Brightening Green election hopes…
Tony Blair is playing games. He is thought to be intending to set the date for a general election on 5 May – that is 05/05/05. What a date! I guess this would mean that none could possibly get confused with which day to vote! The UK desperately needs Greening and due to the unfair voting system in the UK, the Green Party is very sensibly targeting only 5 areas in the elections that could be winnable at the election after this one in 2009 or 2010. They do not expect to win any seats but want to come 2nd or 3rd instead of the usual 4th. By targeting resources to a few places, it is possible to get a higher share of the vote than just spreading resources and getting 5% everywhere! The top targets for the Greens are in Brighton, Norwich, Leeds and two parts of London. Campaigning for elections in the UK, I have to say, is very exciting and very different to almost all countries in Europe because we knock on doors, talk to voters, deliver leafl ets and target “swing voters” with persuasive personal letters… all this adds to the adrenaline-fuelled mania that makes up a UK election. If anyone wants to visit Young Greens in the run up to the election, we would be very happy to have you campaign with us.
Getting rich quick…
Young Greens have been raising money to employ a part time office coordinator. In one month we have increased our monthly income from €22 to €300 (in addition to the €3000 annual budget) by running a simple fundraising campaign. We have appealed to members and supporters of the Young Greens and members of the Green Party to set up a standing order (monthly bank transfer) with the Young Greens. Regular income means that we can employ someone to keep the organization running effi ciently now that the amount of work is getting too much for volunteers to do given the increasing size of our membership and increasing activity! We aim to surpass the €300 mark during the next month. This makes a huge difference to our finances… your organization can do this too! All it takes is someone to design a leafl et, a standing order form suitable for the bank, a page on your website and lots of e-mailing and asking generous people! Ask us if you want further advice.
On the campaigning front…
Campaigns are focussing on homophobic music, sex traffi cking, getting young people signed up to vote and computer software patents. Upcoming events include a march in support of the Kyoto treaty and a march against the continued occupation of Iraq. The next Green Party Conference and Young Greens meeting will be 3-6 March in Chesterfi eld. Again, anyone is welcome to join us for this. We’re also concentrating on developing our next newsletter – 5000 copies to be made – and getting younger people involved (under 18’s).
Departing note…
In conclusion, you can see that we’re incredibly busy. Having only been fully formed for around 3 years now and despite this, we have built a strong presence in the Green scene, which has been described by some party members as one of the most exciting developments in the Green Party for a decade! Not bad, is it?