“We seek solidarity with the peoples of the world. We seek solidarity with what we think are the nations of the world. But what has happened? We find that because everything is in a constant state of transformation, because of the development of technology, because of the development of mass media, because of the fire power of the imperialist, and because of the fact that the United States is no longer a nation but and empire, nations cannot exist, for they do not have the criteria for nationhood.”

(Huey P. Newton, 1970)

Since Huey P. Newton communicated this vision on November 18, 1970 the world has changed even more dramatically than he could ever have imagined. As a consequence of the changes which he mentions Empire can no longer be associated solely with the United States. Empire is now a loose conglomerate of global capitalists with no loyalty to any nation- state. They have created a system in which capital is more important than humans and corporations are more powerful than nations.

We envision a world without hierarchy or capitalism, where all people are free to determine their own futures, socially, politically, economically, and culturally. We envision a fundamental transformation of all oppressive social relationships between people and between people and governments, corporations and global financial institutions.

We are committed to building a free, egalitarian, cooperative, directly democrative and peaceful society. The following is a “call of action” for people to build a space that empowers each of us through autonomy and self-determination. Nobody is liberator or liberated, liberation is collective.

We divided these into ten points but all of the ideas and struggles are inter related and demonstrates the interdependence of communities across the world. In line with our vision, we propose the following:

  1. We want freedom.
    We want the freedom to determine the destinies of our lives and our communities. We want the power to become who we want to become, a world where every persons potential may be fulfilled. We want people to have self-determination and communities to have autonomy from Neoliberal economic and political policies.
  2. We want a truly global community.
    We envision a world in which communities will assume their cooperative place as members of a larger global network opposed to any efforts that keep them from giving or receiving aid to or from other communities around the world with whom they might share goals and aspirations. Unlike integrated capitalism, through cooperative relations, a truly global society will look to add and not to subtract from the wealth and creativity of humanity. We envision a world where all worlds fit, where voices are heard and nobody is silenced, where each and everyone’s contributions are valued, regardless of gender, race, age, sexuality, disabilities and economics and where nobody is considered a minority. We are labelled as minorities so as to make us feel less than, when in reality our power in numbers is greater. We want spaces for interaction, solidarity, reciprocity, and interchange to take place, where our differences meet and we realize our similarities.
  3. Basic Necessities
    We believe that all persons are equally deserving of life with dignity and all should have access to life’s basic necessities: nutritious food, clean water and air, affordable and adequate housing, health care, and a respected spiritual base.
  4. Education
    Education is a right, not a privilege. Quality education and equal access to it should be the norm. We want education for people that exposes the true nature of Capitalism and the tools to act against it. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society. We believe in an education system that will give our people a knowledge and confidence of self that supports critical thinking vs. indoctrination; a participatory experience for both youth and educators. We believe in communities creating autonomous educational systems that value ancestral knowledge and life experiences and will instil responsibility to serving community needs and objectives.
  5. We want the elimination of all prisons and police.
    Society must confront and solve the problems that it creates. It cannot throw them away into its darkest corners or execute them, and pretend that they have disappeared. In addition to the fact that our criminal injustice system and its ¨war on drugs/terrorism¨ is racist and a code word for ¨war on our communities¨, the entire logic of prison and policing must be discarded. The police are agents of the capitalistic racist governments that oppress people. The police are the instigators of crime, harassers in our communities and enforcers of the system. They use brutal force and racially profile in order to maintain their so-called order. Our communities do not need prisons or police; they need opportunities, resources, and autonomous control of the space where they can put their ideals into practice. We want a justice system that is locally based and autonomous in nature. Respected community representatives and elders should be the peers to judge a crime against another, and decisions on rehabilitation and appropriate penalties should remain in the hands of those communities affected so as to end the cycle of violence towards healing and rehumanization.
  6. We want the total decontrol of the media and the free movement of knowledge.
    Our right to free speech has been effectively reduced to the right to be constantly bombarded by corporate ads and lifestyles. Media is propaganda and all should have the tools and exposure to counter-propagate. The media must be open to all; it is not enough to be allowed to appear on existing programming. We must be able to make our own programs and formulate our own debate. The formulation of ideas, resources, and discussion has always been and will always continue to be, fundamental in the formation of a cohesive and participatory community, in other words, democracy.
  7. We want a healthy environment where we can live with dignity.
    We want to organize against corporate multinationals who are exploiting for profit the resources the people have inherent right to manage. We envision a truly global responsible society where everybody has respect for mother earth and future generations and where people and corporations be held accountable for their damaging actions to the environment. We want communities to create and use alternative energy, collective and cooperative transportation, reduce, reuse, and recycle. We denounce the privatization of natural resources such as water and remind all that it is our collective responsibility to the world and to us to care about these issues, for they are directly tied to our survival as human beings.
  8. We want the elimination of Third World * debt.
    *We do not agree with the racist, separatist term of Third World that is used to divide us. In fact, the so-called Third World makes up eighty percent of the world’s population. There is only one world. Under current Neoliberal economic policies, the cycle of third world debt consists of squeezing the poor countries for everything that they own, preventing their integration into the global economy and exacerbating their poverty through unjust financial practices. The IMF and The World Bank are well aware that without poor countries, there can be no rich countries.
  9. We want global citizenship and open un-militarized borders.
    If capital has the ability to move freely across the state-contrived national boundaries, so should we. Restrictions placed on immigration are a racist and colonialist attempt to restrict peoples’ movement and their hopes to obtain better living conditions. Maintaining borders keeps the poor trapped, allowing trans-national corporations to profit from their desperations. The divide and conquer strategy is denying our right to organize and essentially denying our universal right towards the pursuit of happiness and freedom, wherever we choose it.
  10. We want to have increase options of where to work (always in dignified conditions), to be respected as workers and have our work valued.
    Under the present capitalistic system and the implementation of free-trade agreements, work is valued in monetary term, typically unfair and unjust, while increasing alienation and desperation to have us work as cheap labor. We envision all work, whether or not it takes place within the factory walls, to be dignified. We want the elimination of sweatshop conditions. As workers, we want to be respected as contributors to humanity and have our work valued. We want autonomy and self-assertion, to organize and create options rooted in local realities and to create new ways of validating each other’s work. Corporations are not individuals with civil rights. The power of workers should be focused on eliminating the workers-owner relationship. Workers should own the means collectively. Government and corporate decision makers must be held accountable for crimes against humanity and environmental degradation.