Proposed ASGP Foreign Policy Platform Revisions

[Gary Swing <gwswing@yahoo.com>]

I would like to advance two proposals for the ASGP:

A) Revise the ASGP's platform to advocate nonviolence;
or 

B) Remove the term "nonviolence" from the ASGP's list
of Ten Key Values.

The following are my proposed changes to the Foreign
Policy Section of the Association of Green Party's
Platform 2000. Text proposed for deletion is in
brackets. Proposed additions are capitalized. The
substantive changes I propose are in the opening
statement and sections 1, 5 and 16.

Gary Swing, www.geocities.com/pacifistgreen
Originally Drafted in 1996; Last revised 1/16/2001

D. FOREIGN POLICY

As we look back at the wars and deprivations of the
past, and set our minds to overcoming continued
conflicts and violence, we realize the difficulties
inherent in encouraging democracy, and of advancing
the cause of peace. With the end of the Cold War has
come a more complex set of challenges in how our
nation defines its national security. Our present task
is to rid ourselves of the residue of the geopolitical
conflict of East versus West, with its bloated
[defense] MILITARY budgets, thousands of [unneeded]
GENOCIDAL nuclear weapons and major troop deployments
overseas. Greens support sustainable development and
social and economic justice across the globe. [Reduced
militarism and reliance on arms policies] DEVELOPMENT
OF EFFECTIVE NONVIOLENT ALTERNATIVES TO WAR is the key
to progress toward collective security. 

1. With half of all discretionary spending now going
to the military, the president requesting spending
even the Pentagon thinks is wasteful, and the Congress
proposing even more than the president  requests,
Greens believe the more than $300 billion [defense]
MILITARY budget must be cut. The Green Party calls for
military spending to be cut by 50% over the next 10
years, with increases in spending for social programs.
[Preventive diplomacy, a strong economy and humane
trade relations are our best defense.] We must
[maintain a viable American military force, prudent
foreign policy doctrines, and readiness strategies
that take into account real, not hollow or imagined
threats to our people, our democratic institutions and
U.S. interests. Even so, Greens seek strength through
peace.] ABOLISH WAR AND DEVELOP A NONVIOLENT NATIONAL
DEFENSE SYSTEM. THE UNITED STATES MILITARY FORCES
SHOULD BE TRANSFORMED INTO AN UNARMED SERVICE CORPS
ENGAGED IN NONVIOLENT DEFENSE TRAINING, INTERNATIONAL
PEACEKEEPING EFFORTS, NONVIOLENT INTERVENTION,
DISASTER RELIEF AND RESCUE OPERATIONS, CONSTRUCTIVE
SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL PROJECTS, AND A CAMPAIGN TO
ELIMINATE WORLD HUNGER.

2. The Green Party would press for the immediate
[start of the negotiation of a treaty to abolish]
ABOLITION OF nuclear weapons [, and for the completion
of those negotiations by the year 2002. We would cut
off all funding for the development, testing,
production, and deployment of nuclear weapons, and
also cut off funding for nuclear weapons research. All
nuclear weapons should be taken off alert and all
warheads removed from their delivery vehicles.]

3. We call for our foreign policy establishment to
engage in a national debate on how we can convert to a
peacetime economy. We believe our nation's ultimate
strength is in its people and a healthy economy. These
will best protect our national security interests over
the long-term. 

4. We endorse a reordering of priorities as to how our
nation can best achieve national security. The Green
Party asserts that security and liberty prosper
together. Human rights are the foundation of emerging
democracies and international relations. We argue that
the support of democracy, human rights and respect for
international law should be the cornerstone of
American foreign policy. 

5. We endorse ending support for repressive regimes.
We believe the United States and all nations should
abide by World Court decisions. We support the right
of habeas corpus being available to any person
anywhere whose imprisonment violates fundamental norms
of international law. WE ADVOCATE THE ELIMINATION OF
ALL FORMS OF SLAVERY AND INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE,
INCLUDING MILITARY CONSCRIPTION.

6. It is our belief that the massive debt owed by the
Third World is causing immense misery and
environmental destruction. Foreign aid must be
addressed in the context of retiring this debt and not
forcing "structural adjustments" via the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on the economies of
the underdeveloped world.

7. We call for a more enlightened policy on the part
of international agencies and their financial arms
which takes into account the impact of international
debt management. The United States should rein in the
IMF and World Bank, whose policies have wreaked havoc,
and demand that loans be conditional on human rights
and labor rights records, social and environmental
impact statements, and the providing of basic health
and education. 

8. International law and international relations are
inseparable. We do not support a world-view that
relies on accommodation of tyranny or repressive
regimes. 

9. We encourage policies that work to assist the
former Soviet [Union] REPUBLICS in [its] THEIR move
toward a government based on rights and a more open
political and economic system. 

10. We support peace in the Middle East based on
respect for civil liberties and human rights. 

11. We endorse human rights policies in regard to
relations with China, South Africa and other nations
with a history of rights violations. 

12. We support the end of the economic blockade of
Cuba. Unjust economic coercion by one state against
another constitutes a violation of human rights. 

13. We demand, along with Green Parties around the
world, that the United States support the
international anti-personnel mine treaty.

14. As stated in the United Nation's "Universal
Declaration of Human Rights - Article 25", the U.S.
Green Party, one of more than eighty Green Parties
internationally, calls for the global adoption of
basic human rights. "Everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of themselves and of their family,
including food, clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the right to security
in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond their control."

15. We believe in the core right of
self-determination; of the special character and needs
of indigenous peoples;  of the essential importance of
balancing economic development in the third world with
a respect for the "old ways." 

16. We trust that [non-violence] NONVIOLENCE provides
a MORAL AND PRAGMATIC road to [peace] FREEDOM AND
JUSTICE. We understand the right of self-defense, yet
believe we must move beyond behavior that perpetuates
violence. We oppose structural and direct violence of
all kinds: assaults against individuals, families,
nations and cultures, the environment and the
biosphere.

17. We endorse an expanded Peace Corps. 

18. We encourage the important work of non-government
organizations (NGOs), much in evidence at the United
Nations "Earth Summit" in 1992 and in efforts to
democratize the World Trade Organization in 2000.  

19. Essential in any broad definition of security,
whether defined in national, international or global
terms, is that we must find ways to secure and
preserve our common Earth, sustainer of all life. We
must look to domestic and international regulation to
protect the global ecology, utilizing the United
Nations and related agencies as well as regional
associations to advance our mutual interests. 

20. We must build on the "Earth Charter" that came out
of the 1992 U.N. environmental Earth Summit. New
definitions of what constitutes real security between
nations must be debated and adopted by the foreign
policy community. 



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