My personal thoughts on the Green Party Spring Conference 2017/Global Greens Congress 2017
Readers, the Green Party Spring Conference 2017, held alongside the European Greens and Global Greens Congress of 2017 at the ACC in Liverpool, will be one of the most memorable Green Party conferences in the history of the Green Party of England and Wales. I am so glad to have attended it, and met Greens from all around the world as well as my colleagues in Britain.
The things I enjoyed most about this conference were:
1. Meeting Greens from 90 different countries around the world, showing that we are truly an international movement, and need to work together to prevent humanity from being killed by the effects of artificial climate change and global warming, which will hit poorer and small island countries first (e.g. Tuvalu, the Maldives). I met many wonderful people from countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Nepal, Sweden, and South Korea.
2. I successfully advocated that the European Single Market needs green-minded reform.
3. I had a good time interviewing people on both sides of the Brexit case within the Green Party. You may find their videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgFbk4GIyrg (Interview with Vix Lowthion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb-WrCUlEZI (Interview with Adrian Cruden)
4. I particularly enjoyed the global festivities and cultural celebrations that Greens from around the world displayed for us.
5. I was finally reunited with my Irish friend and autistic rights activist Damon Wise, who I first met by a chance encounter in Ennis nearly five years ago when I was trying to return to Cork from Galway (I was holidaying in Cork).
6. When I was particularly hurt during a conference session by the actions of an individual woman (who cannot be identified for legal reasons), I received quick and timely support from friends of mine; I am always thankful that the Green Party is supportive towards autistic people like myself.
Things I did not like so much about this conference were:
1. I failed to convince the Green Party to accept the 'Helvetic solution' as regards Brexit, which advocates staying in the single market but accepting the referendum result and not calling for a re-run, thus calling for Britain to maintain a similar relationship with the EU that Switzerland does (this is also known as a Norway-style solution). The Green Party also did not vote against Progressive Alliances even though my prior analyses demonstrate that they will (likely) not work.
2. Despite there being fewer motions, not all of them got heard in the end even though more support was required for each.
3. Many international delegates were unable to attend due to being denied visas to Britain, often on spurious grounds. In one notorious case, a Pakistani delegate was denied a visa on the grounds of being a single woman.
The things I enjoyed most about this conference were:
1. Meeting Greens from 90 different countries around the world, showing that we are truly an international movement, and need to work together to prevent humanity from being killed by the effects of artificial climate change and global warming, which will hit poorer and small island countries first (e.g. Tuvalu, the Maldives). I met many wonderful people from countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Austria, Nepal, Sweden, and South Korea.
2. I successfully advocated that the European Single Market needs green-minded reform.
3. I had a good time interviewing people on both sides of the Brexit case within the Green Party. You may find their videos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgFbk4GIyrg (Interview with Vix Lowthion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb-WrCUlEZI (Interview with Adrian Cruden)
4. I particularly enjoyed the global festivities and cultural celebrations that Greens from around the world displayed for us.
5. I was finally reunited with my Irish friend and autistic rights activist Damon Wise, who I first met by a chance encounter in Ennis nearly five years ago when I was trying to return to Cork from Galway (I was holidaying in Cork).
6. When I was particularly hurt during a conference session by the actions of an individual woman (who cannot be identified for legal reasons), I received quick and timely support from friends of mine; I am always thankful that the Green Party is supportive towards autistic people like myself.
Things I did not like so much about this conference were:
1. I failed to convince the Green Party to accept the 'Helvetic solution' as regards Brexit, which advocates staying in the single market but accepting the referendum result and not calling for a re-run, thus calling for Britain to maintain a similar relationship with the EU that Switzerland does (this is also known as a Norway-style solution). The Green Party also did not vote against Progressive Alliances even though my prior analyses demonstrate that they will (likely) not work.
2. Despite there being fewer motions, not all of them got heard in the end even though more support was required for each.
3. Many international delegates were unable to attend due to being denied visas to Britain, often on spurious grounds. In one notorious case, a Pakistani delegate was denied a visa on the grounds of being a single woman.
Actually: I found you in a somewhat irrate state at the platform in Galway station on the platform slightly fuming and blowing, and asked if you were in the autistic spectrum as your stress and anxies were indicative of a meltdowbn and you needed someone urgently to engage and to assist you. The emotions were bursting from you and felt you were so annoyed being on a branch line of the old Great Western Line to a branchline of Munster and Great Southern railway line, that you had missed the last direct train to Limerick with connections via Limerick Junction.
ReplyDeleteI took you on my Free Travel (and companion pass)pass via Ennis on the Expresswat bus (originating in Galway) and Shannon airport via bus on the last connection to Limerick and took out €50 and leant it to you to pay for the cab and took you to Treaty Cabs (an hackney cab company) to get you to Limerick Junction to get the last Dublin to Cork train on that line.
I did my best to talk to you and keep you engaged and not blowing up as was aware the driver was not very happy and getting concerned.
FYI: my friend and fellow film reviewer (whose wife mistook him for marrying mine in our Star Trek wedding - he uses the name Damon Wise and on Star Trek, Sci-Fi premieres and press showings often mistaken; also Damon S. Wise, Environmental correspeondant who broke story on Climate change has been mistaken for me as at the time was spokesperson in Ireland on Environment and Human Rights, and cannot use my birthname because of a Floridian, so had to register in the High Court my deed-poll name including the Âutistic ûnion suffix, and now legally named as :-
"
Damon Matthew Wise Âû
"
As a result I am not allowed to be called by Damon M. or Matthew Wise, - only full name with Âû. I had to start legal letters threatening and ordering a cease and desist against facebook, google, twitter, youtube, Yahoo! to prevent them changing my name and threatened Facebook with legal action. A few minutes before close of business after 2 bans and reversions, after trying to remove my image and name the night before due to see them in court for an injuction, after writting them in their European and International HQs in Irish Financial Services Centre and Grand Canal areas in Dublin, their legal departmemnt told me they had reinstated and put a block against removal of my name and likeness without a court order.
Aparently I must have been impersonating some Green left community activist politician and autism and disability activist who happens to share my name, birth details, likeness, wife, children, hoime address, phones, and fax numbers, and e-mails ... wait one bleeding minute - I was banned for impersonating myself - so had to register and upload my own likeness on wikimedia and AspiesAndAuties.org a secret section on myself to stop others reporting myself as impersonating myself!