British Greens in crisis
LONDON — The British Green Party is in financial crisis as its membership plummets under the control of the Green 2000 group, which swept the party's executive positions in elections last year. The party now has 8000 members, down from a peak of 18,000 during the 1989 European elections.
Membership did not surge as expected during the recent general elections, and only about half of present members are renewing their membership. After the new leadership sacked media and campaign workers and only retained administrative and electoral support staff, the sacked outreach workers are planning to set up their own unit to serve local activists unhappy with the party's change of direction.
Econews, the party's newsletter, is to be replaced by a public magazine that will no longer be open for internal discussion.
Meanwhile, the German Greens, which have also moved rightward, have failed in an attempt to form a coalition government with the right-wing Christian Democrats in the state of Baden- Württemberg. While the Greens have previously participated in coalitions with the Social Democrats, this would have been the first such deal with the right. The talks eventually broke down over civil rights and nuclear power.
[From reports in the UK socialist.]