Green Party Of Canada

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Origins and development of the Green Party
The Green Party/Movement in the United States began with self-starting local groups in 1984, the first such group having formed in early January of that year in the state of Maine. By 1989, over 400 local groups had sprung up in most parts of the country. A Clearing House in Kansas City, Missouri fostered communication among all the local groups. The movement took the name of Green Committees of Correspondence.— recalling the organizing that took place under the name of Committees of Correspondence in the decade before the Revolutionary War. In addition to local group membership, individual national memberships were also encouraged. Over 2000 had signed on by the end of the 80s.
In the beginning, local groups spent much time debating the meaning and application of Ten Key Values. These had emerged from the first national meeting in St. Paul in August, 1984. The Ten Key Values are drawn from the Four Pillars that the then West German Greens articulated, plus three sets of two values each. The Four Pillars are Ecological Wisdom, Social Justice, Grass Roots Democracy, and Non-violence. The three sets of two each are: Respect for Diversity and Feminist Values; Decentralization and Community Economics; Global Responsibility and Sustainability (or: Thinking to the Seventh Generation).
The debates over their meaning and application were often intense and sometimes harsh. One important argument reflected the on-going controversy between Social Ecology and Deep Ecology, the former led by Murray Bookchin at the Social Ecology Center in Vermont and the latter inspired by the work of Arne Naess, the Norwegian eco-philosopher. The debate was whether one had to liberate human beings first before being able to save nature; or whether the work of saving nature had to be well advanced before it would be possible to liberate human beings. It was an argument that would continue to stir in Green circles, ta...