From: Jym Dyer <jym@mica.berkeley.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.greens
Subject: -=- Welcome to alt.politics.greens -=-
Date: 29 Dec 1992 21:31:56 GMT
Organization: The Naughty Peahen Party Line
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu

=o= This is an embryonic FAQ for the new alt.politics.greens
newsgroup.  It'll serve as a welcome to the newsgroup, and
will be reposted soon after the beginning of the next month,
then as a monthly FAQ thereafter.  It provides answers to a few
questions that I've seen asked here and there.  I expect the
FAQ to change a lot as this newsgroup develops.

=o= If you have information or corrections that should be in
this FAQ -- especially if it would fill in some of the gaps
described in square brackets below -- please send them to me
at jym@mica.berkeley.edu.
    <_Jym_>

================================================================

* 1. What is this newsgroup for?

The alt.politics.greens newsgroup is a forum for matters
pertaining to Green movements worldwide.  This includes
the Green parties of various countries and localities, as
well as less formally organized alliances and movements.

There are a number of alt.politics.* newsgroups, where the "*"
is the name of a political party in the United States.  This
newsgroup's scope is more international; it will encompass
all Green parties and movements.  I suspect we have much to
learn from each other.

* 2. Are Greens environmentalists?

In recent years, the word "green" has been used almost as a
synonym for "environmentalist."  This is an oversimplfication:
an ecological perspective is central to Green movements, but
Green movements have much more in them (see question 4 for
more detail).

Green movements originated in Germany, where they were known
as die Gruenen (literally, "the greens").  The name was chosen
to reflect ecological concerns, but I don't believe this usage
in analagous with the recent use of "green" in English.

It is hoped that naming this newsgroup alt.politics.greens
(instead of, say, alt.politics.green) will serve to let folks
know that this isn't another environmental politics newsgroup.
If you're interested in environmental politics, a number of
newsgroups already exists for them:

  talk.environment -- Discussion of environmental topics.

  misc.activism.progressive -- Moderated forum for various
    "progressive" activists to use to exchange resources.
    This includes environmental activists.

  alt.activism -- Unmoderated forum for activists to use
    to exchange resources.  This has both enivronmental and
    anti-environmental participants.

  alt.save.the.earth -- This newsgroup has no formal stated
    purpose, but it has served as a forum for environmental
    activism on a small (e.g., individual) level.

* 3. Are Greens leftist? or liberal?

Greens are often presented as leftist or liberal, presumably
because Greens value some of the same things as leftist and
liberal movements:  equality, social justice, etc.

This, however, is another oversimplification.  There's a
significant difference in that most leftist and liberal movements
advocate a centralized approach to government; Greens generally
favor a decentralized approach, emphasizing community-level
activity, individual responsibility and direct democracy.

Any party or movement is going to have a variety of opinions
on organization and policy implementation.  There is a network
of Left Greens within the overall Green movement, advocating
leftist approaches and (more frequently) leftist analyses.

Several Greens that have been elected into office have become
more liberal or moderate once in office.

[My description of "leftist" and "liberal" here is based
on the use of those terms in the United States.  A more
international description of these terms would be better.]

* 4. What are Green political values?

**  Germany's Green Party Pillars
***   Oekologisch (Ecological Wisdom)
***   Sozial (Social Responsibility)
***   Basisdemokratisch (Direct Democracy)
***   Gewaltfrei (Nonviolence)

[I don't have a succinct description of the values and such for
other Green Parties outside of the United States.  The values
listed here for the U.S. Greens, however, were derived from
German Green Party's pillars.]

**  The Ten Key Values of the U.S. Greens
***   Ecological Wisdom
***   Grassroots Democracty
***   Personal and Global Responsibility
***   Social Justice
***   Nonviolence
***   Decentralization
***   Community-Based Economics
***   Post-Patriarchal Values
***   Respect for Diversity
***   Future Focus/Sustainability

* 5. What Green organizations exist?

[I welcome information about Green parties and movements
outside the United States.]

**  The United States

The main nationwide Green political organization in the United
States goes by two names these days, "The [U.S.] Greens" or
"Green Party USA."  In the past it's also been called "Greens
Clearinghouse" and "Green Committees of Correspondence."

  The Greens/Green Party USA
  P.O. Box 30208
  Kansas City, MO 64112
  816/931-9366

The Greens have in the past put out a magazine known as
_Green_Letter_.  This has metamorphosed into an independent
publication named _GroundWork_.

  GroundWork
  P.O. Box 14141
  San Francisco, CA 94114

At this writing, the U.S. Greens aren't exactly a full-fledged
party, but there are statewide Green Parties, the largest of
which is in California.

* 6. Are there other on-line Green forums?

**  Internet/BITNET Mailing List

There is an Internet mailing list named env-link+greenorg,
which part of the Student EnviroLink Networks administered by
the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) of Western
Pennsylvania.  For information on joining that list, send an
inquiry to env-link@andrew.cmu.edu.

That list is currently not getting much traffic.  Perhaps a
gateway can be arranged between the list and this newsgroup.

(Some of you may remember a BITNET mailing list named GREEN,
which split into two lists, one devoted to organization and one
to discussion.  These were relocated to EnviroLink, with the
first becoming env-link+greenorg and the second being subsumed
under env-link+discussion, EnviroLink's general discussion
mailing list.)

**  EcoNet Conferences

The Institute for Global Communications (IGC) is a non-profit
corporation that operates networks that brings activists
together from all over the world.  These networks are named
PeaceNet, EcoNet, ConflictNet, and LaborNet.

From EcoNet (or, actually, any of these networks) you can
get to a number of Green conferences (an EcoNet conference
is similar to a Usenet newsgroup).  There are quite a few
Green conferences, providing a lot of information -- everything
from the addresses of many local Green groups to detailed
policy statements.

IGC charges a fee for the use of EcoNet.  If you're interested
in subscribing, send an inquiry to support@igc.com.

* 7. Where can I read about the Greens?

**  Periodicals

_GroundWork_ was mentioned in question 5.  While not an
explicitly Green publication anymore, it has Green content.
Back issues of its predecessor, _Green_Letter_, are worth
seeking out.

The _Utne_Reader_ has had good overview-type articles about
Green movements.  See back-issues #23, #35, and #43.  A recent
issue (#53) has, however, conflated Green politics with "green"
(i.e., environmental) politics.

There was once a great newsletter called _New_Options_, which
was in my opinion the best periodical coming from a Green
perspective -- that of its editor, Mark Satin.  Back issues
of this newsletter or worth seeking out.  (There was talk of
publishing an anthology of _New_Options_ articles in a book,
but I don't know the status of that effort.)

[I would love to know about any more publications.]

**  Books

[I would love a bibliography.]