Green Left AGM

I was away in Romania for two weeks and so have not been blogging for the best part of 3 weeks as when I returned I found myself very busy preparing for the Green Left AGM which is tomorrow and also helping out in the unexpected Tulse Hill by election in Lambeth, which was called when I was away.

I intend to blog about my experience of Romania, a country which I visited for the first time, and which has left me with many deep impressions. But that will have to wait for the present.

The Green Left AGM is being held tomorrow at the Lucas Arms in Gray's Inn Road, London. It will be four years since Green Left was formed and I was one of the founder members. I am currently the male Co-Convenor and have held that post for the last two years but will not be standing for re-election at the AGM. Instead I will be standing for the position of Secretary and taking the poisoned chalice of ensuring that the minutes of all meetings are completed in good time and are accurate, and also correspondence with other bodies.

Green Left has gone from strength to strength over the last few years and has had influence way beyond its size in the Green Party. Its essential aims remain a commitment to ensuring that the Green Party remains a radical and Left party and also that links are developed with the wider Left in England and Wales. The fate of some of the sister Green parties in Europe is one that we are very aware of and want to ensure that nothing similar happens here.

As an Irish person I have been in regular contact with Greens in Ireland and have watched with dismay what has been happening to the Irish Green Party since they entered the coalition in 2007. Many of the best and most radical Greens have left the party and I recently met with some of them in Dublin, including the former MEP, Patricia Mc Kenna, and others who are now independent councillors. One of them is Pat Kavanagh, a councillor in County Wicklow and Pat will be addressing the AGM tomorrow about what has been happening in Ireland over the last few years. Pat resigned from the Green Party a few months ago and has now established an organisation called 'The Emerald Forum' which consists of many ex-Greens but also some current members of the party. They are holding a conference in Dublin next week and Derek Wall, also a member of Green Left and who is about to publish several books on Green politics and economics, will be going to address the conference.

We will also be discussing motions and fringe meetings at the Green Party autumn conference, as well as the organisation of a series of speaking engagements for Hugo Blanco, the well known activist and fighter for the rights of indigenous people from Peru, who will be touring the UK in September speaking about the situation in Peru and Latin America. There is also the possibility of Green Left participation in the next convoy which sails to Gaza to bring relief supplies to the Palestinians. We will also be discussing our involvement in the general Left campaign against the cuts agenda of the Coalition government.

Finally, we will be looking at organising a Green Left Summer Camp, which is likely to be held in Cambridge this year. I am looking forward to a good day of political discussion and to meeting Green Left comrades from around the country.