Sir, - In response to Nuala Ahern's letter (November 4th): Yes, politics are bleak. Conventional politics are divisive, undemocratic and irrelevant to the needs of the planet. Ms Ahern seems quite happy to join the club.
Party politics are divisive because they are all about a party or a group of parties forming a government which then excludes the other parties from an input into decision-making. Majority rule OK. And we talk about the North! Green politics are about consensus and power-sharing, hence the reference to the German Greens starting off as an "anti-party party". Green politics are about national government, all parties working together. Greens would be proud to be a part of any national government. It sounds idealistic; it is. Would it work? It certainly does in Switzerland, so why not here?
Party politics are undemocratic not only because of the "winner take all" syndrome, but because the people have no direct input into government policy and legislation. Again, Ms Ahern seems quite happy about this. All power to the Government and none to the people. Once again we find the Swiss have it the other way round.
Party politics are irrelevant to the needs of the planet because none of the major issues, such as global warming, the thinning of the ozone layer and the destruction of the rain-forests, are being seriously addressed by the G7 countries. Again Ms Ahern seems happy that the German Greens are coalescing with a party which is an enthusiastic supporter of world capitalism.
Ms Ahern says that she "joined the Greens to create a clean environment". Fair enough! Like other founder members of the Irish Green Party, I am Green also because of a commitment to human rights both here and abroad and to people-centred democracy.
Who should govern in Germany? Surely the logical democratic answer is an SDP/CDU coalition. Presumably this was never a runner because of the nature of adversarial politics. The failure to form this "grand coalition" left the German Greens in the hot seat. A government had to be formed and the arithmetic indicated that the only viable alternative was an SDP/Green alliance. The point I was trying to make in my previous letter was that the dismantling of the nuclear power plants would also have been achieved by support for a minority SDP government.
As for the "whinging from the sidelines", Greens don't whinge, Ms Ahern, they shout the truth from the rooftops, which they will now be unable to do in Germany. - Yours, etc.,
Roger Garland,
Butterfield Drive,
Dublin 14.