SocraticGadfly: National third-party left news roundup

February 13, 2021

National third-party left news roundup

There's several big things going on in and related to third parties of the left. 

It's enough that I thought it needed to be broken out of my version of the Texas Progressives weekly roundup and made into its own post.

The Lavender Caucus' request to deaccredit the Georgia Green Party on false claims it is "transphobic" has been approved by the Accreditation Committee for forwarding to the National Committee. I think Georgia Greens are (sadly) likely to lose, and to be further tarred and feathered in various ways in the process. Click the link to learn the truth about its 2020 platform. I offered my personal take on the largely fact-free, science-light claims of the Lavender Caucus last summer, and have had follow-ups since then. I'll have additional follows after the NC vote.

Ryan Knight has ended active involvement with the Movement for a People's Party and says he won't go back unless it makes socialism a core issue. For right now, assuming he's not a communist, that leaves Greens and SPUSA. We'll see how this plays out. I've seen the MPP, based on its convention last year, as a mix of butthurt Berners (including grifters on that like Nina Turner and Nick Brana) and conspiracy theorist types, especially Jesse Ventura fanbois. Especially on the second part, I don't know if that's part of Ryan's concern. Stand by. I offered my take on all of that AND on Ryan as a Tulsi Kool-aid peddler in a piece at the start of last fall.

Meanwhile, the MPP has officially been registered with the state of California. Per its presser, it needs 80K signatures for ballot access. This is interesting because, among states where Greens have had the most dropoff is in the Golden State. At the same time, at the sub-presidential level, California is a top-two / jungle primary state. As of right now, its efforts have the highest potential payoff level in Maine, since that state has ranked choice voting.

At IPR, Fernando Reports that MPP is facing further crack-ups. Just after it registered with the state of California, Our Revolution's LA branch said it was disaffiliating from MPP. It in part reflected Ryan's claims, and in part claimed organizational issues, including various forms of authoritarianism, and that this was enabled by a lack of bylaws, etc.

On Twitter, David Bruce Collins says he's staying Green for now, but keeping an open eye on the development of the MPP. (Said a day before Ryan's announcement and obviously a few days before the news out of California.) Off Twitter, DBC supports Caitlin Johnstone's plea for greater left unity. Lemme see, this is the same Caity who called for red-brown alliance a few years ago, and I don't think ever repented of this. On Twitter again, DBC thinks Jimmy Dore is a good dood, ignoring that his political framing on Force the Vote was likely wrong, and all of Dore's other issues. (He also ignores, if he knows about it, Glenn Greenwald's history of sexism. Note: It goes back to before Greenwald was famous.)

Update, Feb 20: New grifting by MPP over Houston's electricity and water woes, flagged on Twitter by Miami Geoff.
Oops!

Green Feminists have responded to the Lavender Caucus' complaint against the Georgia Green Party.

No comments: