Register Today!
As you all know, the 2008 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention is coming to Chicago, July 10-13. This year's event is shaping up to be one of the best events of the year. Please visit http://www.greenparty2008.org/ for all of the information related to the convention, including registration and the link to reserve your room at the headquarter hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. Staying at the Palmer House is a very important aspect of this convention, as the party needs to fill its allocated rooms to get the best rates onspace, and most of the convention activities across the weekend will be at the hotel.
The nomination vote will take place on Saturday, July 12 at the Symphony Center. As part of the Nominating Convention day, the Green Party will host keynote speeches from Malik Rahim, Kathy Kelly, and Cliff Thornton.
Malik Rahim is a long-time community activist from New Orleans, a former Black Panther, and in the last election was the Green Party candidate for Mayor of New Orleans. Malik co-founded the Common Ground Collective/Relief, an organization that provides short term relief to victims of hurricane disasters in the Gulf region. Please visit http://www.commongroundrelief.org/ for more information.
Kathy Kelly Is a familiar name to many Greens. Kathy co-founded Voices in the Wilderness in 1996, an organization that worked to end the sanctions on Iraq. She has visited Iraq and other locations in the Middle East on several occasions. Voices in the Wilderness has since become Voices for Creative Non-Violence, and you can read more about Kathy's recent work at http://www.vcnv.org/.
Cliff Thornton Jr. is a long-time social justice activist who has done much work on drug policy reform, recently receiving the Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action from the Drug Policy Alliance. Cliff was the Green Party's candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2006, and is currently co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. Read more about Cliff's organization Efficacy, Inc. at http://www.efficacy-online.org/.
Numerous workshops will be held across the days of the convention, with expert activists from across the country discussing an array of issues, including foreign policy (especially Iran and the Middle East), immigrant rights, GLBTIQ rights, campaign school workshops, and much more. Attendees will have the ability for much education and continued learning.
The national Green Party's Annual National Meeting Committee and the Illinois Green Party's convention host committee urge you to register as soon as you can and to reserve your room at the Palmer House Hilton. It is most financially helpful to the party to have the attendees staying at the Palmer House, our headquarter hotel. Downtown Chicago is an epicenter of activity, especially in the summer months. With Grant Park and the magnificent Lake Michigan only a couple of blocks away the location is awesome. Attendees are encouraged to come early or stay longer to see the attractions that Chicago has to offer, and to visit the neighborhoods where Green Party activity has been steadily increasing for years.
More speakers, workshops, and events will be announced in upcoming weeks. Also visit http://www.greenparty2008.org/ for new information as it becomes available, as well as for registration, room reservation, and other general questions.
Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in July.
Green Party of the United States Annual National Meeting Committee
Illinois Green Party Convention Host Committee
Email: office@gp.org
Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN
