Media Alert: Green Party of the U.S. Annual National Meeting

From the Green Party:

• Updated Schedule of Events for Media at the Green Party's 2019 Annual National Meeting in Salem, Massachusetts, July 25-28

The Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts will be hosting the Green Party at its Annual National Meeting July 25-28, 2019 in the beautiful, historic coastal city of Salem, Massachusetts.
Media events at the Green Party's 2019 Annual National Meeting in Salem will include three press conferences with meeting organizers and candidates, and a forum for 2020 candidates seeking the Green Party presidential nomination. Interviews with Green candidates, officeholders and some of the guests can also be arranged.

Contacts:
Holly Hart, media@gp.org, 202-804-2758
Craig Seeman, media@gp.org, 202-804-2758
Darlene Elias, Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, mialmavive@gmail.com
Tamar Yager, Green Party National Meeting Committee, anm_info@gp.org

When:
Thursday, July 25, to Sunday, July 28, 2019

Where:
Salem State University Central Campus
352 Lafayette Street, Salem, MA 01970
Meeting website: https://salem.gp.org
Directions: https://salem.gp.org/directions/
Draft schedule: https://salem.gp.org/agenda/
Media Credentials: https://www.gp.org/2019_anm_media_credentials

Many of the meeting events are open to the media and general public. A credentialing page for reporters, bloggers, and other members of the media interested in covering the events, including press conferences, will be posted online.

The meeting will feature Green Party panels, workshops, meetings of the Green National Committee (not open to the media and public), and other events. Green candidates running in 2019 and 2020 and Green elected officials are expected to attend.

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Schedule of Press Events

Thursday, July 25
4 p.m. Press Conference about the Green Party's 2019 Annual National Meeting with party officials and meeting organizers and introduction of Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts candidates.

7:30 p.m. Opening featuring Dr. Toussaint Losier, on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, whose subject areas include African American History, Black Politics, Criminal Justice policy, and transnational social movements

Friday, July 26
9 a.m. Press Conference with Green Party statewide candidates. (participants TBA)

10:30 a.m. Press Conference with Green Party federal candidates. (participants TBA)

6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Amy Tyler, Global Greens Executive Secretary

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Green Presidential Candidates Forum

Saturday, July 27
9:00 a.m.
Film: Colonization is Extinction, Organization for Culture of Hispanic Origins. The film examines the current state of Puerto Rico, its current economic crisis, how colonialism has crippled the island. Film-makers and speakers Gualterio and Jessica Alomar will be present and available for interviews through most of the weekend. Mr. Alovar was recently nominated for th BLFC’s award for Producer-Non Fiction

7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Fundraising Event featuring standup comic Lee Camp - head writer and host of the national TV show Redacted Tonight, and web series “Moment of Clarity.” George Carlin’s daughter Kelly said he’s one of the few comics keeping her father’s torch lit.

Our New Video Series Highlights 30 Years of Transformative Solutions

Bioneer,  If you follow us on social media, you may have seen videos from a new series we are releasing called "Seeding the Field: 30 Years of Transformative Solutions,” celebrating some of the best moments of the Bioneers conference over the last 30 years. If you're new to Bioneers, consider this our Greatest Hits record to play catch up with! Released on our 30th Anniversary, we believe these short videos reflect some of the most important conversations of our time, and honors the deep, visionary work of the Bioneers community: a movement of movements that has grown together around authentic “solve-the-whole problem” approaches. The series explores timely and important questions: Can mushrooms save the bees? How do we decode the social and often toxic norms of masculinity?What does Green Economy look like? And what is Biomimicry? Poet Drew Dellinger asks "How will we answer when our grandchildren ask us what we did to save the planet?" - and how are the youth of today leading the charge for climate justice? Take a trip to the farmers market with Michael Pollan, and take a dive into 3D Ocean Farming. Spoiler alert: It's all just as interesting as it sounds. This may not be Netflix, but we promise you'll be tempted to binge watch them all! We would love for you to check them out, and if you watch via Facebook (which we encourage) please like, share and comment with other solution-oriented activists, dreamers, policy-makers, teachers, you name it! - and help pollinate these videos far and wide. Bioneers has a wide reach but we can’t do it all - your help sharing and engaging with these videos is what will make the difference.  Until next time, The Bioneers Team Do you know people who might enjoy reading this? Please share it with them! Share Tweet Share +1 Forward

Copyright © 2019 Bioneers | Collective Heritage Institute, All rights reserved.

U.S. House of Representatives Creates Requirement That There Be Some Basis for Any Foreign Bases

U.S. House of Representatives Creates Requirement That There Be Some Basis for Any Foreign Bases

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, July 11, 2019
https://worldbeyondwar.org/u-s-house-of-representatives-creates-requirement-that-there-be-some-basis-for-any-foreign-bases/

By a vote of 219 to 210, at 2:31 p.m. on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment introduced by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar requiring that the U.S. military provide Congress with the cost and the supposed national security benefits of every foreign military base or foreign military operation.

World BEYOND War had flooded Congressional offices with the demand for Yes votes.

Here is the text of the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act as passed:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, insert the following: SEC. 10. REPORT ON FINANCIAL COSTS OF OVERSEAS UNITED STATES MILITARY POSTURE AND OPERATIONS. Not later than March 1, 2020, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the financial costs and national security benefits of each of the following for fiscal year 2019: (1) Operating, improving, and maintaining overseas military infrastructure at installations included on the enduring location master list, including adjustments that take into account direct or in-kind contributions made by the host nations of such enduring locations. (2) Operating, improving, and maintaining overseas military infrastructure supporting forward-deployed forces at overseas contingency locations, including adjustments that take into account direct or in-kind contributions made by the host nations of such enduring locations. (3) Overseas military operations, including support to contingency operations, rotational deployments, and training exercise.

In this video from Wednesday on C-Span, at 5:21, Rep. Omar makes the case for a need to justify foreign military bases, not just blindly fund unlimited and unknown empire. At 5:25 Rep. Adam Smith makes the case as well. One of their colleagues argues in opposition, but it’s difficult to find coherent meaning in what he says, and it’s hard to imagine what a persuasive case could be for the 210 No votes recorded. What could be the advantage of coating the globe with military bases without bothering to know what each one costs or whether each one plausibly makes you safer or actually endangers you?

The closing of U.S. bases and the removal of U.S. military personnel are critical to the elimination of war.

The United States has more than 150,000 military troops deployed outside the United States on more than 800 bases(some estimates are more than 1000) in 160 countries, and all 7 continents. These bases are the central feature of U.S. foreign policy which is one of coercion and threat of military aggression. The U.S. uses these bases in a tangible way to preposition troops and weaponry in the event they are “needed” at a moment’s notice, and also as a manifestation of U.S. imperialism and global domination — a constant implicit threat. Additionally, because of a history of military aggression, countries with U.S. bases are targets for attack.

There are two principal problems with foreign military bases:

1. All these facilities are integral to preparations for war, and as such undermine international peace and security. The bases serve to proliferate weapons, increase violence, and undermine international stability.
2. Bases cause social and environmental problems at a local level. Communities living around the bases often experience high levels of rapes committed by foreign soldiers, violent crimes, loss of land or livelihood, and pollution and health hazards caused by the testing of conventional or non-conventional weapons. In many countries the agreement that permitted the base stipulates that foreign soldiers who perpetrate crimes can not be held accountable.

The closing of U.S. foreign military bases in particular (they make up the vast majority of all foreign military bases) would have a significant effect on global perceptions, and represent a massive shift in foreign relations. With each base closure, the U.S. would become less of a threat. Relations with host countries would be improved as the base real estate and facilities are rightfully returned to local governments. Because the United States is far and away the most powerful and aggressive military in the world, the closing of foreign bases would represent an easing of tensions for everyone. If the U.S. makes such a gesture, it may induce other countries to address their own foreign and military policies.

In the map below, every color but gray indicates the permanent basing of some number of U.S. troops, not counting special forces and temporary deployments. For details, go here.

To get involved in World BEYOND War’s campaign to close bases, visit our website.

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David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio.He is a 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook.

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