Principles of the Scottish Green Party

The Scottish Green Party is committed to forming a sustainable society. We are guided by these five interconnected principles:

1. Ecological Wisdom
   Our environment is the basis upon which every society is formed. Whenever we damage our environment, we damage ourselves. Respect for our environment is therefore essential.
2. Radical Democracy
   Politics is too often conducted in a polarised, confrontational atmosphere and in a situation remote from those that it affects. We must develop decentralised, participative systems that encourage individuals to control the decisions that affect their own lives.
3. Social Justice
   A society that is not socially and economically just cannot be sustainable. Only when released from immediate poverty can individuals be expected to take responsibility for wider issues
4. Non-violence
   Violence at all levels of human interaction must be rejected and succeeded by relations characterised by flexibility, respect and fairness.
5. Egalitarianism
   Our existing patriarchal society must be replaced by one founded on cooperation and based on respect for, rather than descrimination against, those of a different gender, race, sexuality, age or religion.

These principles taken together give the Scottish Green Party a holistic view that is in common with all Green Parties around the world, but which is unique amongst Scottish Political parties.

Bunachasan ann an Gàidhlig

Tha Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba roimh-cheangailte ri cruthachadh co-phobuill so-bheathachadh. Gu ruige seo, tha sinn air ar treòrachadh leis na coig bunachasan seo:

1. Gliocas eigeòlasach
   Is e an àrainneachd againn am bun-stèidh air a bheil gach co- phobull air a chruthachadh. Gach uair agus a tha sinn ar n- àrainneachd a' milleadh, tha sinn 'gar milleadh fhèin. Air an adhbhar sin, tha urram d'ar n-àrainneachd riatanach.
2. Sluagh-fhlaitheas freumhail
   Tha gnothuichean riaghlaidh air an cùmail air adhart ro thric ann an àileadh connspoideach agus aghaidhnaichte, agus annn an àite fada air falbh bho'n fheadhainn a tha a' faireachdainn an éifeachd. Feumaidh sinn rianachd di-buillsgeanachd agus comh-phàirteach a leasachadh a tha a' toirt misneachd do dhaoine an réiteachadh a tha a' buntainn ri am beatha fhéin a chur fo cheannsal.
3. Ceartas soisealta
   Chan urrainn do cho-phobull nacheil cothromach a bhith so-bheathachadh. Cha mheasar daoine a bhith comasach ceistean na's fharsainge a' gabhail fo chùram, ach a-mhàin an uair a tha iad air an leigeil saor á bochdainn a tha faisg ri làimh.
4. An aghaidh ainneirt
   Feumaidh ainneart aig gach ìre cleachdadh an cinne-daonna air a chur as, agus comh-phàirteachadh comharraichte le sùbailteachd, urram agus cothrom na Féinne air a chur 'na h-àite.
5. Comh-ionannachd
   Feumaidh an co-phobull prìomh-atharireil a tha againn aig an t-ám seo a bhith air cur as le suidheachadh stéidhichte air co-oibreachadh, agus bunaichte air urram airson - an àite leth-bhreith an aghaidh - an fheadhainn aig a bheil eader-dhealachadh a-rèir gnè, cinnidh, bainfhiringse, aoise, no creideimh.

Tha na bunachasan seo - air an gabhail ri cheile - a' toirt do Pàrtaidh Uaine na h-Alba sealladh neo-mheangail a tha cosamhail ri gach Pàrtaidh Uaine air feadh an t-saoghail, ach tha gun shamhail a-measg pàrtaidhean poiliticeach ann an Alba.

Scottish Green Party Election Manifesto

Scotland's Future: Green or Grey?

This year's election is especially important. The way votes are cast will elect a Parliament that will take Scotland beyond the year 2000.

"2000 AD" used to be a magical phrase. Until very recently it conjured up a far away world where technology had triumphed.

That has not happened. We lurch from one crisis to another, despite thirty years of economic growth which is far faster than at any other time in human history. A fifth of the world's population is starving and in rich societies old people die because they cannot heat their homes. Economic growth has not helped them. Instead it has piled up mountains of waste, robbed the seas of life and the land of nutrients. It has gorged itself on precious supplies of coal, gas and oil which, once gone, cannot be replaced.

The traditional political parties will tell you that what we need is more of the "bigger, faster, stronger" style of economy so that we can afford to pay for the social and environmental improvements we so urgently need. They don't understand that it is exactly that kind of economy that has caused the problems in the first place.

A Green vision of Scotland

For society to continue the way it is going is simply not possible. Enormous change will happen sooner or later. Crises are inevitable - nuclear accidents, sea levels rising and weather changes because of global warming, or cities being grid-locked by traffic. If we choose to follow a Green path before such crises happen then we will find that life is a lot safer and a lot more pleasant. In these few pages you will find just some of the ideas that would make Scotland Green.

Scotland's natural abundance

Scotland is rich with many of the things we need. We should start with those many advantages and use them to benefit all of the Scottish people.

• We advocate sweeping reform of large-scale land ownership in Scotland so that land can be looked after by the communities who live on it. We think those communities are more likely to respect the long term health of the land than owners who may live far away or who do not understand the needs of the area.
• We would begin the restoration of the great forests of Scotland. This would enhance and protect Scotland's natural wildlife and provide thousands of new jobs in areas which, just now, are unnatural wet deserts. New forms of farming, timber industry and tourism would flourish.
• We would tap the enormous potential of wind, wave and hydro power rather than endure the huge costs and risks of the nuclear industry.

Daily life

Two of the most basic needs are safe food and housing. Too many people lack these basic essentials.

• To build on our programme of land reform, we would encourage local cooperatives for producing food which link directly into local shops.
• We would introduce laws to make sure that consumers were informed about where food comes from and how it is produced. These would give people who farm in a safe, healthy way an advantage over big producers and could be introduced for a fraction of the amount that is spent on advertising.
• We would set up a separate Scottish Food Department to set food safety standards and to ensure that consumer information is accurate.
• In housing our priorities would be a massive programme of insulation of homes, cutting fuel bills and improving health. As an example of our commitment to this, the Green Party drafted and promoted the Home Energy Conservation Bill which passed through Parliament in 1995 and will help local councils set targets for making homes warm and dry.
• Our proposals for land reform, by reducing the cost of land in some areas, would also reduce the cost of improving and building new homes for homeless people.

Improving neighbourhoods

Decisions about planning and transport have a major impact on community life. But too many decisions are made without consultation and with only the needs of the few in mind.

• Planning policies would be changed so that shops, leisure facilities and other services would be within easy reach of those who walk, cycle or use public transport.
• A national plan would be established for reducing the amount of traffic and making streets and roads safer. Local authorities would establish local plans with detailed targets to reduce traffic by a certain percentage each year. To help make the plans work we would set up Passenger Transport Executives, similar to the one in Strathclyde, in all areas so that all kinds of public transport is linked together.
• Our priority would be shifting the tens of billions of pounds of hidden subsidy for roads onto forms of transport that everyone can use. Pedestrian schemes, cycle ways and fast, clean and frequent public transport would flourish. People who need to use cars such as disabled people and emergency services would also benefit from less congestion.
• The railway system would be restored as the centre-piece of the national transport system, for both freight and passengers. It must be accountable to the public at large, not just to shareholders.

Our commitment to a fairer, more efficient transport system is demonstrated by our lead role in the campaign which succeeded in getting the "Road Traffic Reduction Bill" through Parliament in January 1997. After years of road traffic increasing without restraint, for the first time the law of the land now recognises the need to reduce traffic.

An economy as if people mattered

The way the big parties judge the health of the Scottish economy, by a measure called Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is ridiculous. GDP measures the amount of things bought and sold in an economy. So if you have a crime wave and burglar alarm sales go up, you get an increase in GDP. We would introduce a new measure of economic prosperity; one which added up the value of things that were good for society - such as education and care for older people - and deducted the cost of things that were bad - such as pollution or waste.

Green economic policy recognises the strain that the modern economy puts both on individuals and the environment.

• Under our proposals for a Basic Income Scheme everyone would get a modest weekly income whether they were employed or not. This would allow people to make real free choices about paid and unpaid work, mixing formal jobs with voluntary work, life-long education and family responsibilities. The Basic Income would replace most benefits and tax allowances and so save vast amounts of money in bureaucracy.

Scotland's current tax system makes no distinction between socially useful activities and those which are damaging. For example, you have to pay tax if you do paid work and VAT if you get repairs done on your house. Greens think you should tax things that are bad.

• We would introduce pollution taxes and taxes on energy wastage in big business. These would shift the emphasis in production from cheap disposable goods to good quality products which lasted and could be repaired. We also propose a system of land taxation which taxes one of the main sources of wealth.

We would support new forms of business and commerce.

• Scottish Green Party members were among those who first introduced Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) to Scotland. LETS is an exciting idea which has swept Canada and Australia and now Britain and it allows people to trade goods and skills without the need for money. We would encourage LETS in the short term and as the Basic Income was phased in LETS would become steadily more attractive in their own right as the need for solely cash wages diminished.
• Just as companies have to submit financial accounts to be audited we would introduce new social audits. This would assess companies' performance in how they treated their workforce, how they served the communities in which they are located and how much they indulged in anti-social behaviour such as pollution.

Scotland and the wider world

Scotland has to recognise that the environmental crisis is world wide and we have to play our part in tackling the problems that the poorest countries face. Green politics is the fastest growing movement in the world and Greens are active across the globe.

• Greens internationally are united in calling for wealthy western banks to free third world countries from crippling debt.
• The Scottish Green Party is a full member of the Federation of European Green Parties. Within the European Parliament Green MEPs argue for policies that meet the needs of the many regions of Europe. For example, we advocate reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to favour small scale farmers who produce food in a healthy way. And we would switch money away from projects such as the Eurofighter and massive international motorway schemes.
• Because of its major threat to world security Greens are fundamentally opposed to the billions of pounds wasted on monstrosities like Trident nuclear submarines.

In the wealthy west we can end our shocking exploitation of the resources of poorer countries by spending our money on things we really need .

The kind of Scotland that people want

• A Green Scotland must also be a democratic Scotland. Since the Scottish Green Party's birth we have supported the creation of a Scottish Parliament as the first step towards Scottish independence.
• Scottish politics should be about what Scottish people think is important. However, despite huge concern about the environment, the Scottish Greens have been kept out of Parliament by an unfair voting system. This means that only a fraction of seats in this election will have Green candidates. But across Europe and as close to home as Ireland, Greens are elected on fair voting systems and they are making an enormous impact.

Moving to a Green Scotland

A Green Scotland is necessary. The planet and our communities will simply not be able to take the strain of the "more of the same" policies offered by the big parties. A Green Scotland is also attractive. Less waste means more money to spend on things that really matter like education and care for vulnerable people. Changing transport policy to cut pollution also means more shops and services within easy reach of the home. As streets become places for people again opportunities for crime would also decrease.

This manifesto shows that a Green Scotland is also achievable . At the end of the troubled twentieth century many people are looking for a new vision of Scotland. Join the Scottish Green Party in making it a Green vision.

This manifesto is only the briefest summary of some of the detailed policies for a Green Scotland. For further details of our policies see contact detials below.

Contacting the Scottish Green Party

If you would like more information, or would like to join or donate to the Scottish Green Party, please contact us.
Membership rates are currently 20 pounds (waged); 8 pounds (unwaged).
Cheques should be made payable to "Scottish Green Party".

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