This weekend, the European Green Party is holding its Council meeting in Berlin, and is doing an exciting experiment, by putting their meeting on live streaming video for all to see. Click here to find out how to view the meeting in English and in German.I've been attending their Council meetings on and off since June 1990, and at times have found the political debate very interesting and sophisticated. But I have lamented that only those of us in the room have heard or seen it and so many other Greens would benefit by observing such proceedings.
To follow along with what is going on, here is a copy of the agenda for the Council meeting, as well as a list of the participating delegates and their weighted votes (for all of you who love Green structure.)
Also of note is that Friday evening's program will feature former German Green Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher. Fisher served in that position between 1998 and 2005 when the German Greens were in coalition government with the Social Democratic Party.
For many Greens, Fisher usually has interesting and controversial things to say, as he has held arguably the highest position a Green on this planet has held, which means he has had to deal with the conjunction of Green values and real world political power more up front than any of the rest of us.
The times for streaming are:
- Friday, March 16th, from 18:00 to 22:00 Berlin time (welcome and Joschka Fisher Session, English and German streaming available).
- Saturday, March 17th, from 9:00 to 17:00 Berlin time (see program here)
To calibrate your local time zone with that of Berlin, I find this world clock web page to be useful.
Note - the announcement for this video streaming came from Juan Behrend, Secretary General of the European Greens. Juan has long been an active Green on the international level going back to the 1980s, including serving as Secretary General to the Green Group in the European Parliament. You can read about his background here. Today in addition to his work within Europe, Juan is integrally involved in the planning process for Global Greens 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya, May 1st-4th, 2008. Juan is usually working quietly behind the scenes and doesn't seek a lot of recognition. But I'm giving him some here, for being part of a team making Green activity on the European level more accessible to the rest of us.
