About the Green-Rainbow Party

A Values-based Party

The Green-Rainbow Party is a party that is guided by our Ten Key Values. Values such as Ecology, Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy and Non-violence.

A Brief History

The Greens got their start in New Zealand with the Values Party, but first received widespread attention when die Grünen received over 5% of the vote in the German federal elections and first entered the German Bundestag in 1983. Since then, Green Parties have sprung up in many countries and are an international movement.

The Green Party of British Columbia was the first Green party in the Americas. In the United States, the Green Party of the United States is relatively new as an effective organizing force, though local chapters and state parties existed in the 1980s and 1990s. The Green Party has grown quickly in the US since the 2000 Nader/LaDuke campaign.

The Massachusetts Green Party changed its name to Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts in 2003.

Green Party chapters were active in Western Massachusetts and Jamaica Plain (Boston) in the early eighties and nineties. The Greens formed a state party in 1996 after the 1st Nader campaign for president. However, the Green Party really got off the ground in Massachusetts as a result of the 2000 Nader/LaDuke campaign.

In 2002, the Greens fielded eight candidates for state offices. James O'Keefe received 8% of the vote for State Treasurer.

The party has fielded numerous candidates for local offices, and gotten them elected in Boston, Cambridge, Newburyport, Amherst and other localities.

The number of voters registered in the Green-Rainbow Party is over 10000.

Useful Links

Starting locally and moving globally:

Mystic River Green-Rainbow Action, James' local in Cambridge and Somerville
Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
Green Party of the United States
Global index site of Green Parties throughout the world