Dear Greens, This Wednesday evening (tomorrow), instead of a regular meeting, we're hosting a panel discussion on the future of the Occupy movement, and how electoral politics might play a role. Our panelists will include: * Former Green Party mayoral and congressional candidate Terry Joan Baum. Baum was the personal aide to the legendary Bella Abzug in her first run forCongress in Manhattan. As a pioneer lesbian playwright, she has explored social issues such as gay rights, immigration, medical ethics and anti-Semitism. * Activist Marc Salomon. Marc got his start in politics by contributing $0.50 to George McGovern for President in 1972 and fighting against Christian prayer in the Schools in Dallas. After a Clintonian activist slumber when direct action ceased to be effective, he got involved with electoral politics in San Francisco as a Green and worked on several progressive successful candidate and ballot measure campaigns, most recently with Friends of Ethics' successful campaign against Props E and F last fall. His policy focus is on Ethics and the intersection of transportation and land use and has served on the San Francisco Bicycle Advisory Committee, Community Land Trust Task Force, Transportation Focus Group co-chair of the Western SOMA Citizens Planning Task Force, the Transportation Effectiveness Project CAC and currently serves on the MTA Citizens Advisory Council. * Current Green Party and labor leader Ramses Teon-Nichols. Ramses has been active with the Green Party as a member of the county council in the last couple of years. He is also active in both the Labor and Occupy movements. * Occupy organizer and banking industry insider Jane Smith. Jane is incensed at the lack of accountability for the economic crimes of the Federal Reserve, the banks, and the financial sector in general. As a result, she has been heavily involved in Occupy San Francisco since the movement began in September 2011. Jane has a masters degree in mathematics and works in the banking industry. * Pagan community organizer and Occupy organizer since October 2011, Ryan Smith. Ryan is a long-time Pagan community organizer which has given him a front row seat to the damage done by corporate America to society. He joined up with OSF in early October and has been involved in social media and online organizing for Occupy. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in history from SF State and does analysis for an IT company. * Occupy organizer and DISCLOSE act volunteer Ben Hansell. Ben was born in San Francisco and got a BA in History at UC Santa Cruz. He works full-time for the San Francisco Water Dept and volunteers for the CA DISCLOSE Act. He got involved in Occupy to get the money out of politics and to fight the concentration of wealth and power. The panel will be co-moderated by former Green gubernatorial candidate and Occupy Oakland organizer Laura Wells. The panel will discuss, among other topics: Can the Occupy movement use electoral politics (e.g., running candidates) to be more effective? Can smaller parties like the Green Party or Peace & Freedom help the Occupy movement to be more effective? What's next for Occupy SF? The forum will be held in the Park Branch Library meeting room, 1833 Page St, downstairs, from 6:30-9 pm (we may have to stop a little early in order to clean up before the library closes at 9). Details and updates here: http://sfgreenparty.org/events2/event/MTdlMHA4YmcyZGMwdGc0Ym9kZXVjb2FlN28gOG... *===========================* Help needed to label GMOs Please join fellow SF Greens in supporting the signature drive to get a truly grassroots-driven initiative on the state ballot to label genetically engineered foods (GMOs). For more info, see: http://sfgreenparty.org/10-campaigns/35-help-needed-to-label-gmos *===========================* Donate online! We recently switched to a new payment processor, which makes it easier to donate securely online, while keeping more of our donations going to help our cause rather than ending up in the hands of Wall Street. More info is on our website: http://sfgreenparty.org/9-donations/34-donate-online *===========================* Paid contractor wanted: SF Green Party Fundraiser/volunteer coordinator Part time independent contractor (1099) position We recently updated our job ad: http://sfgreenparty.org/help-wanted *=========================== Join our updated Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_62534706497&ap=1 *=========================== To submit events for our newsletter, please email a short blurb to news@sfgreens.org. Messages to a mailing list will be rejected.