Vote for Derek Wall as Deputy Leader

Having known Derek in the Green Party for a number of years, I am aware of the high regard in which he is held by so many different types of people – black and ethnic minority communities in the UK, students, economists, representatives of indigenous peoples in Latin America and all those who thirst for justice and equality. I have seen how Derek is respected both nationally and internationally and his stature has increased over the years. He is very respected, for example, by the governments of the new left leaning countries of Latin America and has regular invitations to their embassies etc.

As someone involved in the Coalition of Resistance organising committee, whose statement was launched last week against the massive cuts in this country which are going to devastate the welfare state and the health and education systems, I am aware that one of the major battles ahead will be over alternative economic strategies. This is where Derek will come into his own as an economic thinker with a proven track record and someone who has published many major works on the issue.

The role of a Deputy Leader is also to enthuse party members and activists and Derek can do this in spades.Not being a councillor or an MP he is not tied up in committee meetings and council chambers and can get around the country to meet those members, particulary in regions which have not seen much sign of the party leadership, to engage with them and bring their concerns and views back to the party Executive and other relevant party bodies such as GPRC. He has stood in a range of elections over the years ranging from the European elections to the local ones and understands the concerns of candidates and local parties.

He is also a firm constitutionalist and is steeped in the bottom up and grassroots democracy of the Green movement and would ensure that power in the party remains with the membership and its representative bodies. Dianne Abbott is already running on a programme of restoring democracy to the Labour Party membership - Derek would ensure that members never lost that power in the first place. He would be a 'tribune of the membership' and a voice for minorities within the party as well as others.

Derek is someone who speaks truth unto power and represents the new type of politics which so many both here and abroad are clamouring for - not just the same old and tired political mantras and comfort zones which others cling to like a used blanket. If the Green Party is to look outwards and take a lead at the head of a broad and popular movement against war, inequality and climate change, then Derek is the person who is required at the head of the party. His passion and intellect and above all his vision are what the Green Party requires in the years ahead, especially now that politics in this country stands at an important crossroads.

Derek is having two book launches in the near future of his book The No-Nonsense Guide to Green Politics. The first, is at the Green Party conference in Birmingham on Saturday 11th September at 4pm and the second is in the Bolivarian Hall of the Venezuelan Embassy in London on September 14th at 7.30pm.

For a Deputy Leader who will water the grassroots and lead the charge, vote for Derek Wall.

http://derekfordeputy.blogspot.com/p/endorsements.html