Five Banners

by Michael Novick

Here are five banners around which our forces can unify, not a laundry list, but a coherence of the claims of justice and liberation, of peace and end to empire.

DE-COLONIZATION

Self-determination for all oppressed people
Recognize Native treaty rights
Independence for Puerto Rico
Respect Hawaiian Sovereignty
Reparations for the descendants of Africans forcibly enslaved
End the domination of the Mexican people on both sides of the border
Stop racism
Amnesty for all political prisoners and prisoners of war

DEMOCRATIZATION

Community control of police and of education -- End police impunity!
Restore civic rights of convicts
Protect labor organizing and workplace rights, including the right to strike
Freedom of speech and conscience
Amnesty for the undocumented
World-wide Jubilee forgiveness of debt
Repeal NAFTA, block the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, and end the WTO
Replace corporate domination with cooperative economics.

DE-MILITARIZATION

Ban all nuclear power, nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in the US
End all secret wars and covert operations
Dismantle the NSC, the CIA, the FBI, the School Of the Americas, and all agencies of international repression
Demobilize U.S. troops and bases around the world.
Demilitarize the police and the schools

DE-CRIMINALIZATION

Community controlled treatment and rehabilitation of non-violent drug offenders
Alternatives to incarceration for restorative justice
Abolish the death penalty and control units
Decriminalize consensual sexual activity and use of intoxicants
End prison privatization.

DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Support a woman's right to abortion and to control her own body
Health care, child care, housing, food, education and employment are human rights
Reverse deforestation and global warming
Decolonize the Bio-sphere
Ban the privatization of seeds, life forms, and the human genome.

Building such a unified demonstration is an attainable goal. Many streams and currents of dissent and community organization could unite in this campaign into a mighty torrent of social transformation from the grassroots up.

Although the demands are sharp, radical and anti-imperialist, they are simultaneously broad and encompassing of many diverse aspects of our struggle. Unifying significant numbers of people around this program would create a pole of attraction within an increasingly polarized society. The two imperialist parties put together platforms that encompass diverse interests and seek a mass base based around alternative strategies for maintaining and expanding the empire. We need to put together a platform that unites diverse forces in opposition to the empire and its deadly consequences for people, cultures and the planet.

NOTE: Some months ago as activists began to plan and work on the Democratic Convention protest plans, there was an interesting discussion of what really united the coalition. Teacher, writer and activist Michael Novick (part2001@usa.net) submitted this thoughtful blueprint for unification. He is active in People Against Racist Terror and editor of "Turning the Tide: Journal of Anti-Racist Action."   --pr