1.PREMISE

Globalization today brings with it fundamental transformations. In a context in which, due to peoples and ideas – as well as flows of goods and services – the reference points are constantly redefined, the pace of change does not always allow to identify what has remained unchanged within of different “civilizations”. Among the resigned fatalism in front of an essentially economic globalization and the closures of identities that produce exclusion, the only way for everyone to build a common future is to be together with the head of this evolution. For this to happen, two conditions must be fulfilled:

• the source of new points of reference should be sought in dialogue with each other;
• the ambition of building a “common civilization”, beyond the legitimate diversity of inherited cultures, must be shared by all.

This complementarity arises in our eyes but, in the absence of efforts to reach an ambitious approach to meeting peoples and cultures, there is a risk of not achieving the desired result together. In this context GSI ITALIA works to build an international policy based on:

• respect for the other, in the absence of which there is no imaginable type of relationship;
• equality at all levels: between states, among peoples, among cultures, among individuals, between man and woman…;
• the freedom of conscience, absolute and unrestricted;
• solidarity, of all kinds and in any field, in which the South-denominated societies have a particular “propositive” vocation;
• knowledge, the founding principle of dialogue and the “pleasure of the other”, surely the point of arrival of other principles, but also a condition of their perpetuity in everyday life of societies and individuals.

This document is the “manifest” of reference to GSI ITALIA’s political and design identity. On these elements, the various popular international solidarity aggregations that form it are engaged in a dynamic and constant confrontation.

2. PRINCIPLES AND VALUES

GSI ITALIA undertakes to respect and consolidate the following ethical and operational principles and values:

• Centrality of the human being, considered the protagonist of individual and social history. Everyone is entitled to a minimum level of life, based on equitable distribution of Earth’s resources, on the elimination of misery, on social justice and on fair distribution of wealth. Every person must be able to determine their own values ​​and priorities and have the opportunity to organize themselves to realize them;
• Promoting solidarity co-operation aimed at preventing problems and creating equal conditions for peoples through a joint partnership between civil society through cultural exchanges and the appropriate and consistent use of human resources, technical means and financial;
• Collaboration with every other reality of national and international civil society without any distinction between political, party, people, culture or other belief, aimed at combating intolerance, dominance of market laws, marginalization and exploitation of peoples. GSI ITALIA believes in the importance of a solidarity action that respects the goals of the communities with which and for which they work, in line with the priorities identified by the latter as their own and believe that this should be through popular participation in the processes of social growth.
• Promotion of solidarity association as an expression of purpose and organized by citizens available to engage in solidarity; able to promote forms of active citizenship in relation to the behavior of the institutions. Public opinion is both the duty and the right to be involved in cooperation and in the process of achieving social justice. For this reason, GSI ITALIA encourages the direct and indirect support of public opinion to their work, believing that this must be based on the integration of the motivations and objectives of the various aggregates;
• Active presence in the country to promote citizenship in taking responsibility for public affairs, the spread of the culture of cooperation and solidarity, and the peaceful coexistence between “different”.

These principles are the basic reference values ​​of GSI ITALIA. They are accepted by affiliated and disseminated associations among their members and support groups and constitute the presentation of GSI ITALIA in relations with public and private institutions. The condition of growing gap between rich and poor countries and the dramatic problems of marginalized people require a strong unity of thought and action to counteract the current trends.