Far from there being ‘no such thing as society’, it is only society which can carry the weight of our social need, by being granted equal access to markets, to make them work as they should for our personal, but also collective economic benefit. Societal rights are economic, social, universal and human, attaching to us individually and collectively to us as a society. They are political.
“A right delayed is a right denied”
Martin Luther King, Jr
POLITICAL RIGHTS
Political rights, founded on economic ones, attach to the individual and collectively, society. Governments, irrespective of the political system which empowers them, may choose to deny these rights. Nevertheless, they exist, are permanent, inalienable and do not depend on governments for their institution. They, like the markets which serve populations worldwide are universal
These political rights are:
1. ETHICAL AND ESSENTIAL
Our politics, follows our economy, driven by power and ownership, not empowerment through a values driven economy. The politics of societal right go to the heart of what values we share and want to imbue society. Ethical values help make humanity one best version of itself. For those who wish to elevate progress through shared values for our common good there can be no more essential issue than to raise the political banner for societal reform.
2. HUMAN
Our lived experience, health and well-being is determined by our financial means and fair access to goods and services. Our human right to live, free from threat and harm, has a counterpart, a human right to well-being and quality of life. These rights are of political significance, human and natural because they are determined by who we are, that we exist.
“A general population denied societal human and economic rights is vulnerable to the imposition of outcomes by those with power, who may choose to override the best interest of the populations they govern, or of those whose governments they wish to challenge”
“Get up, Stand up, Stand up for your right”
Bob Marley and Peter Tosh
3. UNIVERSAL
Societal economic rights like the markets they serve are global, crossing national boundaries, attaching to each and every person, universally. They elevate the political rights of general populations and are not dependent on personal ownership, or through attachment to the State.
Societies exist independent of the State. It is a universal right that societies should live free from harm and the injurious activity of States choosing to challenge those they oppose or overriding the best interests of their own populations. These societal rights vest in the person but also collectively in society.
Societal rights attach to the general population and those marginalised within it, including those disempowered through gender, race, age and social class discrimination. Rights attach to outcome as well as opportunity.
4. PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE
Private ownership interest too often offends the public good. States and governments too often deny individual freedoms, liberties and human rights. Plurality in our society demands political policies which respect the good of society as its foundational feature, derived through the convergence of personal and collective self-interest.
5. INALIENABLE
We have inalienable, non-violable rights, to life, liberty, life’s necessities sufficient to enjoy well-being and beyond, to safety, health and happiness. We have a right to acquire and possess personal property. These rights require a political framework which is not bound in the political legacy of capitalism and socialism, but informed by the rich heritage which action for our collective good has inspired, founded on a view of equality and fairness fit for the 21st century and beyond.
6. PERMANENT
Governments whether democratic, autocratic, or oligarchic, come and go. Policies are ever shifting, tethered between the poles of private interest and state intervention. Rights bestowed through patronage, change too. Collective economic rights over the market economy should be embedded in the day to day functioning of the economy and like societal human ones are permanent.
7. COMMON AND COMMENSURATE
Societal rights are derived from our commonality, of need and being. They have an ancient root in the commons, rather than determined by economic ownership and employment status. The general population funds the State through taxation, underwrites the debt which finances shared need and supports the economy. Commensurate with the collective obligations society assumes, rights over the wealth the economy produces should be enjoyed by the general population. It is a reasonable demand that the House of Commons recognises these rights of the commons.
8. SERVE A SOCIETAL CONSTITUENCY
A societal constituency is broad, stretching across what we currently identify as a ‘left’, ”right’ paradigm. Threads of a societal framework can be weaved across our body politic, a call for wider representation, re-engagement and responsibility through systemic reform.
9. INCLUDE RIGHTS OF CHOICE currently denied us
We should have a personal right of choice: to be able to buy from companies purposed to provide food and energy and other essentials at the best price, using profit to help eliminate food, energy poverty and for other purposes we believe in, rather than to build shareholder wealth. We share, collectively a right to directly benefit from the wealth and activity the market economy generates for our personal benefit, the well-being of those we care for and for the needs of wider society
“Unlike what you have been told, You are powerful beyond measure. Your roots can persevere. And you as a marigold will bloom”
Alissa Jacques. Extract from ‘They say you can’t grow’, a poetic response to text from Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye