GPAX

The Green Party Declares a Global Environmental and Peace Emergency!       

The threats to life on our beautiful planet are multiple and connected.Every day the world moves closer to the edge of extinction. Wildfires, floods,droughts and heatwaves threaten every corner of the planet as the climate crisis spins out of control.

At the same time, forever wars rage with the US ongoing proxy wars in Ukraine and Gaza that have killed tens of thousands and threaten to engulf the whole world, with the ultimate possibility of a catastrophic nuclear war. The change of administrations in the United States, which signals a move from a 20th century covert imperialism to its historically traditional overt form, may prove to be an even greater threat.

The focal point for these concerns continues to be Gaza and the West Bank in occupied Palestine. Despite a fragile ceasefire, (at the time of this writing) the US and Israel continue to create an ever more dangerous international emergency in pursuit of a Greater Israel. The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be dire, with the only proposed “solution” being the ethnic cleansing of 2 million people and the creation of an Israeli Riviera. This genocide has not been about Israel’s security but, in fact, threatens the safety of Israelis. And it has been a violation of international humanitarian law and a grave injustice to the Palestinian people.

In pursuit of Israel’s goals, thousands of Lebanese have died and hundreds of locations in Syria have been bombed by the U.S. and by Israel with U.S.-supplied munitions. Since September 2024, both the U.S. and Israel have taken deliberate steps to isolate Iran and its allies in the region. A war with Iran would be disastrous for us all.

A recent poll indicated that some 75% of the global population wants an end to the genocide in Gaza and the continued U.S.-supported Israeli violence in the region. The world now sees the violence that has been part of Israel’s settler colonialist project since 1948. The US must show it cares more about the people living in the US and the safety and security of the rest of the world than supporting Israel’s agenda in the Middle East.

Now several countries face the threat by the Trump administration of being absorbed into the U.S. empire, a goal which can only be realized through military force.

All this violence increases the risk of a wider war and ultimately a nuclear war and should put the whole world on alert. The situation is critical and potentially explosive, literally and figuratively.

The Green Party US Peace Action Committee (GPAX) calls again for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Palestine that continues after the release of hostages and prisoners and prohibits Israel’s incursions into the West Bank and calls for an end to the Israeli occupation.

GPAX calls for the declaration of a GLOBAL EMERGENCY. More needs to be done to protect the population of Gaza and the West Bank by ending incursions, sieges and forced starvation and returning control of their lands to the Palestinian people.

GPAX calls for a real ceasefire in Lebanon, not one that gives the U.S. more power to intervene in the country and region.

We also call for an end to U.S. and Israeli presence in Syria, to return sovereignty to the Syrian people. The U.S., Turkiye, and Israel need to get out of the way, so that the Syrian people, together with a rejuvenated U.N., can work to guarantee that all peoples in Syria are respected.

The Green Party joins hands in solidarity with the thousands of students who have been threatened for standing up for justice! We call for everyone to get involved in their local peace movement in whatever ways they can. Building on past efforts, the Green Party will make a major effort to work with other progressives and radicals in building the ongoing events and actions, including support for the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement. Our main goal is to build a bigger and more massive peace movement, in order to challenge and stop U.S. imperialism.

GPAX also calls for resistance to the Trump government’s bellicose policies and those that attack constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. We do this understanding perfectly well that the Democrats laid the groundwork for this moment.

The Green Party should, thus, join in building multi-issue coalitions from the grassroots uniting the many struggles while linking them to the peace issue.  GPAX will work to increase our involvement with other key national peace groups:  Jewish Voice for Peace, Veterans For Peace, UNAC, etc.  Along with state Green parties and other like-minded organizations, we can work to develop these connections.

GPAX urges the peace movement to unite in support of the Palestinians as well as to end the war in Ukraine and the threats to Iran and China. There are too many places where people are facing forced starvation and on-going violence, including the Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Cuba, South and Central America, where US interference is causing tremendous hardship for the people.

It is well past time for the world to rely on diplomacy and negotiations, instead of continued violence and war. The people demand it and the Earth requires it.

GPAX asks that this statement be circulated to state and local Green Party chapters and that the chapters send their endorsement to mrhlepaix@gmail.com or to the local person in these organizations who can send the endorsement to the above email address.

The people of Syria have long struggled for sovereignty and stability, going back at least to the waning of the Ottoman empire and the onset of brutal colonial domination in the early 20th century.

With the recent fall of the Assad regime, Syria faces new political instability that endangers the people of Syria. The United States, Israel, and Türkiye bear primary responsibility for the current disorder in Syria. These nations should cease their interventions and join an international effort, as called for by the UN, to undo the chaos that their overt and covert actions have unleashed.

GPAX calls on the U.S. government to end its illegal occupation of much of the eastern portion of Syria and to suspend the devastating economic sanctions it has imposed. Syria cannot be rebuilt while the U.S. controls its key resources and has a stranglehold on its economy. We reject the claim that the U.S. overt and covert actions in Syria are motivated by support for democracy because such actions are never undertaken against tyrants and dictators who are U.S. “allies.”

GPAX calls for Israel to halt its encroachment on Syrian territory and to stop the intensive bombing campaign designed to render Syria militarily defenseless. It is not in the long-term interest of Israel to destroy neighboring nations that it views as threats. Creating disorder and instability on its borders is what gave rise to Hamas and Hezbollah.

GPAX calls for Türkiye to restrain its proxy forces in Syria to prevent the oppression of non-Sunni communities. The rights of Christian, Druze, Kurdish, and Alawite people of Syria must be protected if Syria is to avoid civil war.

The international community should act to repair the damage that Syria has suffered for decades because of foreign manipulation of its internal political conflicts. The lesson of Libya shows the disastrous consequences of a government overthrow followed by foreign neglect. The world does not need another failed state.  The United Nations is the appropriate body to act to restore stability and security to Syria and end the meddling of states using Syria as a geopolitical battleground.

GPAX urges U.S. peace groups to focus their efforts on relieving the suffering of the Syrian people and ending the chaos engendered by years of outside exploitation of sectarian tensions in Syria – including by the CIA-sponsored Timber Sycamore program.

GPAX will work with other U.S. peace organizations to advocate an end to pernicious U.S. foreign policies that have brought violence and ruin to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen, and which continue to endanger Syria.

The Peace Action Committee of the Green Party of the United States strongly objects to the U.S. government’s actions to suppress anti-war protests and dissent directed against Israel’s indiscriminate and devastating assault on Gaza. Specifically, we object to:

• Attempts to equate opposition to Israeli military action with antisemitism
• Characterization of anti-war protesters as supporters of terrorists
• Proposed national and state legislation to criminalize opposition to Israeli government policy
• Efforts to outlaw boycott, sanction, and divest activities directed against Israel

The cumulative effect of these political actions is to undermine the foundational First Amendment constitutional right to free speech of U.S. citizens. Our Constitution does not enshrine protection of a foreign government as a fundamental principle. The American people should not be compelled to submit to government thought police because of the political power of the Israel lobby.

As the brutal assault on Gaza continues and the flow of horrific images from the war zone adds to the mounting evidence of Israeli war crimes, attempts by the U.S. government to suppress anti-war actions and dissent call into question the obligation of our government to defend the liberties of its own citizens. Accusing those who seek peace in the Mideast of antisemitism is a despicable affront to anti-war activists and a shameful display of unprincipled Israeli lobbying power in Washington.

The Green Party of the U.S. is the party of peace, and thus we oppose the actions of the uni-party in Washington that sustain the terrible assault on Gaza. We will continue to support and participate in demonstrations against the Gaza war, and we applaud the courage of students in protesting against this war. We reject the assertion that demonstrations against the destruction of Gaza and slaughter of its inhabitants are antisemitic. While intending to protect Israel, Washington is making a mockery of our nation’s claim to be a champion of human rights and freedom. The best protection for Israel is a just peace, not a genocidal war.

 

The US and Israel together are creating an international emergency with the continued waging of the massacre (genocide) in Gaza, Palestine. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is already dire and the expected ground invasion of Rafah only makes the situation worse. Already, the IDF is bombing indiscriminately throughout Rafah. Palestinians are evacuating in droves, but have no safe place to go.

The Green Party US Peace Action Committee (GPAX) calls again for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, accompanied by a deal to release the hostages taken by Hamas, in exchange for release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. GPAX also calls for the declaration of a national and international EMERGENCY. More needs to be done to protect the population of Gaza and the West Bank and to end the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, end the siege and end the forced starvation of the Palestinian people.

The US claims not to want a wider war, but it’s hard to imagine that a ground invasion of Rafah wouldn’t result in one. In fact, the world has already seen the firepower of Iran and in Lebanon, Hezbollah. GPAX certainly opposes any escalation of the military action in Gaza and has consistently called for a ceasefire. A recent poll indicated that some 75% of the global population wants a ceasefire, as well. The US must show it cares more about the people living in the US and the safety and security of the rest of the world than supporting Israel’s agenda in Gaza.

In the last few weeks, Israel has not agreed to ceasefire proposals that have been placed on the table and that Hamas has supported. So tremendous pressure must be brought to bear on both the US and Israel to accept a ceasefire deal.

GPAX realizes that this massacre/genocide is not about Israel’s security but about acquiring more land and moving the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip. This is a violation of international humanitarian law and a grave injustice to the Palestinian people.

It would further the ethnic cleansing begun by Israel with the Nakba in 1948 and bring it to a new stage. It would come at a tremendous human cost. Simultaneously, but with far less public attention, more and more Palestinians on the West Bank are being threatened, displaced and killed. The world now sees the violence that has been part of this settler colonialist project since the beginning.

The student uprisings are helping to draw parallels with the US pushing the indigenous in the US further and further west onto reservations, actions that bring shame today to many who reside in the US. It is time to end this genocide and put into place a plan for lasting peace.

This is the time to mobilize a larger and stronger peace movement, in solidarity with the thousands of students standing up for justice! The Green Party calls for party members and supporters to get involved in their local peace movement and to do as much as they can to help bring about the end of the WAR on GAZA. Many Greens already are putting much time and leadership into mobilizing the peace movement. The Green Party will make a major effort to work with other progressives and radicals in building the ongoing events and actions. Our main goal is to build a bigger and more massive peace movement.

GPAX urges the peace movement to unite and to call to an end, not only to the genocide in Gaza, but to end the war in Ukraine and to prevent war against China. There are too many places where people are facing forced starvation and on-going violence, including the Congo and Sudan and too many places like Haiti, Cuba, South and Central America, where US interference in politics is causing tremendous hardship for the people.

It is well past time for the world to rely on diplomacy and negotiations, instead of continued violence and war.

“Settler colonialism, as an institution or system, requires violence or the threat of violence to attain its goals. People do not hand over their land, resources, children and futures without a fight, and that fight is met with violence. In employing the force necessary to accomplish its expansionist goals, the colonizing regime institutionalizes violence. The notion that settler-indigenous conflict is an inevitable product of cultural differences and misunderstandings, or that violence was committed equally by the colonized and the colonizer, blurs the nature of the historical process.

Source:  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States.”

The Green Party US Peace Action Committee (GPAX) unequivocally opposes the most recent US/UK military action against Yemen in response to Yemen’s blockade against ships bound to Israel through the Red Sea.

The blockade implemented by Yemen was originally designed to prevent only those ships going to Israel from reaching their destination. Their rationale is straightforward. Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Therefore, one way to put the brakes on that effort is to affect Israel economically.  This isn’t a random blockade, nor is it a total blockade. After the US and the UK launched a military action against Yemen on January 11^th, the blockade extended to include ships from the US and the UK.

Unfortunately, it seems that the US/UK would rather resort to an escalation of the violence in the region rather than to take action to de-escalate the violence. Certainly, it would be less costly in terms of death and destruction as evidenced immediately. Yemen’s blockade had yielded no deaths and no injuries. The US/UK reaction resulted in the deaths of 6 civilians and heightened tensions between the US and Iran.

Once again, the actions of President Biden and his administration can be considered unconstitutional. Once again, President Biden has ignored the US Congress in deciding when and if to go to war. Once again, President Biden has ignored calls for a ceasefire.

Article I, Section VIII grants the power to declare war solely in the hands of the U.S. Congress. However, in the event that a president feels compelled to act unilaterally as Commander-in-chief the War Powers Act of 1973 requires that the president report to the US Congress about the action within 48 hours. Congress has a right to put conditions on the action and in no scenario allow the action to continue for more than 60 days.

The Yemenis have indicated that they will not stop their efforts to block ships headed to Israel using the Red Sea, until and unless the genocide of the Palestinians ends. The irony of this is that Israel’s blockade of Gaza has existed for 16 years with little to no outcry from the international community and Yemen itself was the victim of a US/Saudi blockade at the Port of Hodeida from 2017 to at least 2021. This blockade brought many in Yemen to the brink of starvation. It was called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by the UN through March 2023, and probably now is only surpassed by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. So Yemen knows all too well the problems of displacement and starvation.

The US public is tired of war. The US public is tired of leaders that do not provide an opportunity for the people’s voices to be heard. And hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the US, while 1 million have protested in London, calling for a cease fire and a stop to the genocide in Gaza. It’s time that President Biden and the British leaders listen to the people and stop using military action as their answer to any international conflict.

On November 13, 2023, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the case Defense for Children International – Palestine v. Biden against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for violations of customary international law, codified in the Genocide Convention of 1948, and US law, codified in the corresponding Genocide Convention Implementation Act (U.S.C. § 1091). The case charges the named defendants with both failure to prevent and complicity in genocide in Gaza. CCR and the plaintiffs (including leading Palestinian human rights organizations, Defense for Children International – Palestine and Al-Haq) provide that not only has the Biden Administration declined to take action to stop grave Israeli crimes, it has actively supported Israel in committing them by, inter alia, “providing unconditional military and diplomatic support, coordinating closely on military strategy, and undermining efforts by the international community to stop Israel’s unrelenting and unprecedented bombing campaign and total siege of Gaza.”

The Peace Action Committee of the Green Party of the United States (GPAX) is deeply concerned by the disregard of international law in the course of Israel’s response to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and calls on all parties to observe relevant international laws and norms, including the rules of war and international humanitarian law. GPAX endorses the lawsuit filed by CCR in an effort to hold the Biden Administration accountable to its obligations under international and US law.

The Green Party Peace Action Committee (GPAX) urges that the party participate in the wave of worldwide mass protests against the US-Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere.

Our main concern is US military and diplomatic participation in the war and in the criminal siege and bombardment that have already killed thousands in Gaza, wounded tens of thousands, and left a million homeless.

GPAX calls for ending the supply of weapons and financing to Israel; withdrawing US military assets from the region; and ending US war threats. The U.S. must also become constructively engaged in diplomatic efforts to resolve this persistent threat to world peace.

We support the widespread calls by UN officials and member countries, trade unionists, and others for a ceasefire, provision of humanitarian aid, the release of detained people, and long-term solutions based on justice and equality. We urge the Green Party and state parties to work with others for all these goals.

We believe that the recent meeting of President Joe Biden with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, combined with US unconditional support for the Israelis, will inflame the region even further. Without taking the steps we propose, the death and destruction will continue. Our goal is peace, but a peace accompanied by justice for all people of this region.

As the devastating war in Ukraine continues with no end in sight, the Green Party Peace Action Committee (GPAX) renews its call for the U.S. to end its participation in this proxy war against Russia. It has become clear that the pro-war elements of the Biden administration miscalculated badly in their plans to make Ukraine into a NATO bulwark against Russia. Economic sanctions and vast military and financial assistance have failed to secure victory for Ukraine, and the U.S. is now cynically sacrificing Ukrainian lives to avoid political embarrassment before the 2024 U.S. elections.

By continuing to enable this war, the Biden administration is perpetuating needless bloodshed, weakening our European allies, damaging our relations with non-aligned countries, and increasing the risk of a catastrophic nuclear war. The only beneficiaries of this failed belligerent policy are the U.S. arms makers, who are reaping profits from the replacement of weaponry fed into the fires of the Ukraine war.

GPAX calls for the U.S. government to immediately commence diplomatic negotiations with Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. A negotiated cease-fire should be followed by a permanent settlement that considers the interests of all parties. By pretending that the U.S. cannot end this war, and instead supplying progressively more destructive weaponry, the Biden administration is perpetuating a conflict that is costing thousands of lives and devastating an entire nation.

While refusing to enter negotiations, Biden has steadily escalated U.S. involvement, most recently by supplying artillery cluster munitions. This type of weapon has been banned by many nations because of the danger to civilians of unexploded bomblets that remain lethal for years. Adding this hazard to the huge number of landmines present in the battlefields is creating a deadly legacy for the civilians of Ukraine.

It is time for rationality and realism to return to U.S. foreign policy and for the Washington neocons who engineered the disaster in Ukraine to be removed from power. More war is not the path to peace; it will lead to greater ruin for Ukraine and greater danger for the whole world.

Sowing Death in Ukraine

The decision by the Biden administration to supply large quantities of artillery cluster munitions to Ukraine will create a long-term danger to civilians caused by unexploded ordnance lingering in former war zones. In 2008, recognition of the harmful effects of such weapons led to an international treaty banning their production and use. The Convention on Cluster Munitions has since been ratified by 111 nations. Unfortunately, the U.S. is not a party to this treaty.

The U.S. used vast quantities of cluster munitions in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The Red Cross has reported that Laos is contaminated by about 80 million cluster submunitions, affecting all 17 provinces and resulting in 300 yearly casualties. The U.S. also used cluster munitions in the 1991 Gulf War, dropping 61,000 cluster bombs. Usage of this type of weapon has diminished in more recent years, but the U.S. retains a vast arsenal of over a million cluster artillery shells, which it now intends to provide to Ukraine.

The small percentage of cluster munition bomblets that fail to detonate immediately remain dangerous unexploded ordnance (UXO). They may explode randomly, or when a farmer works in a field, or when a child handles one, mistaking it for a toy. The arithmetic of calculating this danger is simple: multiply the dud rate (usually around 2%) times the number of bomblets in a shell (typically about 50) times the number of shells fired (Ukraine currently fires thousands a day). This calculation yields the ugly result that the U.S. will cause the sowing of civilian death in the fields and towns of Ukraine.

The danger of cluster munitions UXO compounds the hazard of widespread mining of the battlefields of Ukraine. In addition to conventional mine-laying methods, both sides in the Ukraine war now employ remote mining weaponry that scatters mines via rocket and conventional artillery. The locations of these new minefields are unlikely to be documented accurately and will pose a long-term postwar danger to civilians.

Callous disregard for the consequences of sending cluster munitions to Ukraine is consistent with the cynical U.S. use of Ukraine as a proxy for harming Russia. Heedless of the escalation risk, the U.S. will continue sending weapons to Ukraine as long as the Zelensky regime is willing to sacrifice Ukraine’s people to serve U.S. geopolitical goals. The civilians who die because of the legacy of death bequeathed by unexploded U.S. weapons in Ukraine is considered acceptable collateral damage by the Washington neocons who remain firmly in control of U.S. foreign policy.

The Peace Action Committee of the U.S. Green Party calls for an end to the arming of Ukraine and immediate U.S. negotiations for a cease-fire and permanent settlement of this conflict. The U.S. can and must stop this war that is destroying Ukraine and seeding its land with future death and destruction.

 

The National Committee of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) has voted to endorse the “Rage Against the War Machine” demonstration planned for February 19 in Washington D.C. This action has been endorsed by other anti-war groups and individuals. GPUS  joins them to strengthen opposition to the United States’ endless wars.

GPUS plans to play a leading role in the emergence of a unified and strong U.S. anti-war movement. The involvement of the US and NATO in the war in Ukraine presents a world-wide emergency that demands a strong anti-war movement around the following demands being made at this upcoming event:

• • Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine
  • Negotiate Peace
  • Stop the War Inflation
  • Disband NATO
  • Global Nuclear De-Escalation
  • Slash the Pentagon Budget
  • Abolish the CIA and Military-Industrial Deep State
  • Abolish War and Empire
  • Restore Civil Liberties
  • Free Julian Assange

The Green Party US Peace Action Committee (GPAX) urges Greens across the country to attend or to hold similar events locally. We are proud to say that Jill Stein will be speaking  at the rally about what makes GPUS’s position so inclusive – our commitments to social, economic and environmental justice. We believe the extreme danger to world peace posed by the war in Ukraine should make unified action against this war a priority for all peace activists.

For more information, contact:

Madelyn Hoffman    lepaix@aol.com

Co-Chair, Green Party Peace Action Committee

Haig Hovaness    hovaness@pipeline.com

Co-Chair, Green Party Peace Action Committee