Internationalism or Extinction

At the inaugural Summit of the Progressive International held on September 2020, the Council adopted the following declaration.

I. Internationalism or Extinction

The crises of our century threaten the extinction of all life in all nations across all continents. Internationalism is not a luxury. It is a strategy for survival.

II. A Definition of Progress

Our mission is to build a planetary front of progressive forces. We define progressive as the aspiration to a world that is: democratic, decolonised, just, egalitarian, liberated, feminist, ecological, peaceful, post-capitalist, prosperous, plural, and bound by radical love.

III. Peoples of the World, Organize

We are workers, peasants, and peoples of the world rising up against the reactionary forces of authoritarian oligarchy. Our aim is international organization: to combine forces across borders in order to reclaim the planet as our own.

IV. We Build Infrastructure

Our mandate is to build the infrastructure for internationalism. The forces of progress remain fragmented, while wealth and power consolidate around the world. We build the scaffolding of a planetary front with the strength to fight and win.

V. Unity, Not Conformity

We seek unity through shared struggle. The present crisis demands the strategic alliance of all progressive forces. But coordination does not require submission. We aim to build a broad coalition, while making space for creative contention inside of it.

VI. Partnership by Mutual Power

We believe that partnership without mutual power is just another name for domination. In our work, we aim to rebalance rather than reproduce disparities of power across our coalition.

VII. Capitalism Is the Virus

We aspire to eradicate capitalism everywhere. We believe that exploitation, dispossession, and environmental destruction are written into the genetic code of capitalism. We do not support efforts to save this system, nor enable its expansion to all corners of the earth.

VIII. Internationalism Means Anti-Imperialism

Our internationalism stands against imperialism in all its forms: from war and sanctions to privatization and “structural adjustment”. We believe that these are not only tools of domination by some nations over others. They are also the tools of division to set the peoples of the world against each other.

IX. Language Is Power

We speak in many languages. Linguistic barriers strengthen class domination, white supremacy, and indigenous dispossession. We aim to transcend linguistic barriers to find our own common language of resistance.

X. Freedom at the Frontline

Our internationalism is intersectional: we believe that the layers of oppression sedimented by racial capitalism in the course of its imperial expansion demand that we center the front-line struggles for liberation at the base of global economy: for food, for land, for dignity, and for emancipation.

XI. An Internationalism of Liberation

We fight racism, casteism, and all forms of social domination. We recognize that white supremacy is an organizing principle of the world system. Our opposition to oppressive hierarchies is the foundation of our internationalism.

XII. Decolonisation Is Not a Metaphor

Our aim is to decolonise the planet. We do not settle for symbolic acts of decolonisation. Our demand is full reparations for past crimes and the immediate restoration of land, resources, and sovereignty to all the dispossessed peoples of the world.

XIII. Feminist Politics, Feminist Practice

We believe that no one is free in a system of gender oppression. Our aim is to break with the patriarchy while disrupting the binary structure of gender on which it relies. We direct our politics toward care, cooperation, and communal accountability.

XIV. Buenos Vivires

We do not measure progress with growth. The imperative of expansion is the engine of ecocide. We seek good ways of living, free from hunger and want, and we define our success by the quality of our collective coexistence.

XV. No Justice, No Peace

Our aim is lasting peace. But peace can only last in the security of social justice. We work to dismantle the war machine, and replace it with a diplomacy of peoples based on cooperation and coexistence.

XVI. Revolution, Not Regime Change

We support popular movements to transform society and reclaim the state. But we stand against attempts to overthrow regimes in order to protect the interests of capital and assist the advance of empire.

XVII. Winning Elections Is Not Enough

Our mission is to build popular power on a planetary scale. Elections are opportunities to transform politics and turn popular demands into government policy. But we know that winning elections is not enough to fulfill our mission.

XVIII. Power from Pluralism

Our coalition is bound by a shared vision of collective liberation. We do not import this vision or impose one program over the rest. Instead, we weave together our needs, knowledge, and policy priorities to build a common program that derives power from pluralism.

XIX. Relationships Are the Foundation

Our internationalism is intimate. New technologies promised community and connection, but sowed discord and disillusionment instead. We believe that we cannot succeed unless we know and trust one another on equal terms.

XX. Dialogue is Not Enough

Our aim is collective action. We are not satisfied with setting up a social network. Our activities prepare us for planetary mobilization, matching the scale of our crises to the scale of the actions that we mount against them.

XXI. Not For Profit, Not By Profit

We fund our activities exclusively through donations and member contributions. We do not accept money from for-profit institutions and the representatives of fossil fuel companies, pharmaceutical companies, big tech companies, big banks, private equity firms, hedge funds, agribusinesses, and the arms industry.

XXII. We Are Not an NGO

Our aim is solidarity, not charity. We believe that real change comes from movements of people, not the benevolence of philanthropy. We are accountable only to those movements and the communities from which they grow.

XXIII. Fight on All Fronts

Our coalition reflects the diversity of struggle in the world. We welcome unions, parties, movements, publications, research centres, neighbourhood associations, and individual activists in their lonely struggle. Together, this coalition is greater than the sum of its parts, and powerful enough to remake the world.

XXIV. From Each, and to Each

Our model of membership is simple: from each, according to ability; and to each, according to need. We expect members to participate in the construction of our common front in whichever ways they can. And we strive to support members in all the ways that their struggle demands.

XXV. Solidarity Is Not a Slogan

We believe that solidarity is an action. The expression of sympathy for our allies is common. Our task is to recognize their struggle as our own, to organize our communities to take part in that struggle, and to join forces across borders in a common defense of people and planet.

Progressive International

The Declaration was adopted following the Inaugural Summit of Progressive International held on September 2020. More information on the movement and its initiatives can be found at https://progressive.international.