INTRODUCTION
By Konstantin Woinoff
Dear comrades,
dear friends,
We are living in turbulent times in which many things seem to be out of balance. Wars are being waged, food and health crises are worsening, more new conflicts flare up, human rights are being violated and democracies are increasingly under pressure. Many people are on the run to escape crises in their home countries. At the same time, many people feel excluded from social progress and in the course of globalisation the gap between the poor and the rich is getting bigger. Climate change requires an international response. And digitisation is changing the global economy and our working environment at a rapid pace.
It is often the crises which dominate our thinking instead of looking at their root causes and tackling them on the basis of a political idea and through the development of projects to create a better future. Our fundamental values of freedom, justice and solidarity also apply in this globalised world, although under more difficult conditions. We have to stand up for these values again and again and fight against the threats posed by a new authoritarianism and populism. Hence, we have to stand together to make each other stronger, exchange ideas and develop new concepts.
That is why five years ago we founded the global network of progressive, social democratic and socialist parties and organisations, the Progressive Alliance. Together we have discussed intensively and passed several resolutions on the urgent issues of progressive politics: peace, democracy, human rights, social justice, decent work, sexual equality and sustainability. In addition to the programmatic discussions, in recent years we have also organised and further developed a comprehensive exchange on questions of campaigning and …
