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| Revelers gather at the White House and chant "USA! USA!" after the death of Osama bin Laden, 05/21/11. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) |
24 January 12
[REPRINT] "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
ne.
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.
Bill Quigley is Legal Director of the Center for
Constitutional Rights and law professor at Loyola University New
Orleans. You can reach Bill at
quigley77@gmail.com.
