Newsletter 19-09-20

NEWSLETTER 18 SEP 2020
Download a PDF of the Newsletter, here, or an audio podcast version, here.

Green Party Women Need YOU!

On October 3rd the voting will open to elect the GPW committee, and are looking for women to come forward to stand. If you are interested in shaping what Green Party Women does over the coming year, please consider putting yourself forward. Maybe you have a green party friend who you think might be great: why not ask them to stand?

We would like to have a diverse representation of Women in terms of sexuality, race and ethnicity, age, socio-economic background, gender expression, etc.
The committee usually meets online once a fortnight.
You do not have to attend the AGM to stand, as nominations are open now and the ballot will commence after the meeting and will stay open over the weekend. If you would like to know more about what the committee does, please email us. For a refresher about how conference works, see our previous Newsletter from 28 AUG, when we discussed everything in more depth, here.Any member interested in applying should send a photo and a 200 word statement to include a short biography and their top 3 priorities for Women's Rights to Women@GreenParty.Org.uk ASAP.

CONFERENCE: GPW AGM 03 OCT 2020 12:45-14:00

The online conference offers GPW an opportunity to connect with its membership. We are currently drafting a preliminary schedule. Some mandatory items we need to discuss include:

  1. Presentation of a report from the GPW Committee (via powerpoint).
  2. The election of the committee
  3. Campaigns update

Claudine Letsae has offered to run a 15 minute healing meditation session that we welcome members to participate in.Here is the link to book a place at the Green Party Autumn Conference

GPW Conference: Defending Democracy SUN 27 SEP 2020

Organised by Julia Lagoute, our freshly minted GPEx Publications Officer!

Democracy in the UK and worldwide is being rolled back – with devastating impacts on the planet, women’s rights, and equality. Our September conference sees three women come together to talk about the state of democracy here and worldwide, ecofeminism, and what we can do.

Molly Scott Cato, Professor of Economics and Green Member of the European Parliament 2014-2020. Adenike Oladosu, ecofeminist campaigner and founder of ILeadClimate, pioneering the Green democracy initiative. Klina Jordan, Co-Chief exec of Make Votes Matter, which campaigns for proportional representation

When: Sep 27, 2020 4:00 PM via Zoom. Register in advance, here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

SUMMARY: House of Lords/Commons Debates 

We thought our GPW members might be interested in the good work being done by prominent Women politicians within the party. Let us know if you would like to see more of this in future newsletters. You can even set up your own alerts, here.

Speaker: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb : 2 Lords debates

Rape: Prosecutions and Convictions - Question (14 Sep 2020)

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2020-09-14a.983.3&s=speaker:25214#g984.1

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: My Lords, it is quite obvious to those who have been watching this situation that both the CPS and the police drastically need some training and education. The obvious people to go to are charitable organisations that work with women and girls who have been raped. Can the noble and learned Lord tell me whether the review will encompass those organisations and when it will report?

Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill - Committee (3rd Day) (14 Sep 2020)

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2020-09-14a.1009.0&s=speaker:25214#g1012.0

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: My Lords, this amendment is about basic human decency; I am very pleased to support it. Personally, I would like to scrap immigration detention altogether. It is inhumane that we as a country are doing this to people. Convicted murderers and paedophiles get better treatment than refugees and asylum seekers fleeing war, famine and persecution, often as a result of our own foreign policy.

GPW Facebook Posts Summary

Some Women in the party have made the very sensible decision to avoid facebook and others, even more impressively, stay away from social media altogether! We applaud you. However, it does mean that they miss out on some of the world news, local events or issues that have been shared across our GPW public facing platform over the last month. So here is a summary of the good stuff you missed without giving Zuckerberg you eyeballs in exchange for advertising money.

15 Sep 2020 - Green World UBI by Natalie Bennet: It's #BasicIncomeWeek! We'll be linking to a few pieces which explain the pioneering, and feminist, idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI). Start with Natalie Bennett, Green Party Member of the House of Lords on how this unconditional payment to every citizen would have transformed the impact of the pandemic in her article for Green world here.

Laura Bates Men Who Hate women: “Women have always been the canaries in the coal mines, quietly singing. But we are so used to seeing them die at men’s hands, so used to justifying and excusing it as normal or ‘understandable’, that it wouldn’t occur to us to consider this enough of an aberration to raise alarm. And so women continue to suffer and die in silence. And, sometimes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months down the line, men (or rather, as they are seen, ‘people’) die, too. Then how we shout and react.”
From Laura Bates' important new book

BOOK CLUB - 29 SEP 2020

This was the most popular choice, helped by being recommended by two Deputy Leadership candidates; Andrea Carey Fuller and Cleo Lake. Book Summary - A hard look at structural racism in Britain and the world at large. Journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote a blog post in 2014 called “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race.” It immediately went viral; her frustrations with ambivalent or defensive white people resonated with many readers while infuriating others. In this Snapshot, you’ll learn her thoughts on structural racism and how it seeps into every facet of our lives.

As you’ll find out, those who benefit from structural racism may not notice it, but it is painfully obvious to everyone else. Register in advance for the discussion here. GPW Book Club meets last Wednesday of each month.
Hive.co.uk is an aggregate of independent booksellers who are NOT Amazon. Their lowest price for a paperback, inc. free delivery, is £7.09. If price point is an issue, Amazon fulfilment is slightly cheaper £5.94 inc. free delivery - hold your nose here.

We want to hear from you, please get in touch here, if you want to contribute or feedback. Follow us on Twitter here! Follow us on Facebook here

YOGA & MEDITATION Join us every Saturday at 11:00, regular as clockwork for mindfulness and self-care. Register for the session, here. Come and get stretched, get toned, get fit with Shaka and then chill with the relaxing sound bath of Claudine’s beautiful singing bowls. Free to attend but donations welcome via paypal to shakalish@gmail.com. Please wear loose fitting clothing. A yoga mat is recommended, but not essential. Register here to join the class.
Future Dates

27 SEP 2020 GPW Online Conference

30 SEP 2020 GPW Book Club ‘Why I’m no longer talking to white people’

02 OCT 2020 National Conference Starts

03 OCT 2020 GPW Meeting & AGM

11 OCT 2020 National Conference Ends

26 OCT 2020 GPW Book Club - ‘Cut’ Hibo Wardare

Previous Newsletters

2020-09-11_GPW_Newsletter-Internal-Elections

2020-08-28_GPW_Newsletter_How-Does-Conference-Work

2020-08-14_GPW_Newsletter

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