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Political Platform
As decided by delegates of CDN Network Meeting, 21. June 2003, Ohrid, Macedonia; Amended by delegates of Network Meeting, 28. May 2005, Bitola, Macedonia and 27. May 2006, Bucharest, Romania, October 2009,Zagreb, Crotia, February 2011, Gonio, Georgia
Background
After the fall of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, this region has faced great problems with the transformation of their societies towards modern democracy and human rights principles. The burden from the Communist era has remained a significant obstacle to way of thinking and created number of problems escalating nationalism and hate.
At the beginning of the 21st century young people still have very little influence on changes in society despite the fact that they are not only a fundamental part of society, but also very important actors of change. Therefore for any grass-roots changes in the east there is a higher need for direct participation of young people in society. The most significant problem is that both the current establishment, be it former communist or modern western, and the political structures prevent young people from having real power. Youth is not seen as an active and equal actor on political, social, cultural and economic spheres: It is considered as “future” in shiny speech, but never as “present”. Young people are excluded from decision-making process; they are asked to be object in the society, and never the subject. We regard youth as having a crucial, active and direct role to play in the development of a sustainable and
democratic society. This role puts great demand on co-learning, share of knowledge and experiences, and active collaboration for young people, especially on international and inter-cultural levels.
CDN is founded as an answer for this need in 2002. With an active collaboration and support of FYEG and Green Forum Sweden, CDN is now a network of Young Greens in Eastern Europe which supports the Young Green organisations in the region. CDN is focused on but not limited to study sessions, seminars, summer camps and other regular co-learning activities among constant communication and collaboration between its member organisations.
This Political Platform of CDN expresses the political position of Network members towards important issues.
1. Ecology
We emphasise that human society depends on the ecological resources of the Planet, and for that reason CDN believes that it is necessary to:
1.1 Ensure the integrity of ecosystems and preserve biodiversity.
1.2 Live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet.
1.3 Protect animal and plant life, and life itself that is sustained by the natural elements: earth, water, air and sun.
1.4 Maintain biodiversity through sustainable use of renewable resources and responsible use of non-renewable resources
1.5 Redefine the concept of wealth, to focus on quality of life rather than capacity for over-consumption.
1.6 Understand that there is no social justice without environmental justice, and no environmental justice without social justice.
1.7 Support and promote organic agriculture and fight actively against Genetically Modified Organisms.
1.8 Make fundamental changes in people's attitudes, values, and ways of producing and living. This should be done by media campaigns, youth exchanges, education, promoting active citizenship, etc.
1.9 We oppose the fact that Eastern Europe represents a dumping place for outdated and environmental unfriendly technologies from the EU countries. The EU should make sure that none of those technologies which are banned within EU are exported.
1.10 Recognize the direct link between human well-being and ecological sustainability : sustainability can not be reached as long as poverty persists; and poverty can only be eradicated in a sustainable world.
2. Economical Justice
We state that the current economical system that is based on inequality, exploitation and non-responsible financial growth is not acceptable. We firmly believe that a strong paradigm shift to holistic approach has to be realized in order to tackle numerous economical problems that our societies are facing. In this regard, we see necessary to create the post-capitalist economic system that will:
2.1 Tackle ecological and environmental threats together with economical problems in a holistic manner based on Green principles.
2.2 Measure wealth and well-being through more comprehensive and competent indicators than GDP which is solely considering growth. Redefine the concepts of wealth and poverty, and to focus on life quality instead of materialistic abundance.
2.3 Consider the Peak-Oil and Climate Change as twin results of the current system and realize the shift to Post - Carbon society in order to tackle both, and to create in the same time a better world. For this, the immense dependence on carbon fuels should be quickly abolished; and global carbon emissions should peak no later than 2015.
2.4 Repress the poverty, as an ethical, social, economic and ecological imperative.
2.5 Create a world economy which will close the widening gap between rich and poor, both within and between countries; and lift the burden of debt on poor countries.
2.6 Treat all in an equal and fair manner. This is especially urgent for youth, woman and all kind of minorities and people with disadvantages that are excluded and/or limited from working life.
2.7 Establish social and economical protection for all. That is necessary to ensure a certain level of life quality for all the individuals.
2.8 Creating a world economy which aims to satisfy the needs of all, not the greed of a few; and enabling those presently living to meet their own needs, without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
3. Social justice
Injustice, sexism, racism, poverty, ignorance, corruption, armed conflict, crime and violence, and the search for maximum short term profit through exploitation are causing widespread human suffering and violation of human rights.
Accepting those circumstances as our reality we want to support the vision of citizenship built and guaranteed on equal rights for all individuals regardless of gender, race, age, religion, class, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, disability, wealth or health.
In order to fulfill this vision CDN place importance on:
3.1 Ensuring that all citizens should have full opportunities for personal and social development.
3.2 Upholding the right of citizens to access to official information and to a free and independent media.
3.3 We demand youth and information centres in every local community, affordable computers and free access to the internet.
3.4 We want education to be more youth oriented and accessible to all. Teaching democratic values are keys to mutual understanding, acceptance, respect and solidarity. The school curricula should be improved, so as to take into consideration differences in gender, ethnicity, and respect for diversity. Education system has to be re structured in order to emphasize direct and equal participation of students to learning process, including a much bigger freedom on choosing personal education paths, interests and affiliations.
3.5 Obtaining equal rights between women and men in all spheres of social, economic, political and cultural life.
3.6 Recognising and respect sexual minorities.
3.7 Promoting cultural, linguistic, ethnic, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity within the context of individual responsibility toward all beings.
3.8 Recognising the right of ethnic minorities to develop their culture, religion and language without discrimination, and to full legal, social and cultural participation in the democratic process. These rights should be under strong constitutional protection.
3.9 Providing access to healthcare for all citizens. Special attention should go to helping traumatized people, especially children.
3.10 Creating a world economy which aims to satisfy the needs of all, not the greed of a few; and enabling those presently living to meet their own needs, without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
3.11 Educating, encouraging and assisting youth involvement in every aspect of social and political life including their participation in all decision making bodies.
3.12 Recognising the key role of youth culture and encouraging an ethic of sustainability within that culture.
3.13 Transparency and control concerning European financial aid is necessary. Support to the governmental sector and to the civil sector must be better monitored on the base of result achievement, and bureaucratic obstacles and limitations for civil sector have to be removed. This will improve the current endangered position of the civil sector and enable them to become an essential part of the democratic scope.
4. Non-violent peace keeping
4.1 Removing the causes of war by understanding and respecting other cultures, eradicating racism, promoting freedom and democracy, early and active conflict prevention and ending global poverty.
4.2 Pursuing general and complete disarmament, including international agreements to ensure a complete and definitive ban of nuclear, biological and chemical arms, anti-personnel mines and depleted uranium weapons.
4.3 Strengthening and reforming the United Nations (UN) as the global organisation of conflict management and peacekeeping.
4.4 We believe that security should not be based on military strength but on cooperation, sound economic and social development, environmental safety, and respect for human rights.
5. Democracy
5.1 The fight against corruption is at the top of the list of priorities to achieve a real level of democracy.
5.2 We strive for a democracy in which all citizens have the right to express their views, and are able and
encouraged to directly participate in all kind of decisions which affect...their lives; so that power and responsibility are concentrated in local and regional communities, and devolved only where essential to higher tiers of governance.
5.3 Building grassroots institutions that enable decisions to be made directly at the appropriate level by those affected, based on systems which encourage civic vitality, voluntary action and community responsibility.
5.4 That all elected representatives are committed to the principles of transparency, truthfulness, and
accountability in governance.
5.5 Support the restructuring of state institutions to democratise them and make them more transparent in decision making and efficient in serving the goal of citizens' power and sustainable development.
5.6 In order to build civil society it is needed to create more space for volunteerism and active citizenship
encouraged by the legislative framework.
5.7. We demand independent funds for youth projects, not state related in order to build a civil society so that we can exchange experiences with organisations and individuals from different countries.
5.8 Youth participation should be encouraged by the civil society and encouraged by legislation. The awareness of youngsters should be raised by intercultural exchanges, co-operation, spreading information through the free media and education.
6. Gender equality
6.1 We believe that work on gender related issues should be a priority for CDN, because of various gender based discriminatory practices taking place in Eastern Europe.
6.2 Home and education play the crucial role in the development of gender awareness. In Eastern Europe the institution of family and educational system (especially primary education) are commonly the major sources for gender based discriminations, therefore one of CDN's aims is to emphasize the importance of gender education, starting with these two levels.
6.3 CDN wants equal wages, equal access to jobs and employment opportunities for both men and women. In order to achieve this CDN wants to work on rising awareness of the necessity of equal treatment in the working environment (especially for women).
6.4 We want to focus on empowering women to get a more active role and positions in the decision making processes. We believe that, by means of affirmative action, women can become more actively involved and represented in politics.
6.5 We want to reach our goals by promoting: young people's involvement in solving gender related problems in their countries, intercultural dialogue, human rights education, fighting gender based discrimination, encouraging more young women to take an active role in politics and other spheres of social life.
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