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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	238
Proposal	Formal Recognition of GPUS Peace Action Committee GPAX
Presenter	Green Party of the US Peace Action Committee
Floor Manager	Steve Kramer
Phase	Closed - Adopted
Discussion	07-17-2006 - 07-30-2006
Voting	07-31-2006 - 08-06-2006
Presens Quorum	Two Thirds of Active Accredited States/Caucuses
Consens Quorum	A Majority of Yes and No Votes

Background

The Green Party of the United States recognizes the following in its Ten Key
Values:

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally =
from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must =
consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at =
large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and =
homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and =
equal justice under the law.

NON-VIOLENCE
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society's =
current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and =
eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the =
intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense =
and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote =
non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we =
disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community =
and global peace.

PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being =
and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. =
We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster =
peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.

DECENTRALIZATION
Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic =
injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we =
support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions =
away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the =
powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making =
should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, =
while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.=20

As a US political movement and political party, it is our duty as the =
USGP to organize non-violent resistance to the US government, "the =
greatest purveyor of violence in the world" as observed by Dr. Martin =
Luther King, Jr.

Proposal

The Green Party of the United States shall recognize the Peace Action =
Committee as a standing committee. The purpose and function of this =
committee shall be to facilitate the planning and achievement of peace =
and justice action proposals adopted by the Green Party, and to support =
and promote the Party's Anti-War candidates and agenda.

1. Committee Structure
The Peace Action Committee is a standing committee of
the GP-US and is governed by section 3 of the bylaws
of the GP-US. The Peace Action Committee shall be made
up of volunteers from the various state Green parties
and caucuses. As a standing committee of the GP-US, up
to three members of any state party may be members of
the Peace Action Committee. Each state party, when
nominating a member to Peace Action Committee, shall
send a note to the co-chairs of the Peace Action
Committee informing the Peace Action Committee of its
nomination(s). The Peace Action Committee shall
maintain an email list for the communication of
committee business and to use in formal decision
making.

2. Leadership
The co-chairs shall be elected by the membership of
the committee with nominations to take place at the
in-person yearly meeting of the GP-US CC.

Persons are not required to be in attendance to be
nominated. Voting will take place for one week
following the meeting in an on-line election to be
conducted using Preference Voting. When possible the
co-chairs shall be of different genders. The job of
the co-chairs is to keep the committee on task and
provide leadership to the various sub groups of the
committee working on specific tasks. If a co-chair resigns an elected
replacement shall fill out the
remainder of the term.

3. Decisions

A) Comittee Decision Process

Before making a formal decision, a Peace Action
Committee secretary shall publish the resolution on
its email list noting that a decision will be made.
The committee shall then attempt to achieve consensus
on the resolution.

Following a minimum of five days, If no consensus is
achieved, the Peace Action Committee shall be
empowered to vote (on-line), and a 2/3 vote of the
voting active members shall be required for passage.
As usual for GP-US committees, each state and caucus
will have one vote.

When an email vote is needed to make a formal
decision, there shall be a resolution circulated on
the list followed by a two-week discussion period,
followed by a 5-day voting period. The co-chairs shall
conduct and certify the votes. When the committee
makes a decision by consensus, a shorter decision-making process is allowed as
long as
sufficient time for comments and concerns, at least 5
days, is given.

B) Emergency Decison Powers

In the event of an emergency or time-sensitive
decision making, information will immediately be
distributed to the GPAX listserv, and following a
24-hour period and in the absence of a reporting
majority, consensus must be reached by the Co-Chairs
and Secretaries. If consensus is reached, a decision
can be made and all the subsequent procedural
mandates will apply.

4. Quorums and Active Members
An active member of the Peace Action Committee shall
be defined as a duly-acknowledged member who has been
active within the last three months, taking part in
discussion, decisions, or subgroup work within that
period.

The secretaries shall be responsible for keeping a
roster of active members, though they may ask other
committee members to actually keep the list.

One third of the active membership shall constitute a
quorum for formal decision making. There shall be no
quorum requirements for the committee to take on
projects, designate people to work on projects, or
other informal work that moves the committees
operations and projects along.

5. Teleconferences and In-Person Meetings
The Peace Action Committee shall use teleconferences
and in-person meetings to conduct business.

All formal decisions made at a teleconference or
in-person meeting shall be reviewed on line using the
committee list and the normal decision-making process.

6. Reports
The Peace Action Committee shall make regular reports
to the GPUS CC on its work. The co-chairs shall lead
that process.

Resources

Contact Joni LeVines, Secretary, GPAX - myths16@cox.net

References

GPUS Bylaws section 3

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