Green Party training urged members to report jokes, even when accepted
The UK Green Party conducted diversity and inclusion training for members over the summer that instructed participants to document and report jokes and banter between colleagues, even when the person targeted found them acceptable. The training provided examples of how to intervene in such situations and discussed how seemingly harmless comments could constitute harassment depending on context. This approach has drawn criticism for its intrusive nature and for treating members' social interactions as requiring oversight and documentation.
The training materials included specific scenarios, such as overhearing jokes about someone's nationality, and encouraged members to record incidents with dates, times, and locations for potential submission to party officials. In a separate equalities session, participants were asked to audit the ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, and education level of their five closest friends, with instructors discussing "affinity bias"—the tendency to extend greater trust to those similar to oneself. The party's code of conduct was cited as prohibiting the types of jokes discussed, though trainers stated they were "not here to be the joke police."
- Green Party trained members to report jokes even when targets were comfortable
- Members instructed to document incidents and audit friends' demographics
- Critics say approach represents excessive oversight of social interactions
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Polanski’s ‘banter Stasi’: Chilling order that could have come from 1980s East Germany – Greens tell members to report on friends who crack unwoke jokes… even if the so-called victim finds them funny”.