At their statewide membership meeting in Grayling this weekend, members of the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) discussed Pope Francis’ visit to the US this week and welcomed the attention he has brought to the inequalities in our economic [and political] system[s] and to our mistreatment of the Earth.
In a July speech, Pope Francis asked: “Do we realize something is wrong in a world where there are so many farmworkers without land, so many families without a home, so many laborers without rights . . . so many senseless wars?” And he added: “Our common home is being pillaged, laid waste, and harmed with impunity. Cowardice in defending it is a grave sin.”
“The Pope says it’s immoral to harm our Earth,” comments GPMI member and UP resident Aimée Cree Dunn. “Finally! Real leadership on the world stage.”
“Greens hope the Pope’s advocacy for the poor will positively affect several urgent issues here in our state – that of Detroit’s water cut-offs and home foreclosures,” says Priscilla Dziubek, GPMI member and member of the Detroit People’s Water Board. “In his encyclical on the environment Pope Francis proclaims that access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right. In Detroit, people’s water is being shut off for inability to pay due to rising water rates, and the people are losing their homes because water bills are being attached to their property taxes.”
Greens urge voters to contact their representatives demanding support of statewide water affordability legislation. “We need a statute to assure all Michigan citizens access to clean and affordable water,” Dziubek adds.
Lou Novak, GPMI Treasurer, says, “Our right to clean, affordable water is under attack on many fronts, including fracking, privatization, the Enbridge pipeline, and sulfide mining, among others.”
“As a Green, I welcome the Pope’s call for dialogue among all people on the critical issues confronting us,” says Linda Cree, a member of GPMI’s State Central Committee. “Although we differ on issues like contraception and population, Greens totally agree with Pope Francis on ending the death penalty and senseless wars, on the need to transform our economies so they serve the needs of people not corporations; on reining in industrial agribusiness and supporting small-scale farmers; and, of course, protecting and healing the natural world.”
“Pope Francis points out the evils of economic globalization,” says Aimee Cree Dunn. “It’s a system of industrialism based on the abuse of the Earth and those who lack financial and political power. It must be replaced with a system based on sustainable visions, like that of the Pope’s, and like that of the Green Party.”
Greens also worked on petition drives for initiatives to ban fracking and legalize marijuana, and made plans for meetings in March and June of next year when the party will be putting candidates on the ballot. [After the meeting, some also traveled to Traverse City to volunteer for Tom Mair’s campaign for Traverse City Commissioner.] For more information about GPMI, please visit www.MIGreenParty.org. You can also “like” the Green Party of Michigan US Facebook page, and follow GPMI’s Twitter feed @MIGreenParty.