To the Parties and Associated Organisations of the Progressive Alliance:
We would cordially like to invite you to the Progressive Alliance Convention “Shaping our future” on 12 – 13 March 2017 in Berlin, Germany. The Convention is hosted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). At this Convention we would like to discuss the challenges of shaping a world of freedom, justice and solidarity and at the same time we would like to conclude the deliberation on the political agenda and the guiding principles of the Progressive Alliance.
The world seems to be out of balance. In an increasing number of countries right-wing, nationalists and populist forces are gaining ground. The agenda of these populists is fear, egoism, exclusion and violence. We have to counter this conservative, chauvinistic, neo-liberal and nationalistic roll-back. The Progressive Alliance Convention will therefore be especially important. We have to prepare ourselves for this confrontation at the organisational level and with the right contents, creating the basis for cross-border dialogue, worldwide cooperation and international solidarity of the progressive, social democratic and socialist forces.
Especially when it is about defending our values against the enemies of democracy, justice and peace our movement has shown strength and unity in order to shape social change in solidarity as well as formulating realistic and at the same time visionary answers to the big challenges of our time. That is why at our Convention we want to discuss new ways towards a social and ecological transformation which will have to go hand in hand with a democratic and economic renewal. With this aim in mind, we will present and discuss the Progressive Alliance Report “Shaping our Future – For a Global Social and Ecological Transformation”.
In these times of change our action as progressive, social democratic and socialist forces, also at the organisational level, is needed more than ever. Therefore, we will conclude the discussion about the contents and organisational development of the Progressive Alliance on the first day, 12 March 2017, and elect a new Board at a Steering Committee meeting which is the general assembly of the Progressive Alliance. Finally, the new Board of the Progressive Alliance will convene on the same day. All party leaders are also cordially invited to attend this meeting.
Dear Comrades, dear friends, we live in a time of a global epochal transformation which will bring about far-reaching changes. It is up to us to shape this epochal transformation in a free, just and fair way. In order to succeed we need a strong cohesion of progressive, social democratic and socialist forces. Let us join forces and tackle this task at our Convention in Berlin.
With greetings in solidarity,
Konstantin Woinoff
Progressive Alliance Coordinator
