2015-08-03
Josh Wyndham-Kidd (International Secretary)
The Asia-Pacific Greens Federation Congress in Wellington this June was such a pleasure to attend — the kind of connection that gets so many of us through the more trying days in Australian politics.
Greens from Iraq to Aotearoa and from Mongolia to Melbourne came together to discuss our common problems and make plans for the future. It's hard not to be inspired by the anti-sectarian work of the Green Party in Iraq, or the local savings schemes run by the Philippines Green Party to tackle poverty in Laguna.
It was a sobering event, too. After a Māori welcome powhiri, we heard from each party about how global warming is already hurting the countries in our region. From Pakistan we heard about catastrophic flooding, from the Philippines about Typhoon Haiyan and from Taiwan about losing precious arable land to the rising sea. As in Australia, climate change is already exacerbating existing inequalities and injustices. It's even being used to entrench the power of nuclear corporations: in Taiwan, Japan and Korea, government plans to expand the poisonous nuclear industry are often coupled with greenwash about tackling greenhouse gas pollution.
You'll be unsurprised to hear, then, that one of the most popular sessions at Congress was about building a stronger anti-nuclear network, from the Greens opposing the uranium mines poisoning country here to those campaigning to replace nuclear plants with wind turbines in Japan and Korea. Get in touch with me if you'd like to be a part of it — or any of the other newly minted networks from our parties: a queer activists network, a Women's Network with standing in the Federation, Young Greens planning campaigns and more.
We also passed resolutions on issues where parties across the region wanted to make a statement, from protecting refugee rights to stepping up the campaign to abolish the death penalty.
The most striking aspect of Congress for me was the keen interest from many parties in working with the Australian Greens, both for skillsharing and to lend international weight to local campaigns. Australian campaign materials from different states and MP offices were extremely well received, and other Greens want to learn more about our campaign and community organising techniques. Korea, Japan and Taiwan are all facing national elections next year — so it's time for a skillshare. Watch this space, and get in touch with me if you want to help make it happen.
This is a great reminder for we Greens in Australia that we're often at the cutting edge of green political campaigning, and that we need to not only learn from our global partners but also to give back to them.
And how: Canada goes to the polls in October and the Green Party there are interested in campaign assistance from us, after the generous help from across Australia for the Greens in the UK. We're looking at bringing volunteers from other parties to Australia for placements in the leadup to our elections next year, too — what an opportunity!
If you want to be a part of these projects, or start your own — drop me a line, and let's go from there.
Josh Wyndham-Kidd is the Australian Greens International secretary and can be contacted on international.secretary@greens.org.au