Difference between revisions of "Draft GPUS Platform Amendment 10 key values"

Latest revision as of 01:43, 4 August 2010

GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

Everyone deserves to influence the government decisions that affect their lives. We believe decision-making is best done at the individual, local and regional levels. We work to increase public participation and transparency at all levels of government, and ensure that public officials are fully accountable.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The heart of social justice is the equitable distribution of social and natural resources, both locally and globally, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to develop their innate gifts and talents, and to enjoy the pleasures of life on earth. Greens believe in equal rights for citizens, regardless of gender, race, age, religion, class, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, disability, wealth or health.

ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

Our human community is a part of nature, not separate from it. We must learn to live in harmony with nature, within the natural limits of our planet. We respect and relish the ways of nature, including all forms of life. We support a sustainable society that uses natural resources with wisdom, thrift, and with future generations in mind.

NON-VIOLENCE

We endorse non-violence, and work towards lasting personal, community and global peace. We support demilitarization, disarmament and elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. Security does not derive from military strength but from justice, good will, cooperation, negotiation, mutual respect, sound economic and social development, and environmental conservation. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree. However, we recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations.

DECENTRALIZATION

Greens seek to reverse the rising concentration of wealth and power, both economic and political. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual, local and regional levels, while assuring that fundamental rights are protected for everyone. Power should be centralized only as a last resort. We believe in local self-reliance, buying local, eating local, and strengthening local communities.

COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS

Greens aim to build strong and diverse local economies that maintain balance with nature. A Green economy supplies meaningful work with dignity, while paying a living wage that reflects one’s true contribution. We seek to end corporate personhood, reduce the power of large corporations, and expand the rights and powers of individuals in our economy, including the right to basic economic security. We encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy.

FEMINISM

We call for an end to male domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. We support gender balance, equal opportunities, interpersonal responsibility and honesty. A woman's right to control her own body -- including her right to choose -- shall never be compromised.

RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

We celebrate cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and strive to build peace and understanding between disparate groups. We believe that the diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and governments, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally kept out of it. We depend on the diversity of the natural world and we must protect it.

PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

We must change our values and lifestyles to make them consonant with peace, justice and preserving life on our planet. We should act with the well-being of others in mind, including other peoples, nations, species and future generations. We should not pursue our own well-being to the detriment of others. Greens believe in the power of setting a good example.

FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY

The Earth's resources are finite. We cannot long live beyond the carrying capacity of the earth. So we must build a sustainable economy that guarantees our long-term future, and that of other species with whom we share this planet. We aim to build a zero waste society. Where knowledge is limited, we follow the precautionary principle for safety, and to secure the continued abundance of our planet's resources for present and future generations. Our actions must be motivated by ecological wisdom, sustainability and quality of life, not short-term profits and perpetual economic growth.

2004 VERSION OF 10 KEY VALUES

1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life and should not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.

2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.

3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature.

We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.

4. NON-VIOLENCE

It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments.

We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.

5. DECENTRALIZATION

Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.

6. COMMUNITY BASED ECONOMICS

Redesign our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy. Develop new economic activities and institutions that will allow us to use our new technologies in ways that are humane, freeing, ecological and accountable, and responsive to communities.

Establish some form of basic economic security, open to all.

Move beyond the narrow “job ethic” to new definitions of “work,” jobs” and “income” that reflect the changing economy.

Restructure our patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy: those who take responsibility for parenting, housekeeping, home gardens, community volunteer work, etc.

Restrict the size and concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation.

7. FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY

We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.

8. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines.

We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity.

9. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.

10. FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY

Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or “unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.

Make the quality of life, rather than open-ended economic growth, the focus of future thinking.