January, 15 2018, 01:30pm EDT
Green Party Marks Dr. King's Birthday, 50th Anniversary of Poor People's Campaign
Greens urge completion of the "unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement" and reversal of Trump's order to deport 200,000 Salvadorans and other policies that violate human rights and equality.
WASHINGTON
The Green Party of the United States celebrates Dr. King's birthday on January 15, 2018 and the 50th anniversary of the Poor People's Campaign, launched by Dr. King, which culminated with the Solidarity Day Rally for Jobs, Peace, and Freedom on June 19, 1968.
Green Party leaders expressed support for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), founded and led by Cheri Honkala, the Green vice-presidential nominee in 2012. PPEHRC, which is based in Philadelphia, held several events during the holiday weekend.
"The president's recent remarks calling Haiti and African nations 'shithole countries' deserve widespread condemnation. But Mr. Trump's patently racist opinions shouldn't lead us to forget that rights violations and inequality have persisted in the U.S. during more moderate Republican and Democratic administrations. The Green Party supports 'New Abolition' efforts to end racist and other kinds of injustice," said Joy Davis, co-chair of the Green Party's National Women's Caucus and National Committee delegate for the Black Caucus.
Green Party leaders said the party's agenda include correcting such injustices and completing the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement:
* An end to police violence, racial profiling and related abuses, the ongoing War on Drugs, and mass incarceration, all of which have disproportionally targeted People of Color and the poor, especially young Black and Brown people.
https://gpus.org/other/press/pr-national.php?ID=818
https://www.gp.org/ny_greens_mourn_erica_garner
* Human rights protections for immigrants, including amnesty and an offer of citizenship for undocumented immigrants and refugees and an end to raids and deportations. The Green Party calls for a reversal of President Trump's order to deport 200,000 Salvadorans and ongoing racist vilification and threats against immigrants and for restoration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Greens noted that hostility towards immigrants is bipartisan: the Obama Administration's mass deportations in 2016 surpass those that occurred after Mr. Trump took office.
https://www.gp.org/supports_sanctuary_cities
https://www.gp.org/greens_condemn_daca_cancellation
https://www.gp.org/wall_of_shame
* Massive and ongoing relief for people in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Texas, and other places damaged by recent hurricanes. The aftermath of these disasters proves that the looming global climate catastrophe is also a human rights crisis, with People of Color and the poor suffering most. Greens condemned post-storm attempts by the corporate sector to use disasters as a business opportunity and cash in on the misery of people who've lost homes, jobs, and access to drinking water, electrical power, and other necessities.
https://www.gp.org/human_rights_observers_puerto_rico
https://www.gp.org/relief_for_puerto_rico
https://www.gp.org/rebuilding_puerto_rico
* Human rights protection for First Nation peoples, especially after suppression of Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and President Trump's permission for pipeline construction. The pipeline is an invasion of tribal lands and a threat to local fresh water; several leaks have already occurred.
https://www.gp.org/reverse_trumps_order
https://www.gp.org/greens_condemn_dapl
https://www.gp.org/social_justice_2016/#sjCivilRights (scroll down to "3. Indigenous Peoples")
* Economic human rights: housing, health care, education, and other basic necessities, and democratic workplaces and collective bargaining for workers. Greens said that violation of economic human rights includes the threat of privatization of public resources and services, deregulation of corporation power, and "free trade" pacts that privilege large businesses and harm labor protections, human rights, and the environment.
https://www.gp.org/we_support_single_payer
https://www.gp.org/economic_justice_and_sustainability_2016
* Self-determination and independence for Puerto Rico; self-determination and statehood for the District of Columbia.
https://www.gp.org/on_puerto_rico
https://www.gp.org/green_party_endorses_unity_march
https://www.gp.org/democracy_2016#demForeignPolicy (scroll down to "6. Puerto Rican Independence")
https://www.gp.org/democracy_2016#DemPoliticalReform (scroll down to "Green Solutions: 1. Electoral Reform")
* Reparations for the descendants of Black people living slavery.
https://www.gp.org/social_justice_2016/#sjCivilRights (scroll down to "2. Racial Discrimination")
* Full equality including reproductive rights and services for women; full rights and liberation for LGBT people, including national legislation outlawing discrimination in jobs, housing, and public accommodations and preservation of same-sex marriage rights; full rights for the disabled and enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
https://www.gp.org/social_justice_2016/#sjCivilRights (scroll down to "1. Women's Rights", "5. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity", and "6. Rights of the Disabled")
* An end to U.S. involvement in human rights violations around the world. These include mass deaths and mayhem in Yemen from Saudi Arabian air assaults supported by U.S. funding; denial of human rights for women in Saudi Arabia and many other countries that continue to receive generous U.S. aid; Israel's brutal treatment and displacement of Palestinians, and ongoing apartheid system. The Green Party supports withdrawal of funding from Saudi Arabia and Israel and has endorsed boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) targeting Israel.
https://www.gp.org/uphold_human_rights_for_palestinian_minors
https://www.gp.org/green_party_calls_for_a_cutoff_of_aid_to_saudi_arabia
Video: Statement on Dr. King's birthday by Deanna Dee Taylor of the Green Party of Utah and Women's Caucus
The Green Party of the United States is a grassroots national party. We're the party for "We The People," the health of our planet, and future generations instead of the One Percent.
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"We don't want to be at war with a country of 90 million people in the Middle East," said Democratic US Rep. Ro Khanna.
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US Rep. Ro Khanna on Saturday demanded swift action from Congress to stop the Trump administration's unauthorized military assault on Iran, saying in a video posted to social media that "the American people are tired of regime change wars that cost us billions of dollars and risk our lives."
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Watch Khanna's remarks:
Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk. Congress must convene on Monday to vote on @RepThomasMassie & my WPR to stop this. Every member of Congress should go on record this weekend on how they will vote. pic.twitter.com/tlRi3Vz849
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Senate Democrats also said they planned to vote next week on a War Powers resolution led by Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia.
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Elected officials, activists, and experts around the world voiced horror and outrage Saturday as US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jointly launched an illegal war on Iran with the explicit goal of toppling the nation's government, sparking chaos throughout the Middle East.
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Progressive International co-founder Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Greece, echoed Corbyn's criticism of the US and Israel as "rogue states."
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Hours before President Donald Trump announced his decision to bomb Iran and pursue the overthrow of its government, the foreign minister of Oman appeared, in person, on one of the most prominent US television news programs to declare that a diplomatic breakthrough was possible.
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Watch the full segment, which critics highlighted as evidence that the US-Israeli attacks on Saturday were aimed at forestalling a diplomatic resolution:
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