The Green Party in America has such a scattered organizational structure that in a sense reminds me of how a lot of socialist parties operate here. They have a top level leadership that supposedly does coordination, and they print out pamphlets and stuff, but on the ground organization is very autonomous.
Because of that, local green party branches can often be far more radical than others. I used to talk a lot with the Green Party out of New Orleans, and they absolutely called themselves socialists. They used to hang out with a lot of Trots in the area. This was like 10 years ago, but they would regularly do volunteer work in poor areas. They did a lot of gutting houses after hurricanes or floods. Good people. I should also point out that Howie Hawkins was their presidential nominee in 2020, and he does identify as a socialist and was a lifelong union organizer. Where I live now the Greens are more tepid though, and mostly try to be slightly more left Democrats.
Personally I think the Green Party in the US has a hard time focusing, and if I didn't know any better I'd say they're mainly just a pet project for very out of touch rich liberal types, like professors with book deals or heirs to oil fortunes who feel guilty about it. They can't seem to decide if they're a serious electoral party or if they're a grassroots movement for environmental issues. I wish I could take them more seriously.
They also have a serious, serious problem with allowing in various "woo" things like anti-vaccine rhetoric, stuff about alternative medicines, weird proposals regarding education. They're also staunchly anti-nuclear, which is one of the absolutely goofiest party platforms you can have as supposed environmentalists. The only anti-nuclear socialists I can take half seriously are the ones in Japan, because at least with them I can understand the trepidation. Like I still don't agree with Japanese socialists on that, but I get it.
The Green Party in America has such a scattered organizational structure that in a sense reminds me of how a lot of socialist parties operate here. They have a top level leadership that supposedly does coordination, and they print out pamphlets and stuff, but on the ground organization is very autonomous.
Because of that, local green party branches can often be far more radical than others. I used to talk a lot with the Green Party out of New Orleans, and they absolutely called themselves socialists. They used to hang out with a lot of Trots in the area. This was like 10 years ago, but they would regularly do volunteer work in poor areas. They did a lot of gutting houses after hurricanes or floods. Good people. I should also point out that Howie Hawkins was their presidential nominee in 2020, and he does identify as a socialist and was a lifelong union organizer. Where I live now the Greens are more tepid though, and mostly try to be slightly more left Democrats.
Personally I think the Green Party in the US has a hard time focusing, and if I didn't know any better I'd say they're mainly just a pet project for very out of touch rich liberal types, like professors with book deals or heirs to oil fortunes who feel guilty about it. They can't seem to decide if they're a serious electoral party or if they're a grassroots movement for environmental issues. I wish I could take them more seriously.
They also have a serious, serious problem with allowing in various "woo" things like anti-vaccine rhetoric, stuff about alternative medicines, weird proposals regarding education. They're also staunchly anti-nuclear, which is one of the absolutely goofiest party platforms you can have as supposed environmentalists. The only anti-nuclear socialists I can take half seriously are the ones in Japan, because at least with them I can understand the trepidation. Like I still don't agree with Japanese socialists on that, but I get it.