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Elaine Brown
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Elaine Brown, activist, author, lecturer,
candidatefor Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia, and the only woman to
lead the Black Panther Party, will be the featured guest speaker
at the Chesapeake Campaign School. Her Saturday night keynote
speech, "From Revolution to the Ballot Box: A Discussion of
Strategy for Radical Change," will be given at Howard
University's Blackburn Center in the Digital Auditorium at 8:00
p.m.
The Green Party Coordinated Campaign
Committee and the D.C. Statehood Green Party (dcstatehoodgreen.org)
are co-sponsoring the latest Campaign School. Participants from
all states are welcome. Organizers expect participants from
D.C., Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
For information about registration for the
Chesapeake Campaign School, or about organizing a Campaign
School in your region, contact the national Green Party
office at 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN, or GPHQ--at--gp.org.
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Otha Major and Ross Mirkarimi
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The Green Party of Washington State hosted
the Northwest Cascadia Campaign School in Seattle earlier this
month to bring Greens and progressives together, both to share
lessons learned and to prepare for future successful campaigns.
The school kicked off with a party on Friday
evening to welcome participants and to model a fundraising
event. Guests mingled to the smooth sounds of a pianist and
appetizing food. Joe Szwaja, 2000 Green Party
Congressional candidate, gave an inspiring speech on the
important role the Greens must play in the electoral process and
as candidates in the future.The night concluded with an amazing
performance by beat boxer Otha Major.
The school's workshops officially began on
Saturday morning with Brent McMillan, Political Director of the
Green Party of the United States, addressed participants on
"What Every Green Candidate Needs to Know" Afternoon
workshops were designed to support participants in becoming
candidates, campaign managers,
field organizers and running successful initiative/petition
drives. Workshop presenters were well versed in their fields and
included Seattle School Board President Brita Butler-Wall.
On Sunday morning Ross Mirkarimi, an elected
Green on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and former
campaign manager to Matt Gonzalez, shared his
expertise on campaign strategy.
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Former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez and Marla
Ruzicka in 2001.
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On a somber note, Greens expressed deep
sorrow in the loss of longtime human rights activist and Green
Party member Marla Ruzicka, who died tragically in Iraq Saturday
in a car bomb blast.
Ruzicka, who was from Lakeport, California,
was the founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict
(CIVIC), which negotiated with the U.S. government for monies
for civilian victims of the war in Iraq.
"Those of us who knew Marla personally,
and there are many of those, will never forget this incredible
woman, or the remarkable effect she had on all our lives in the
short time that she was among us," said Michael Wyman,
state Green Party treasurer. "Marla was an activist's
activist, impressing us all with her energy and forcing us all
to work that much harder just to keep up with her."
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