Green Party of Minnesota

The State Fair is here again, and that means that the Green Party of Minnesota will hold our booth as usual in the Grandstand. Stop by and say hello, or volunteer to help to work the booth!

The State Fair begins on Thursday August 26 and ends on Monday September 6.

As a volunteer-run organization, we need your help to talk to voters from across the state. If you can help us out, contact Brian Begin at 612-720-5057. The shifts are 3 hours long and begin at 9am and end at 9pm.

The Green Party of Minnesota joins human rights advocates and people of good will across the world to call on the U.S. government, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations to prevail upon Rwanda to release Peter Erlinder immediately. We applaud his defense of the human and civil rights of Rwanda presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire, who was charged in April, 2010, with the same crime of which Erlinder is accused -- genocide denial.

Join us for our summer membership meeting, which will be held on June 12 at the Pioneer Place theater in St. Cloud. Its address is 22 Fifth Avenue S, St Cloud, MN 56301.
Google map: http://tinyurl.com/2vhzqfr

We'll be discussing the resolutions that were proposed and passed by our local caucuses in February, and also electing members to the GPMN State Coordinating Committee.

The list of proposed resolutions is here.

Don't forget to bring something for our traditional pot luck lunch!

During the meeting, we'll be running a silent auction as a fundraiser. If you have things you'd like to donate to the silent auction, please contact Brian Begin by phone (612-720-5057) or e-mail (brianbegin@mngreens.org)

More details follow...

At a nominating convention held May 1 in Red Wing, Minnesota Green Party delegates voted unanimously to endorse Annie Young for the office of state auditor. According to Cam Gordon and Rhoda Gilman, members of her campaign team, if Young wins election to the office, it will be a victory for both her and the Green Party. If she receives at least five percent of the vote it will still win major-party status for the Greens in Minnesota.

The statewide nominating convention of the GPMN will be held on May 1, 2010, in Red Wing. Due to the chilly weather, we will move to our backup location, the Red Wing public library, 225 East Ave.

If the weather warms up later in the day, we will hold a potluck meal after the convention at Colvill Park, 515 Nymphara LN. (Colvill Park is accessible from US Highway 61 south of the main part of Red Wing.)

For questions about location call Amber Garlan at (651) 249-7286.

If you tried to attend a caucus in February, but found that a convener did not show up at your location, or that your area did not convene a caucus:
First, we apologize for the problem. We were simply not able to get conveners to all locations, and some locations had conveners scheduled who didn't show up.
Second, we still want you to count! If you're interested in being represented at our endorsing convention or submitting resolutions or platform changes, please send an e-mail to: chair@mngreens.org, and we'll work out a way for you to be represented.

Howard Zinn, the influential historian, activist, playwright and intellectual died on January 27th, just weeks before our winter membership meeting. As he has touched many greens through his writings, actions and speech, we asked local poet Rich Broderick to write a poem in his honor. It was read by the poet at the opening of our winter membership meeting, and some have requested the text of the poem.

For Howard Zinn

To speak
Without eating our words

To march to the foot of the cross
And revive the prematurely dying

To refuse to mistake
Theories for the life of the mind

The Green Party of MN Winter Membership Meeting will be held at North Regional Library, 1315 Lowry Avenue North, Minneapolis.

All members are welcome to attend.
We'll have a very short business meeting, then we'll hear about energy storage technology and how it can help us transition to clean energy solutions, and also an update on the foreclosure crisis.

The Green Party of Minnesota will hold Precinct Caucuses on Feb 2, at 6:30 pm, except for the 4th Congressional District (St. Paul and Eastern suburbs), which will be held at 7pm.

The following caucus locations have been canceled! Please double-check the following list!

• 01 A & B (Crookston)
• 03A (International Falls) - Nearest location is Cloquet (Cloquet Public Library, 320 14th St)
• 04A & B (Cass Lake) - Nearest location is St. Cloud (St. Cloud Public Library, 1300 W St Germain Street)
• 05 - 07 (Two Harbors) - Nearest location is Cloquet (Cloquet Public Library, 320 14th St)
• 09 B, 10 - 11 (Detroit Lakes, Douglas County) - Nearest location is St. Cloud (St. Cloud Public Library, 1300 W St Germain Street)
• 18 (Hutchinson)
• 22, 24 (Jackson County) - Nearest location is Mankato (Lincoln Community Center, 110 Fulton Street Rm 204)
• 27 (Austin) - Nearest location is Mankato (Lincoln Community Center, 110 Fulton Street Rm 204)
• 29 - 31 (Lanesboro) - Nearest location is Red Wing (Red Wing Public Library, 225 East Avenue)
• 60B (Linden Hills Neighborhood, Minneapolis) - Combine with 60A (Walker Library, 2880 Hennepin)

Cynthia McKinney will be the keynote speaker on Saturday, November 7, when Minnesota Greens gather at their fall membership meeting. McKinney is a former six-term Congresswoman from Georgia and the Green Party's candidate for president in 2008. She has been noted in the past year for her efforts to get medical supplies and other humanitarian aid into Gaza and for being jailed by the Israeli government.

The meeting, which will focus on Green Party electoral strategy in 2010, will be held in the Hennepin County Government Center at 300 So. 6th Street in downtown Minneapolis. McKinney will speak at 12:30. All members and friends of the Green Party are invited.