As Ukrainians go to the polls on 25 May to elect a new president, the citizens of Kyiv will also be electing a new city council. The Left Opposition in the capital is fielding four candidates to the city council under the banner of the Assembly for Social Revolution. Formed on 12 April the Assembly has developed its programme through a series of public meetings with voters. It has also established an Internet based system of accountability of its candidates to their electors, based on the example of the Pirate Party of Germany.
We publish in translation two documents here: the joint campaign leaflet of the Assembly’s four candidates and the Assembly’s electoral programme.
Support the social activists in the Kyiv elections!
The Assembly for Social Revolution calls upon Kyivans to support its candidates in the elections to the Kyiv City Council which will take place on 25 May 2014. By taking part in these elections we want to show it is possible to engage in politics that is not under the control of business interests. In contrast to the candidates who simply promise a better life we know where to take the money from for real changes. Instead of the populists who are stoking up aggression in our society we stand for the removal of the causes: the unjust distribution of wealth. We will not betray because we are fighting for the things that everyone needs: education, medical care, decent transport and clean air.
OUR CANDIDATES
Pavlo Vezdenetsky (constituency no. 3, Holosiyivsky district), student, trade union organiser for Kyivpastrans/
Zakhar Popovych (constituency no. 36, Pechersky district), Candidate of economic Sciences, initiator of public scrutiny of the accounts of the Ministry of Education.
Mykola Vlasov (constituency no. 39, Polil district) artist.
Nina Potarska (constituency no. 51, Solomiansky district) director of the Centre for Social Labour Research, joint co-ordinator of the self defense Women’s Hundred in the name of Olya Kobylianska.
All the candidates of the Assembly are ready to vote only after the prior approval of their decisions by way of electronic voting (by the process of LiquidFeedback). This is made possible by the HARAZD system borrowed from the Pirate Party of Germany. The Assembly will not on principle work with the oligarchy, because its candidates are dependent on the citizens and not on their sponsors.
The key problems facing Kyiv are caused by the prioritisation of private interests over social benefits. We recognise that simply the victory of our candidates will not change the situation. For that to happen we need the widest possible support of the citizens from below.
Our programme “Instead of promises” includes three ideas: direct democracy, open accounting of public funds, and social justice.
We are convinced that any increase in wages is possible only after a complete disclosure of the relevant accounts and exhausting the all possibilities entailed in optimisation, automation and energy conservation. The main resource available for improving living standards is the return of communal property to the community, taking away the excess wealth of the oligarchs and rooting out corruption.
We call upon all independent candidates who oppose the oligarchy taking over the economy and the political process to work with us.
Stay tuned, spread the message, offer help, take action!
And vote if you believe in the possibility of change.
Instead of promises: Programme of the Assembly for Social Revolution
A near impossible objective stands before Kyiv city council: to improve the old machinery of government. We, the candidates for office from the Assembly for Social Revolution, demand a new system. Above all “social lustration” is needed – the representation of ordinary citizens instead of the parasitic business interests. The citizens should delegate authority to their government. Funds should be directed to common needs –education, health care and housing. We are in favour of limiting private egotism: more parks instead of supermarkets, accessible public transport instead of unsuitable private taxi buses. Communal property and institutions maintained by public funds will bring benefits to all if corruption is rooted out from them. We don’t make up promises, but say outright by what costs it is possible to improve our life.
The steps we have outlined below can save our society from further degradation and impoverishment. Together with the independent unions we are ready to defend your rights to jobs, which is especially important in this time of crisis. Only self-managed socialism – the participation of the people in their own governing and placing the economy under the control of the people – is capable of really improving the standard of living and laying the foundation for the development of each one of us.
- Direct Democracy
Steps: Prior approval of resolutions of deputies via the Internet (LiquidFeedback system). Recall of district officials upon the basis of the signatures of 25% of the district’s residents.
Kyiv city council to initiate project resolutions put forward by 5% of Kyivans.
Participation of delegates from the community in the formation of the Kyiv city budget. The community council’s right to veto questionable purchases out of public funds.
Results: A halt to the cheap selling off of land and the sale of official positions. Parks will stop being destroyed by new commercial construction. The authorities will be answerable to and will co-operate with the community.
- Open accounting
Steps: Daily publication in the Internet of the income and expenditures of enterprises and institutions. Automation of parking fees and payment for public transport. Open registration of communal property and real estate.
Results: We will know how public housing associations are spending money and what happens to the receipts from advertising on public transport, just in the same way as this is being done now in the Ministry of Education and Science. Compulsory-voluntary payments are halted and fares on public transport stop growing.
- Social justice
Steps: A progressive scale of fees for land use instead of the current range of 3-12% of the estimated monetary value of the land (3% for small business – 12% for big business). Increase in the cost of parking in the centre of the capital and for expensive cars. An increase in property rates for the owners of luxury houses. A requirement that construction companies hand over every tenth residence they build to the social housing fund for release as rented accommodation.
Results: Fair taxation will allow everyone to receive new social services. It will become possible to create new jobs in the communal sector; develop sports facilities, establish new centres for children’s creative activity, build and repair housing.
Find news about the campaign here; rev.org.ua
Translated by Marko Bojcun from the originals here: http://gaslo.info/?p=5242and here:http://rev.org.ua/listivka/
Кампанія Солідарності з Україною 