What are the Green Party's values and why should I support it?
Many people think the Green Party is solely concerned with environmental issues, but in fact it is based on four core values:
- Grassroots democracy
An individual’s voice is one of her most precious resources, yet ours have been taken by a domination that can be sensed but not always seen. The feeling that our representatives labor for groups and interests far removed is widespread, and we are voiceless. The feeling that our workplaces and even schools operate bereft of democratic mechanisms, as purely top-down “boss knows best”, is familiar; again, we are voiceless. The Hawaiian emphasis on laulima, cooperation, has been replaced with profit-seeking and one-party opacity. Democracy, if it is to mean anything at all, must give voice to each person at each level for each time: we seek to reform these institutions from the bottom-up.
- Social and economic justice
Like many places, these islands struggle to overcome a legacy of colonization and repression. This does not only include the directly illegal annexation of the land, but also the cultural and linguistic suppression that enforced a patriarchal and parasitical form of social economy. Some initial broad strokes for change would be open dialogue on greater sovereignty, deeper attention to Native Hawaiians as the center for uniting all residents in a uniquely Hawaiian society, and the economic recognition of those upon whom we depend but who do not earn an income, such as homemakers, volunteers, organizers, etc. Work must also be done to eliminate biases and antagonisms between groups, and this will take education. The cost of living and housing must be addressed, and governmental priorities moved from the business class to the regular employee. Again, a focus on the bottom-up.
- Ecological wisdom
As mentioned, this area is where Greens are most famous worldwide, and here in Hawai‘i too there are concerns for global warming, land, and ocean usage. Neither the soil nor the water are ours to “control” because we do not, and cannot, own them. Only in human imagination does the idea of land as private property apply; in fact, it would be more appropriate to state that we are of the land and stand under her, not over her. Mālama i ke kai, the value of respecting and nurturing the sea, is one more aspect where we can receive guidance from traditional Hawaiian thought. We must, and can, do better, and a step in that direction would be reclaiming many of the lands now housing military bases. Instead, envision fields for growing food: restoring balance, reducing the import burden, improving sustainability and lifestyles. Once more we move from the bottom-up.
- Nonviolence
As Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. showed by word and deed, nonviolence is a powerful tactic in the fight for equality and independence. It is a method and a matter of the heart. It is well-known that prisons in the US are filled with people of color, and in Hawai‘i this is especially true for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, including Filipinos. “Justice” is not locking someone away using punitive concepts with European roots and doing little to rehabilitate. Incarceration is violence, and it manifestly does not accomplish its purpose. Guided mediation with restorative justice, such as ho’oponopono practices where the offender engages with victim and stakeholders, have better chances of successfully changing behavior. There is no doubt there are many terrible acts in society, and surely most are born from economic hardships, but more violence is not the answer. Peace starts from the bottom-up.
Get involved with the Green Party of Hawai‘i; another world is possible.