Martin Whiteside - Green (From Stroud News and Journal)

Martin Whiteside - Green

AS the Green Party Parliamentary Candidate, Martin Whiteside believes he has a lot of persuading to do for a lot of people on a lot of different issues.

But he thinks his dedication, determination, hard work and passion will help him convince people that he is the right man for the job.

As a student, Martin studied agriculture and forest sciences, gaining experience of acute poverty, environmental degradation and war. This gave him a wide understanding of the complexities of political influence and change in less fortunate countries, and this ultimately led him to the Green Party.

"I've been the parliamentary candidate since last year and a member of the Green Party for seven years," he said.

I'm involved in a lot of local issues and have to think a lot about the future in terms of tackling the root causes.

"It is all about looking at a progressive future to improve the quality of our lives."

He has been actively involved in the struggle against apartheid as well as working as an inner-city community worker and a volunteer youth worker with community organisations. He has an impressive track record as environment and rural development consultant, acting as a pivotal link with organisations such as Oxfam, Christian Aid, World Wildlife Federation (WWF) and the British Government on various sustainable rural development programmes.

He is also involved in issues such as canal regeneration and reducing traffic.

He has recently been to Afghanistan to further strengthen relations with poorer countries and in May will be travelling to Angola to look at how best to integrate within and work for a society infected with HIV-AIDS.

"As an MP, what I would like for Stroud is to be a very loud voice for change," he said.

"Stroud has a strong radical tradition and a real way of finding solutions to world problems. We have to share in our world wealth and the only way to tackle problems in poor countries is to look for radical solutions for greater equality and sustainability. "These things are possible, and that's why I'm involved in politics."

Issues that Martin will tackle head-on include war and peace, justice and law, increasing inequality and global destruction.

He said: "The current government has led us into a disastrous war and quagmire in Afghanistan and Iraq. It needs to be stopped.

"With global warming, over-fishing and cutting down the forests, we are not living sustainably.

"Many people, particularly the young, are fed up with politics and politicians. We need to make politics exciting and relevant and give people a real say in the decisions that affect them.

"We're creating a Fortress Europe to keep our own patch safe. I'd like to use my international skills to create change at a UK government level. We need to look at how we can become sustainable and be a good example to the rest of the world."

"I would like to admit that sometimes I might get things right and sometimes I might get things wrong, and I might not always have the answers - but if I don't know, I would say I don't know," he said.

When he isn't working, Martin who lives in Thrupp with his wife and three children enjoys spending his free time walking, mountaineering and gardening. He strongly believes that, by involving people more in local democracy and giving them the power, choice and responsibility to deal with global issues on a local level, the future will be better.

"We are in danger of throwing away this opportunity to get a good, sustainable development plan because we don't have the spine to stand up for what we want. My fear is that we'll get something that does a lot of damage when we should get something that is sensible and pleases everybody."