Dear Dissidents, Hear Our Plea - Please end the Killing Spree

Marcus MacCormaic of the Young Greens (r) with Steven Agnew Green Party MEP Candidate (c) and Karly Greene QUB Greens Co-Chair (l)

QUB Greens spokesperson Marcus McCormick sent a message to dissidents responsible for the murder of a policeman and two young soldiers at a massive peace rally held in Belfast city centre today.“Dear Dissidents, hear our plea – please end the killing spree.”

Green Party MEP Candidate Steven Agnew joined the Young Greens with thousands of others on the streets of Belfast today in a huge Peace Rally called by the trade union movement in protest at the three recent murders.

Mr. Agnew said: “I am heartened that so many people have come here today, to show solidarity with the families of the policeman and soldiers murdered and to send a clear message to the gunmen that they are not wanted, are not supported and are not needed in new Northern Ireland. This rally today should give people hope and send some comfort to those grieving that they are not alone. The gunmen do not represent me nor anyone one else."

Marcus wrote a short account of the days protests at another blog which can be read by clicking here.

QUB Young Green elected to Green Party NEC

At the Green Party's convention in Wexford, Karly Greene, Co-Chair of the QUB Greens, was elected to the Green Party's governing body, the National Executive Committee.

Incredibly, Karly (pictured in an entirely unrelated photo) was elected on the 3rd count out of 12, surprassing many other well-known figures, elected representatives and long-time party stalwarts.

Karly, with her squeaky-clean record, will enchance the exemplary reputation of the Young Greens on the NEC... ;)

The Young Greens takeover of the Green Party continues...

Congratulations Karly - we love you!

CUP OF TEA FATHER?

Fairtrade Fortnight is well underway and the QUB Greens played their part by organising Fairtrade Father Ted!

What better craic than a good cup of Fairtrade Tea with a couple of Father Ted Episodes! There was plenty of laughs and plenty of Fairtrade Tea, Coffee and Biscuits!

A special word of thanks to Fergus McAleavey Vice President Welfare of the Students Union for helping us to organise the event and for providing the Fairtrade Tea, Coffee and Biscuits!

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/ for more information on the Fairtrade Vision!

SECOND SEMESTER OF ACTIVISM BEGINS

The Growing QUB Greens Group!

Qub Green Events – Semester 2

WEDNESDAY 25TH FEB - FAIRTRADE FATHER TED – clubrooms

TUES 3rd and WED 4th – SABBATICAL ELECTIONS

WEDNESDAY 11TH MARCH – Trip to Stormont – Meet Green Party MLA (TO BE CONFIRMED)

WEDNESDAY 25TH MARCH – Talk from the Green Party Northern Ireland Euro Candidate Steven Agnew – Clubrooms SU (TO BE CONFIRMED)

WEDNESDAY 1st APRIL – APRIL FOOLS DAY – SAMMY WILSON DAY

WEDNESDAY 29th APRIL – VOTER REGISTRATION DAY – students union

For more information on the upcoming events stay tuned to this blog or email us on qubgreens@hotmail.co.uk

It's Crunch Time!!

Finally the newsletter of the Federation of Young European Greens is here and available for download!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!!

This is the Winter 2008 / 2009 Issue and contains many great and green articles including articles on Green Activism, Green Economics, Green Politics, Poverty & Starvation in Africa, Green Technology, The Recession, The Poznan Talks, The 'Stop Clowning Around on Climate Change' Campaign, an Interview with Ska Keller the German Young Green standing for the EU Elections and more on the EU Elections! - Read and Enjoy!

SAVE THE TREES - DOWNLOAD, DON'T PRINT!!!

NORTHERN IRELANDS OWN OBAMA

Gone are the days where the Bush regime was able to veto every effort to tackle the threat of global warming.

Obama has only entered the White House yet we are already seeing how Obama isn’t just the first black US President in history, but also the first ‘Green’ US president in history! We are seeing the change he so passionately promised the world.

Outlining his energy priorities he has stated that he will not let his country fall victim to the growing threat of dwindling resources and a warming planet.

He has promised that in just THREE years he will DOUBLE the capacity for Green Energy in the USA from wind, sun and bio fuels.

When California tried to implement legislation to implement its own stricter vehicle emission and fuel efficiency standards it was vetoed by Bush with no reasonable reason given. Now Obama has asked the Environment Agency to review this decision and is ordering the transportation department to come up with new short-term rules on how carmakers can improve fuel efficiency.

With all this in mind it is even more important to have a ‘Green’ Europe! It is vital that Green MEP’s are elected to the EU to push for the same Green measures and work with Obama. We already have 43 Green MEPS, lets add more to that number!

For this reason it is even more important to vote for Northern Irelands very own Barack Obama, Mr Steven Agnew of the Green Party!

JOIN STEVENS CAMPAIGN PAGE ON FACEBOOK! CLICK HERE

VOTE GREEN VOTE AGNEW VOTE CHANGE

YOUNG GREENS SUPPORT GREEN EURO CANDIDATE STEVEN AGNEW

Young Green Co-Chairs Karly Greene and Adam McGibbon with Green European Candidate Steven Agnew.

The Green Party announced it's European Election candidate as 29 year-old Steven Agnew at Harland and Wolff on Thursday 22nd January.

Harland and Wollf is currently being given a new lease of life from the manufacture of wind turbines and other green technologies. The idea of a "Green Economy" to create jobs and help the environment will be a key part of the Greens' campaign.

Steven was born and raised in East Belfast, and educated at Grosvenor Grammar School and Queens University Belfast. He worked as a support worker with the homeless in West Belfast and went on to work for the Simon Community in their hostel in Lisburn.

Speaking at the launch Mr. Agnew said: "Everyone knows the problems - the triple crunch of job losses, fuel poverty and of course climate change. I offer a solution that will tackle all three, a solution that has the potential to create tens of thousands jobs here in Northern Ireland. I offer a solution where new green techologies will bring energy security to Northern Ireland and ensure we play our part in the fight against climate change. I offer a Green Industrial Revolution."

Young Green Co-Chairs Adam McGibbon and Karly Greene welcomed Steven's candidacy, and , at 29, the youngest candidate going into these elections.

The Young Greens are planning an ambitious voter registration campaign leading up to the elections.

MARCHING FOR PEACE IN GAZA

The Young Greens took part in the Gaza Peace March on Saturday 10th January in Belfast. We marched to express our horror at the level of civilian deaths especially the depressing figures of near 300 dead children in Gaza.

We carried the white flags of peace and joined the thousands of people in Belfast in calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the violence that has killed so many innocents.

This was a peace march attended by thousands yet a small group of fanatics seeked to hijack the march. The Young Greens have criticized the actions of a small group who burned the Israeli flag during a rally in Belfast city centre.

The Green Party Youth Co-ordinator, QUB Greens co-chair Adam McGibbon said: “The actions of a few fanatics will distort the message of peace, which the rally was supposed to send out. Glorifying violence and burning flags, while it may give some people a cheap rush of adrenaline, only exacerbates the problem in the Middle East. You'd think that after 30 years of violence in our own country, all of us would know that political violence doesn't solve anything."

Among the speakers at the rally was Mieread Corrigan Maguire, founder of The Peace People and Nobel Laureate.

Speaking after the rally Mr. McGibbon said: “The vast majority of the people at the rally were there to represent a peaceful, principled stand for an end to the violence. However, a small minority took it upon themselves to burn Isreali flags and chant slogans such as "Victory to the Intifada" through a megaphone. Not only is this unhelpful and one-sided it is completely contradictory to the aims of the rally, which was a call for a ceasefire, not for more violence. I am very concerned at reports that Israelis who work in the city centre found the experience very intimidating. Remember these people came to Northern Ireland to escape violence.”

The QUB Greens do not wish to be associated with those groups who took part in these acts and hope that the thousands of peace activists voices are heard over the chants of those who wished to hijack the march.

A SEMESTER OF ACTIVISM

Some committee members at the last meeting of the semester, from left to right Lois, Jason, Sarah, Karly, Adam and Mark.

Well everyone this has been our most active Semester since our creation last year! We have achieved so much in such a short period of time and it has been the best of craic the whole way!

Heres a summary of what we have been up to and achieved this academic year so far:

Our first activity was taking part in the annual Belfast Pride Parade. QUB Greens and Green Party members took part and showed our support to the gay community and to express our belief that the bigotry and hate of the DUP and the wicked witch of the north is completely unnaceptable in todays society.

At the Freshers Bazaar we managed to sign up 67 interested students! We met so many people that day and once again we could see that Green Issues are top of the agenda in many students books and shows the need for a progressive, environmental, activist society at QUB, the QUB Greens!

We took part in the Irish Language Rally and Parade in Belfast in October. The Young Greens believe that an Irish Language Act is long overdue as a result of the shortcomings of the Stormont Assembly. The Irish Language has become a political football at Stormont, it needs to be depoliticised because it is not a political issue, it is a Human Rights Issue, that can only be solved by an Irish Language Act. We marched to express our support to the Irish Community and Irish Language and to express our belief that the racist trollings of certain Ministers in the Stormont Assembly should not be accepted in a just and forward society.

For the first time the QUB Greens have a full committee made up of two gender balanced Co-Chairs, Secretary, Treasurer and 5 non-portfolio officers. We have become a strong and dedicated team becoming one of the most active political and campaign based societies on campus.

Four QUB Greens were elected onto the Student Council and two of our members managed to get elected onto the Environmental Committee and also the Equality Committee.

We hosted a talk from the Sustainable Energy Association in which the SEA Project Manager gave us a presentation on the SEA's campaign for Green Energy in Ireland.

The QUB Greens have been actively involved in the newly formed Youth Mental Health Strategy which is campaigning to bring about a change of attitudes and opinions towards mental health in Northern Ireland.

Monday 1 December was World AIDS Day, part of the global campaign to tackle the epidemic that is HIV/AIDS and to raise awareness about it. The QUB Greens worked together with the Students Union, Rag, Oxfam and Amnesty International to raise awarness of the issue and also to provide sexual health information to the student body.

At our last meeting of the semester the QUB Greens looked over our successes to date and also we looked forward! Next semester we hope to continue our momentum and hope to organise a voter registration campaign on campus coming up to the European Election. We will also continue our Sexual Health campaign, Our mental health campaign and will be involved in many more campaigns throughout the campus!


The QUB Greens would like to send a very special and green farewell to Sarah Tansey! Sarah came to QUB for this semester as a politics student from the USA. Sarah gave a helping hand during our campaigns and we were all gutted to see her have to go back home after the first semester! Good Luck Sarah! We hope you enjoyed Greening up the campus with the QUB Greens!

We would like to wish everyone as happy and wonderful time of year! Good luck in your January exams!

Adam and Karly
QUB Greens
Co-Chairs

FIGHT BELFAST CITY AIRPORT'S RUNWAY EXTENSION

George Best Belfast City Airport have applied for planning permission to extend their runway by 590m.

The QUB GREENS, Green Party, including Green Party MLA Brian Wilson, along with a number of residents' groups are opposing this extension and are calling for a public enquiry because of these factors;

i. Noise Pollution - residents close to the airport and under the flight path have been experiencing annoyance from ever increasing noise levels.

ii. Poor Economics - the aviation industry is in decline, there is no increase in demand to necessitate this extension.

iii. Air Quality - the airport intends to expand it's operations to service more long distance flights, meaning bigger jets with more fuel and more pollution and a greater impact on health of those in the area.

iv. Wildlife - the airport is culling birds in Victoria Park and has requested that trees be cut down though so far this has been resisted.

v. Safety - the is an EU designated City airport and due to its proximity to residential housing should not be restricted to small planes for domestic flights.


The QUB Greens sent a delegation to the public meeting on 8th December to show their support to the community groups leading the campaign against the proposed runway extension. The QUB Greens delclared their full support to the Belfast City Airport Watch Campaigners and are planning to actively support the campaign on campus.


Photo on right shows Mark McCormick of the QUB Greens looking over the planning application for the proposed runway extension with Fiona McKinley of the Belfast City Airport Watch.


See http://www.belfastcityairportwatch.co.uk/ for more info.

GREEN ENERGY TALK

John Hardy of the SEA with members of the QUB Greens. From left to right - Lois, John, Karly, Adam and Mark.

The QUB Greens hosted a talk from the Sustainable Energy Association on Wednesday.

John Hardy, the SEA Project Manager, gave the talk and covered topics such as the establishment of the SEA, its Campaigns and its aims! John gave a very interesting presentation showing us the need for Green Energy in Ireland and the opportunity we could gain from it!

John Hardy said, "I would like to thank the Young Greens for giving me the opportunity to speak to them, and to show how a local campaign can grow into a national organisation. Renewable energy is the economic driver for the future, which the Greens have always promoted as a clean, cheap alternative!"

http://www.sustainable-nrg.org/

Take a look at the SEA website to see the work they do!

GREENS CAMPAIGN ON WORLD AIDS DAY

The Green Stall! From left to right - Roger, Lois, Adam, Mark, Jason, Karly and Sarah.

Monday 1 December was World AIDS Day, part of the global campaign to tackle the epidemic that is HIV/AIDS and to raise awareness about it.

The QUB GREENS along with Amnesty, Oxfam, Rag and the Students Union held an awareness day in the Union, distributing information on the situation here as well as around the world.

At the Green stall we handed out information on HIV/Aids and booklets on sexual health for students. We also handed out hundreds of condoms to the students population in an effort to encourage save and sensible sex!

For more information visit http://www.worldaidsday.org/

Sustainable Energy Association Talk

The QUB Greens will be hosting a talk by the Sustainable Energy Association (SEA). The Sustainable Energy Association was established to give a voice to the interests of the Renewable Energy Industry in Ireland.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ASSOCIATION TALK
QUB Students Union
Club Room 1, Third Floor
Wednesday 3rd December
2pm

John Hardy, the SEA Project Manager, will be giving the talk and will cover topics such as the establishment of the SEA, its Campaigns and its aims! You will then have the opportunity to put your questions to John!

John is a graduate of QUB and also an active member of the Green Party. It was a small local Green Party campaign in Johns local area that lead to the foundations of the SEA so his talk will not only be of interest to people wishing to learn about Green Energy, but it will also be of interest to those wanting to learn how acting local but thinking global really works!

http://www.sustainable-nrg.org/

Success & New Committee

Four Greens were elected to the Student Council this year! Thanks to everyone who voted for us! The inaugural meeting of council is next week. Unlike the other political parties in the council, the Greens do not treat the council like a "Fisher-Price Assembly," and attempt to take seats just for the sake of having them - Student councillors are there to represent YOU, the ordinary students. So if you would like anything brought to council (as is your right) by your Green councillors you can contact us at QUBGREENS@HOTMAIL.CO.UK and we'll be happy to do that for you!

NEW COMMITTEE-

The new QUB Greens committee for 08/09 is:
Male Co-Chair: Adam McGibbon
Female Co-Chair: Karly Greene
Secretary: Jason Gamble
Treasurer: Mark McCormick

Officers Without Portfolio:
Lois Taylor
Sarah Tansey
Fionnuala Gray
Jason Barnes
Conor Clerkin

The Greens will have a stall for World Aids Day, 1st December - stay tuned!

VOTE GREEN Student Council Elections 2008

Several QUB Greens are standing for election in the upcoming SU council elections.

Unlike several other political groupings who merely obstructed workings in council last year, the Greens opposed the stale nationalist vs unionist way the council was operating and helped "green" the campus by setting up an SU Environmental Committee and assisted in the drive to install recycling around the campus.

With your votes we could do even more this year!Our candidates are:

JASON GAMBLE - Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences

KARLY GREENE - Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences

CONOR CLERKIN - Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences

MARK MCCORMICK - Engineering And Physical Sciences

ADAM MCGIBBON will also stand in the "Open" constituency, for which elections will be held on TUESDAY 28TH OCTOBER.

You can vote on Queens Online on TUESDAY 21ST OCTOBER, BETWEEN 10AM AND 6PM. You can vote according to your university faculty.

Click HERE to go to Queens Online. When you are logged in, you can vote by choosing "Online Voting."

Keep it Green!

QUB GREENS

MARCHING FOR THE IRISH LANGUAGE

Young Greens Claire Nic Innreachtaigh (l), Mark McCormick (c) & Méidhbhín Ní Rúiséil (r)

The Young Greens took part in this years Irish Language Parade in Belfast. It was a colourful rally and we, like all other groups taking part, demanded official status for the Irish language!

Leading the Young Greens on the day Mark McCormick said, "The Green Party is a global party firmly based of a Human Rights approach, dedicated to respect for diversity in all its forms and opposed to discrimination in any way.

We support the Good Friday Agreement, the European Convention on Minority Languages and other HR legislation at European and UN level, not just abroad, but in the UK and Ireland too.

Irish has the same status as Welsh under EU and UK law and the GFA is now ten years old!! Young Greens feel this issue is long overdue for resolution and I feel this should have been recognised just as Gay Rights have been recognised in NI.

It was promised in the St. Andrews Agreement over 2 years ago and this type of legislation is already rooted in Scotland, Wales and the South of Ireland, why should N. Ireland be the odd one out?"

GREENS AT FRESHERS BAZAAR 2008!

The QUB Greens Stall. Mark, Karly, Adam and Jason.

Freshers Bazaar 2008 was a great day for the Young Greens! We managed to sign up 67 interested students and made good contacts with many.

It was great to see such a diverse range of people show interest in the society and our environmental and green principles. I spoke to people from all over the UK and Ireland, Europe and as far away as Canada who all signed up and hope to get involved during the year!

And ofcourse the 'Tree' graced the SU corridors with its presence giving free hugs to all! Even some enthusiastic boys in speedos got a hug.

With such a positive start I am really looking forward to the events and campaigns we have in store for you all in this new academic year at Queens.

Our first meeting of the year will be Wednesday 15th October in the Students Union Club Room 1, Third Floor at 2pm. I hope to see some of you there! We will be outlining our plans and also electing our new committee for the year.

Keep it Green!

Mark McCormick
QUB Greens Co-Chair

YOUNG GREENS AT BELFAST PRIDE 2008

Photograph shows Ed Davitt, Eoin Wilson, Mark McCormick, John Hardy, Adam McGibbon and Karly Greene carrying the QUB Green banner at the event.

The Young Greens once again took part in the annual Belfast Pride Parade. Over 7,000 people made Saturday 2nd August Belfast’s Gay Day making it the biggest and most successful year of Pride yet!

QUB Green member Karly Greene recently sent much correspondence to the Strangford MP, but recieved no reply.

Mark McCormick said, "Iris Robinson and her DUP colleagues witnessed thousands of people from all backgrounds turn out to show their opposition to her bigoted and dangerous remarks. I hope Iris Robinson takes into account how much her comments have shocked and upset not only the Gay community but people from all sexual orientations."

"Iris' comments just add to the DUP's track record in hateful remarks against the Gay Community. In the past it has been well-publised that DUP representatives have shown a consistent anti-gay streak. Maurice Mills, Ballymena DUP councillor, commented a few years ago that Hurricane Katrina was sent by God to punish the gays of New Orleans. Arthur Templeton, a Newtownabbey DUP councillor, was thrown off his local policing board and widely condemened for verbally abusing a gay man. Paul Berry, a DUP MLA, was kicked out of the DUP a few years ago for an encounter with a gay massuese. Last year, Ian Paisley Jr said that he was repulsed by gays, and that they "harm society". The list just keeps growing."

Pride, year after year, continues to send out the message, louder and louder, that such bigotry is not welcome in the 21st Century.

Young Greens Slam Robinson over homophobic comments

The Young Greens have condemned Iris Robinson MP for her disgraceful comments on NI radio last week. Robinson claimed that homosexuals could be "turned back" with psychiatric help, referring to homosexuality as an "abomination", hot on the heels of a homophobic assault on a man in Newtownabbey.

QUB Greens Co-Chair Adam McGibbon said: "Iris is in a very fortunate position, because I doubt that she would get away with her comments on any other part of these islands. The DUP are attacking one of the only communities in our society that they (sadly) know they can still get away with persecuting - our LGBT community.

"One has to wonder if Iris would ask that the same "help" be applied to Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, in order that they too could be 'turned.' It's a sad state of affairs when in the 21st century, the chair of the Assembly's health committee believes that homosexuality is an illness."

Mr McGibbon urged an even bigger turnout for Belfast Pride this 2nd August, in order to send a message to the DUP that this attitude will not be tolerated.

The Birth Of The Magee Greens

The Young Greens are expanding into UU Magee in Derry in time for the new university year in September 2008.

If you or anyone you know would like to be involved in helping to set up a new Young Greens branch, drop us an email at QUBGREENS@HOTMAIL.CO.UK. QUB Greens members will be assisting in setting up the new society - no previous experience required!

We look forward to hearing from you :)