Green Party of California Proposal (April 2004) No Peace Tax (6/25/06 version of the Proposal content as amended by the General Assembly, the Background section is the 3/14/07 version)

SPONSOR: PLATFORM WORKING GROUP

PRESENTER: Adrienne Prince adrienneprince@hotmail.com

CONTACT: Adrienne Prince and Elizabeth, info@green247.org

SUBJECT: Promoting a Peace Economy and Preventing Violence. Peace and nonviolence, social justice and equal opportunity, feminism and gender equity, and personal and global responsibility are the involved 10 Key Values of the GP.

BACKGROUND: "The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music, and video games, as a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents. Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed."(1)

“An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of repeated exposure to sexually violent films on emotional desensitization and callousness toward domestic abuse victims. Results indicated that emotional response, self-reported physiological arousal, and ratings of the extent to which the films were sexually violent all diminished with repeated film exposure. Three days following exposure to the final film, experimental participants expressed significantly less sympathy for domestic violence victims, and rated their injuries as less severe, than did a no-exposure comparison group. Five days after the final film exposure, their level of sensitivity to the domestic violence victims had rebounded to baseline levels established by the comparison group. Emotional responsiveness at the final film exposure was correlated with levels of sensitivity to the domestic violence victims 3 days later but not at subsequent observation points.”(2)

Scientists are beginning to learn the true cost of media violence. The GPCA values peace and nonviolence, social justice and equal opportunity, feminism and gender equity, and personal and global responsibility. Therefore, it is presumed that the GPCA joins the GPUS in supporting ways of decreasing media violence, accounting for its true costs and healing society of its ill effects.

PURPOSE: Amendment of the GPCA Platform in the form of one or more talking points.

PROPOSAL: The GPCA immediately includes into the Violence in Society plank of its Platform the following means supported by the GPCA:

1. We do not support any content-based tax on the sale of movie tickets, videos, television broadcasts or other media protected by the First Amendment.

COMMITTEE DECISION: The ideas were first presented to the Green Issues WG at the 2003 San Francisco plenary. An initial written form was posted on the Women's Caucus discussion board in April 2004. It was first posted on the Platform WG list-serve in May 2004, enabled for further consideration at the May 2004 Ventura Plenary, revised extensively thereafter, and was voted at the Sylmar Plenary of May 2005 to receive General Assembly assessment. It was included for General Assembly discussion at the Yolo Plenary of December 2005 but was not published in the Plenary program but had comments at and after the Platform Working Group Meeting at that Plenary. It was revised and invited back by the General Assembly at the Ventura Plenary of June 2006. On June 25, 2006, the GPCA determined that this content shall be proposed to the General Assembly for decision in the form of proposed amendment to an existing plank in the GPCA Platform. On June 25, 2006, the Platform Committee elected a new presenter by consensus.

TIMELINE: The text goes into the platform upon approval by the GA.

RESOURCES: The platform is enhanced with up-to-date talking points. Platform printing and Platform Committee expenses are included in the 2007-2008 budget.

REFERENCES: 1. Inj Prev. 2005 Apr;11(2):69-70. Am. Acad. of Pediatrics. Media violence. Committee on Public Education. 2. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1995 Sep;69(3):449-59. Desensitization and resensitization to violence against women: effects of exposure to sexually violent films on judgments of domestic violence victims. Mullin CR, Linz D. Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106-4020, USA.