News & Resources

A New Social Contract

May 1, 2018 | Resources

A New Social Contract advances comprehensive, transformative, community-led solutions that protect human rights, build equitable systems for everyone and deepen our democracy.

We need a new social contract, one that values every human life, treats all people with respect and dignity, recognizes our interdependence with each other and our planet and enables everyone to reach their full potential. 

This vision for a new social contract is already emerging, not in Washington or other centers of power, but in the communities that are most impacted by our current crises. Communities are calling for a new social contract that

  • Prioritizes human needs and human rights as the primary purpose of all private and public systems, focusing our entire economy and social systems on meeting our shared needs as individuals, families and communities;
  • Creates universal systems that meet the needs of all by designing our systems equitably around the needs of the most marginalized, recognizing our interdependence and mutual responsibility, and building solutions that are stronger for everyone; and
  • Builds deep democracy through inclusive local democratic structures that reclaims our political, economic and social systems from corporate control and reactionary impulses and re-grounds them in our communities and our core values.

The New Social Contract is already making waves. Al Jazeera called it an emerging strategy "to push back against the ravages of market fundamentalism and advance a truly transformative agenda." The report was also mentioned in the Human Rights at Home blog and explored in more detail in an interview with Cathy Albisa on the Real News Network, in the Interviews for Resistance series on Truthout and The Progressive, and in an interview with our partners from Rights & Democracy on Equal Time Radio.

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