"The New Left
95" Manifesto
It is time to commit ourselves to an alternative politics. It must
be political praxis in the strongest sense of the term; mere civil
activism will not suffice. Over the course of the last few years in
Lithuania the latter program has become morally and politically vacuous—nothing
less than a civil passivity masquerading under the term of ‘activism.’
To chatter idly about civil society without doing anything to change
and improve it goes against all dignity and good political conscience.
The New Left 95 is a movement instigated
by a new generation of people united by an intellectual and moral
stance that refuses the stagnant status quo currently choking Lithuanian
politics. The movement aims to change peoples’ beliefs and the practices
(or apathy) attendant to those beliefs, as well as to promote issues
and acts of social justice, which heretofore have been sorely lacking
in Lithuania.
The number 95 is not an arbitrary choice. The New Left movement’s
eventual goal is not 45, but 95 theses, since, with reference to the
95 theses which Martin Luther so decisively nailed to the doors of
the Wittenberg church, we wish to indicate the potential scope and
impact of the cultural, social, economic, and above all political
transformation our movement envisions. 95 also points to the Danish
film directors’ Dogma 95 manifesto, which brought a host of visionary
European film directors in solidarity against the social, economic,
and artistic injustices committed by highly commercial film making.
Initially writing only 45 of the intended theses emphasizes the essential
openness of the Manifesto – a pledge to action and political change
that is open both to new ideas and new political agents, whose growing
numbers within our New Left movement will gradually motivate and shape
the birth process of the remaining theses.
The New Left 95 is a moral and political
movement committed to critical thinking and critical practices, and
which brandishes a single dogmatic claim: to eschew any type of dogmatism
(including the dogmatism of the Left). We seek the transformation
of beliefs and social practices, as well as political and cultural
institutions, for the purpose and promotion of greater social justice
within Lithuania and beyond its borders.
1. The New Left is not a traditional political party.
2. The New Left is a group of like-minded people united in the effort
to revive the ideas of the European Left in Lithuania.
3. We are committed to actively promoting social justice in any and
all situations.
4. To align oneself on the New Left within the contemporary Lithuanian
political landscape demands courage, ingenuity, and acumen.
5. We believe that socially committed art, rigorous science and the
significant reform of academia can save Lithuania from a crippling
cultural provincialism.
6. We scorn free market fundamentalism, which we challenge on ideological
and theoretical grounds.
7. We believe in equal opportunity for all—we will wage the battle
for equal opportunity all across Lithuania, from city to village to
countryside.
8. We believe that Lithuania can and must be an enlightened and broad-minded
society where highly qualified professionals, representatives of the
public sector and members of the private sector live with dignity
and prosperity.
9. We condemn xenophobia and hatred in all its reprehensible guises:
in particular the racism, anti-Semitism, ageism, sexism and discrimination
of the disabled often found in Lithuania today.
10. We declare moral and political war against sexism and homophobia.
11. We say “No!” to the impotence, incompetence and ineffectiveness
of current politicians.
12. A new generation of politicians must arise who will be politically
responsible, proactive, and willing and able to defend the interests
of the general public.
13. We despise and denounce the contemptuous and apathetic attitude
towards poverty held by the vast majority of more privileged citizens.
14. Love and care for the weak, poor, and oppressed, as proclaimed
by Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam, are all values of the
Left.
15. We challenge any attempt to link Christianity and other religions
to reactionary and conservative stances bent on manipulating values
by oversimplifying issues.
16. We decry the exhausted and exhausting—not to mention patently
false—binary opposition that pits the pro-Western, patriotic Right
against the pro-Russian, Soviet Left.
17. A consistent critique of capitalism does not mean flirting with
sympathies for the Soviet past.
18. Criticizing capitalism and its attendant structures and practices
does not and should not be equated with gestures intended to flatter
Russia.
19. Conspiracy theories about the permanent threat of Russia are unacceptable;
Lithuania’s relationship with Russia must always be carefully considered
and reassessed, but it must not serve as the fulcrum of political
programs, platforms, and views.
20. Business is a dynamic force capable of generating positive social
welfare, but it must be founded on the principles of social responsibility
and social justice.
21. We say a resolute “No” to the ongoing attempts to privatize and
seize all public spaces.
22. Membership in the European Union does not automatically make Lithuania
an open and advanced society, especially if only a minority of the
Lithuanian population lives economically and socially comfortable
lives.
23. We demand the immediate reform of higher education and health
care.
24. Clannish relations, poverty, centralization of power and the current
politics of humiliation practiced on employees in universities, health
care centres and hospitals must be replaced by the principles of meritocracy,
democratic governance and, above all, transparency.
25. We must resist the degradation of workers by all means possible
in both the public and private sectors.
26. Current salaries in the medical, law enforcement, and social work
professions debilitate and demoralize Lithuanian health care, law-enforcement
and social welfare systems.
27. Politicians represent the interests of teachers, lecturers, scientists
and countless others working in public sector, thus we demand that
they actively and honestly defend those interests.
28. Reforms in the public sector must commence without further delays:
development of public services and increases in quality service are
impossible without the modernization crucial to the growth in effectiveness
of the public sector.
29. Largely unregulated capitalism has led to shocking and outrageous
contrasts in Lithuania, such as the absolutely unacceptable gap in
opportunities that exists between the relatively small, but conspicuously
wealthy population and the multitudinous numbers living humiliated
lives of poverty.
30. The aim of politics is to resist all types of inequality, social
division, and hierarchical power relations created by capitalism.
31. Struggle against capitalism can be achieved by means other than
nationalizing private businesses, if the struggle is grounded in organised
political action aimed at the common good.
32. We denounce the atomization of human life and the blackmail inherent
in rampant consumerism.
33. Politics under capitalism should encourage civic resistance against
the alienation of human life; modern politics must never serve such
alienation.
34. Changes in Lithuanian politics are possible only by raising the
level of public awareness of issues of social and political justice,
and in so doing receive the public’s cooperation.
35. Apart from other qualities, art needs to be ironic, shocking and
should galvanize social commitment rather than emphasizing its phantasmagorical
“spirituality.”
36. Art encourages liberation from all kinds of mental enslavement
and narrow-mindedness.
37. We challenge the ideologies of insensitivity and success.
38. We take pride not in any measure of power or riches gained, but
in our shared humanity, social responsibility, and active care for
others.
39. Trade unions must wake up from their dormancy and begin active
reforms.
40. Workers must unite themselves by forming professional unions –
it is the only acceptable collective way to resist the unjust exploitation
of workers.
41. The Lithuanian New Left expresses its solidarity with all likeminded
people in Europe, and strives to make Lithuania an attractive country
for all those who wish to work and create meaningful lives here.
42. We are emphatically in favour of sustainable development of Lithuania
– everyone, not only the rich, has the right to a clean and healthy
environment.
43. We are emphatically in favour of sustainable development of towns
and cities, of ecological farming, of fair trade, and of renewable
energy.
44. The New Left is not a middle way between state socialism and capitalism,
but a systematic resistance against all institutions of power which
distort and impede social justice.
45. Lithuanian Left, unite!
Signed by: Pasirašė: Jolanta Aidukaitė, Rasa Baločkaitė, Andrius
Bielskis, Putinas Bielskis, Martynas Budraitis, Linas Eriksonas, Kęstas
Kirtiklis, Ervinas Koršunovas, Tadas Leončikas, Aušra Pažėraitė, Kasparas
Pocius, Daiva Repečkaitė, Rasa Seibutytė, Andrius Smalinskas, Dalia
Staponkutė, Inga Šniukaitė, Nida Vasiliauskaitė, Morta Vidūnaitė,
Jolanta Bielskienė, Džina Donauskaitė, Aušra Budrytė, Tomas Tomilinas,
Karolis Žibas, Algis Davidavičius, Skaidrius Kandratavičius, Loretta
Leonavičiūtė, Tomas Čiučelis
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About NK95
NK95 (Naujoji Kairė 95) is a group of Lithuanian intellectuals and
activists who launched their activities on 1 May, 2007 with the declaration
‘New Left 95 Manifesto’, which brought together individual arguments
on sociopolitical and cultural issues from the newer leftist perspective
into the joint political stance of NK95. The preparation of the manifesto
was coordinated by Dr Andrius Bielskis, a political philosopher with
a PhD from Warwick University, who had returned to Lithuania after
a lengthy spell of studies and academic work in the UK in the summer
of 2006.
His presentation at the annual conference organized
by “Santara Šviesa” (the mainstream liberal organization which had
been set up originally in the US by the current President of Lithuania),
where he urged for debate and political action
to undo unjust political and social practices in Lithuania, received
a perplexed reception from the audience, but spurred an interest among
younger participants, graduates from the Institute of Political Science
and International
Relations (TSPMI), Vilnius. Already in December 2005 a group of university
students together with few other activists involved in the protest
actions against the encroachment of privatization of public spaces
in Vilnius (e.g. the movie
theatre “Lietuva”) gathered at TSPMI for a conference where the Vilnius
Leftist Club Manifesto was signed, which paved a way for the initial
consolidation of leftist activists. During the autumn and winter 2006/2007
people from the
two groups, joined by people from other left leaning groups and NGOs,
intertwined forming the core of the presentday NK95. The final consolidation
of the group came in June 2007, when the first NK95 conference was
organized which set the tone for the further development. During the
period of formation a virtual, email list based,
organizational form was adopted as the most suitable for the formed
community of practice. The group now lists around 35/40 activists
who each extends the reach of NK95 to many other groups and formally
established organizations in Vilnius and other cities, thus sustaining
a nationwide network for the New Left public actions
organized and coordinated by self-appointed and group approved initiators
of individual actions on ad hoc basis which may involve also organizational
gatherings, if required. Main forms of actions undertaken by NK activists
are: formal
statements (letters of opposition or support, declarations, signed
public statements, group petitions or other group statements), communications
with a wider audience (press releases, posters, interviews, website,
etc.). The main objective of NK95 (outside the most obvious – popularization
of its 45 theses from the manifesto) is to galvanize the political
life in Lithuania by bringing to the fore of public debate leftist
political values and ideas, with the hope that sooner or later the
whole political thinking and with it political practice would shift
leftwards, given the unforgiving
social and political reality which demands the new left approach and
ideas. Thus the group actively promotes the values of social justice,
equality, individual and collective emancipation as well as supports
other socially progressive agenda (e.g. gay rights). In order to achieve
this aim two strategies are employed: 1) stirring up the debate by
individual or group texts (mainly channelled through Internet news
portals which allow more freedom of expression for non-staff writers
as comparing to traditional media which are too corrupt), 2) organizing
PR campaigns by indirect
actions getting media and commentators involved in the cycle of self
denial, which helps to raise publicity for a particular issue. Another
strategy for action which is being considered is organizing educational
events, such as seminars, conferences or evening classes for the general
public, where academic potential of NK is and can be tapped.
The first two pilot events organized under the banner of “New Left
audience” featured Dr Kelvin Knight (London Metropolitan University,
Britain) and Mr Svenn Arne Lie (Bergen University, Norway) as the
main speakers, showing the potential of such form of public action
because of the enormous interest received not only from the Lithuanian
leftist organizations but also from the general public. Being aware
of the limitations that any voluntary social formation faces as well
as being dependant solely on individual goodwill and contribution
of its members, NK95 has taken a course towards establishing international
contacts at the international scene in order to be able to sustain
its activism on the basis of co-sharing of resources via contact network.
For that reason the Manifesto has been translated into German, English
and French and contacts have been established with intellectuals from
the UK and
Norway as the first step towards the rebirth of the international
New Left.
Prepared by Linas Eriksonas
on behalf of NK95
Vilnius, 21 September, 2007
