CONSTITUENT CHARTER
THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS : A VITAL ISSUE FOR THE PLANET
Green thinking began when it was realised how human activity was threatening the future of the planet.
The population explosion, the unprecedented increase in mobility, and the growing pace of uncontrolled technical progress pose totally new challenges with absolutely vital implications since it is life itself which is imperilled. The depletion of resources, the dramatic decline of biodiversity, the concentration of human beings in gigantic conurbations and the accumulation of weapons of mass destruction require the urgent mobilisation of the whole of humanity.
In the developed countries purchasing power is gradually becoming more important than quality of life while in the rest of the world over 800 million human beings are living in abject poverty.
The ecological crisis is basically a crisis in man's relationship with nature and with himself. It has environmental, urban, social and cultural aspects. It affects all human beings, without distinction, wherever they live and whatever their level of development or social position.
The way in which that crisis is resolved will determine the solutions to all the other questions.
It is this unprecedented challenge we must take up if we want a life worth living. To succeed, urgent action must be taken to tackle the causes of the crisis and enable the planet, and those who live on it, to attain a state of harmony and equilibrium.
ECOLOGY AND RESPONSIBILITY
Let's be positive instead of being passive
THE ANSWER IS BOTH POLITICAL AND CULTURAL
The relationship between human communities and their territory and the lives people lead are the reflection of a culture and the way society is organised.
In a developed country such as France, the choices implemented in every sphere of public life (agriculture, industry, transport, energy, town planning, work etc.) betray a certain attitude towards the planet.
They are determined on behalf of the community by elected bodies. This means that the answer is political, in the noblest sense of the word - the art of administering the polis.
But it is cultural too. What is needed is nothing less than a revolution in people's attitudes. They must:
- face up to their responsibilities as thinking beings since humans are the only species capable of measuring the consequences of their actions and rising above their biological reflexes;
- voluntarily restrain their dominance over the world and leave room for other forms of life, be they animals or plants;
- control the enormous technical resources at their disposal and ensure their compatibility with life;
- implement economic policies which take account of the limited nature of the earth's inhabitable area and resources;
- promote solidarity between men and women all over the world in order to safeguard our common future.
GIVING PRIOTITY TO LIFE !
Ecologism is based on a few fundamental ideas whose common feature is that they express our love of life:
- respect for the diversity of species, living communities and cultures . This diversity, which reflects the complexity and richness of life, is a wonderful heritage showing how the Earth can fulfil our need for discovery and wonder;
- the need to adapt ourselves to the Earth's limitations: all of the Earth's resources are limited - its surface area, its production potential and its capacity for digesting our waste. Economic and social strategies must integrate this reality of the Earth's finitude. It is time to stop the regulation by disasters which has so far marked the history of humankind;
- The wholeness of the individual: human beings are not just consumers and producers; they are primarily sentient beings with vulnerable bodies. No policy should prioritise economic interests at the expense of the integrity of the individual;
- Every human being is unique: no-one's life may be sacrificed in the name of progress or for reasons of state, justice, or ideology.
- Personal and cultural identity: according to the Declaration of Human Rights, which we fully endorse, the rights of the individual are universal. Individual human beings are all different; they are identified by their culture, and their attachment to a particular territory and the community living on it. These links and the language, shared heritage and culture through which they are expressed must be respected and acknowledged.
- Freedom: this is a basic value which must not be flouted by the State. It must be exercised in a participatory democracy in which everyone must be able to express themselves, form associations, or take initiatives while respecting the freedom of others. Our attachment to freedom means that we reject totalitarian and collectivist systems of government and also those which sacrifice political sovereignty to economic mechanisms.
- Responsibility: men and women are responsible for the planet and for their children's future. Though separated by time and distance, the generations and peoples of the Earth partake of the same future. We are in favour of establishing rights for future generations.
- Different but equal: human beings are not born alike but they are equal in terms of dignity, rights and duties. Everyone has the right to the same educational opportunities, the same quality of life, the same access to citizenship and the same respect. Everyone has the duty to contribute to the flourishing of the human community and to respect their environment.
- Ecology and its humanistic dimension : Freedom, respect for diversity, personal and cultural identity, promoting equality while preserving differences are crucial aspects of our approach. We share this same love of life. These basic principles are fully consistent only when taken together. None of them can stand alone.
A NEW PATH
Mankind has the wherewithal to destroy that which gives meaning to life, i.e. life itself. It has the means to build the ' Brave New World ', that great anthill in which the individual would lose his identity and his freedom. Both capitalism and socialism embarked upon that path adopting a false postulate - the unlimited production of material goods and wealth by human labour, ignoring that there are limits to everything on our planet: raw materials, water, land, non - renewable resources.
The political parties which have governed the country have never been capable of shaking off their obsession with growth, be it in terms of population, energy consumption, land or mobility. Non-marketable values, such as the harmony of a landscape or the conviviality of an urban district, have little weight against the demands of relentless economic growth. The last wild forests, the remaining stretches of undeveloped coastline, even the last Pyrenean bears are sacrificed unscrupulously on the altar of development which has forgotten its true purpose: the self-realisation of the individual and of human societies.
For a complete break : The failure of the traditional parties is flagrant: they misconstrue the problems and therefore they cannot solve them. The Green politics we want is in complete break with the ideologies which have dominated political life for over a century.
Violence appears legitimate to both the right and the left when it serves the state or their vision of progress. The armed settlement of conflicts, the crushing of the individual by the state machine, and certain technologies are all expressions of this violence which we reject.
To realise the limits of the planet means to turn away from the material growth option, hitherto presented as an answer to unemployment. Respect for life as the ethics of human responsibility is in opposition to the relentless exploitation of the earth's resources and the total domination of its whole territory. The requirement for world-wide solidarity is completely at odds with national egoisms. Technological and social non-violence reject the materialistic, deterministic vision of progress, replacing it with a qualitative, humanistic and cultural definition.
If we are to retain intact our ability to invent the future we must remain free of all ideological heritage, though that does not mean we must be ignorant of history.
INDEPENDENCE IN ORDER TO PERSUADE AND TO ACT
The advent of an ecological society requires a profound change in people's mentalities. Ecologists can only succeed by convincing a majority of people across the whole social spectrum. Both blue and white collar workers are faced with the same destiny when it comes to the ecological crisis: our message is addressed to both.
How can people ever understand that the ecologists incarnate this new approach if they insert themselves in the confrontation between right and left? How can we win the support of all of the French people if we only address our message to the left or to the right ?
Political independence is the most effective means of ensuring that the ecologists' ideas progress. Such independence has conceptual, methodological and strategic implications.
Conceptually it asserts the originality of ecological ideas by comparison with conventional political ideas.
In terms of method, it implies a complete openness of mind enabling us to dialogue freely and without prejudice with the whole of the population, associations and other democratic political parties. It thus makes it possible to formulate a project which is consistent with the complex and changing reality of the world.
INDEPENDENCE WITHOUT SECTARIANISM.
Independence gives ecologists openness of mind enabling us to dialogue with anyone without prejudice and in complete freedom
To implement that project, political independence makes it possible to choose, in complete objectivity, a partner open to our ideas, assuming one exists. We have no privileged or natural partners, only potential partners when the balance of power is in our favour. What matters in this context is not the political label but the partner's ability to implement a local or national management contract.
Green politics must be constructive !
As a political party, it is natural that we should send genuine ecologists to the institutions, including the government. But such participation must be conditional on arrangements which enable this commitment to be meaningful.
Participation in government presupposes a contract defining practical objectives which can be achieved during the equivalent term of office. This contract must be public and enjoy credible electoral support. Its implementation must be planned and measurable.
In order for our political identity to be perceptible to public opinion, and out of respect for our voters, we have no truck with the practice of withdrawing for the second ballot and telling them which other parties to vote for.
Given that social evolution of a cultural nature can only be a gradual process, our approach can be no more than reformist in the short term, while remaining unshakeable on general policy and radical long-term objectives. The process of persuasion is a long road and requires that we avoid two pitfalls: on the one hand getting bogged down in sterile dogmatism and, on the other, allowing the exercise of power and the political facts of life to water down our programme.
strategy consists in giving priority to reforms with a structural impact, building up a cultural majority to support the electoral majority that we want and using the people's referendum to arbitrate and resolve situations where society becomes deadlocked.
Green politics can be effective if it makes a clear distinction between real power and formal power. It is only real power which interests us because that alone can enable the course of history to be changed. It can be obtained only if we have the support of the majority of public opinion, the means of keeping the technocracy under control and a guarantee of independence from those who wield economic power.
Formal power does not interest us if our influence over society can be stronger in opposition than in a government which reduces us to impotence or submission.
Our achievement must not be measured in terms of the number of ecologist local councils or cabinet ministers but in terms of the extent to which France and Europe become receptive to the ecological message.
Our goal is to do all we can to help people to think and act collectively.
Green politics is not possible without a full commitment to democracy.
Reconciling the economy, human beings and life.
"Progress has not kept all its promises. It is polluting our life, threatening our planet and marginalizing many people.
The time has come to give it a new meaning.
It should mean enjoying life again in our towns and in the countryside. Safe travel and transport.
Ensuring better health.
Preparing our children for the future. Putting an end to loneliness and exclusion.
Together we can go further, we can reverse the trend. We can transform our lives."
NEW ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL GUIDELINES
Although we may learn from the science of ecology how we should treat our planet, it does not necessarily show us what paths we should follow to reconcile Mankind with itself and the Earth. The ecological approach, particularly in the economic and social spheres, shows a concern for realities, and is capable of learning from its experiences and from the broadening of its knowledge.
Ecologism is critical of both collectivism and global free trade. The collectivist economy is condemned by its denial of the rights of minorities, its totalitarian tendency, its wastage of resources and its inability to meet elementary needs.
Free trade in a globalized economy, on the other hand, is disqualified by the marginalisation of political power and representative democracy, its inability to ensure a fair distribution of the Earth's resources and the effort needed to produce them. Both of these economic models are based on materialistic, scientistic philosophies. They betray the same inability to integrate, other than to a marginal extent, the qualitative dimension. They justify production by the need to amortise machinery, to keep money in circulation, or to give people work: at no time is the desirability of production subjected to a review of its social usefulness. Both systems are conducive to a form of standardisation in which the integrity of individuals and the diversity of the world are becoming lost.
Expansion is vital for the dominant economic model. It feeds on the growth of motor traffic, on the property market, the number of consumers and consumption driven by advertising. The alternative is a regulated market economy, arbitrated by ordinary people, elected assemblies and enlightened consumers.
Individual initiative and enterprise in an economy based on supply and demand represent the most efficient and the most democratic economic system, on condition that:
1. the people's elected representatives ensure that it is properly regulated with due respect for the law, balanced regional planning, cultural identities and while organising support systems;
2. the competition which is characteristic of the market economy is not exercised at the expense of environmental or social requirements. That presupposes that the rules governing production and trade between different markets should be brought under control and eventually that they should be harmonised.
3. the State ensures, through regulations and taxation, that the relevant environmental and social costs are integrated in the price of products and services;
4. consumers could play their part in a genuinely competitive system, thanks to transparent price formation and full information for the public on product quality. Pressure from consumers out of concern for their health and environment, must eventually lead to production being shifted towards lasting, more economical goods.
We want to implement levers which reverse current trends, by promoting:
- closer links between citizens and the places where decisions are taken;
- production and consumption units on a human scale;
- diversified modes of land occupation;
- local production and consumption by applying the subsidiarity principle to trade relations;
- European political integration in order to create a trading area with an autonomous position in relation to the international market and which gives priority to quality over quantity.
A harmonious economy must enable everyone to have access to housing, food and culture without thereby jeopardising the survival of mankind on the planet. That implies a decrease in the production of waste and in the consumption of non renewable energy sources and a rational use of raw materials and fertile lands.
To become aware of the existence and the seriousness of the economic crisis is to realise that all members of society share the same destiny, transcending class antagonisms. But it is more difficult for those who live in fear of what tomorrow will bring to come to this realisation. Accordingly, we believe that it is necessary to provide everyone with suitable work and a decent income. And we are also concerned to reduce inequalities in terms of quality of life (environment, housing etc.), and access to knowledge and to health.
Quite apart from the moral arguments which militate in favour of such changes, they are absolutely essential in the interests of global cohesion.
We believe that social progress cannot be measured in terms of the accumulation of material goods but the potential enjoyed by each human being for physical and mental self - enrichment and the ability to lead meaningful life.
(Adopted at Châtel Guyon, France, on September, 4, 1994)