Pure Greenius, Winter Edition 2009

The Medium and the Message

What drew me to the Green Party is my discovery that policy is based on the circle of life perspective rather than the linear perspective which shapes all other Canadian political parties. These are two very distinct paradigms in which policy is shaped. Aboriginal people who know their traditional ways will understand this difference. 

In a circle of life approach, there is no left or right. When it comes to human

survival and the survival of all life in this planet, we do not ask where you are

in the political spectrum before we will cooperate in order to continue to

survive. In fact, the division of humanity into arbitrary political or religious

groupings is part of what needs to be eroded if we are to survive on this

planet. Such divisions are nurtured and enhanced by the linear approach and

mitigated by a circle of life approach.

What impresses me about the Green Party policy is that it is an integral

whole, all intricately woven together by our six key principles which focus on

living in harmony with the environment. The federal Liberals learned the

hard way that you cannot just borrow one facet of our vision, such as carbon

tax, and promote it as if it was a separate policy plank.

So if we use the terminology of the old linear paradigm (i.e., left or right) to

attempt to situate the Green Party of Saskatchewan, we are not doing justice

to the paradigm shift we are trying to bring about. The problem is not to

find language that will try to 'finesse' people into thinking that we are as

“fiscally conservative” as we think they are or as “socially progressive” as we

think they are.

In fact, even in the old paradigm, this left-right tension is misleading. Some

of the most fiscally prudent and realistic governments (outside of Ontario)

have been NDP governments who always have to clean up the financial mess

left by Conservative governments and some of the most profound examples

of action on social justice have been Progressive Conservative members like

Flora MacDonald and Maureen McTeer and David McDonald from PEI.

The real task of the Green Party is to demonstrate balance, not balance in

the linear perspective where there is a rush to the centre (always a moveable

target) but balance in terms of the four aspects of the circle of life. In our

political, social or personal lives, we must be as concerned about principles

of sustainability, biodiversity and ecosystems as we are in our environmental

lives.

We will never get our message across if we use the means (strategies) of the

old paradigm. I understand the appeal of the pragmatic argument but my

concern, which has been borne out in experience, is that people get lost in

the process of trying to be all things to all people. 

Years ago, I was one of the NGO spokespersons in the campaign against

capital punishment. One of the quotes I liked best was, "Why do we kill people who kill people to show people that killing people is wrong." Similarly, we must try to avoid using the left-right lingo to show people that the left-right lingo is part of a faulty world view, or even worse, to attract (seduce) them into the Green Party. 

Besides, what if we do convince some people to vote Green or join GPC because we highlight one part of our identity (e.g., grass-roots participatory democracy) only to find that they do not agree with another aspect of our identity that we tried to hide (e.g., nation to nation negotiation with Aboriginal peoples, or respect for diversity)?   

My concern is that we do nothing to compromise the Green vision and Green policies by trying to accommodate this group and tailor our message to that group.  That’s a recipe for feeding the cynicism that is already rampant out there.  People are tired of hearing politicians speak out of both sides of their mouth, saying one thing and doing another.  Our vision is not for sale and should not be subjected to the marketing schemes for material goods.   

We are who we are.  I am convinced we will get our point across if we are honest and stay true to our message, the whole message, and for all people. This does not mean that  we give people our whole policy when visiting on the doorstep during a campaign.  But it does mean that the words we use and the strategies we employ must be harmonious with our message.  In fact, the means we use is the message.   

Leonard Sawatsky,

Vice President of the Green Party of Saskatchewan

and social justice advocate and consultant.