[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens wrap up 2009 nat'l meeting in Durham, NC; video clips of highlights

[Green Party of California Updates]

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GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 28, 2009



Green Party wraps up its 2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham, NC;
video clips of meeting highlights posted online

• Among the videos: a forum on health care reform, an address by Cynthia
McKinney, and West Virginia's Jesse Johnson speaking on mountaintop
removal for coal


WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States concluded its
2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday.  The
meeting was attended by at least 95 delegates from at least 33 state
Green Parties and caucuses, as well as many party leaders, candidates,
officeholders, and observers.

Video highlights of the meeting have been posted at the Green Party's
web site (http://www.gp.org/video/durham.shtml) and at LiveStream.com
(http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus) and include:

• A forum on health care reform and the need for a single-payer national
health care plan, on Friday afternoon, July 24.  The event featured Dr.
Jonathan Kotch, Board President of Health Care for All NC and senior
faculty member at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Dr.
Justine McCabe, former co-chair of the Green Party of Connecticut and
Ph.D. alumna of Duke University; Carl Romanelli, 2006 Green candidate in
Pennsylvania for the US Senate and Northeastern Pennsylvania Coordinator
for Healtcare 4 All PA (http://www.healthcare4allpa.org); and Pat
LaMarche, 2004 Green vice-presidential nominee and 2006 candidate for
Governor of Maine.  George Friday, co-chair of the North Carolina Green
Party, moderated.  Greens plan to participate in the 'Medicare: Made in
America' DC Lobby Day and Rally organized by HealthCare Now!, to take
place on Thursday, July 30
(http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/single-payer-rally).

• A talk on Friday evening by Jesse Johnson of the West Virginia
Mountain Party (affiliated with the Green Party) about the catastrophic
effects of mountaintop removal by the coal mining industry.  Mr.
Johnson's speech was followed by a screening of the new documentary
'Coal Country: Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining'
(http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com), which he helped produce.  See also
"Coal Country Premiere: Big Coal Lobby Does Not Want You to See This
Powerful New Film" by Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post, July 3, 2009
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/icoal-countryi-premiere-b_b_225341.html).

• An address by former Congress member Cynthia McKinney before Greens
via live stream on Saturday, July 25.  Ms. McKinney, the Green Party's
presidential nominee in 2008, discussed her recent efforts with the Free
Gaza Movement and Viva Palestina to bring medical and other humanitarian
supplies to Gaza in the wake of Israel's invasion last December and
January.  Ms. McKinney and other Free Gaza activists were aboard the
Spirit of Humanity when it was seized by Israeli gunboats
(http://www.freegaza.org), but a Viva Palestina convoy succeeded in
delivering supplies last week (http://www.vivapalestina.org).

• Press conferences featuring Green candidates, public officeholders,
and leaders, including David Doonan, Mayor of Greenwich, New York; Dave
Bosserman, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Washington, DC; and
Everett Platt, James Island Public Service District in South Carolina;
Lynn Williams, candidate for Governor of Maine; Lisa Green, candidate
for California State Assembly (53rd District); Morgan Moss, Jr,
Louisiana, candidate for Mayor of Rayville, Louisiana, and Alfred
Molison, candidate for City Council in Houston, Texas.

Among the many workshops at the meeting, the Green Party Black Caucus
hosted the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
(N'COBRA: http://www.ncobra.com) for a workshop focused on ways to
advance the Green Party's support for Reparations.  The workshop
addressed the value of the single-payer plan in eliminating racial
disparities in access to health care.

Other workshops covered campaign skills and fundraising (conducted by
Brent McMillan, the Green Party's political director), democratizing the
Electoral College (Asa Gordon of the Douglass Institute of Government),
the boycott-divestment-sanction movement to end Israel's human rights
violations (International Committee), ballot access, candidate
recruitment, high speed rail transportation, Green economics, and many
more topics (http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcmtq7fw_30cb44rphp).  Video
of some of the workshops have been place online.

The meeting took place Thursday, July 23, through Sunday, July 26, on
the campus of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham
(http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM.html).  NCCU, the nation's first
public liberal arts institution founded for African-Americans
(http://www.nccu.edu), is currently celebrating its 100 year anniversary.

"We were very impressed and grateful for the hospitality of our hosts in
Durham.  NCCU was the perfect choice for us; everyone was so gracious
and accommodating from the facilities staff to the cafeteria," said
Hillary Kane, co-chair of the Green Party's Annual National Meeting
Committee and chair of the Green Party of Pennsylvania.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
• International Committee of the Green Party:
http://www.gp.org/committees/intl

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of
the United States
Summer 2009 issue now online
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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