Canada’s 2001 “Manifesto of the New Politics Initiative”
Excerpt, minor editing by Carolyn Bennett
“We reject the idea
that the sun has somehow set on the ideals of egalitarianism, solidarity,
redistribution, community responsibility, and socialism — ideals that have
motivated generations of human beings to fight to limit the economic and
political power of private wealth. ...
“Far from retreating
defensively and adopting so-called ‘moderate’ values, we have an opportunity to
loudly call out that the emperor has no clothes. Decades of pro-business
policies have not delivered better life prospects for the vast majority of
Canadians (let alone those in the Third World), and it is time once again to
think about fundamental changes in the way we organize our society and our
economy.”
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| New U.S. presidential candidate with new political party Rocky Anderson at High Road for Human Rights |
“When I first read the New Politics Initiative’s manifesto,” Marc Lee
writes, “I thought it was one of the most visionary and exciting things I had
read in a long time. Re-reading it a decade later, [I find] the NPI’s vision of
a more fundamentally democratic society and its ideas for a new type of
politics still ring true.
“They also have a tremendous resonance with the current political
moment, though in ways not intended by the drafters.
“As a call to action to progressives inside and outside the [New
Democratic Party of Canada] to transform into a new kind of political party,
the NPI was a failure.
“Ten years on, the New Politics Initiative manifesto hardly looks dated
at all. The underlying challenges of a growing gap between the rich and the
rest of us and a deteriorating global environment are even more acute. It was a
great decade for capitalism.”
Source and notes
rabble series
“The New Politics Initiative: Reflections on the 10th anniversary” (By Marc
Lee), November 29, 2011, http://rabble.ca/news/2011/11/new-politics-initiative-reflections-10th-anniversary
Marc Lee was an early signatory to the New Politics Initiative. He is also
a senior economist with the British Columbia Office of the Canadian Center for
Policy Alternatives and the Co-Director of the Climate Justice Project, a
five-year partnership with the University of British Columbia looking at the
social justice aspects of climate action policies.
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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