Draft GPUS Platform Amendment 10 key values
ECOLOGICAL WISDOM
Earth is our home. We respect all forms of life. Our human community is a part of nature, not separate from it. We must learn to live within the natural limits of our planet, to protect animal and plant life, and the conditions that sustain it. We support a sustainable society that uses natural resources with wisdom, thrift, and with future generations firmly in mind.
PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY
We all 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 well-being to the detriment of theirs. Greens believe in the power of setting a good example.
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 for our existence. We do not believe that other species are expendable.
FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY
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.
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. Everyone, in this and future generations, deserves the right to basic material goods, including food, water, shelter, clothing and education.
NON-VIOLENCE
We endorse non-violence, and work towards lasting personal, community and global peace. We support demilitarization and elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. Security does not derive from military strength but from 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.
GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
Everyone deserves to influence the government decisions that affect their lives. We believe decision making is best done at the local level. We work to increase public participation and transparency at all levels of government, and to ensure that our public officials are fully accountable. We believe that all levels and processes of government are the domain of its citizens and that no corporate entity should in any way have influence over the decisions of government representatives or in their election.
DECENTRALIZATION
Greens believe in local control. We seek to reverse the increasing concentration of wealth and power, both economic and political. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local, and regional levels, while assuring that fundamental rights are protected for all citizens. Power should be centralized only as a last resort. We believe in local self-reliance, buying local, and the importance of strengthening local communities.
COMMUNITY BASED ECONOMICS
Greens aim to build vibrant local economies, to create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining balance with nature. A Green economy provides meaningful work with dignity, while paying a living wage that reflects one’s true contribution. We work to reduce the rights and powers of corporations. Instead, we support expanding the rights and powers of individuals in our economy, including the right to basic economic security. We encourage employee ownership, workplace democracy and restructuring our patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy.
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 society that guarantees our long-term future, and that of other species with whom we share this planet. Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, is the greatest environmental, social and economic challenge that humanity has ever faced. We must overcome this challenge. Where knowledge is limited, we act with precaution, to secure the continued abundance of the resources of the planet for present and future generations. Our actions should be motivated by long-term goals and quality of life, not short-term profits and open-ended 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.
