving us his vision for the party and analysis of political opportunities.

2. Discussion of Jim's practical suggestions on what County Coordinators might do to help recruit, build the party and be more effective.

3. Job description for County Coordinators: a) Discussion of guidelines for County Coordinators, resulting in a document representing the agreement of the present GC to be used in recruiting and further debate; b) Discussion of whether and/or what minimum performance requirements for the position should be established (for example, the County Coordinator might be required to make a monthly report to the editor of the GreenGram). An agreement should result in a formal recommendation to the EC to pass a rule.

4. Discussion of practical ways to coordinate, encourage, supply and educate County Coordinators -- who should have this responsibility (the party Organizer? The 2nd Vice Chair?) resulting in a document representing agreement of the present GC and a recommendation to the EC.

5. Discussion of practical ways to recruit, who might be good candidates for County Coordinator positions, resulting in a document representing the sense of the present GC to be used as ongoing guidelines.

6. Discussion of the Membership Committee's membership drive.

7. Discussion of Policy Committee draft of election rules (primaries?). In addition, discussion of other election issues (for example, whether the party should emphasize symbolic candidacies, or go for winnable campaigns; whether the party should support progressive Democrats, etc.).

Report on the GNC meeting of the Greens/Green Party USA

As most of our members are probably aware, there are two national Green organizations, the Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) and the Greens/Green Party USA (GPUSA). The former, founded on the heels of the Nader campaign in 1996, is comprised of 25 affiliated state Green Parties. Decisions are made by bodies of representatives from the state parties. The representatives to ASGP from our organization currently are Nick Mellis and Bill Colucci.

Decisionmaking in GPUSA is handled through an annual meeting of its Congress and quarterly meetings of its Green National Committee (GNC). The Congress is comprised of representatives from GPUSA's activist locals across the country of which there are about 60. The GNC is comprised of representatives from affiliated state parties (or regional representatives for areas of the country where there are not affiliated state parties). About twelve of the state Green Parties are affiliated with GPUSA. Our group is one of about ten state parties affiliated with both ASGP and GPUSA.

Each state or region gets to send two representatives to the quarterly GNC meetings and their voting strength is determined by the number of GPUSA members in the state or region. The formula determining voting strength is: one vote for every ten people who are members of a GPUSA local and current with their GPUSA dues. The two representatives from New Jersey are currently Steve Welzer (representing our organization) and Bert Gbur (representing the other organization which calls itself "Green Party of New Jersey").

The last quarterly meeting of the GNC was held in Lawrence, MA in early December. At that time twenty members of our group were paid-up members of GPUSA, while fourteen members of the other organization were current in their GPUSA dues -- so Steve Welzer had two GNC votes and Bert Gbur had one.

The dispute between the two New Jersey affiliates was a prominent point of discussion at the Lawrence GNC meeting. After gathering some background information, a decision was made to appoint a special committee to investigate the NJ situation. The discussion brought up auxiliary issues regarding the role of mediation/arbitration and the role of the GPUSA National Coordinating Committee in state affairs.

Other matters dealt with at the December GNC meeting:

- GPUSA will hire a membership development coordinator on a trial basis; it will be a half-time position

- appointment of a Treasurer (the Coordinator of the GPUSA Clearinghouse has previously handled most accounting and bookkeeping functions for the organization)

- GPUSA will help with the campaign to obtain freedom for Lori Berenson (Lori is a 29-year-old US citizen and anti-war activist who has been imprisoned in Peru as a "traitor" to that country for allegedly being part of a liberation group)

- discussed the relation of the Green movement to the proposed Earth Day 2000 extravaganza

- approved the idea of a coalition with the Labor Party around the issue of Single Payer Health Care

- agreed that the GNC should send a letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania and the press supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal's right to a new trial; also alert international contacts to focus on the issue

- passed a resolution directing the GNC to write a letter to the national Greens community about GPUSA policies regarding filing with the Federal Elections Commission for National Committee status (the GPUSA filed in 1996 and this has been a source of contention nationally ever since)

- Holle Brian of Minnesota was appointed as the new editor of GPUSA's quarterly newspaper, Green Politics; Holle then resigned her position on the National Coordinating Committee in order to avoid centralization of power

- Howie Hawkins submitted a draft of a GPUSA Electoral Strategy Working Paper, including discussion of: election reform; local, state, and federal elections; a national convention and electoral platform; a timeline for a 2000 national campaign; budget and coalition considerations

- approved a proposed format for a series of informational flyers for Green Action Networks (GANs -- each of which involves an activist campaign around a particular issue like sustainable/affordable energy production, ecosystem protection, universal healthcare, transportation alternatives, genetic engineering, etc.)

News and Information from the Association of State Green Parties

Process for Joining an ASGP Committee:

ASGP Bylaws permit any state to have up to three members on any of their open-membership committees. The Steering Committee has approved a rule that requires state parties to approve any new committee members from their state. From now on, if someone volunteers for a committee from an affiliated state, the Secretary will inform the delegates from that state and await approval, by whatever methods the state party chooses. Upon receiving that approval from a delegate from the state, the person will be accepted as a member of the committee. The process will remain the same for people from unaffiliated states: the committee membership must approve. Please send any comments on this new rule to: Dean Myerson, ASGP Secretary (deangr@plinet.com)

The Coordinating Committee of the ASGP has signed on to the following statement on MAI:

CALL TO REJECT ANY PROPOSAL FOR MOVING THE MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENT OR ANY INVESTMENT AGREEMENT TO THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

1. The Multilateral Agreement on Investment in the OECD has run into problems because of strong public protests in many OECD countries as well as objections from developing-country groups and governments. Objections from the public include that the MAI would grant new unprecedented rights for corporations (whilst removing the authority of states to place obligations or regulations on them), threaten national sovereignty and the viability of domestic firms and farms, remove conditions for development in the South and magnify environmental and social problems. Since there is no sign that the OECD governments are willing to consider a basic change in the premises and framework of the MAI, we call for the termination of the negotiations and the treaty in the OECD.

2. We are very concerned by the moves of some OECD governments, including the European Union, to move the MAI process to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The North countries have recently been pushing very hard in the WTO (including its Working Group on Trade and Investment) to get developing countries to agree to upgrade the present "discussions" into negotiations for an MAI-type agreement. They hope to get the Working Group to decide on this perhaps as early as at its next meeting in November 1998.

3. Some of the North countries claim this will make it fairer for developing countries and, moreover, environmental and labor concerns will be taken care of in the WTO. We reject these claims. Instead, shifting the investment issue to the WTO will place great pressure on developing countries to negotiate and eventually join an agreement that would have disastrous effects on their development prospects. Moreover, promises to include environmental and social concerns are likely to be only an eyewash to co-opt the public to accept the basic tenets of the MAI. The strong enforcement capability of the WTO through its dispute settlement system will also mean that all countries, especially developing countries, will be forced to comply. Domestic laws and policies in a wide range of issues will have to be changed, even if these were to cause job losses, closure of local enterprises and farms, financial instability, balance of payments deficits and environmental deterioration.

4. We therefore call on all governments, OECD and non-OECD alike, to reject any proposal to negotiate an investment agreement in the WTO. The trade and investment working group in the WTO should be confined to ONLY STUDY the trade and investment relation and should not be "upgraded" into a NEGOTIATING forum for an investment AGREEMENT. The proposals by the EU and other major countries to start a "Millennium Round" or a "comprehensive future agenda" for the WTO should not be used as a devise to sneak in an investment negotiation process in the WTO.

5. On principle, we are against the kind of assumptions and framework that the MAI represents. As public knowledge on the MAI increases, many more people are rejecting this approach. We call on governments, international agencies and NGOs not to accept the MAI or a similar investment approach as inevitable or a "given" but instead to choose a basically different approach in dealing with the investment issue.

6. Towards this alternative approach, we call for global and national guidelines, rules and regulations to place obligations on investors and corporations so that their activities and products serve the needs of people within a framework of internationally fair, socially just and environmentally sound development.

Plans being made for major anti-nuke protest

What is expected to be the largest anti-nuclear protest in New Jersey in the last 20 years is scheduled for March 27. A planning meeting will be held on Saturday, January 30, 1:00pm to 3:30pm, probably at the NJ Environmental Federation office, Lower Ferry Road, in Trenton. The event is being organized by the UNPLUG Salem coalition to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Three Mile Island meltdown. Confirmed speaker: Jay Gould (Radiation & Public Health Project) who will announce our "Tooth Fairy" project to collect baby teeth from the Salem area to test for Strontium-90. We will also announce the date for our Peoples Hearing on the environmental effects of the Salem nukes. All the electricity for the program will be solar powered; hope to have a separate solar display.

If you want to help with the organization of the event, but can't attend the January 30 meeting, contact Madelyn Hoffman (973-252-0797; Organizer@GPNJ.org) or Norm Cohen (norco@bellatlantic.net). Needed for the March 27 meeting: any contacts anyone might have for another "name" speaker; any contacts for musicians who will perform for free; PEOPLE TO ATTEND! please mark your calendars now!

Green Politics

The Winter 1999 issue of the national newspaper Green Politics is available through GPNJ. Articles include:

- Depleted Uranium: Waging Low-Intensity Nuclear War in the Gulf

- 600 Police Remove 36 Non-Violent Protesters from AIM/Earth First! Encampment

- Green Party Candidates Build Momentum in New Jersey

- Red and Green: Reflections on the Second Labor Party Convention

- "Free Mumia" Demonstrators Disrupt Journalists' Waldorf Gala

- Movement for Proportional Representation Growing

- Florida Green Party Helps Win Ballot Access Victory

- New York Greens Win a Ballot Line

- St. Louis Environmentalists Protest Genetically Altered Food at Monsanto Center

- Voices in the Wilderness Fined $10,000 for Sending Donations to Iraq

- 2,347 Not Arrested at School of the Americas Protest in Georgia

- Help Lori Berenson Get Out of Prison in Peru!

Endnotes

- Bill Colucci (732-247-4855; cyrano@thethinker.com) will be coordinating discussion regarding the Organizer position: what that person should do for the party and how it can be financed. Contact him to provide input.

- Introduced by chairperson Rose Ann DeMoro as "the shop steward of the American people," Ralph Nader was warmly received when he addressed the Constitutional Convention of the Labor Party in Pittsburgh last November. Nader pointed out that working people have been losing ground while the gap between their wages and executive salaries grows ever greater. The average chief executive officer now makes 200-300 times more than the average entry-level worker; the minimum wage is one-third less, in real terms, than what it was in 1950. The consumer advocate/Green Party 1996 Presidential candidate pointed to the multinational corporations' growing concentration of power and wealth in virtually every sphere and talked about how the Democratic and Republican parties are more in the pockets of those multinationals than ever before.

- To be recognized by New Jersey as an official, ballot-status political party (i.e. to get a ballot line and enable people to register "Green Party") Green candidates would have to poll 10 percent of the overall statewide vote in the election for State Assembly. Pat Benjamin of the NJ Reform Party reports that before 1890, alternative parties competed on a level playing field with the two major parties here. Then, in 1890, the Legislature defined political parties as those receiving at least 5 percent of the vote for the General Assembly. From 1910 to 1920, several minor NJ parties consistently were successful in getting at least 5 percent of the statewide vote. So, in 1920, the Legislature raised the voting requirement for party status to 10 percent. Since then, no third party has qualified for ballot status in New Jersey.

- If you are receiving the hardcopy version of this GreenGram and you are a regular email user, please help us save trees and money by sending your email information to: Webmaster@GPNJ.org (remember, we need your name as well as your id!). The next issue will come to you electronically.

The GreenGram is circulated monthly in an effort to keep all GPNJ members informed about recent matters and upcoming events. Members are encouraged to provide brief submissions of news items or opinions, as well as event announcements. Deadline for the February issue will be Jan. 28. Please submit material to the address below or to: Webmaster@GPNJ.org.

Green Party of NJ Member Bulletin P.O. Box 9802, Trenton, NJ 08650

Archived at the GPNJ website: www.gpnj.org To subscribe, become a member!