By Nick Perry-Guetti:
On Saturday 21 January 2017, the grandest of all citizens’ political marches in the history of the United States, the Women’s March, with numbers estimated at between 2.9 million and 4.6 million people nationwide, took place. The event and its atmosphere were described as peaceful and festive by marchers, observers and city officials alike, actually gleaning high praise from police departments in many cities.
At the same moment, in the hearty atmosphere of a winter gathering at their Eugene, OR headquarters, the Pacific Green Party met to elect three women to their State Coordinating Committee: Dr. Nathalie Paravicini of Portland, OR, formerly a leading voice in many Green Party chapters; Melissa Wright, also of Portland, a creative and adept organizer; and Jacqueline DeVaney of Astoria, a home health nurse advocating for her patients and community through the Party. These three tried and proven veterans of the PGP’s impressive recent organizing achievements now make up three fifths of the SCC, joining incumbents Alan Zundel of Eugene and Seth Woolley of Portland (both former candidates for Oregon Secretary of State).
Other business of the gathering included earnest and fruitful discussions of strategies for networking and the building of alliances in the political community. Long-time PGP organizer Charles Newlin later called the meeting “very exciting”, and said he was “thrilled that we just elected three extraordinary women to this Committee on such an historic day for women everywhere.” With such opportune focus, Oregon’s Pacific Green Party starts off the year strong, canny and with its finger firmly on the pulse of social politics, nationally and globally. This January may have offered a challenge to progressive activists like no other month remembered, but its 21st day may also stand as one of the most beautiful days in history, and a day when the challenge was gracefully accepted.
You can find the minutes for the Pacific Green Party 2017 Winter Gathering here.
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