CJA Calls for Frontlines to be Centered and Jemez Principles to be Implemented in the Initial Policy Organizing Process for the Green New Deal

This morning, Climate Justice Alliance issued this statement to the New Consensus and its partners involved in moving forward the Green New Deal. CJA Steering Committee representatives, members, Indigenous and Environmental Justice allies demand that historic movement principles inform the policy development strategy for the Green New Deal.

“To this end, in order for us to continue in this process, we have four clear demands:  

1. Include both the Jemez Principles and the Environmental Justice Principles of Working Together in all work stemming from this gathering and forthcoming;
2. Disclose and maintain transparency in funding sources, current and emerging, and commit that funding directly to those most impacted, including frontline and base‑building organizing groups, alliances and networks for the development of policy priorities and language;
3. Clearly outline who New Consensus is accountable to and who it works for; and why is there redundancy, going into communities where work is already being done when the country is vast and there are so many other places where there isn’t yet consensus;
4. Commit to New Consensus’ participation in a strategy meeting with CJA and allied frontline partners in order to move our collective conversation and possible relationship forward, we would ask that a MOA be entered into between New Consensus and CJA frontlines.”

Read the full statement here or watch Miya Yoshitani, Executive Director of Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), and longtime movement ally, John Washington, from Push Buffalo read it and provide recommendations to the agenda during the New Consensus meeting.

With tremendous gratitude to the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) member groups California Environmental Justice Alliance, the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, Kentuckians for the CommonWealth, the Labor Network for Sustainability, as well as powerful frontline allies such as the NDN Collective, Native Organizers Alliance, WeAct, El Puente Climate Action Network, and Peoples Action who supported the statement as it was presented.