Dear Macha -and others-
A Green member sent me this when I forwarded your email to her
blessings,
Gus
****************************************************** The following message was posted to wagreens-active: ******************************************************
Hi all,
I hate talking about individuals on a list like this, but the misleading statements being put out by one Nancy Oden need rapid rumor control. Defending her half-truths would make us look silly.
I got to meet Nancy three years ago when she was in Seattle for the national committee meeting of the activist organization known as "the Greens/Green Party USA," which should not be confused with the national electoral organization, "the Green Party of the United States," which nominated Ralph Nader for President and helped get him on the ballot in 44 states.
Nancy was incredibly rude to her fellow activists. She talked endlessly about how mean the Maine Green Party had been to her, and about how evil the Greens from "that other Green organization" were. I dismissed her as a run-of-the-mill kook.
Then, this past spring, she somehow got elected to the three-member Coordinating Committee of G/GPUSA. Her tenure involved a string of 2-1 decisions taking authority away from the larger Green National Committee, and shutting down various processes in the bylaws that were used to try to overrule her. Eleven of the 13 state parties then affiliated with G/GPUSA had called for a membership referendum on the "Boston Proposal for Unity." (Only six are needed to call such a referendum.) Nancy used her power on the CC to prevent any money being spent to hold the referendum, and continually threatened to fire the two staffers who were trying their best to obey the bylaws. To say that Nancy was abusive toward the staff would be an understatement.
When the pro-unity supermajority was unable to ever get a vote called on the Boston Proposal, most of the state parties started disaffiliating. G/GPUSA is now down to four state parties, two of which are still in the process of disaffiliation.
Meanwhile, GP-US, which is expected to finally be recognized as "the national committee of the Green Party" by the Federal Elections Commission some time in the next two weeks, has 33 affiliated state parties.
Nancy Oden got elected to the G/GPUSA CC on a platform of "real democracy, where We the People ..." Instead, she ran the organization with an iron fist and sent nearly everyone fleeing to more productive ground.
Nancy's latest heavy-handed rhetoric does not match up with what I've been reading in the Bangor news. She was not targeted at the airport because she was a leader of the G/GPUSA. She was targeted because she was rude to the security officers. Indeed, the FBI say they had no idea who she was. Other Green Party leaders have had no trouble whatsoever flying.
Nancy was not banned from flying. She was simply not allowed to fly that day. Nancy said she did not put up resistance to having her purse searched (a standard procedure long before 9/11) or personal search. She just went crazy at the metal-detecting wand. I know Nancy well enough to know why she would freak out at the use of such a radioactive instrument around her body. She is a long-time anti-nuke activist.
We risk delegitimizing ourselves by defending Nancy Oden's hysterical account of airport security. We'd also be causing more well-intentioned Green-Party-activist wannabes to go to G/GPUSA's web site and pay dues to G/GPUSA, not knowing that it is not the national Green Party that put together the convention in Denver and nominated Ralph Nader for president.
If GP-US puts out a press release today, I hope it presents a more balanced account of what really happened between Nancy and airport security, and points out that Nancy's organization is *not* the national Green Party.
Sorry to rag on fellow activists.
Cheers, Brent White former dues-paying member of the activist organization known as "the Greens/Green Party USA"