Young face of the Greens' future hopes

[Big Daz]

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/inde ... full/82807" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Articulate, well presented, striking and passionate. These are some of the qualities we want from our politicians and Brighton and Hove Green Party councillor Alex Phillips is certainly not found lacking.

At the age of 24 she is the youngest councillor in the Brighton and Hove area.

As a self-confessed "normal" young person, Phillips is part of an increasingly confident and growing Green Party, which has a good chance of securing its first MP in Brighton at the next general election.

For someone so young, Phillips has had quite an intrepid political journey.

She recalls her first political memories of Nelson Mandela being released from prison and the death of Labour Party former leader John Smith.

"He would be turning in his grave now, seeing what the government have done," she blurts out.

Through the course of the conversation, it is clear Phillips has very little positive to say about the government on the grounds of wars, social justice and climate change.

As a former member of the Labour Party she left after joining anti-war demonstrators against the Iraq war in 2003.

"I joined the Labour Party at the age of 16, but I felt I could not march against my party of government and continue to be a member," she recalls.

What will surprise most people is that Phillips is adamant that she did not join the Green Party for environmental reasons.

"What actually attracted me to the Greens was their policies on human rights and social justice," she explains.
"Yes, the environment was an issue, but not my biggest one at the time."

Phillips wears many political hats. As well as being a councillor she is the joint chair of the Young Greens and is the campaign co-ordinator for Caroline Lucas's parliamentary bid.

The prospect of Lucas becoming the first Green MP clearly means a lot to Phillips. She is in no doubt that a breakthrough for Lucas would signal the beginning of a sea change in British politics.

Our conversation eventually does turn to the environmental and economic crisis facing Britain and the rest of the world, though.

Phillips well and truly lays the blame for both at the foot of the government.

"The government know what they have to do but because they and all three main parties are backed by big business, they are walking a tight-rope," she says.

Emphasising the need for "a green new deal," Phillips sees the need to tackle climate change as inextricably linked with the economy.

"The green new deal would create energy efficiency and create skilled jobs for skilled workers at the same time.

"Since many under 25 year olds are signing up for JSA, this would be an ideal opportunity to train young people and tackle the recession."

Phillips believes young people have been neglected by society in a number of ways - demonised in the media, denied good jobs and loaded down with back-breaking tuition fees.

But she is very keen to emphasise that going to university should not be viewed as a "necessity."

"You can have success and a sense of achievement by not necessarily going to uni but by doing other things such as training to become a skilled worker," she explains.

"Unfortunately, apprentices and the skilled jobs themselves are hard to come by. That's why investment in the green economy is key."

Phillips's keen interest in the plight of working people certainly puts pay to the stereotype that Greens are only interested in abstract climate campaigning and vegetarianism.

Turning to the trade union movement, Phillips believes that unions have not had as much influence on the political scene as she would have liked.

"Look at the expenses scandal. Only a couple of unions have threatened or withdrawn funding for MPs over the issue," she says.

"But Vestas was an example where green and workers issues combined. That is a positive."

Despite the possibility of a catastrophe for the majority of the world's population if huge carbon emission reductions are not implemented, Phillips is enthusiastic about the future.

She emphatically admits to being a "socialist" and has radical views surrounding education.

Phillips wants to see private schools lose their charitable status and believes they are key to maintaining "the class system" which she opposes.

However she does believe that reform within capitalist economic relations is possible in being able to deal with the major environmental and economic problems facing the peoples of the world.

A key and immediate change in the political fabric would be secured by Lucas being elected MP for Brighton and Hove, Phillips argues.

But, she adds, "getting Caroline into Parliament would be a lot easier if the electoral system was fairer. The general public is in favour of proportional representation."

Phillips admits that green and climate change issues are still not resonating with the general public.

But she is adamant that, when the changes in the environment begin to impact more adversely on peoples lives, public opinion will change.

"That is why we need people in Parliament with the political will to argue for the policies people need."

Forever the optimist, Phillips sees no reason why the Green Party should not be forming a government in years to come.

Pressed to give a date, she predicts "within my life time, around 2050."

There can be no doubt that there is a crisis in working-class representation and clearly young, inspiring Green politicians like Phillips believe that their party can go it alone and achieve progressive change in the years to come.

As the battle to reclaim Labour rages on, it is inevitable that alternatives will appear on the political scene.

A question mark remains over whether the Green Party can overcome the problem of having no organic or historical link with the working class movement.

One thing is for certain, though. Phillips and the Greens are here to stay and will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

[opgpat]

"A question mark remains over whether the Green Party can overcome the problem of having no organic or historical link with the working class movement."

Interesting point but isn't that just for historical reasons? Environmental problems have only become widely recognised in the past few decades and the Green political movenment has only been around in Europe since the 70's. Any new Party needs to build bridges and for sure all classes are effected by the consequences of a heavily industrialised world.

[floydy]

Fully paid up member me!!!

[Big Daz]

Fully paid up member me!!!

As am I since September 2008

[opgpat]

Well done guys, haven't thought of joining before. U can't vote mainstream parties these days as they are all the same. Economic growth at all costs, and the cost is the earth! Deplorable!

[Big Daz]

http://join.greenparty.org.uk/membership/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Harry_Perkins]

"A question mark remains over whether the Green Party can overcome the problem of having no organic or historical link with the working class movement."

Interesting point but isn't that just for historical reasons? Environmental problems have only become widely recognised in the past few decades and the Green political movenment has only been around in Europe since the 70's. Any new Party needs to build bridges and for sure all classes are effected by the consequences of a heavily industrialised world.

The union link is the main reason I'm still a member of the Labour Party. With that, the party can still be shifted back to the ground where the Greens stand now. Still, I wish the Greens all the best.

[Big Daz]

Problem is only a minority of TUC unions are affilated to Labour, if its such a fantastic thing for a union to do then why are not queing up to affilate?

After 15 years of New Labour , I find it hard to see Labour being shifted back, however time will tell.

The question is how did Labour get shifted away from where it should be and how do its affilated unions stop it happening again.

[Harry_Perkins]

Problem is only a minority of TUC unions are affilated to Labour, if its such a fantastic thing for a union to do then why are not queing up to affilate?

After 15 years of New Labour , I find it hard to see Labour being shifted back, however time will tell.

The question is how did Labour get shifted away from where it should be and how do its affilated unions stop it happening again.

Yeah but those unions happen to have something like 80% of all union members in them. They are massive. Most of the others don't have the same clout. Apart from the RMT, who were slung out for supporting the Scottish Socialist Party. And the FBU. Neither has achieved as much as they probably would have hoped outside the party and would probably be rather back in.

I would argue the LP was able to be shifted right thanks to the massive defeats suffered by the Labour movement over the last 30 years. The same goes for the unions. The issue is over rebuilding class confidence and class combativeness. When there is pressure from below in the unions, this will in turn force the unions to put pressure on the Labour Party. This is when the party will move left again and this is why disaffiliating or leaving the party is a really bad idea. Especially at the moment when finally the whole New Labour project is looking utterly discredited.

[BELIAL]

Got to disagree with the last post. The New labour project is going exactly to plan. Distraction and division work perfectly if you want to maintain and extend executive control.
You may be making the common mistake of assuming New Labour was in any way linked to Labour values, times have changed a lot

[Godric]

the only thing going for the greens is that they are pro independence for Scotland .... but i am not a diet Nat i prefer the real thing

[opgpat]

the only thing going for the greens is that they are pro independence for Scotland ....

Yeah that and the fact they want to save the environment by curtailing economic and population growth. Name another Party hardcore enough to tell us the truth - that economic growth is killing us and our grandchildren.

[Big Daz]

By 2050 there will be over 9 billion of us on planet earth. Is there room? How do we provide for that many people?

[Godric]

the only thing going for the greens is that they are pro independence for Scotland ....

Yeah that and the fact they want to save the environment by curtailing economic and population growth. Name another Party hardcore enough to tell us the truth - that economic growth is killing us and our grandchildren.

the snp and the greens have more in common in Scotland than you think the snp wants scotland's power needs provided by renewables, wind, wave etc instead of nuclear energy

[opgpat]

By 2050 there will be over 9 billion of us on planet earth. Is there room? How do we provide for that many people?

That's a LOT of d2d's right there.