Creating a Political Space within the Greens

In May 2001, over 800 delegates from 84 nations gathered in Sydney Australia for the first global meeting of Green parties. Anne De La Bouillerie Goeke from the United States Greens was at the meeting, as well as being a member of the reference committee that did much of the background work. One of the successful aspects of the meeting was that it allowed the establishment of a political space for people from many different cultures to come together to discuss complicated issues. A political space exists everywhere in the world now because of the internet. But international meetings like that of the Global Green facilitates another side - a face-to-face side that promotes solidarity. This is how trust is established. Ultimately, it is trust that allows us to work together. Internet can only go so far in establishing relationships, face-to-face contacts solidify trust. Global Greens was a very insightful process for Anne. It was the culmination of a 12 year vision, to bring people who have similar political beliefs and work for the Green parties to together. One of the important aspects of this process was that it was empowering for many people who may often feel isolated. Feelings of isolation can occur for those who work in opposition politics. But by coming together, people experience a sense of solidarity. For a meeting to be successful however, there is also a need to ensure that people get something out of it - to build on something. Building on previous work rather than repeating similar topics can achieve this. This is how it is possible to promote global transformations. The key to achieve this and work in a cross-cultural setting is to ensure open and honest communications and debate. But this requires both an internal and external transformation, and can only be achieved over a period of time. This means that there is a need to be only honest externally, but also to establish an internal desire and willingness to work towards learning how to listen, respect, collaborate and aim for a consensus point. It assisted people to evolve beyond their egos. For Anne, both internal and external change is how we evolve as human beings. Anne believes that the Global Greens meeting succeeded in achieving this. There is a great deal of effort required to ensure success within cross-cultural setting. First there is the North-South divide. Each group experiences different struggles. There is a need to gain a deep understanding how these challenges are different. The North must give space to allow the South to develop its own agenda, definitions and so on. There is also a need to build trust and not look at each other for answers. This is translated into accepting and understanding the need for compromise. For example, one of the major discussions was about the reform or abolishment of the World Trade Organisation. There was much discussion and debate, but in the end it was agreed that that if the WTO could not conform to the Green agenda, then it should be abolished Likewise, the discussion regarding human rights and respect for cultural diversity. Here the debate focussed on the recognition of gay/lesbian/transsexual rights. Some national representatives stated that this would compromise them in their own nations. Thus, it was overcome by making a general statement supporting human rights, but not detailing them. It is such respect for difference that ensured that representatives did not attack each other, and attempted to understand each other’s position. By not condemning others, you ensure understanding of human, political and cultural diversity. This is about focussing on the process not just the outcomes, because it is not possible to continue to make demands of people to change. For example, no one can ever truly be green, we all impact on the earth. We can only aim for an underlying ethos, and then deal with the rest There is something different about the green political space that allows this to be achieved. This allows for the participants to interact on such controversial issues. One of the reasons why the green space is different is that there are different people present, including activists and not just politicians. There is also an attempt to feminise politics, rather than follow traditional masculine process.