SPONSOR: Green Issues Working Group
PRESENTERS/CONTACTS: Presenter Adrienne Prince adrienneprince at hotmail.com; Co-presenter Elisabeth Green, info at green247.org
SUBJECT: Sustainable Green Party Conflict Resolution Workshop
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The conduct of the 2004 GPUS election, bylaws violations, trashing and other internal conflicts have lost the Green Party the respect of many who may have otherwise continued to vote no to the GOP/Demo duopoly.
Greens expected much more from the Green Party, and require that attention be redirected towards issues involving the future of our state and country. Internal conflicts are best solved formally by interested parties alone.
Lawsuits bring out the truth, and that's what seems to be needed here. The restorative justice process is a diversionary tactic that could restore the Green Party to wholeness without the need for outside help.
Through honest discussion of people's feelings, facts and concerns, we can avoid self-destruction. Many enemies out there, and infiltrating, are watching and hoping. Americans need a party they can turn to for an honest, accountable, truly democratic political process.
PROPOSAL: The GPCA will hold the following 3 workshop sections at the plenary:
1. Complaint and Answer Crafting. Each of two different workshop sections, with two very different issues, will take an issue of importance and contention within the GPCA through the complaint and answer process. For each issue, we will start by writing a complaint as completely as time allows. We will meanwhile write an answer to that complaint, perhaps with counter-claims. Each participant may help with one or both documents. Given adequate materials, we can accommodate 3 or more issues. We will formulate a suit of claims and counterclaims as an example of a warning of how the GPCA could be divided and conquered. This process of conflict resolution will have one goal, to identify the problems and solutions that can help us restore the Green Party to wholeness, a cohesive group of enlightened beings who support each and every one of the 10 Key Values.
2. Restorative Justice. We will take an issue of importance and contention within the GPCA through the restorative justice process.* We will start with one of the suits written during Workshop Section 1, whether finished or not. Less than 5 minutes of consensus process shall be spent deciding which issue is placed first on the mediation schedule. If there is a stack of “plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses”, we may limit speaking time to 3 minutes per person. This process of conflict resolution will have one goal, restoration of the Green Party to wholeness, a cohesive group of enlightened beings who support each and every one of the 10 Key Values.
3. Mock Jury Trial. We will take an issue of importance and contention within the GPCA through a mock trial by jury. A jury of all interested Greens will hold a mock trial using a suit produced through the Complaint and Answer Crafting Workshop, whether finished or not. This could be the same suit prepared for the restorative justice process if and only if the restorative justice process fails. Less than 5 minutes of consensus process shall be spent deciding which issue is placed first on the “court calendar”. If there is a stack of “plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses”, we may limit speaking time to 3 minutes per person. If the mock jury does not arrive at a consensus prior to five minutes before the scheduled end of the workshop, the jury will vote on the outcome during that 5 minutes, to show how an honest, accountable, truly democratic political process can be used to resolve conflict within the Green Party.
DEFINITIONS: Trashing: Feminists have seen this tactic of sidelining and behind-the-back slandering of other feminists, and it is they who first named it "trashing" in early issues of Ms Magazine.
* Both sides take all of the steps of the “restorative justice” mediation process:
Each side tells the story.
Each side acknowledges the violation.
Apology, offer and acceptance.
Reparation, offer and acceptance.
Forgiveness by everyone.
Reconcile with the community.
Optional steps - Reconcile with a higher power and/or with each other.
REFERENCES: The restorative justice process is defined and discussed at www.green247.org/rj.htm
COMMITTEE DECISION:
Some Greens concurred on the utility of the concept to the GPCA in April or May of 2005.
At the May, 2005, plenary, the Green Issues Working Group approved and sponsored the concomitant Restorative Justice Initiative Proposal for presentation to the General Assembly at the Yolo County plenary.
Amended and sponsored by consensus at the Green Issues Working Group September 28 TeleConference for the upcoming GPCA State Meeting in Yolo County.
TIME LINE: Total workshop time request – 2 hours for each section, for a total of 6 hours
RESOURCES:
1. For each issue, we need one 6’x6’ or larger bulletin board, or 6 36“x24” or larger adjacent or separate bulletin boards. We need about 500 strips, each about 2”x24” in size, of heavy white paper or cardstock, and the means for attaching them to the bulletin board. We need a few dozen dark magic markers.
2. These workshop sections must be held in consecutive order, back-to-back, starting first workshop timeslot in the morning on the first full day of the plenary. Anyone taking floor time to discuss an internal conflict should be directed to the workshop. This workshop must finish before the General Assembly decision on the Restorative Justice Initiative. This will allow interested delegates to become familiar with the restorative justice process before being asked to decide upon it.
3. This workshop should generate some media attention to GPCA. If any journalist would like to attend, photograph anyone only after you have obtained her/his expressed permission.
4. We need funding to pay for the travel and accommodations of the presenter who sets up the lawsuit template, transports the mock lawsuits, and guides the workshop process.