"I am convinced
that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation
must undergo a radical revolution of values." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
1967
One
Human rights
must be taken absolutely seriously. Every single person is entitled to dignity
and human rights. No application needed. No exclusions at all. This is our
highest priority.
Two
We must
radically reinvent contemporary democracy. Current systems are deeply corrupt
and not responsive to the needs of people. Representatives chosen by money and
influence govern by money and influence. This is unacceptable. Direct democracy
by the people is now technologically possible and should be the rule.
Communities must be protected whenever they advocate for self-determination,
self-development and human rights. Dissent is essential to democracy; we pledge
to help it flourish.
Three
Corporations are
not people and are not entitled to human rights. Amend the US Constitution so it
is clear corporations do not have constitutional or human rights. We the people
must cut them down to size and so democracy can regulate their size, scope and
actions.
Four
Leave the rest
of the world alone. Cut US military spending by 75 percent and bring all troops
outside the US home now. Defense of the US is a human right. Global offense and
global police force by US military are not. Eliminate all nuclear and chemical
and biological weapons. Stop allowing scare tactics to build up the national
security forces at home. Stop the myth that the US is somehow special or
exceptional and is entitled to act differently than all other nations. The US
must re-join the global family of nations as a respectful partner. USA is one of
many nations in the world. We must start acting like it.
Five
Property rights,
privilege, and money-making are not as important as human rights. When current
property and privilege arrangements are not just they must yield to the demands
of human rights. Money-making can only be allowed when human rights are
respected. Exploitation is unacceptable. There are national and global poverty
lines. We must establish national and global excess lines so that people and
businesses with extra houses, cars, luxuries, and incomes share much more to
help everyone else be able to exercise their basic human rights to shelter,
food, education and healthcare. If that disrupts current property, privilege and
money-making, so be it.
Six
Defend our
earth. Stop pollution, stop pipelines, stop new interstates, and stop destroying
the land, sea, and air by extracting resources from them. Rebuild what we have
destroyed. If corporations will not stop voluntarily, people must stop them. The
very existence of life is at stake.
Seven
Dramatically
expand public spaces and reverse the privatization of public services. Quality
public education, health and safety for all must be provided by transparent
accountable public systems. Starving the state is a recipe for destroying social
and economic human rights for everyone but the rich.
Eight
Pull the
criminal legal prison system up and out by its roots and start over. Cease the
criminalization of drugs, immigrants, poor people and people of color. We are
all entitled to be safe but the current system makes us less so and ruins
millions of lives. Start over.
Nine
The US was
created based on two original crimes that must be confessed and made right.
Reparations are owed to Native Americans because their land was stolen and they
were uprooted and slaughtered. Reparations are owed to African Americans because
they were kidnapped, enslaved and abused. The US has profited widely from these
injustices and must make amends.
Ten
Everyone who
wants to work should have the right to work and earn a living wage. Any workers
who want to organize and advocate for change in solidarity with others must be
absolutely protected from recriminations from their employer and from their
government.
Finally, if
those in government and those in power do not help the people do what is right,
people seeking change must together exercise our human rights and bring about
these changes directly. Dr. King and millions of others lived and worked for a
radical revolution of values. We will as well. We respect the human rights and
human dignity of others and work for a world where love and wisdom and
solidarity and respect prevail. We expect those for whom the current unjust
system works just fine will object and oppose and accuse people seeking dramatic
change of being divisive and worse. That is to be expected because that is what
happens to all groups which work for serious social change. Despite that, people
will continue to go forward with determination and purpose to bring about a
radical revolution of values in the USA.
SM/KA