Leif Elggren Thomas Liljenberg PARTIET/THE PARTY With this proposal for a party platform we took part as a registrated political party "The Party" in the Swedish General Election 1994. We are all born equal And yet most people are neither free and nor able to make choices. We live in a society built on inequality, dividing populations into the rich and the poor, developed and undeveloped countries, male and female, young and old, children and adults, humans and animals, chosen and unchosen, healthy and sick, smart and stupid, good and evil, us and them, friends and enemies. We live in a society where the structures for distribution have placed the State and the economic system connected to it at the top of the distribution pyramid and human beings at the bottom. We oppose this system that has made economics the main actor, we oppose its hierarchical structure which we see as a heritage from the values behind religious dogmas transferred by the production system onto the workings of society, the course of advancement and the production of commodities. Instead we advocate a circular, rotating societal structure with a flexible parliament without hierarchical division, where the lowest level of authority is also the highest. Compare Ouroboros. We propose a radical division between economy, politics and culture in which culture, politics and purely interpersonal activities are guaranteed an asylum by the economy and in relation to "market values". A completely new parliamentary system where various minority groups are represented in different periods in the parliament; for example children, animals, invalids, plants, the cerebrally dead, enemies, the mentally retarded, priests, criminals, social outcasts, addicts, the senile, etc. The same wages for all A person has a high salary because he or she is considered more valuable on the job market. The same wages for everyone brings with it a new view of subjectivity, consumption, work and objects. This proposal can be motivated not only in terms of labour politics, but also in terms of biology and ecology since we evidently cannot afford to produce volumes of worthless rubbish that pollute the earth or to regard human beings as more or less valuable commodities. For a society built on the exploitation of nature and human effort the same wages for all would be the gateway to true freedom. Citizens¥ salary according to social needs A proposal for basic economic security for all citizens together with the same wages for all create fertile ground for dissolving the obvious inequalities that exist today between the sexes, between classes and between different age groups. At the same time we propose: Societal service performed by each citizen at various intervals in life. The same social prerequisites for all. A cancellation of social inheritance. A definitive solution to the problem of classes and the differences in human conditions found today in terms of wages, resources, possessions, living space, time, friends, travels, communications, culture, comprehension, illness, desire, appearance, trust, social competence, etc, etc. Education and social welfare for all. The right to free living space for all. The right to food for all. The right to clothes for all. The right to free health care for all. The right to free culture for all. The right to a dignified old age for all. Human rights for humans, animals and plants (From human beings to grains of rice.) Our point of departure in terms of cognitive science, culture and politics, is that only human activity both structures and limits understanding: With our bodies and minds, which form a basis for science, politics and culture, we all belong to a global biological and ecological community which no one can place him/herself (or be placed) outside of. Significant for our times are not only the possibilities unveiled by human discoveries but also the terrible responsibility these bring with them, socially and ecologically. Human beings alone have brought about this situation and the means with which to change our own and the earth¥s future. Before this fact all of humanity stands as one, with a single responsibility: What each and every person does matters a great deal. There is no meaning to be sought externally for our guidance; no almighty destiny, other than the fact that humanity must create the meaning and the responsibility that are necessary. And so we are on the threshold of a much-needed liberation of the individual never before seen in history, as it requires both increased individual responsibility/influence and a completely new sense of the collective society. Where "I" can exist as "an effect of the whole structure". The term individual is meant here to include humans, animals and plants. We all share common conditions on this planet and are in every way interdependent. Just as we human beings demand respect of one another, we must go the whole way and secure the same mutuality for animals and plants. The needs and the capabilities of all must be deemed important. We can no longer tolerate Auschwitz for chickens and pigs or Sarajevo for carrots and rice. Certainly far too many of us have stood at the end of the line, waiting for our turn, ready to bow and scrape. Ownership We are all born equal, we all have the same right to our existence and the possibilities human life can bring. How then can it be right that some people own more than others and in that way usurp the power to decide over the lives and futures of other people? It is wrong that any individual can own blocks of flats so that other people are exploited by having to pay rent. It is also wrong to exploit people's other needs: for instance food, sleep, recreation, sexuality and culture. All exploitation of nature, the body or the soul must from a purely human point of view be considered wrong. In observing this, a new relationship to work arises. Work and leisure In our present society work is connected with the production of value within a production system built upon the exploitation of nature and human labour. If work is no longer a part of the economic system¥s production of value then it approaches dreams, play and desire. The division between work and leisure would cease to exist and instead of producing economic value work would be seen as a mutual concern and an opportunity to develop one¥s life. Unemployment is to be abolished by introducing citizens¥ wages (economic compensation will even be given for sleep). Work will not be the basis for a person¥s identity as before, and we will be spared the traditional division of successful or unsuccessful. All forms of vacation will cease to exist. Punishment, rewards and education Abolish the punal system and the keeping of prisoners! The right to punish another person arises from the view that people are objects, like commodities, more or less valuable and/or a threat to a hierarchical societal structure and to the right to ownership. In a society that has neglected the impulses behind human cultural and creative longing, criminality must instead be seen as a form of misguided creativity; a corrupted longing for freedom. A society that cares for and trusts its citizens needs no punal system. The grading system in schools is to be abolished. Camouflaged behind words like competition and motivation, grades not only encourage dividedness and aggressiveness. They also lock the acquisition of knowledge into a one-dimensional and quantifying mold, making it measureable on a scale for the single purpose of evaluating a person¥s value on the labour market. We want to see schools without grades for everyone, with deeper and more personal relationships between teachers, students and parents, based on cultural and interpersonal values. Geography The death of the nation-state and the birth of the global society. National sentiment and patriotism stand in sharp contrast to the innate human need for freedom. They represent a merging with the collective where we disengage our individuality and our responsibility. But the nation-state is also connected with blood and family relations. In the end this structure has its origin in early human societal relationships characterized by fear of the Father and tribe leader, who maintained his right to offspring, women and land with threats of castration, banishment or death. Regardless of the fundamental consequences these prehistorical conditions have had for human beings and social organization, through art we can find ways to relate to them and finally change their meanings: hierarchy, the ranking of good and bad, divisiveness, animosity, fear, rivalry, aggressiveness, suspiciousness, monoism, egoism, limitations, nationalism, war... All geographical boundaries are to be abolished and freedom of movement is to be made possible for all. Total disarmament of military defenses. The self as an indisputable part of the great organism that is all life and all conditions on the earth. A gradual dissolution of differences in language that originate in national affinity as well as variations in the form of dialects within nations. A gradual dissolution of ethnic and cultural peculiarities. A gradual dissolution of bodily differences between the sexes. (Perhaps even a gradual dissolution of personal appearance.) In the final analysis exclusion and delimitation express a psychologically constructed fear of death. But, and this is of the utmost importance, it is a death that religion has moved to the great darkness of our bodies¥ interiors; where "evil dwells within". This can explain how all that is rejected and suppressed becomes something unknown, something external that we condemn. Has not the idea of the purity of the soul, separated as it is from the body, saturated modern culture? It has been said that people of today no longer recognize the cause of their own existence in the disorder they condemn in the world. In all that must be corrected, changed, recreated, chastised, reduced, purified, liberated, convinced. Here the act of exclusion has the same function as a religious rite, which is to overcome the fear of losing one¥s identity to the unknown. The etymological meaning of sacrifice in cults is to make holy objects with supernatural powers, and in a collective existence the exclusion of one group creates one¥s "own" social group. (We should not forget that the first product a human being produces comes from within the body. The discharging of excrement, as well as the repetition and mastering of the act, create a feeling of something of one¥s "own" in the small child. The anal phase and repetition have a clear connection with the economy and the production of commodities; for wealth and power.) In this sense exclusion always has a productive value and even if the product is an imaginary individuality it forms a boundary against death. Even in the long run against the final dissolution of all boundaries where history itself closes its eyes towards its own inner darkness, where we are all the same "self". A lack of levels and hierarchies where the outer boundaries of the body, this thin membrane that is our skin and body profile, our own history and our appearance, are joined with a terrifying inner. Religion Total freedom of religion (and consequently we propose a dissolution of all the various religions and sects). A separation of church and state. It cannot be ignored that religion has always been misused and, through sectarianism and visions of being chosen, been adapted to specific political, economic or ideological interests. Connections that have almost always expressed a deep conservatism, nationalism or militancy. Within the organization of religious life the weak and the poor of health have often been abused in their vulnerability. (Many religious associations are nothing more than non-legalized insane asylums and criminal shows.) In the paradoxical situation where the modern individualization process in the rich world is simply a stimulus and a reward in the course of advancement within a seemingly democratic system, instead we must change the conditions to ensure every indiviual¥s self-evident right to his life: We are all born like Jesus Christ. Each individual is his own king, his own god with clear authority to rule over his own life. Where knowledge that the sublime relationships to neighbouring kingdoms are part of a boundless system of interdependent worlds. This system, which completely lacks traditional power structures, naturally contains no limitations of an ethnic, political, religious or national nature. Children A self-evident right to a father and a mother. A self-evident right to respect for their entry onto the human scene, here begins all that will be manifest and will affect everyone¥s future. It is through the responsibility for and care of our children that we build our future. The same social and economic conditions must exist for all children. We are all born free and equal, but often the first social difference is that some never have a father and a mother, a place to live, food, clothing or education. Consequently: Commonly shared responsibility for all children. The right to vote from 0-21 years of age. That children are now denied the right to vote can be compared with how, not too long ago, the poor and women were denied the same right. A self-evident right to security, love, play, anger, self-respect, having their way, education, knowledge, information, culture, rest, etc. A self-evident responsibility shared by both parents for the care and development of the child. An upbringing based on equality between boys and girls (which naturally requires a relationship based on equality between man and woman in which the child can mirror itself). It may be that we cannot change the primary conditions that govern the relationship between the sexes, but it is possible to find ways to relate to them and finally change their meanings in the future. We believe that several of The Party¥s proposals can bring about just such a change concerning inequality between man and woman, economically and socially. Regarding the family (whose internal relationships are reflected in the society), relationships between man and woman, it is important to differentiate between phallocentrism (in which the father symbol is central), which is the order by which our subjective selves are constructed, and patriarchy, which is the ideological construction based upon this order. Whereas the phallic order, by constituting the foundation upon which culture, language and civilization rest, can never be subject to attack, patriarchy (as with all ideological superstructures) can very well be criticized and condemned on moral or ideological bases. Food We consider the following to be food: vegetable products, animal products, water, air, fire, earth, love, touching, art, newspapers, radio, TV, sound, light, smell, taste, the spoken word, beauty, clothes, sleep, dreams... The ingesting of food is not only limited to oral intake; also what we take in through our eyes, skin and ears must be counted as food. Food is therefore, as the ecological disasters of our times can prove, as much a spiritual as a cultural and political concern. The unjust distribution of food must come to an end and thereby also the overproduction of food in the rich countries of the world. Humane and responsible handling of all food (including the care and slaughter of animals, processing, cultivation methods, harvesting methods, fertilization, discharges into the air, the water and the earth). Culture The lack of clarity seen today in the economic situation for culture is a mirror image of the lack of clarity in the political situation for culture. Culture is a medium for transsubstantiation which everyone must have access to regardless of sex, wage level, race, or age. Culture must therefore be made independent in relation to market values by paying wages to artists, just as society pays fire fighters. The right to vote The right to vote for all, except those between the ages of 21 and 61 whom we want to prohibit from voting. The human tendency to seek prestige and the human hormonal system, combined with a market economy, together lead to serious problems. Our proposal to introduce a voting prohibition has to do with a desire to overcome the disadvantages of the old society. It must be remembered that the age group the prohibition concerns is that found within the period of an active career, with all that this brings with it. Those remaining age groups that have the right to vote are closer either to birth or death and therefore have a better sense of the great cycles that determine over human lives. This prohibition can, however, be seen as a transitional state while the new society is taking form. Our role in parliament: to sleep for pay; to finally receive compensation for our work! Dreams Dreams (the subconscience) are the last area of unexploited Nature in the world of human beings. An area where the self forms the point around which everything revolves, where we meet ourselves, where everything is possible and where chronological time ceases to be valid. An area that constitutes for the individual a power reserve, stimuli, knowledge and growth. Where the "outer" world twists itself in through the filter of personal integrity to the "other" world that each of us represents with our inner self. Therefore we are against all attempts at direct advertisement in dreams. We are against all kinds of direct information or direct influence on people¥s dream lives. We see dreams as a protected area for each individual, integrity¥s innermost chamber, where the subtle functions of dreams put us in contact with all times, all worlds; living and dead. In dreams we each create our own new world. Thus during our lives as human beings we each build up in our inner selves our individual (different) worlds that in turn lay the groundwork for a branching out into an infinite number of new worlds. A wise and advanced society should take care of its citizens, provide for their lives, growth and well-being so that the dreams can be kept alive. Sweden/The World Sweden changes its name to I (The world changes its name to I). © L. Elggren, T. Liljenberg, Stockholm 1994, 1999 Firework Edition No. 93 Back