Proposal: Establish the Darryl Bonner Ballot Access Fund
December 18, 2024
The Maryland Green Party will establish the Darryl Bonner Ballot Access Fund.
The Fund will be designated to support ballot access activities. These may include: paying signature gatherers, other petition drive expenses, candidacies that may help the party maintain ballot access, voter registration drives, or other efforts in support of the Maryland Green Party's ballot access efforts.
The MGP will consistently promote the Fund in its fundraising communications. The Treasurer will maintain contributions made to the Fund separately from general operating expenses.
Decisions regarding spending from the Fund will be made by a majority vote of the MGP Coordinating Council, except if otherwise delegated to the Treasurer.
APPROVED: 6 votes for, 2 not voting
Proposal: Endorse Inauguration-Related Demonstrations in Washington, DC
December 10, 2024
The Maryland Green Party endorses The People's March (organized by Women's March) planned for Saturday, January 18, 2025, and the We Fight Back demonstration (organized by People's Forum) planned for Monday, January 20, 2025.
We encourage Maryland Green Party members to attend these events and peacefully demonstrate on behalf of the Green Party. We encourage Maryland Green Party members to connect with Green Party members from other states as part of a Green Party contingent.
The Maryland Green Party pledges no financial support to the event organizers, but may consider providing material support for a regional Green Party contingent if requested to do so.
1/18/25: https://www.mobilize.us/womensmarch/event/742704/
1/20/25: https://peoplesforum.org/events/we-fight-back-jan-20-2025/
APPROVED: 6 votes for, 2 not voting
Proposal: Endorse Howard County for a Free Palestine Rally scheduled for November 24, 2024
November 26, 2024
Howard County for a Free Palestine will hold a rally on November 24, 2024, called "Resisting Trump in 2024: Where Do We Go from Here?" They describe the rally as such: "Stand with us to voice our resistance and shape the next steps in the fight for justice and democracy. Join the movement, bring a friend, and help us create change!"
The Maryland Green Party will endorse this event.
APPROVED: 7 votes for, 1 not voting
Proposal: Oppose Baltimore Question H
October 9, 2024
The Maryland Green Party opposes the Baltimore City Council Size Reduction Charter Amendment (2024) and urges a "No" vote on Question H. The MGP will direct supporters to Baltimore for Democracy (https://www.baltimorefordemocracy.org) for additional information regarding Question H.
APPROVED: 5 votes for, 3 not voting
Proposal: Endorse Howard County for a Free Palestine rally scheduled for October 6, 2024
October 3, 2024
Howard County for a Free Palestine will host a rally on October 6, 2024. The Maryland Green Party endorses this action. More information is here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/the-nakba-never-ended-israeli-aggression-did-not-start-on-october-7
APPROVED: 5 votes 1, 1 vote against, 1 not voting
Proposal: Nomination of Claudia Barber
July 31, 2024
The Maryland Green Party nominates Claudia Barber as its candidate for Maryland 5th Circuit Court Judge for Anne Arundel County.
APPROVED: 6 votes for, 2 not voting
Proposal: Endorse Emergency Curtis Bay Action
June 9, 2024
The Maryland Green Party will endorse and participate in the action planned for June 10, 2024, in Curtis Bay.
Message from event organizers: "We need your support in Curtis Bay urgently. I wanted to let everyone know that we have an emergency call of action on Monday June 10th @ 3:30 p.m. at Curtis Bay Recreation Center.
We just received word that CSX - the multibillion-dollar rail company (who has been transporting open air coal through Black/Brown communities and exporting over 8 million tons per year less than 1,000 feet from a Recreation Center) - is now contesting our scientific investigative report (released December of 2023).
This data will be used with MDE to create a more stringent permit which is up for reconsideration.
We want to take the wind out of CSX’s just-published hack attack on the community science report the community published last December by mobilizing a rally and a march to the coal pier. It is important for folks to show up in solidarity from across the city of Baltimore and stand alongside residents in this environmental justice community. We have experienced decades of unaddressed community concerns around Coal Dust from the CSX terminal in Curtis Bay entering their community and their homes.
We are expecting MDE to release a draft air pollution permit for CSX in June. We are pushing/pressuring for stricter enforcement & for environmental reparations. PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!
WE NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK! WE NEED TO SHOW THEM THAT WE WILL NOT SUPPORT BUSINESS AS USUAL and utilizing communities as sacrifice zones."
APPROVED: 5 voting yes, 3 not voting
Proposal: Endorse Open Letter to "Vote Uncommitted" Movement
June 5, 2024
The Maryland Green Party will endorse and publicize the below open letter.
This open letter is authored by Tori Nefflen, Robert Stubblefield, Andrew Eneim, Dana Polson and Andy Ellis. Between us we include: Long time Green Party members, new Green Party members, “uncommitted movement” organizers, uncommitted voters. No matter the political path we have walked to get this moment we are all committed to making sure voters have a pro-Palestine choice on the ballot in Maryland in 2024 and beyond.
On behalf of the Maryland Green Party, we would like to congratulate the organizers, advocates, and voters who helped to secure nearly 65,000 votes for “Uncommitted” in the Maryland Democratic Primary. In doing so, these voters used the power of the ballot to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, demonstrating that any vote for President Joe Biden can and will be contingent upon an end to US support of the ongoing genocide enacted by the state of Israel.
For decades, there has been an unyielding bipartisan consensus that the US government will support Israel and the broader zionist movement unconditionally, regardless of their legality or severity, and any opposition amongst US constituents. As a result, the Israeli regime, under the cover of US protection, has been allowed to act with impunity, enacting a system of apartheid and occupation that has culminated into the current genocide being waged in Gaza today.
President Joe Biden, as a self-described zionist, has long supported these policies, and continues to support them today, despite mounting evidence that Israel is using US arms and political backing to commit repeated war crimes against the Palestinian people. However, over the last 7 months, Biden and other Democratic politicians have begun to shift their position (if ever so slightly) to consider criticizing Israel and conditioning weapons sales.
Why? They are losing their political support. Current polls suggest that 7 in 10 voters across all parties support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, with over half of all Democrats believing Israel is enacting genocide. And as election season kicks into full gear, voters are becoming increasingly aware of the power they wield, holding Biden and the Democrats accountable with the one thing politicians can’t ignore: their votes.
It’s within this context that the “Uncommitted” movement has given Maryland voters a means to pressure Biden and the Democratic Party into ending political, financial, and arms support for Israel. However, this pressure cannot falter. Without sustained efforts leading into the general election, the demand for Biden to end this genocide will likely fail and Democrats will revert back to their decades-long status quo of unconditional support for Israel.
Now is the time to ensure there is a pro-Palestine, anti-genocide alternative on the November 5th ballot, in order to apply credible pressure on the Biden administration to change course. For 20 years the Green Party has maintained its support for Palestine and the BDS movement, calling for Palestinian self-determination, an end to Israeli occupation and colonization, and the right of return for all Palestinian refugees. Current Green Party presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, has repeatedly and unwaveringly advocated for the people of Palestine, even enduring police brutality and arrest while standing in solidarity with student organizers at Washington University. This is in stark contrast to a current president – and party – that not only fails to condemn Israeli atrocities, but continues to fund them.
Although we don’t expect all “Uncommitted” voters to vote Green in the 2024 election, we firmly believe that all voters, especially those against genocide, deserve to have options that they can support in good conscience. Alternative candidate(s) they can vote for, should their current elected officials fail to represent their views, are an essential part of our electoral process and are the way that third-party candidates exert power in a two-party system.
This is as true today as it was in 1844, when both major parties nominated supporters of slavery. Voters should not have to vote for the “lesser of two evils'' when both evils support Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Dr. Stein and the Green Party as a whole have gone far beyond calls for a ceasefire for two decades, offering a truly pro-Palestine alternative that is seemingly impossible within the current two-party system.
However, due to bipartisan efforts to limit ballot access for third parties in Maryland, we cannot provide a Green alternative without help. Right now, Maryland Green Party members and supporters must collect 15,000 signatures by August in order to ensure Dr. Jill Stein and Maryland Green Party candidates are on the ballot for 2024.
We’re calling on Maryland “Uncommitted” voters to help us in these efforts by signing our petition for ballot access. Signing is not a vote or endorsement for the Green Party, nor does it change current party affiliation. It is simply a petition that ensures Green Party candidates show up on future ballots, whether you wish to vote for them or not. And what better way to apply pressure, to continue pushing Biden away from genocide, than by securing a viable, pro-Palestinian challenger he must compete against?
And come November, should the Biden administration continue its current course, wouldn’t you like to have the option to vote for a candidate who actually represents your views?
Finally, for those dissatisfied with the current two-party system and looking for a different path, consider learning more about and joining your local Green Party. Beyond this election, beyond this devastating moment in history, we are fighting to build a healthy political alternative, so that up and down the ballot - from city and county councils, to the state house in Annapolis, and even Congress in DC - we can have choices unconstrained by the political imagination of a “lesser evil” and instead rooted in peace, democracy, justice and ecology. To learn more, go to https://www.mdgreens.org/
We must continue to fight for Gaza, for Palestine, and for a more just political system. Join us in keeping up the pressure through November and make your voices, your dissent, heard. Together we have the the power to oppose genocide and to bring peace, democracy, and justice to the people of Maryland and the people of the world.
APPROVED: 5 voting yes, 3 not voting
Proposal: Endorse the Ballot Petition Modernization Act
February 26, 2024
The Maryland Green Party endorses the Ballot Petition Modernization Act (2024), introduced as House Bill 1109 and Senate Bill 1029. HB 1109 is available at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/bills/hb/hb1109f.pdf. SB 1029 is available at https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/bills/sb/sb1029f.pdf.
APPROVED: 9 voting yes
Proposal: GPUS Platform Proposal: African American Cemeteries
January 30, 2024
Proposed addition to GPUS Platform
Name of party/caucus/committee and co-chair contact information- Maryland Green Party, Mary Rooker CoChair, [email protected]
Brief explanation of approval process and date of approval: The GMD process is to discuss the plank for 3 or more days, make suggested edits that are accepted by the author/cosponsors, and a 3-day online vote.
Contact Information for author: Mary Rooker - [email protected];
Where in Platform is this addressed: 2. Social Justice, A. Civil Rights, 3. Reparations for US Afrodescendants, (k)
Current Language-
(new section)
- Proposed revision or amendment of the current language-
- Protect and Preserve African/African American Cemeteries
We call upon government agencies at all levels to protect and preserve African/African American cemeteries in the US and its territories. Special attention is needed to ensure that these sacred burial grounds are identified and appropriately marked to prevent accidental or intentional desecration. The erasure of African/African-American history, such as the desecration of African cemeteries, is the bedrock and foundation of white supremacy. Desecration is one of the physical manifestations of genocide and historic trauma.
The Green Party calls for the immediate cessation of any and all drilling, excavation and/or digging of soils in all African/African American Cemeteries in the US and its territories. We call for the Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against all parties involved in the desecration of any such cemetery. We call for reparations and the immediate repatriation of all remains and bone fragments previously displaced from any such cemeteries to the descendant community.
The destruction of cemeteries and graveyards is understood to be a distinct form of cultural violence. “Cultural destruction during genocidal campaigns is a dimension of genocide itself and is evidence of the intent to completely erase the targeted group from existence.” (1)
We understand that such desecration is a violent, political, cultural, and spiritual act, perpetuated by those holding political and economic power committed to erasing the legacy, significance, history, memory, and ancestry of the oppressed to dominate and hold hegemonic power. Desecration seeks to launder and plunder sacred land, thus transferring wealth from vulnerable groups to landowning aristocracies.
References
Killing the dead: The logic of cemetery destruction during genocidal campaigns, Noa Krikler, European Institute, March 6, 2023, DOI: 10.1111/nana.12956
APPROVED: 7 voting yes, 4 not voting
Proposal: Hiring Paid Petitioners
January 30, 2024
The Maryland Green Party authorizes the Treasurer to hire local people to petition for us, authorizing $3.50 per signature we verify, not to exceed $5,000.
APPROVED: 7 voting yes, 4 not voting