Why are so many people joining the Greens?
To say it has been an exciting month for the Green Party would be a dramatic understatement. At the time of writing, we now have 130,000 Green Party members, and an unprecedented rate of new people deciding to join our growing movement since the summer. Our excellent, and now hard-pressed social media team is keeping up the pressure, adding a new ‘record numbers’ graphic almost every day announcing another milestone reached. The most recent was that Greens overtook the Conservative membership count. In Brighton and Hove alone, we have over 3,000 members now, and everyone is so welcome to our united and energised team.
All our members are delighted at the way our brilliant new leader, and my former colleague in the London Assembly, Zack Polanski, has proved to be the kind of effective communicator that political movements dream of. But what Zack is communicating, a hopeful vision for what our country could look like, has always been at the core of what the Green Party stands for. Zack is not saying anything new in terms of Green views on obscene levels of inequality and the awfulness of the rising cost of living, but he is saying it very, very well.
In our new party political broadcast, Zack articulated what we have long been saying as a party: other kinds of politicians want us to blame each other for the problems they themselves have caused, but we should be looking to blame instead the very wealthiest people who have hoarded money, power and corporate influence at the expense of our communities, public services, and planet. Why is it always put to us that we must face ‘hard choices’ that affect our public services and working-class communities, while multimillionaires and billionaires get off scot-free, not even being asked to contribute a little more in taxes on their extreme wealth?
The need to right this long-term injustice is a message that is at last getting through to people in our communities. People are crying out to hear this from the Government, or any opposition party, but the Greens have been the only political team to significantly soar in the opinion polls after our conference, a sure sign that people are fed up of mundane and dismal political messages and love to see a party with confidence and fire in its belly.
Against a backdrop of inflamed tensions across the country and awful intimidation targeted at asylum seekers, our new leadership team was emphatic in its conference speeches: migrants and refugees are welcome here. Our unashamed inclusivity, our willingness to argue that migration is this country’s superpower is what is setting the Green Party apart from the rest and is why so many people here in Brighton and Hove are joining us too.
My constituents’ steadfast commitment to standing up for the rights of marginalised people in our city is just one of reasons I am so endlessly proud to represent Brighton Pavilion, From the rights of refugees, to speaking up for trans and disabled people, Brighton has always had strong values for standing on the side of the oppressed. I am proud to be a member of a party that does the same.
And unlike other parties, we are not funded by the fossil-fuel lobby or corporations that want to dictate what we can and cannot say. We work only for the best interests of the public – long and short term – and we work in ways that are bottom up and led by our members. If you join us, from day one you can make a tangible difference, contributing to writing our policies, running for office, adding your ideas to the momentum we are gaining. At the next general election, I cannot wait to see a new wave of Green MPs – who I know will be hard-working, dedicated public servants, because they are already hard-working, dedicated local leaders and campaigners.
As part of our recent boost in publicity, Greens have been accused of no longer caring about the environment. But we have never been a single-issue party and have always drawn the links between effective climate action and social justice. I joined the Greens 24 years ago exactly because of the party’s strong social policies, including a basic income and respect for marginalised people. Climate breakdown is being drastically accelerated by wealthy countries, billionaires and mega corporations but will disproportionately impact those who have done the least damage. Greens are committed to protecting everyone against food insecurity, health crises and extreme weather, not just those who can pay the most.
There are also hundreds of thousands of high-paid green jobs to be created in the rapidly growing green economy. Expanding the rail and bus network to help us all get around, building a resilient renewable energy network that will lower our bills and bring real security, green agriculture to meet food needs and protect nature. There are long-term jobs to be had, and Greens want to create them.
A recent poll on voting intention for the next general election put Greens level with Labour for the first time ever. This is a huge achievement showing that it is worth voting Green wherever you live. As thousands more join us every day, what has always been true is coming to the forefront: the Green Party is the party to vote for if you want a government that stands up for everyone’s rights, invests in communities, does not cut but funds welfare properly, acts on climate change and builds a future fit for us all. As Zack brilliantly said in our broadcast: “let’s make hope normal again.”
The Whistler 