Invitation – Progressive Alliance Working Session: “The Way Forward”, 1 December 2016, Berlin, Germany

Dear comrades, Dear friends,

It was almost four years ago that our parties and organisations decided to unite in a network of progressive, social democratic and socialist forces, the Progressive Alliance network.

The foundation of the Progressive Alliance was the final point of a long-standing discussion about modern international cooperation among parties and at the same time it was the starting point of our network.

So far our results are quite impressive:

• With our commitment to the key issues of progressive politics we cover a broad range of topics: peace, democracy, human rights, social justice and decent work. In addition to the programmatic work we have also established an intensive exchange on progressive campaigning and modern party organisation. Especially important for us are the solidarity activities to support our comrades all over the world who often fight for our values of freedom, justice and solidarity at the cost of great sacrifice and hardship and even risking their lives.
• In the meantime our network includes 120 parties and organisations. And we have provided mutual support for the establishment of regional organisations and will continue to do so. We are working closely together with several regional party networks such as the Party of European Socialists (PES), the Network of Social Democracy in Asia (SocDem Asia), the Central African Progressive Alliance (CAPA) and the Arab Social Democratic Forum (ASDF). We also maintain a close working relationship with the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY). Finally, we have been present with our activities in all major regions of the world in the past years and were able to further develop and strengthen our network of progressive parties.

After this first stage which was successful thanks to so many contributions of our different partners we should now exchange our views on the contents and further organisational development of the Progressive Alliance.

The chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Sigmar Gabriel, has invited us to this important exchange in the framework of a Working Session of the Progressive Alliance at the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin on Thursday, 1 December 2016, from 12.00 to 17.00 o’clock, at which he will also participate.

For our meeting I would like to propose the following agenda:

• Input by SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel
• Further Interventions
• Debate on the contents and further development of the Progressive Alliance

Following the debate we would like to invite you to finish off the day with an informal dinner. Please find enclosed an overview of the technical details, the registration form and the agenda. I kindly ask you to confirm by 18 November 2016 if you will be able to attend the meeting.

I would like to end with a quote by Willy Brandt from his welcome address at the Congress of the Socialist International in Berlin in September 1992 which could not summarize better our task ahead: “Nothing happens of its own accord. And very little is lasting. Therefore – be aware of your strengths and of the fact that each era requires its own answers and you really must feel up to its expectations if you hope to achieve good things.”

Greetings in solidarity,

Konstantin Woinoff

Progressive Alliance Coordinator