I’ve seen a lot recently about the Green party hoovering up the Labour/LibDem “left wing” vote, which is good (up to a point). Any vote transferred from Labour to Green has to be a good thing. But something’s been bugging me: WHY ARE THE GREENS SEEN AS LEFT-WING, OR EVEN SOCIALIST? What’s the connection? I just don’t get it, and I’ve debated with many people on forums about this. Who said Green in fact equals Red? Last time I checked, that was the dictionary definition of colour-blind! Just as well not many Green/Red treehugger/socialists (if such a thing exists) drive – there’d be carnage at every set of traffic lights! Who decided that conserving the planet had anything whatsoever to do with socialism? That totally arbitrary, made-up connection between conservation and socialism might work in attracting pissed off ex-Labour voters, but to everyone else it makes the Greens either, at best, laughable, or, at worse, utterly toxic (“eco-Nazis”). After all, it was the National Socialist Party that inflicted the holocaust on the world. When on earth will we learn: the word “socialism” is NOT a synonym for “morally superior”?! As someone who believes passionately in the fundamental small-g green values of conserving the planet, I see the word “socialism” as sneakily trying to creep its way into the Green movement, a parasitic dogma that sees all these good, young, idealistic Green peepz and thinks to itself: “Om nom, raw meat! Mmmmmm! Give me a banquet of gullible fools to devour!” More’s the pity, this meme seems to have taken hold with the general public. It’s unfortunate how socialism tries to creep its way into everything. Socialism realises normal people don’t like socialism and so it finds something good and righteous to cling onto, sneaking in through the back door, as it were. Capitalism does the same, which is interesting to me. It shows me maybe both isms have more in common than people realise, like two cheeks of the same arse. Both are about controlling other people, not just sorting out your own life but actively trying to change how other people live their lives, to your own advantage and their disadvantage (if you can get away with it, hence the deception inherent in both). Neither socialism or capitalism is based on altruism or honesty, just the movement around of pieces of paper with the Queen’s face on, from someone else to yourself. Neither is anything whatsoever to do with conservation of the planet. And so we have to get away from this false dichotomy: “Oh if you hate socialism you must be a capitalist.” It’s the same flawed logic as “If you empathise with why some people vote UKIP that must mean you support them yourself.” FALSE OPPOSITES. And this is a major fault with our political system. If you’re not with us, you’re against us. If you’re not left, you must be right. If you’re not socialist you must be capitalist. Or vice versa. I want the Green party to be beyond left and right, beyond socialism and capitalism. I want it to attract people from both sides who have rejected the limiting beliefs of any “ism” (especially ones invented hundreds of years ago). I think it’s intellectually lazy and cynical of the Green party to reposition itself simply as a scoop for disillusioned Labour voters, though simultaneously I understand that base gives it rich pickings, and in a way it actually helps Britain (anything that speeds up the demise of the Labour party helps Britain!). If the Greens also started targeting more ex-Tory voters then it wouldn’t make life easy for itself in the short term, it would actually have to debate intellectually the pros and cons of the positions it holds; but in the long term it would give the party a greater depth and breadth of public support, it would diffuse any accusations of being a party of too-extreme-for-Labour socialist nutters, and it would rapidly overtake UKIP in terms of being a better grassroots, inclusive, positive, constructive, optimistic trans-party alternative. Only by matching and then surpassing UKIP as the default “None Of The Above” party can the Greens really galvanise the British public and become a genuine nationally relevant party. Every time the word “socialism” is mentioned in context with the Green party, I reckon it loses them more votes than it gains. They have to decide whether (a) socialism IS a core value of the party, and if so then it becomes disingenuous (and slightly arrogant, to be honest) to continue using the Green tag when in fact it’s Red at heart; or whether (b) socialism, like capitalism, has some good points that can be kept, but overall is flawed and discredited, and hence the Green party shouldn’t ally itself to any out-of-date 20th century industrial philosophies whatsoever, because they will end up only strangling and limiting it, turning the party into another incarnation of all the things it professes to hate. Seeing Friends Of The Earth sending someone along to a planning meeting specifically to support a big business in its attempts to trash a farmer’s land…well, beyond irony really, isn’t it? Was that really the intentions of the founders of FotE? This is what can happen though, if a party places closed-minded dogma over warm-hearted empathy and love. I hope, and suspect in time (maybe 5-10 years or so, of that), the Greens will see sense and ditch the isms, in favour of a more organic way of reaching its very admirable goals. Whenever I get cross with them, I realise the goals are good and true! Just need to find the best way of attaining them.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:38:39 +0000
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