Dear comrades, dear friends,
We are very pleased to invite you to the Progressive Alliance Parliamentary Conference “For a New Agenda for Peace and Justice”, in cooperation with the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament (S&D), which will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 17 – 18 October, 2016.
This conference is an ideal platform for bringing together progressive participants from all over the world: from political parties, in particular progressive members of parliament through trade unions to civil society. It stays in line with a core idea of the Progressive Alliance, namely, to provide a common forum for political discussions, networking with fellow progressives and the exchange of experiences from all over the globe.
With justice and peace as the focus of this event, and with the Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament as a partner, we are convinced to have found the right place for our conference work and the examination of its important topic. This, of course, is also a reason why we highly appreciate the offer of the S&D Group to be the conference host.
“We must abandon our traditional Eurocentric approach and realize that the current crisis is a global crisis and not just a European one. We see millions of people fleeing conflicts, poverty and growing inequalities. We are confronted with climate change and natural disasters, with human rights violations and poor democratic systems. We, the Progressives around the globe, have to play our part in improving the cooperation between the continents more than ever to find the right solutions”.
Gianni Pittella, President of the Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament
We need a progressive, global, political and economic system that puts people at the centre. We are seeking a progressive solution that creates peace and ends violence, encourages hope and does not stoke fears, which offers equal opportunities for women and men, enabling them to become involved in rather than excluded from society, fostering cooperation rather than confrontation. However violence, war, injustice and underdevelopment seem to be the new permanent situation: Syria, ISIS, migration, Ebola, drug trafficking, Ukraine etc. These crises are, however, not an exception to globalization; they are often a consequence of a non or badly managed globalization. The centermost objectives of progressive policies with a global aspiration are to prevent conflicts and create and maintain peace. As progressive forces we accept our responsibility to use our means and capabilities to foster peace and development. We must act earlier and more decisively as well as more effectively.
However achieving a meaningful breakthrough towards more peace and social justice will require all actors working together. The Progressive Alliance Conference seeks to offer a platform for a global exchange focused on addressing the most pressing needs in this field. The conference is also the starting point of the Progressive Alliance Campaign “For a New Agenda for Peace and Justice” that will be launched in Brussels.
On the first day – as it is tradition in our conferences – we will have some workshops. One of the topics is International Parliamentary Cooperation as the Progressive Alliance intends to develop common strategies at parliamentary level to push our agenda forward on a global scale. Another focus of the working groups will be Progressive Campaigning. The Progressive Alliance intends to support the campaign capacities of progressive parties, so that right around the world progressives and our agenda win elections. In the working groups the participants will have the opportunity to discuss and share best practices from different regions of the world. We will speak about the current situation in the Middle East and we want to discuss ways out of the escalation of violence. Finally, we will be discussing the progressive dimension of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fact, their name indicates that progressive values are at the very core of the SDGs since the concept of sustainability was coined by progressives and is crucially linked to social justice in societies both in developing and industrialized countries. We will be talking about how progressive policies can facilitate achieving the SDGs and which steps they require us to take not only in environmental but also crucially in terms of global and local social justice.
We are very happy that it was possible to coordinate this conference with the inaugural meeting of the Young Parliamentarian Network of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY). The meeting will take place on Monday morning, 17 October 2016, 09:30 – 13:30 hrs. If you are interested to participate please contact the IUSY secretariat.
Please register for the seminar at the latest by 6 October 2016. To enter the European Parliament strong safety regulations must be respected. Therefore we would like to ask you to fill in the registration form correctly with your all data requested.
Looking forward to seeing you in Brussels!
