Written By Claudine Letsae
International Co-ordinator Green Party England and Wales
It is truly a privilege to serve the membership as an International Coordinator and to highlight the Global South issues. Building on the good work that have already been undertaken by my predecessors, I aim to strongly advance the way we engage with the Global South and building strong links with the UK diaspora , to highlight the importance of the solutions that would mitigate climate, pandemic and financial crises from the grass roots organisations.
These solutions can only be from the ground up, instead of being foisted on the Global South by corporations and colonising nations that created these conditions in the first instance. My four priorities, CEDAW https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx, Ecocide – Stop ecocide campaign ( https://www.stopecocide.earth/press-releases-summary/belgium-pledges-diplomatic-action-to-halt-ecocide-crime), PeoplesCOP26 and Debt Jubilee (or what I call Quantitative Easing for the People). Why did I feel these would provide the solutions for current crises? It is because resolving climate issues requires and demands equitable solutions for the Global South, instead of a continuous extractivism and exploitation. The rebranding of solutions that hardly address equality and climate degradation , like those proposed by the international institutions (case in point here: IMF https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2019/12/pdf/fd1219.pdf) hardly take into consideration the damage and the benefits that westerns countries have caused and enjoyed respectively over decades and continue to exploitative practices that are depleting the countries of minerals and causing huge environmental damage leading to displacement of populations.
The strengthening of the UK diaspora political capital, will help to focus support and attention on the global south. Who best to know what is really happening on the ground in the countries of their origin, than those who have direct links there! This would also ensure that they use the UK democratic systems to lobby on behalf of their families from the Global South, with the current topical issues being #End SARS, #Anglophone crisis, #CongoIsBleeding, #StopGBV and at the heart of Climate Crisis, we have no time but the present to elevate the voices that have been ignored in these crises.
The Green parties across the Globe will play a vital role in the mobilisation of the Global South countries and building strong solidarity across the globe. The Green Federation https://www.globalgreens.org/ggc, which includes The Africa Green Federation, The Asia Pacific Greens Federation, The Federation of Green Parties in Americas and Global Greens Network. We have close links with all UK Green Parties, the Irish Greens and Scottish Greens. Although we are no longer in the EU and are set to Brexit fully by the 31 December 2020, we have opted to stay closely linked to our European family. We hold key roles in the European Green Parties (EGP), where our long serving ex MEP, Jean Lambert is a council member and the General Assembly member of the Green European Foundation (GEF) , Emma Carter is on the Finance Advisory Body of the European Greens, both have a mandate to serve for three years.
There are two positions up for election at this year’s Council meeting, on to the General Assembly of the GEF , the 32nd EGP Council from the 2 – 6 December which is being held online due to covid restrictions. The Council meeting is open for delegates who are selected by the international committee to attend. The delegates have voting rights and use their votes to decide what resolutions are adopted by the Council as well as vote for the candidates for the general assembly. The previous resolutions passed by the Council can be found here: https://europeangreens.eu/resolutions
The observers are welcome on the 6 December, to observe the proceedings. It is the intension of the International Committee and myself, as coordinator to ensure there is greater transparency and participations of the liberation groups within the party and the membership, we would welcome people that would like to attend the Council meeting as observers to send their details to me for further information by emailing: international@greenparty.org.uk
Please see the previous report from my predecessors, Alice and Michal to GPEx here: https://spaces.greenparty.org.uk/s/autumn-conference-2020-agenda-forums/space/space/home as it outlines the work that they have undertaken . My intension is to support some of the work, but also pursue a greater broadening of our internationalist work, focusing attention on the global south to ensure climate justice, social redress and building broader network that provide solutions to our current problems.
Currently there are solutions being sought to resolve the crises of humanitarian conflicts in the global south, be part of the conversation. https://cop26coalition.org/global-gathering-programme/ and a call for support the Green Party of the Philippines’s fundraising for the Typhoon Goni, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Rolly, which was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that made landfall in the Philippines in the province of Catanduanes, and affected the Bicol region and Southern Luzon. It was thus far the strongest tropical cyclone observed worldwide in 2020 and was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-54759868
Please support via: https://gogetfunding.com/fund-raising-campaign-for-bicol-rollyph/
Keep an eye out for these newsletters and follow us on twitter and other social media platforms, where you will be kept up to date with all issues relating to our international work, calls to action, support requests and campaigns. If you want to be involved in International campaigns or our work, don’t hesitate to get in touch on international@greenparty.org.uk