Green Party of Oklahoma State Founding Convention 
 Held in Norman

On Saturday, November 16 Green Party members and supporters from across the state came together in Norman to found a statewide organization. The group of about 50 included residents of Norman, Oklahoma City, Del City, Lawton, Tulsa, Holdenville, Perry, Newcastle, Midwest City, Seminole, Shawnee, Edmond, and Ardmore. They adopted the name "Green Party of Oklahoma" (GPOK), elected officers, and adopted bylaws and a state platform. The gathering lasted from 8:30 to 6:30, and emphasized the four basic values of the Green Party, which are grassroots democracy, social justice, ecological wisdom, and nonviolence. Sunflowers, the traditional international symbol of the Green Party, decorated the podium and registration table. Convention t-shirts sported a logo that combines the Osage shield of the Oklahoma state flag and the sunflower, and the slogan "Realizing Oklahoma's Progressive Roots."

In keeping with the grassroots philosophy and open, consensus-driven process of the Greens, the meeting began with the individuals present introducing themselves and their reasons for being there. Then representatives reported from the local Green organizations--OCGP (Oklahoma County Green Party), CCGP (Cleveland County Green Party), and Green Country Greens (Tulsa area); mention was also made of several campus Green organizations around the state, and of locals in the planning stages in the Shawnee and Lawton areas. The bylaws were hammered out over a period of several hours of open discussion led by Jonalu Johnstone of the OCGP, with the entire group coming to a consensus on each of the points in the document, and expressing its satisfaction with applause and whoops at the end of the process. The group elected Ben Alpers (Norman) and Rachel Jackson (Seminole) as Co-Chairs, Doug Vincent (Midwest City) as Treasurer, Danelle Patrick (Oklahoma City) as Secretary, and Alice Anderton (Norman), J. M. Branum (Newcastle), and Brian Wright (Holdenville) as members at large of the Executive Committee. The keynote speech was given by Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, sister of Woody Guthrie, the renowned folksinger and gadfly from Okemah; it was warmly received. In a session facilitated by Ben Alpers, the group adopted a platform that included the "Ten Key Values" of the Green Party of the United States and emphasized the group's desire to open up the ballot. to third parties in Oklahoma, which currently has some of the most stringent requirements in the country for ballot access. The group sang "This Land is Your Land," one of the most popular compositions by Woody Guthrie, with a final verse added about the Greens in Oklahoma, written just for the occasion. The closing speech was by CCGP Co-Chair Mark Lewellen of Norman.

The Green Party has its roots internationally in the progressive New Values Party of the south Pacific and the Green Party in Europe, which was founded as an anti-nuclear, pro-peace movement during the Cold War. The Green Party in the U.S. was organized beginning in 1984. The first Green organization in Oklahoma was the Central Oklahoma Green Party, founded in 1998, which later split into the Cleveland County Green Party and Oklahoma County Green Party. 39 states have state parties affiliated with the Green Party of the United States; another 12 parties, including GPOK, are in the process of organizing or applying for affiliation. Growth of the Green Party was stimulated by the national ticket of Ralph Nader and Winona Laduke in 1996 and 2000. It is the fastest growing political party in the United States.

For more information about the Green Party of Oklahoma, contact Danelle Patrick at 405-412-8902 or Ben Alpers at 405-579-4824.