Thread by @ShahrarAli

REALITY CHECK: Shahrar Ali standing for Leader of @TheGreenParty to prioritise
✅ Climate & Ecological Emergency 💚
✅ Debating Culture - internal & external 👏
✅ Welcome Women Back! 💚
#RealityCheck #WelcomeWomenBack Join 👉 join.greenparty.org.uk by 27 Aug to Vote ❎

@TheGreenParty "I’ve been political for as long as I can remember. As a child, when I’ve asked my parents why people in faraway lands fought with one another it must have been out of incredulity that a planet, which bore such riches, could be cause for any kind of disharmony."

@TheGreenParty "Why didn’t people just get on? Though older and wiser about widespread inequality, this question still bugs me today – whether in awe of the mechanics of our planetary ecosystem or fascinated by human nature and motivation."

@TheGreenParty "I’m standing through necessity. We are the last generation able to save the planet from ourselves. Despite decades of knowing that we were living unsustainably, we carry on trying to have our cake and eat it – with a return to post-Covid short-haul flights and overconsumption."

@TheGreenParty "Millennia of technological advancement and unabated pursuit of desires have led to our standing on the edge of an abyss – collectively responsible for countless species extinctions, ecological devastation and now the prospect of universal death."

@TheGreenParty "We’ve enjoyed record local election results – but one MP & influence in a handful of councils is snail’s pace compared to political transformation required. With environmental consciousness & extreme weather calamities at all-time high we should be polling double-digit figures."

@TheGreenParty Debating Reality Check:
When I joined, in 2002, conference felt like a university of ideas – we could debate one another in good faith & still indulge in round of drinks & laugh together. Today, we have become fractious and risk losing our sense of collective purpose (& humour).

@TheGreenParty "Conflict evident in discussion of provision of services for transgender people & those who feel impacted by changes to services provided on same-sex lines, esp women. We must return to culture of open debate, where taking offence not used to prevent those who do wish to debate."

@TheGreenParty "Party unity will not come from wishfully brushing problems under the carpet, or sitting on the fence while bullies continue their lies and intimidation, but from tackling challenges head on – and having those difficult conversations."

@TheGreenParty "You need a leader not afraid to question, and to actively take a stand against, the abuse directed upon women – many of whom have been driven to resign from parties and others of whom are resisting from within."

@TheGreenParty "I will not stand by as a novelist receives rape and death threats for publishing a thought piece. I understand that a rape victim has the right to choose to be examined by a clinician of her sex as a matter of basic human dignity."

@TheGreenParty "I will defend and champion all the protected characteristics enshrined in the Equality Act 2010. This includes the sex-based rights of women and girls, some 52% of the population; a population we can see being persecuted in Afghanistan today."

@TheGreenParty "We must welcome women back to our party, many of whom are feeling politically homeless. No campaign for mass social & political transformation has ever succeeded without women. There will be no human rights for all if we do not succeed in averting universal death from climate."

@TheGreenParty "We need a reality check – for the sake of the planet, for the sake of human rights and for the sake of how we do politics."

More statements & interviews to follow. I thank members for their support & encouragment. We can do this!

#RealityCheck #ClimateCrisis #WelcomeWomenBack