[Peace-discuss] [ufpj-activist] Green Party statement on Trump's missile strike in Syria

[Mitchel Cohen]

Thank you, Karen, for your statement on Syria, 
which I've forwarded to some lists I coordinate, 
particularly the ActionGreens listserve (which is 
a private list of activists concerned with Green 
(and other) issues, and is not an official Green Party list).

As to Robert Naiman's criticism, while I share 
his sentiment that the Green Party statement 
could and should be stronger and more expansive, 
the GP is not set up to issue immediate responses 
to whatever matter is before us. There usually 
needs to be discussion and some sort of decision first.

Yes, I find that frustrating. Nor do I like (and 
never have liked) the tendency of many Left 
groups as well as the Green Party to "call on" 
this or that to happen, rather than to organize 
to make it happen. We don't need "Resolutionary 
Socialism", "sending a message," "raising the 
consciousness of others," and so forth. My 
guiding principle here is best articulated oh so 
sharply in Monty Python's "Life of Brian", which 
is all about the Left and worth re-showing every year. Unicorns, indeed!

But the Greens don't have (and don't want to 
have) one person who is empowered to make those 
decisions for the party as a whole. We're simply 
not set up that way, where one or two individuals 
could make decisions for the entire Party and 
write press releases without wide consultation first.

Meanwhile, the GP in NYC has indeed initiated 
quite a few antiwar demonstrations in the last 
few months, and its members have participated in 
hundreds of'm ... including efforts to get 
anti-war issues included in the general "No Ban, 
No Wall" protests -- as have rank-and-file Green 
members across the country. No Ban, No Wall, No War !

I agree that the sentence about Mosul and Saudi 
Arabia should have been included.

We need to work together.

Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens/Green Party




At 10:39 AM 4/9/2017, Robert Naiman wrote:

>A day behind everyone else. But it's a start. We 
>can say that the Green Party tried to show up in some way. Â
>
>Now how about if the Green Party would actually 
>try to organize some activity, any kind of 
>activity, against Trump's action? There's 
>nothing in the Green Party statement that asks 
>anyone who supports the Green Party to do 
>anything. It's all about, the Green Party calls 
>for this, the Green Party calls for that, the 
>Green Party calls for dismantling of the 
>military industrial complex, the Green Party 
>calls for unicorns and ponies, all children 
>under the age of sixteen, are now sixteen.Â
>
>Compare and contrast: in less than twenty-four 
>hours, Just Foreign Policy rallied 7,419 people 
>to defend the War Powers Resolution. And this 
>was our second alert on the topic since Trump's strike.Â
>
>Join @RepPeterDeFazio, @RepMarkPocan: tell 
>@realDonaldTrump he has 48 hours to report on Syria
><http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/join-reppeterdefazio?r_by=941832>http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/join-reppeterdefazio?r_by=941832
>
>And we're just one little NGO, one of many 
>working on this front - we don't advertise 
>ourselves to be a national political party.Â
>
>Also: how come the Green Party is still silent 
>on U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's war and 
>blockade in Yemen? The Green Party has produced 
>a long statement. It's not like they didn't have 
>room to talk about U.S. support for Saudi 
>Arabia's war in Yemen. Here was a perfect 
>opportunity to mention it: "Since his 
>inauguration and despite his protestations of 
>sympathy for civilians, including children, 
>killed in the Idlib assault, Mr. Trump has 
>ordered raids in Yemen and air assaults on Mosul 
>and a mosque near Aleppo that have killed scores of civilians."
>
>"Mad Dog" Mattis' proposal to attack Hodeida and 
>push Yemen into famine is still reportedly in 
>the inbox of McMaster and Trump's national 
>security team. It sure would be great if the 
>Green Party would speak up on this.Â
>
>Tell @realDonaldTrump: Come to Congress Before You Attack Hodeida
><http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/help-repmarkpocan-justinamas?r_by=1135580>http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/help-repmarkpocan-justinamas?r_by=1135580
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Robert Naiman
>Policy Director
>Just Foreign Policy
><http://www.justforeignpolicy.org>www.justforeignpolicy.org
><mailto:naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>(202) 448-2898 x1
>
>On Sun, Apr 9, 2017 at 6:56 AM, Karen Aram via 
>Peace-discuss 
><<mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> 
>wrote:
>
>
>Green Party statement on Trump's missile strike in Syria
>
>
>
>
>----------
>syria-sanctuary-not-missiles.jpg
>
>
>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the 
>United States strongly condemned President 
>Donald Trump's unilateral cruise missile strike 
>on a Syrian government airfield and called for a 
>halt to further overt and covert military action by the U.S.
>
>Greens called for an internationally cooperative 
>and impartial investigation of the nerve gas 
>attack in Idlib province that killed scores of 
>civilians, which supposedly motivated Mr. Trump 
>to order the strikes. The U.S. alleges that the 
>President Bashar al-Assad government is 
>responsible for the gas attack, a claim disputed 
>by some journalists covering the war.
>
>----------
>Greens call for halt to U.S. attacks and ongoing 
>overt and covert military intervention in Syria, 
>which will inflict even more civilian casualties 
>and escalate the war in Syria, urge an arms 
>embargo on all sides and an open door for fleeing Syrian civilians
>
>An impartial probe of the Idlib gas attacks and 
>emergency negotiations are necessary to stop 
>further bloodshed, prevent expanded Cold War conflict
>
>Greens criticize war drumbeats from Democrats 
>and U.S. media, call for a revived antiwar movement
>
>Green Party of the United States
><http://www.gp.org/>http://www.gp.org
><https://www.twitter.com/GreenPartyUS>@GreenPartyUS
>
>For Immediate Release:
>Saturday, April 8, 2017
>
>Contact:
>Scott McLarty, Media Director, 
><tel:(202)%20904-7614>202-904-7614, <mailto:scott at gp.org>scott at gp.org
>
>----------
>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other 
>leaders have also called for an investigation. 
>Green Party leaders noted that unilateral 
>attacks on another sovereign country that poses 
>no immediate threat to the U.S. violate 
>international law and treaties to which the U.S. is signatory.
>
>The Green Party also calls for the U.S. to admit 
>Syrian civilians, especially children, who are fleeing the war.
>
>Greens said that the strike ordered by President 
>Trump threatens to expand the Syrian conflict 
>into a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia in 
>the context of a new Cold War between the two 
>powers. The CIA and Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, 
>have supplied funding and weapons to Syrian 
>rebel groups that have strengthened ISIL and 
>al-Qaeda, even while the U.S. continues to bomb 
>the latters' strongholds in Iraq.
>
>Green Party leaders asserted that the 
>investigation and emergency negotiations with 
>Russia, Iran, and all others involved or with an 
>interest in the Syrian war are necessary to stop 
>further bloodshed and prevent a wider regional 
>or global military confrontation.
>
>The Green Party supports an international arms 
>embargo on all sides, which is only possible 
>through multilateral negotiation. The party 
>refutes bipartisan claims that military 
>solutions can bring peace and stability.
>
>In calling for a halt to U.S. military action, 
>the Green Party in no way defends either the 
>Assad government or rebel forces, which are 
>responsible for the slaughter, maiming, and 
>displacement of hundreds of thousands of 
>civilians. The party supports an international 
>investigation into war crimes on all sides. 
>Greens warned that U.S. military action will 
>only lead to more mass civilian casualties, as 
>shown by U.S. invasions and attacks in Iraq, 
>Afghanistan, Libya, and other Muslim countries since 2001.
>
>The Green Party sharply criticized major media 
>and warhawk Democrats who are cheering the 
>missile strikes. Mr. Trump's pre-attack friendly 
>stance towards Russia -- opposed by Democrats 
>enthusiastic for a new Cold War -- offered a 
>chance for cooperation between Washington and 
>Moscow. The missile strikes are likely to have scuttled that chance.
>
>Greens said that Trump Administration's 
>belligerence risks a new era of reckless warfare 
>comparable to -- or worse than -- President 
>George W. Bush's disastrous first term. Since 
>his inauguration and despite his protestations 
>of sympathy for civilians, including children, 
>killed in the Idlib assault, Mr. Trump has 
>ordered raids in Yemen and air assaults on Mosul 
>and a mosque near Aleppo that have killed scores 
>of civilians. These crimes are compounded by his 
>administration's anti-Muslim immigration 
>proposals and deportations, especially targeting 
>Syrians fleeing their country's civil war.
>
>The Green Party calls for a revived mass antiwar 
>movement that opposes military action that 
>threatens the lives of civilians, that rejects 
>wars for oil and other resources and for U.S. 
>political and economic domination, and that 
>recognizes a dangerous continuity in the Bush, 
>Obama, and Trump administrations' war policies. 
>These same policies have ignited rage against 
>the U.S. and may lead to new retaliatory violence against Americans.
>
>The party also urges deep cuts in defense 
>spending (except for veterans' services) and 
>dismantling of the military-industrial complex, 
>noting that the U.S. military budget is ten 
>times greater than Russia's and that the U.S. 
>faces no threat from other countries.
>
>
>MORE INFORMATION
>
>Green Party of the United States <http://www.gp.org/>http://www.gp.org
><tel:(202)%20319-7191>202-319-7191
><https://www.twitter.com/GreenPartyUS>@GreenPartyUS

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