Showing posts with label Green Independent Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Independent Party. Show all posts

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Ajamu Sibeko Baraka

 








Ajamu Sibeko Baraka, October 25, 1953 (Chicago, Ill.) -

VP candidate for Green Party of the United States (aka Independent aka DC Statehood Green Party aka Green Independent Party aka Green Rainbow Party aka Pacific Green Party aka Progressive Party aka Unaffiliated aka Mountain Party) (2016)
VP candidate for Wake Up (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Jill Ellen Stein (b. 1950)
Running mate with nominee: Charles R. Zerilli
Popular vote (Stein): 1,355,128 (0.99%)
Popular vote (Zerilli): 0 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign (Stein):

Jill Stein was nominated as the Green Party standard bearer for the second time in 2016. Her official running-mate was Ajamu Baraka.

Stein's direction had veered a bit since 2012. In the 2016 election some critical observers felt she was starting to demonstrate what critics call "conspirituality," where New Age followers and the more cultish Trump adherents overlap in their denial of science and embracing a multitude of conspiracy theories. For example, the belief that Big Pharma controls the government regulatory agencies and vaccinations are harmful. Although Stein did not go full anti-vaxxer, she was accused by critics of pandering to that demographic through the use of linguistic "dog whistles." Critics also contended she used the same method in suggesting Wi-Fi causes brain damage and that the 9/11 attack deserved more investigation.

Although even skeptics agreed the Greens seemed to be more reality based when it came to environmental science, they pointed out their medical science was quite another thing (which is ironic considering Stein is a doctor), as demonstrated on the Green webpage--

Greens support a wide-range of health care services, not just traditional medicine which too often emphasizes “a medical arms race” that relies upon high-tech intervention, surgical techniques and costly pharmaceuticals. Chronic conditions are often best cured by alternative medicine. We support the teaching, funding and practice of holistic health approaches and as appropriate, the use of complementary and alternative therapies such as herbal medicines, homeopathy, naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and other healing approaches.

The rise and fall of the Bernie Sanders campaign left a good sized number of voters without a home. The Green Party was able to seize upon this opportunity. The Greens disdained Sanders' method of working within a major party, and felt everything the Democrats co-opted from them, such as the Green New Deal, became watered down after it had been essentially mainstreamed (hmm, interesting accidental aquatic wordplay there). Stein also did not seem to care if Trump emerged the winner in 2016--

The answer to neofascism is stopping neoliberalism. Putting another Clinton in the White House will fan the flames of this right-wing extremism. We have known that for a long time ever since Nazi Germany. We are going to stand up to Donald Trump and to stand up to Hillary Clinton!

Stein told the media she would step aside if Sanders was willing to run for President in the Green Party. She felt Clinton could do more damage if elected because she was competent where Trump was clearly in over his head.

The fact her running-mate Baraka was outspoken about his embrace of certain conspiracy theories did not help with the Greens escaping the "woo" image that took off like a rocket with Cynthia McKinney in 2008 and was now solidifying in 2016. He was particularly interested in what he viewed as US-generated "false flag" operations.

Baraka also held an unorthodox opinion regarding the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shootings. An essay he wrote on the subject includes this sample--

Je Suis Charlie has become a sound bite to justify the erasure of non-Europeans, and for ignoring the sentiments, values and views of the racialized “other.” In short, Je Suis Charlie has become an arrogant rallying cry for white supremacy that was echoed at the white power march on Sunday in Paris and in the popularity of the new issue of Charlie Hebdo.

It was published as part of his article, "The Paris Attacks and the White Lives Matter Movement" in Kevin Barrett's anthology entitled ANOTHER French False Flag?: Bloody Tracks from Paris to San Bernardino with contributions by Holocaust deniers, 9/11 Truthers, anti-Semites, and other conspiracy theorists. Baraka was forced to issue a statement that he had no idea of the overall scope of the monograph and found himself on the defensive for most of the campaign.

Baraka was not a fan of President Obama, who he called an "Uncle Tom," nor of Sen. Sanders and the majority of his supporters--

In their desperate attempt to defend Sanders and paint his critics as dogmatists and purists, the Sanders supporters have not only fallen into the ideological trap of a form of narrow “left” nativism, but also the white supremacist ethical contradiction that reinforces racist cynicism in which some lives are disposable for the greater good of the West.

And as much as the ‘Sandernistas ’ attempt to disarticulate Sanders “progressive” domestic policies from his documented support for empire (even the Obamaite aphorism “The perfect is the enemy of the good” is unashamedly deployed), it should be obvious that his campaign is an ideological prop – albeit from a center/left position – of the logic and interests of the capitalist-imperialist settler state.

The silence of the left on Yemen is not a trivial matter. The fact that so many white leftist supporters of Sanders can politically and psychologically disconnect his domestic program from his foreign policy positions that objectively support U.S. and Western neoliberal hegemony means that not only have they found a way to be comfortable collaborating with imperialism, but that they have also decided that they can support the implicit hierarchy that determines from an imperial perspective that lives in the White West matter more than others.

This is not to suggest that everyone who might find a way to support Sanders is a closet racist and supporter of imperialism. I know plenty of folks of all backgrounds who “feel the Bern.” There is, however, an objective logic to their uncritical support that they cannot escape and which I believe represents the ongoing crisis of radicalism in the U.S. and Europe.

For some reason Howie Hawkins once again ended up as a stand-in VP, this time in Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington. He was quoted by Politico during the Green convention with a statement that turned out to be prophetic--

The biggest threat to the Democrats isn't losing votes to the Greens ... Working class whites say, well, the Democrats don't have all that much for us. And Trump sounds like he's mad at the system. So they throw a protest vote to him ... the African-American, Latino, Asian working class. Barack Obama got them out twice, but he didn't do a lot for them, and he's not on the ticket this time.

Stein finished in 4th place with 1,457,288 votes (1.06%), the second highest result in the history of the Party. Of that, the Stein/Baraka team accounted for 1,355,128 votes. The ticket had their strongest results in: Hawaii (2.97%), Oregon (2.50%), Kansas (1.98%), California (1.96%), Maine (1.91%), Alaska (1.80%), and Montana (1.60%).

Some pundits point to Stein's percentages in Wisconsin (1.04%), Pennsylvania (0.81%), and Michigan (1.07%)-- all swing states that voted for Trump who won by margins below the Green total-- and accuse her of being a spoiler as they accused Nader in 2000. However, in all three states the Libertarians had considerably higher percentages than the Greens, placing third, which complicates the "spoiler equation." If anything, a case could be made both third parties drew away a significant number of "Protest Voters" who otherwise would have voted for Trump and he won those states in spite of that.

Baraka endorsed Howie Hawkins in 2020.

The campaign (Zerilli):

Charles R. Zerelli of Staten Island, N.Y. was a registered write-in in Minnesota and Washington under a party called Wake Up. In Minnesota he indicated Baraka was his running-mate.

One of Zarelli's Youtube's summarizes his platform in the introductory text--

After finding out that Radio-Active-Readings are approaching Cali. Shores.. Charles wants Fukuashima STOPPED NOW. Waters heating-up WILL spawn Poison gasses. SEE THIS VIDEO NOW.!!  He will go there and do this for America AND The Worlds benefit. "I'm Ready to go to China and help them ..to help US.  Redefining what a National Security Emergency really is.. A business plan and HOW Carbon-Foot-Print IS effecting US. Charles really cares for US, our retirement and our kids-kids NOW - Cha

No votes were reported.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Army (Vietnam War), Amnesty International board member and regional director, executive director of the US Human Rights Network, teacher, editor, columnist

Notes:
Awarded the US Peace Prize by the US Peace Memorial Foundation in 2019.

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Cheri Lynn Honkala

 





Cheri Lynn Honkala, January 12, 1963 (Minneapolis, Minn.) -

VP candidate for Green Party of the United States (aka DC Statehood-Green Party aka Mountain Party aka Green-Rainbow Party aka Independent aka Pacific Green Party aka Green Independent Party) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Jill Ellen Stein (b. 1950)
Popular vote: 431,741 (0.33%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The 2012 Green Party Presidential nomination was won by Massachusetts physician Jill Stein, a perennial Green Party candidate for various offices in the Bay State during the previous decade. From 2005-2011 she had been twice elected to the Lexington, Mass. town council, her only public office prior to running for the White House.

The cornerstone of Stein's campaign was the Green New Deal, a phrase that goes back to the early 21st century, was picked up and expanded on by the Green Party, and then later co-opted by progressive Democrats. The Party's 2012 Green New Deal not only called for assertive environmental measures but also included several social issues such as full employment, strict tariffs, support labor unions, upgrade the nation's infrastructure, tuition-free education, a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, phase out dependence on oil-coal-nuclear power, repeal the Patriot Act, Statehood for DC, legalize marijuana.

Although Stein might have appeared radical to mainstream voters, she looked totally moderate when compared to her running-mate, controversial Philadelphia-based activist Cheri Honkala. The Green Party VP had a Dickens style hardluck upbringing and later survived as a homeless single mother living in her car. In her struggle she evolved into an unorthodox and in-your-face advocate on behalf of those living on the margins of society. Her method of operation was confrontational, probably giving her the record among 2012 nominees for number of arrests related to civil disobedience. Honkala's efforts worked in terms of generating attention for her cause. Back when magazines had more clout than they do today, Ms. Magazine named Honkala "Woman of the Year" in 2001, and Mother Jones bestowed the "Hellraiser of the Month" honor to her in April 2005.

Stein and Honkala were arrested more than once during the campaign in the course of protesting issues like foreclosures and being excluded from the Obama-Romney debates. For them, incarceration was considered just part of the election process.

Their 4th place result of nearly half a million votes was the best showing for the Green Party since 2000. On the ballot in 35 states + DC and write-ins in 5, there were no states where they could be accused, as they were in 2000, of being a spoiler. The Stein/Honkala ticket finished strongest in Maine (1.14%), Oregon (1.18%), Alaska (0.97%), Arkansas (0.87%), District of Columbia (0.84%, where they placed third), Hawaii (0.73%), Washington and Idaho (0.67% each), West Virginia and California (0.66% each), Massachusetts (0.65%).

In Wisconsin Stein's running-mate was Ben Manski, in Illinois it was Howie Hawkins.

Stein would run again in 2016 where she had morphed into a different kind of candidate who would have more of an impact on the outcome of the election. I'll get to that later.

Election history:
2011 - Sheriff of Philadelphia, Penn. (Green Party of the United States) - defeated
2017 - Pennsylvania House of Representatives (Green Party of the United States) - defeated

Other occupations: activist for homeless, co-founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, co-founder National Coordinator of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

Notes:
Honkala's son is the actor Mark Webber, best known to me as "The Kid" at the end of one of Bill Murray's best films, Broken Flowers (2005). Murray imparts the following wisdom, "Well, the past is gone, I know that. The future, isn't here yet, whatever it's going to be. So, all there is, is, is this. The present. That's it."

Friday, August 21, 2020

Patricia Helen LaMarche









Patricia Helen LaMarche, November 26, 1960 (Providence, RI) -

VP candidate for Green Party of the United States (aka Green Party aka D.C. Statehood Green Party aka Independent aka Green Independent Party aka Green-Rainbow Party aka Pacific Green Party) (2004)

Running mate with nominee: David Keith Cobb (b. 1962)
Popular vote: 119,910 (0.10%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Green Party was at a crossroads in the 2004 national election. Still smarting from the perhaps unfair perception that they were the spoilers in the 2000 election-- and handing the White House to George W. Bush especially in Florida-- the Party had some significant differences of opinion within their ranks on how to proceed. Generally speaking there were three factions at play here.

The first group desired to endorse Ralph Nader's independent run. Nader himself had announced in Dec. 2003 he would not seek the Green nomination, but later he realized the Party's endorsement would come in handy in terms of ballot access although he had no intention of joining the Greens himself. The pro-Nader faction was energized when a week before the Green convention Nader had selected GP activist Peter Camejo as his running-mate. Camejo in fact had won the most popular votes in the Green Party primaries for President.

The second group wanted to run a campaign with a "pure" Green candidate (David Cobb was the frontrunner) rather than ride on the star power of a political celebrity who was not necessarily in line with the Party platform. Cobb, a California attorney and Party activist, had worked hard to gain the nomination as he electioneered across the country gathering delegates.

The third group promoted the idea of sitting out the 2004 Presidential contest and instead concentrate on elections at the grassroots local level. A leaflet from this faction at the convention included, "Choosing No Candidate will allow Greens to build strength at the grassroots, avoiding a punishing national media fight we cannot win ... Our best route to national influence is building local power."

On June 26, 2004 Cobb won the nomination on the second ballot. He named Pat LaMarche, a Green Party activist in Maine, as his running-mate.

Unlike Nader/Camejo the Cobb/LeMarche ticket adopted a "safe state" strategy of not campaigning hard in swing states where they thought they could possibly tip the scales in favor of Bush. Cobb rationalized, "In California, Cobb-LaMarche's message is going to be, 'Progressives, don’t waste your vote.' Because if a progressive casts a vote for the corporate militarist John Kerry in California, it does not help to unelect Bush, and you can only send a message that you actually support policies that you don't. That's a wasted vote. Simple message: progressives, don't waste your vote. In the other states where it's very much closer, we have the same, in-depth, scathing critique of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and then conclude with, 'but think carefully before you cast your vote.' You know, that is completely respecting the voter, and it is really challenging those voters to think about why we have a system where I have to vote against what I hate, rather than support what I want."

LaMarche started a "Left-Out Tour" as a way of campaigning, staying in homeless shelters and domestic violence safehouses in her journeys "to draw attention to those living on the edge of society." Her experiences were later published in a monograph, Left Out in America (2006).

There were a few negatives with LaMarche on the ticket. Low on the political Richter Scale was her switching her registration from Democratic to Green just before she ran for Governor of Maine in 1998. And her short stay in jail after a DWI in 1997. In the Big Picture those were not huge issues, after all both Bush and Cheney had been busted for drunk driving too. What really riled those on the Left was her statement she was not sure who she voting for and suggested she just might pull the level for the Democrat on Election Day, "If the race is tight, I'll vote for Kerry."

A swath of the Left felt the Greens were capitulating to the Democrats far too much. The Vermont Green Party broke ranks and endorsed Nader/Camejo. Cobb did not appear on the ballot there. In Utah the Greens experienced concerted activity to keep them off the ballot and Nader's supporters were accused of being complicit in that effort.

The ticket was on the ballot in 27 states + DC with enough Electors to theoretically win the Presidency with 270 electoral votes. An additional 14 states recorded write-in votes for the ticket. The Cobb/LaMarche team finished with their strongest popular vote percentages in: Connecticut 0.61%, Hawaii and Maine 0.40% each, Massachusetts 0.36%, Alaska 0.34%, California 0.33%, District of Columbia 0.32%, Rhode Island 0.30%, and Oregon 0.29%.

The Green Party Presidential popular vote result in 2004 is the nadir on the graph of their Electoral history. Get it?

Election history:
1998 - Governor of Maine (Green Independent Party) - defeated
2006 - Governor of Maine (Green Independent Party) - defeated

Other occupations: teacher, radio talk show host, DJ, columnist, author, novelist, lecturer

Notes:
1998 opponents included Angus King (winner).
Maternal grandparents were Irish immigrants.