Progressive Alliance
Progressive Alliance | |
---|---|
founding | May 22, 2013 in Leipzig |
Seat | Berlin |
motto | Freedom, Justice, Solidarity |
purpose | Network of social democratic, socialist and progressive parties and trade unions |
Chair | Rotation among member organizations at the annual international conference |
Website | progressive-alliance.info |
The Progressive Alliance ( English Progressive Alliance ) is an international network of 113 social democratic , socialist and progressive parties from all over the world. It was founded on May 22, 2013 at the instigation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and Sigmar Gabriel in Leipzig. The establishment of the alliance goes hand in hand with the withdrawal of European social democratic parties from the Socialist International (SI).
Background and foundation
Sigmar Gabriel had criticized the Socialist International in March 2011, which only after the revolutions of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt and the overthrow of Presidents Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Husni Mubarak from their authoritarian ruling member parties, the Constitutional Democratic Collection (RCD) respectively National Democratic Party (NDP) had separated. In the case of the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI), the exclusion only took place after the outbreak of civil war-like fighting in the Ivory Coast . He called for the immediate exclusion of other such parties that had once emerged as national liberation movements and therefore became members of the SI, but had meanwhile developed into undemocratic ruling parties. Gabriel complained that the organization had frozen in formalities and no longer appeared as the "voice of freedom". Together with the British Labor Party , the Dutch Partij van de Arbeid and the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, he called for a fundamental reform of the organization and otherwise threatened the SPD with a withdrawal and the establishment of an alternative network. In January 2012 Gabriel threatened again not to pay the membership fee of the SPD, which was one of the main payers of the International with an annual amount of 100,000 pounds sterling .
From 14th to 15th December 2012, the Partito Democratico invited the future member parties of the Progressive Alliance to a first meeting in Rome . On this occasion, the establishment of the Progressive Alliance was agreed in May 2013 in Leipzig. In January 2013, the Executive Committee of the British Labor Party decided to downgrade the party's participation in the SI to observer status. She cited "ethical concerns" as the reason. Another preparatory meeting of representatives of the founding parties took place on the sidelines of the SI council in Cascais, Portugal on February 4th and 5th, 2013. The SPD has now finally reduced its membership fee to the minimum of 5000 pounds and its status in the SI to the of an observer. The Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Social Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D) also took this step.
The constituent meeting of the Progressive Alliance was scheduled for May 22, 2013, the day before the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the SPD in Leipzig. The alliance should also include moderately left-wing parties that do not share an explicitly socialist tradition and / or were not represented in the SI, such as the Democratic Party of the United States , the Indian National Congress , the Brazilian Partido dos Trabalhadores or the Italian Partito Democratico . By joining the Social Democratic Party of Europe, the latter has now joined the socialist-social democratic party family, while the three parties from Brazil, India and the USA did not take part in the conference following Leipzig, which took place in Tunis in February 2014. At the conference in March 2017 in Berlin, party representatives from these three countries took part again.
Participant (in the alliance)
Associated partners
(Source: )
Further memberships of the Progressive Alliance in international institutions and organizations
- European Parliament : Progressive Alliance of Social Democrats (S&D)
- Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS): party-affiliated foundation of the Social Democratic Party of Europe
- International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
- International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY): Socialist Youth International
- Socialist International Women (SIW): Socialist International of Women
- Young European Socialists (YES): European Young Socialists
Controversy
In early May 2013, the publicist Alan Posener attributed the emergence of the new network to an emerging conflict between the more liberal, western social democrats and the former left liberation movements in the Third World , which under the guise of anti-imperialism are nationalistic, undemocratic, anti-liberal and anti-emancipatory Have developed tendencies. The European left would have turned a blind eye to these undesirable developments for a long time out of a naive solidarity with the earlier anti-colonial movements.
Giorgos Papandreou , the president of the SI, and its general secretary Luis Ayala complained in an open letter of "character assassination" and "false accusations"; it is regrettable that “the leadership of our German members wants to split the worldwide movement of progressive forces”.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Steffen Hebestreit: Gabriel calls for reforms: International should clear the table. Frankfurter Rundschau, March 3, 2011, accessed on July 31, 2013 .
- ↑ Sigmar Gabriel: Guest contribution: No companionship with despots. Frankfurter Rundschau, March 3, 2011, accessed on July 31, 2013 .
- ↑ SPD wants to turn off the money for the Socialist International and not pay the membership fee. Spiegel Online , January 22, 2012, accessed July 31, 2013 .
- ↑ Social Democrats found new International. Neues Deutschland , December 16, 2012, accessed on July 31, 2013 .
- ^ Report from Labor's January executive. Left Futures, February 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 .
- ^ Socialist International Calls for Reforms in Zimbabwe. allafrica.com, February 6, 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 (English, French).
- ↑ Andreas Niesmann: If Willy only knew. Focus No. 19/2013, May 6, 2013, accessed on July 31, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Socialist International is to be disempowered. Courier , May 17, 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 .
- ^ Thomas Vieregge: The end of the socialist international. Die Presse , May 21, 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 .
- ^ Veit Medick : Crash in Socialist International: Papandreou accuses Gabriel of splitting the left. Spiegel Online, May 22, 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 .
- ^ Progressive Alliance: Tunis Conference - Expected Participants. Retrieved June 3, 2014 .
- ^ Progressive Alliance: Shaping our future. 12-13 March 2017, Berlin, Germany. Retrieved March 14, 2017 .
- ↑ Parties and Organizations. Progressive Alliance, accessed September 19, 2019 .
- ^ Alan Posener: Progressive Alliance. Are we seeing an end to left anti-imperialism? Die Welt , May 4, 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 .
- ^ Open letter to the member parties of the SI, May 19, 2013, on the website of the Socialist International
- ↑ Majid Sattar : "Progressive Alliance" founded. faz.net , May 22, 2013, accessed July 31, 2013 .