Occupy Wellington Vision Statement
Occupy Wellington Vision Statement
Please note that this is intended to be a working draft or a “living document”. Anyone can contribute to shaping this document and our shared vision – you just need to Get Involved!
Who are
we?
We are you, we are the people of the world: all
ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, generations, sexualities,
dis/abilities and faiths. We stand together in solidarity
with pro-democracy movements around the world: the Arab
Spring, the Spanish Indignados, popular uprisings in Greece
and Iceland, and most recently the global Occupy movement in
over 2,500 cities.
Why are we speaking out?
Each
of us can identify different problems with the current
system, but we are unified in our desire for a move towards
social, political and economic systems that benefit
all.
Globally, we face increasingly widespread environmental destruction, economic exploitation and disregard for human rights. The institutions perpetrating these abuses against our people and our planet are bigger and more powerful than any government.
How does this
apply to New Zealand?
While we recognise that the
situation in New Zealand is not identical to that in other
countries, we are subject to, and contribute to, many of the
same global problems.
• We are internationally
recognised as the third most unequal society in the OECD,
with an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. This year
foreign-owned banks posted billion dollar profits and 151
individuals increased their wealth by $7 billion, while
200,000 children live in poverty.
• In the past 3
years, an unprecedented number of bills have passed under
urgency, eliminating the opportunity for public debate while
rushing through damaging changes in education, taxation,
policing, copyright, and employment relations, to name a
few.
• Deaf to the global call for climate action and
blind to ongoing environmental catastrophes, our government
seeks to open up our fossil fuel reserves to commercial
speculation, mine our National Parks and drill for deep-sea
oil.
• The cost of education continues to increase,
while cuts in funding and resources further compromise its
quality.
• Wages are not consistent with the increasing
cost of living, meaning more people find it harder to make
ends meet.
• This year five homes a day have been
foreclosed because the owners can’t keep up with mortgage
payments. The possibility of owning a home is getting
further out of reach.
We are speaking out now in the hope of prompting positive change before things deteriorate further.
What is causing these problems?
The
local and global problems currently facing us are the result
of hierarchical economic and political institutions with the
wrong priorities: the pursuit of power and profit is
currently placed above the needs of people.
How do we
find solutions?
We cannot expect the solutions to
these problems to come from within the institutions that
created them. Solutions must come from the people, united. A
change is required, locally and globally, which can only be
achieved with the collaboration, cooperation and creativity
of all the world’s people.
We need real
democracy
Real democracy is not attainable when the
political process is influenced by economic power and
institutional self-interest.
Decision-making processes involving more voices will generate solutions that benefit all of us.
Right now, the principles of consensus-based decision making, in which all people have an equal say, are being adopted in thousands of cities around the world. This process can be applied on local, national and global scales.
A question of priorities
We believe that
society should prioritise universal values of peace,
justice, equality, freedom, solidarity, collaboration,
sustainability, companionship, respect, and
wellbeing.
These rights should be fundamental: health, nutritious food, safe water, housing, education, self-determination, culture, political participation, freedom of movement and peaceful association.
Our
vision
Our vision is a genuinely sustainable system
based on human values and the principles of real democracy,
in which all planetary resources are treated as the common
heritage of all the earth’s inhabitants.
In New Zealand, we are fortunate enough to possess the resources needed to realise this transition. We feel it would be irresponsible not to.
The time is now. Have your say. Shape your future.
ENDS