Declaration of Principles -- Adopted June 22, 2008, Amended May 3rd, 2009
Social Democracy comprises humanity's boldest experiment -- an attempt to organize society of collective justice and individual freedom where everyone gets food, shelter, health care, education, and the ability to actualize his or herself. In other words, achieve a truly civil society.
To this end:
WE SUPPORT THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT. Working men and women, organized in their trade unions, can be the most important force for progressive social change. We support an open democratic and self-critical labor movement.
WE SUPPORT VIGOROUS DEMOCRACY HERE IN THE US AND ABROAD: Social democracy can only exist in a climate of strong democratic institutions. We support strong voting rights, public campaign finance and equal access to media for all candidates. We look to strengthen the longest most successful democratic experiment in world history, the USA.
WE SUPPORT THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL as the society of like minded parties and activists. We stand with the Labour Party of Britain, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the French Socialist Party and labor parties across the world. We look to SI members in government for guidance in effective and just government. SD,USA has adopted the SI Declaration of Principles and Ethical Charter and uses the Party of European Socialists the SI working group in the European Parlment as its pragmatic basis.
WE EMBRACE THE LIBERATORY POTENTIAL OF RELIGION; AT THE SAME TIME WE ARE FULLY COMMITTED TO THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. The world's sacred texts provide some of the strongest support for the dignity of Labor, the need for social fairness, and the ability of humanity to achieve its highest aspirations. SD,USA embraces religious faith not as an "interest group" within a larger movement, but as fundamental to the creation of a better world. At the same time, we also welcome secular or non-religious members. We believe the United States should maintain its tradition of the separation of Church and State. Thus, while we embrace people of religious faith and the libratory message of the mainstream religion, we oppose extremists or fanatics of all faiths who seek to undermine the church/state separation.
WE OPPOSE TOTALITARIANISM IN ITS SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS FORMS. Communism is a horrible, destructive parody of socialism. "Communism" is the most dangerous enemy of democracy and free Labor in the world. We rejoice in its collapse of the Soviet Union with formerly enslaved nations now joining the society of democracy. SD,USA proudly opposes Communist totalitarianism and opposes religious extremism arising in many religious traditions, especially in the Islamic world.
WE AFFIRM THAT IN THE 21ST CENTURY THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC/DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MOVEMENT SHALL ALSO BE A ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT DEDICATED TO PRESERVING THE FRAGILE ECOLOGY OF THIS PLANET. We commit ourselves to working with labor and environmental coalitions like the Blue Green Alliance, begun by the unionists and environmentalists to preserve our planet and create new jobs in renewable energy and mass transit.
WE DEFEND ISRAEL. The State of Israel is not a product of "racism" or "imperialism". It is a democratic society. Its Labour movement is lead by Social Democrats. During the first decades of its existence, it was founded and governed by a Social Democratic Labour party. We are unconditional advocates of Israel's right to exist, and that our support does not depend on it being "nice" in order to deserve our defense. But we are not uncritical. We support Israeli democratic ideals and those who work for them. We support a just resolution for the Palestinians that grants their legitimate national aspirations without fatally compromising the legitimate security concerns of the Jewish State.
WE REJECT THE IDEOLOGIES OF OPPRESSION. Chauvinism and racism are obstacles to the achievement of our ideals to the extent to which they permeate the working class and socialist movements. We are proud of the Socialist Party's long heritage of involvement in the civil rights movement from the 1960s, through the sit-ins, freedom rides, voting rights campaigns, and many demonstrations, including being the central organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice. Yet, even today, hatred based on sex, race, religious confession, ethnicity, and lifestyle flourish inside socialist parties and in the Left in general. There is no place inside the socialist movement for such ideologies.
WE INCLUDE AMONG THESES IDEOLOGIES OF OPPRESSION ANTI-ZIONISM, WHEN IT IS USED TO DENY JEWS THE RIGHT OF ALL PEOPLE TO A STATE OF THEIR OWN. Like anti-Semetism, false flagged anti-Zionism aims to divide the Jewish people from other peoples of the world. Anti-Semitism denies that Jews are human beings with all the rights of human beings. Anti-Zionism denies that Jews are a nation with the right of national self- determination. We are deeply concerned by the rise of anti-Semitism within the socialist parties and in the wider Left. We favor an aggressive and spirited campaign to drive anti-Semetism from our ranks.
WE, IN GENERAL, WORK WITHIN THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES. The realities of American politics make running independent Socialist candidates for public office frequently a gesture in futility. We ally ourselves with the pro-labor forces of the Democratic Party and work to strengthen Social Democratic ideals in the DP. When appropriate individual locals may run third party candidates, or fusion candidates The SD,USA is willing to experiment with different democratic processes on the local level.
WE STILL HAVE OUR DREAM OF THE NEAR FUTURE AND OUR VISION OF THE SOCIALIST SOCIETY OF THE FAR FUTURE, BEYOND OUR LIFETIME AND OUR CHILDREN'S LIFETIME. While concentrating on developing social democratic programs for the here and now, we have not given up our vision of the new socialist society that incremental change or visionary gradualism could eventually bring. We are still committed to the vibrant democratic socialist movement of the near future and our socialist vision of the far future beyond our lifetime and our children's lifetime.
WE STAND FOR SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND EMBRACE THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL DEMOCRATS, USA
We fight for the extension of democracy into all aspects of our society.
This means means not a government-dominated, but a democratic, non-sexist, un-racist, welfare state with a mixed economy in which the people and democratically-responsible representatives will have the maximum fearasible influence in setting economic priorities.
Social Democrats USA (SD,USA) is the successor to the Socialist Party SP whose past and present leaders include Labor, civil rights, and humanitarian leaders, such as Eugene V. Debs, Victor Berger, Kate Richards O'Hare, Mother Jones, Helen Keller, A. Philip Randolph, Upton Sinclair, Carl Sandburg Reinhold Niebhur, Darlington Hoopes, Samuel H. Friedman, Max Shachtman, Rob Tucker, David McReyonlds, Frank Zeidler, Michael Harrington, Tom Kahn, Bayard Rustin, Donnie Slaiman, and Penn Kemble We fully embrace the different streams of the S.P. and SD,USA's history. We welcome a wide range of Social Democrats/Democratic Socialists from Third Way to Third Camp who share our commitment to Democratic Socialism.
We think America needs a stronger voice for our kind of program. We are not for everybody. Maybe we are for you.
To this end:
WE SUPPORT THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT. Working men and women, organized in their trade unions, can be the most important force for progressive social change. We support an open democratic and self-critical labor movement.
WE SUPPORT VIGOROUS DEMOCRACY HERE IN THE US AND ABROAD: Social democracy can only exist in a climate of strong democratic institutions. We support strong voting rights, public campaign finance and equal access to media for all candidates. We look to strengthen the longest most successful democratic experiment in world history, the USA.
WE SUPPORT THE SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL as the society of like minded parties and activists. We stand with the Labour Party of Britain, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the French Socialist Party and labor parties across the world. We look to SI members in government for guidance in effective and just government. SD,USA has adopted the SI Declaration of Principles and Ethical Charter and uses the Party of European Socialists the SI working group in the European Parlment as its pragmatic basis.
WE EMBRACE THE LIBERATORY POTENTIAL OF RELIGION; AT THE SAME TIME WE ARE FULLY COMMITTED TO THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. The world's sacred texts provide some of the strongest support for the dignity of Labor, the need for social fairness, and the ability of humanity to achieve its highest aspirations. SD,USA embraces religious faith not as an "interest group" within a larger movement, but as fundamental to the creation of a better world. At the same time, we also welcome secular or non-religious members. We believe the United States should maintain its tradition of the separation of Church and State. Thus, while we embrace people of religious faith and the libratory message of the mainstream religion, we oppose extremists or fanatics of all faiths who seek to undermine the church/state separation.
WE OPPOSE TOTALITARIANISM IN ITS SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS FORMS. Communism is a horrible, destructive parody of socialism. "Communism" is the most dangerous enemy of democracy and free Labor in the world. We rejoice in its collapse of the Soviet Union with formerly enslaved nations now joining the society of democracy. SD,USA proudly opposes Communist totalitarianism and opposes religious extremism arising in many religious traditions, especially in the Islamic world.
WE AFFIRM THAT IN THE 21ST CENTURY THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC/DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MOVEMENT SHALL ALSO BE A ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT DEDICATED TO PRESERVING THE FRAGILE ECOLOGY OF THIS PLANET. We commit ourselves to working with labor and environmental coalitions like the Blue Green Alliance, begun by the unionists and environmentalists to preserve our planet and create new jobs in renewable energy and mass transit.
WE DEFEND ISRAEL. The State of Israel is not a product of "racism" or "imperialism". It is a democratic society. Its Labour movement is lead by Social Democrats. During the first decades of its existence, it was founded and governed by a Social Democratic Labour party. We are unconditional advocates of Israel's right to exist, and that our support does not depend on it being "nice" in order to deserve our defense. But we are not uncritical. We support Israeli democratic ideals and those who work for them. We support a just resolution for the Palestinians that grants their legitimate national aspirations without fatally compromising the legitimate security concerns of the Jewish State.
WE REJECT THE IDEOLOGIES OF OPPRESSION. Chauvinism and racism are obstacles to the achievement of our ideals to the extent to which they permeate the working class and socialist movements. We are proud of the Socialist Party's long heritage of involvement in the civil rights movement from the 1960s, through the sit-ins, freedom rides, voting rights campaigns, and many demonstrations, including being the central organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice. Yet, even today, hatred based on sex, race, religious confession, ethnicity, and lifestyle flourish inside socialist parties and in the Left in general. There is no place inside the socialist movement for such ideologies.
WE INCLUDE AMONG THESES IDEOLOGIES OF OPPRESSION ANTI-ZIONISM, WHEN IT IS USED TO DENY JEWS THE RIGHT OF ALL PEOPLE TO A STATE OF THEIR OWN. Like anti-Semetism, false flagged anti-Zionism aims to divide the Jewish people from other peoples of the world. Anti-Semitism denies that Jews are human beings with all the rights of human beings. Anti-Zionism denies that Jews are a nation with the right of national self- determination. We are deeply concerned by the rise of anti-Semitism within the socialist parties and in the wider Left. We favor an aggressive and spirited campaign to drive anti-Semetism from our ranks.
WE, IN GENERAL, WORK WITHIN THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES. The realities of American politics make running independent Socialist candidates for public office frequently a gesture in futility. We ally ourselves with the pro-labor forces of the Democratic Party and work to strengthen Social Democratic ideals in the DP. When appropriate individual locals may run third party candidates, or fusion candidates The SD,USA is willing to experiment with different democratic processes on the local level.
WE STILL HAVE OUR DREAM OF THE NEAR FUTURE AND OUR VISION OF THE SOCIALIST SOCIETY OF THE FAR FUTURE, BEYOND OUR LIFETIME AND OUR CHILDREN'S LIFETIME. While concentrating on developing social democratic programs for the here and now, we have not given up our vision of the new socialist society that incremental change or visionary gradualism could eventually bring. We are still committed to the vibrant democratic socialist movement of the near future and our socialist vision of the far future beyond our lifetime and our children's lifetime.
WE STAND FOR SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND EMBRACE THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL DEMOCRATS, USA
We fight for the extension of democracy into all aspects of our society.
This means means not a government-dominated, but a democratic, non-sexist, un-racist, welfare state with a mixed economy in which the people and democratically-responsible representatives will have the maximum fearasible influence in setting economic priorities.
Social Democrats USA (SD,USA) is the successor to the Socialist Party SP whose past and present leaders include Labor, civil rights, and humanitarian leaders, such as Eugene V. Debs, Victor Berger, Kate Richards O'Hare, Mother Jones, Helen Keller, A. Philip Randolph, Upton Sinclair, Carl Sandburg Reinhold Niebhur, Darlington Hoopes, Samuel H. Friedman, Max Shachtman, Rob Tucker, David McReyonlds, Frank Zeidler, Michael Harrington, Tom Kahn, Bayard Rustin, Donnie Slaiman, and Penn Kemble We fully embrace the different streams of the S.P. and SD,USA's history. We welcome a wide range of Social Democrats/Democratic Socialists from Third Way to Third Camp who share our commitment to Democratic Socialism.
We think America needs a stronger voice for our kind of program. We are not for everybody. Maybe we are for you.
Alternate Principle Statement
While this statement is not binding upon members, it expresses the same sentiment and clearly demonstrates our positions.
AS SOCIALISTS OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT, we wish these truths were self-evident:
First, that the workers of all nations share more in economic interest with each other, than the workers of any nation share with the political and economic elites of their own nation.
Second, that governments derive all just power from the consent of the governed. That governments exist for the benefit of the governed and not the reverse. Therefore, it is the duty of the governed to alter and abolish all forms of domination, political, economic, cultural, and religious, that would seek to deny the governed full and complete access to the power, which belongs to them alone.
Third, that war is, by its very nature, a crime against humanity. Occasionally, it may be necessary for a people to defend itself from attack. This is never an excuse for the imperial acquisition of resources, territory, or an attempt to establish military or ideological hegemony.
Fourth, that the rights of humanity as set forth in the United Nations International Declaration of Human Rights, may never be transgressed by any party no matter how imperiled or aggrieved that party believes itself to be. Torture, the deliberate targeting of non-combatants with anti-personnel devices (regardless of whether the bomb falls from fast moving airplanes, or is carried in backpacks aboard public transportation), or the deliberate imprisonment, starvation, or displacement of massive numbers of people for political gain is now and will forever be WRONG!
Fifth, that human kind has a right to be free from persecution because of ethnicity, gender, age, religious preference, sexual orientation. The peoples of the earth are entitled to national self determination within political boundaries that respect for the sovernity of others and real concerns for self protection shall allow.
Sixth, we social democrats will never be cheerleaders for the slaughter of any group of people no matter what the ideology of those pursuing the massacre may be. We will never apologize for tyranny or injustice no matter what grave exigencies the tyrant shall claim.
Seventh, while people are hungry, homeless, poorly clothed, and without the basic necessities of life, there can be no democratic process.
Eighth, people have an inherent right to worship God or participate in spirituality as their conscience dictates. The state must never be the arbiter of religious thought. Instead, it is the people who must instruct the government as to spiritual and moral precepts. Therefore, it is the right of each person to disagree vehemently with others in their society upon the nature of what is moral. A democratic government cannot take sides. This does not mean that the individual members of an elected government cannot and should not be guided by moral precepts No one seeking election in a democratic society should be asked to divest him or herself of whatever spiritual and moral precepts he or she holds.
Ninth, while governments have a right to maintain the security of their borders, they do not have the right to harass those forced to cross a particular national frontier in order to find gainful employment or shelter from the ravages of war, famine or natural disaster.
Tenth, human beings are the stewards of the earth, not its masters. No generation has a right to pass on a polluted or degraded planet to the generations that follow.
Eleventh, that in any prosecution brought for any crime a defendant shall have a right to be heard by himself, and/or through counsel and shall have an absolute right to examine all evidence, to face all accusers, to call all material witnesses and to make whatever representations to the tribunal which he or she faces, which may seem to the defendant to be exculpatory. The judiciary of a democratic nation must be independent and separate from that nation's legislative and executive branches of government.
Twelfth, there is only one cure for the ills of democracy; more democracy. Free people will build a wondrous and diverse culture that will express what it is to be truly human.
AS SOCIALISTS OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT, we wish these truths were self-evident:
First, that the workers of all nations share more in economic interest with each other, than the workers of any nation share with the political and economic elites of their own nation.
Second, that governments derive all just power from the consent of the governed. That governments exist for the benefit of the governed and not the reverse. Therefore, it is the duty of the governed to alter and abolish all forms of domination, political, economic, cultural, and religious, that would seek to deny the governed full and complete access to the power, which belongs to them alone.
Third, that war is, by its very nature, a crime against humanity. Occasionally, it may be necessary for a people to defend itself from attack. This is never an excuse for the imperial acquisition of resources, territory, or an attempt to establish military or ideological hegemony.
Fourth, that the rights of humanity as set forth in the United Nations International Declaration of Human Rights, may never be transgressed by any party no matter how imperiled or aggrieved that party believes itself to be. Torture, the deliberate targeting of non-combatants with anti-personnel devices (regardless of whether the bomb falls from fast moving airplanes, or is carried in backpacks aboard public transportation), or the deliberate imprisonment, starvation, or displacement of massive numbers of people for political gain is now and will forever be WRONG!
Fifth, that human kind has a right to be free from persecution because of ethnicity, gender, age, religious preference, sexual orientation. The peoples of the earth are entitled to national self determination within political boundaries that respect for the sovernity of others and real concerns for self protection shall allow.
Sixth, we social democrats will never be cheerleaders for the slaughter of any group of people no matter what the ideology of those pursuing the massacre may be. We will never apologize for tyranny or injustice no matter what grave exigencies the tyrant shall claim.
Seventh, while people are hungry, homeless, poorly clothed, and without the basic necessities of life, there can be no democratic process.
Eighth, people have an inherent right to worship God or participate in spirituality as their conscience dictates. The state must never be the arbiter of religious thought. Instead, it is the people who must instruct the government as to spiritual and moral precepts. Therefore, it is the right of each person to disagree vehemently with others in their society upon the nature of what is moral. A democratic government cannot take sides. This does not mean that the individual members of an elected government cannot and should not be guided by moral precepts No one seeking election in a democratic society should be asked to divest him or herself of whatever spiritual and moral precepts he or she holds.
Ninth, while governments have a right to maintain the security of their borders, they do not have the right to harass those forced to cross a particular national frontier in order to find gainful employment or shelter from the ravages of war, famine or natural disaster.
Tenth, human beings are the stewards of the earth, not its masters. No generation has a right to pass on a polluted or degraded planet to the generations that follow.
Eleventh, that in any prosecution brought for any crime a defendant shall have a right to be heard by himself, and/or through counsel and shall have an absolute right to examine all evidence, to face all accusers, to call all material witnesses and to make whatever representations to the tribunal which he or she faces, which may seem to the defendant to be exculpatory. The judiciary of a democratic nation must be independent and separate from that nation's legislative and executive branches of government.
Twelfth, there is only one cure for the ills of democracy; more democracy. Free people will build a wondrous and diverse culture that will express what it is to be truly human.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario