Green Party of Canada Shadow Cabinet

The Shadow Cabinet of the Green Party of Canada is an alternative cabinet which shadows/mirrors government portfolios in most cases. Shadow Cabinet Critics play a vital role in promoting bold Green policies and priorities, serving as spokespeople for the Green Party, and offering policy solutions based on member-approved policies.

Source: Shadow Cabinet

End the Economic Blockade of Cuba – www.gp.org

In a United Nations vote on June 23, 2021, 184 countries of the world once again made clear the immediacy of the need to end the harmful economic blockade of Cuba. The time is long overdue to end this internationally illegal economic warfare that is still being waged against the people of this island nation which neighbors our state and is home to Cuban American families and friends cut off from their loved ones. The Green Party of Florida calls for President Biden to deliver on his statements to normalize relations with Cuba. We call for the immediate end to the Cuban embargo on behalf of the long-suffering families in Cuba and here in America.

Source: End the Economic Blockade of Cuba – www.gp.org

Nevada Green Party Statement Against Transgender Exclusion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For More Information:

CONTACT NAME: Daniel Alves

CONTACT PHONE: 775-298-6847

CONTACT EMAIL: nvgreenparty@gmail.com

( Nevada ) — The Nevada Green Party believes that trans-exclusionary ideals, rhetoric or policy have no place in the Green Party. Furthermore, persons supporting or promoting trans-exclusionary ideals, rhetoric or policy are undeserving of positions of power or a voice in our party. This is in accordance with the Green Party U.S. platform on Social Justice:

“The Green Party recognizes the full civil rights of sexual and gender minorities. The existing civil rights act prohibits discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, and disability. We will work to add sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression to the existing Civil Rights Act.”

The The Nevada Green Party will not support, nor promote and will disavow, any entities that allow trans-exclusionary ideals, rhetoric or policy into their ranks.

For more information on the Green Party’s support of the right to sexual orientation and gender identity, please visit: gp.org/transgender.

ABOUT THE NEVADA GREEN PARTY

Founded in 2012, the Nevada Green Party is a community of Nevadans from all backgrounds, birthed from the idea that our actions should always reflect the best interests of all citizens and the earth. Its goals are to promote the values at the core of Green philosophy: Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, Ecological Wisdom, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Community-based Economics, Gender and Racial Equality, Diversity, Personal and Global Responsibility and Future Focus. Working to build a truly democratic government free of lobbying and special interest, the Green Party does not take money from corporations.

For more information: nvgreenparty.org

-END-

The Socrates Bomb – Ethical Renewal

Let’s talk about the Socrates Bomb.
“That sounds unpleasant.”
More than unpleasant. It’s lethal.
“Is ‘lethal’ moral?”
It’s not lethal for people.
It’s lethal for lies.
The Socrates Bomb is an anti-propaganda incendiary device for use in cognitive conflict. It’s a front-line armament in our battle against the 21st Century pandemic of lies. It’s a cluster munition for deployment against disinformation and deceit.
As the Socrates Bomb explodes it shatters into fragments of different shapes and sizes. It’s shrapnel includes:
– The evidence shard
– The logic sliver
– The language splinter
– The motivation particle
– The morality needle
On impact each of these fragments itself explodes, fanning out in an ever-widening destructive wave.
It’s a powerful weapon.
Amongst the splinters and shards there’ll be the perfect sliver that skewers the lie.
Socrates was a philosopher who lived in ancient Greece some two and a half thousand years ago. He was a remarkable man, whom many consider the father of modern philosophy.
He believed that by questioning what we think we know we can strip away our ignorance & so reveal, like shadows against a stone wall, what is fundamentally true.
Then, once we’ve established the fundamentals, we can build from there a more accurate picture of the world.
To some extent René Descartes’ approach was similar. Clear away the unfounded dogma, get down to the nub of things, then carefully and meticulously construct a world view from the ground up.
Aside from its lack of empiricism, I like this approach.
You could say I’m a Socratic Cartesian Empiricist.
“I’m a Socratic Cartesian empiricist.”
Haha – very funny – but I’m glad there’s now two of us.
It’s not that you can deduce the world from basic axioms, but that by repeatedly questioning what’s known (or claimed to be known), you can whittle away the lies in our culture, drawing ever closer to the truth.
Socratic Cartesian Empiricism is really just an extension of the scientific method to the unscientific worlds of political and public belief.
“I’ve always liked Socrates.”
Did you know him well?
“In a way.”
Such a shame he drank himself to death….
“Drank – ? I thought – ?”
It wasn’t voluntary – and the drink that carried him off is one you only drink once.
“Hemlock…”
Yes, hemlock. An unpleasant tipple. Best avoided.
All the same, despite his unsavory demise, Socrates left us a wonderful gift. A weapon against disinformation, propaganda & spin. A cluster munition for the demolition of lies.
Let’s take a look at how it works.
The evidence shard is a fragment of the Socrates Bomb.
It’s a fragment which shatters, on coming into contact with lies, into splinters like these:
“How?”
“Why?”
“Where’s the proof?”
“What are your facts?”
“Is your data selective?”
“Show me.”
“Where’s the evidence?”
Evidence is an essential building block for truth.
If you’ve got no evidence, you’ve got no way of demonstrating something’s true… And if you’ve got no way of demonstrating something’s true, how can you know it’s not a lie?
Logic is another shard in the Socrates Bomb.
On impact it splinters like this:
“Does that really make sense?”
“Does ‘A’ actually follow from ‘B’?”
“Do your facts truly necessitate the acts you propose?”
And,
“If we take what you’re saying to its logical conclusion, don’t we end up with something absurd?”
“When you say ‘All’, don’t you really mean ‘Some’?”
“When you say ‘Everyone’, don’t you really mean ‘Those I support’?”
And,
“Is what you’re now saying consistent with what you’ve said before?”
“Is what you’re saying consistent with what your associates say you’re saying?”
“Doesn’t what you’re saying conflict with other positions you claim to support?”
Logic and consistency are central to common sense. Skewer the illogical and destroy the lie.
The language splinter in the Socrates cluster munition is needle sharp. It attacks the words being used, the way they’re strung together, the ways they’re misapplied, their propagandistic intentions.
Ask questions like these:
“Do you even know what your words mean?”
“Are you using emotive language just to bypass our intelligence?”
“Are you using aggressive language to intimidate and mislead, or to avoid answering the question?”
“Are you using nostalgic and prejudice-laden words because you’ve nothing more rational or moral to say?”
“Are these slogans an attempt to infantilise your audience?”
“It’s a great sounding slogan… What the f*** does it mean?”
Bullies and liars use words as weapons: emotional, manipulative, bludgeoning and dishonest.
Attack their use of language. Expose the bullying and the lies.
Here’s a golden rule of human interaction:

Always question the claims of those in positions of authority and power – or of those seeking authority and power.

This applies to the powerful, the power-seeking, and those who speak for them.
Client journalists, state outlets & the corporate media may entertain & distract – but their honesty is never guaranteed. They serve those who own or control them.
Ask,
“Who pays you?”
“Whose interests are you serving?”
“What are you trying to achieve by telling me this?”
Ask,
“What are your motives, or the motives of those you speak for or represent?”
“Why would someone provide me with this information or these alleged facts? Are there hidden motives of which I need to be aware?”
“What’s your agenda?”
Questions like these strike at the heart of the self-serving and propagandistic. Motives are a far better indicator of outcomes than words. Unveil their motives and you may reveal deeper and potentially explosive truths.
The most powerful fragment of the Socrates Bomb for attacking socially divisive and eco-destructive propaganda is the morality question. It explodes on impact like this:
“What’s the morality behind what you’re saying or doing?”
And,
“Does what you’re claiming, doing or proposing encourage others to act with integrity, honesty and kindness?”
And,
“If I go along with what you’re saying, or the information you’re presenting, will the outcomes be moral?”
And,
“Does what you’re telling me enable others to flourish? Does it benefit all human communities? Does it protect the biological world?”
“Is this a claim an honest person would make?”
“Is this a claim a person of integrity would make?”
“Is it moral?”
The 21st Century pandemic of lies is inherently malign. Anything which jeopardises the survival of humanity & the biological world is immoral. Questions of integrity, honesty & morality expose this. They are a weapon which immoral narratives find it difficult to withstand.
Propaganda, demagoguery and lies kill the greatness in us – just as they killed Socrates on a calm and sunny day in ancient Greece, almost two and a half thousand years ago.
They make us squalid.
They make politics dirty.
They divide us from one another.