[GPSCC-chat] 3D Politics - Die Grünen

Sat Sep 3 11:25:21 PDT 2011

 Dear Friends,

Amazing coincidence.  One day after I published my blog post on "3D Politics,"none other than the old gray New York Times finally,grugingly published a story about the German Greens. You can read the full textcross-posted on California Greening and leave acomment.  I am still trying to spark a serious discussion among independentprogressives about just what exactly makes us different from run-of-the-millso-called liberal Democrats.

Alex Walker
Los Angeles Greens

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Posted on California Greening
3D Politics - Die Grünen
By Alex Walker

The United States may be stuck on stupid with our ridiculous permanentpresidential campaign between so-called conservative Republicans andso-called liberal Democrats, but everywhere else Green Parties are on the move.The Alliance 90/The Greens party(Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)in Germany is the world's strongest Green Party.Founded in 1980 and merging in 1993 with the civil rights movementBündnis 90 of the formerGerman Democratic Republic (a.k.a. East Germany), Greens have been representedin the German Bundestag for nearly thirty years.In our time of global crisis, even the old gray New York Times has at lastgrudgingly admitted that Greens are on the move in disparate countries likeAustralia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, and Sweden.

Screen shot from a web site for the German Greens

I am reposting the article from the NYT because it is a perfectfollow-up to my earlier post on 3D politics.

Published in The New York Times, September 1, 2011
Greens Gain in Germany, and the World Takes Notice
By Nicholas Kulish

BERLIN — A string of Green Party victories and strong electoralshowings across Germany, from the conservative south to the port citiesof the north, are helping to redefine politics among voters who areincreasingly losing faith in the more established parties.

The Green Party is poised to extend its march into the mainstream onSunday when voters go to the polls in the northeastern state ofMecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Greens could, for the first time,win seats in the State Parliament and demonstrate their ability tosustain political momentum.

"Nothing in our political science books has prepared us for this kind of party,"said Josef Joffe, publisher of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit,who noted that the Greens have won the culture war on the left over the rustySocial Democrats on issues like gay rights and the integration of immigrants."I bet if you had a party like this in America,all my rich friends on both coasts would vote for it."
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