A radical new green party for Denmark - welcome to the Independent Greens (Frie Grønne)
Party leader of Independent Greens/Frie Grønne, parliamentarian Sikandar Siddique
Below is a short manifesto/statement of intent from Frie Grønne (Independent Greens) - a new Danish political party launching over the weekend, founded by four elected politicians (parliamentarians Sikandar Siddique [party leader], Uffe Elbæk and Susanne Zimmer, with Niko Grünfeld [an elected Copenhagen Mayor]).
Regular readers of this site will know our debt of inspiration to Uffe - his founding of Alternativet in 2012 gave us the impetus to set up The Alternative UK in 2017.
Alternativet still goes strong and well, but - as you’ll see from the text below - Sikandar, Uffe and colleagues have crafted a compelling new political vision. One that answers the deep challenges, and gathers together the bright lights, of the last few years of profound societal and planetary change.
We’re inspired again!
For more information, go to their website (in Danish) and their Twitter account, @friegronne. We wish Frie Grønne the best of luck!
From right to left, and top to bottom, some representatives (r) and candidates (c) of Frie Grønne (Independent Greens): Afrah Al-Jabouri (c), Signe Sand (c), Fabian Davidsen (c), Malthe Merrild (c), Marianne Karlberg (c), Niko Grünfeld (r), Susanne Zimmer (r), Uffe Elbæk (r), Zahra Pedersen (c)
Independent Greens – Denmark’s pro-climate and anti-racist party
Independent Greens are Denmark’s responsible, climate-conscious and anti-racist party
In the past year, we have experienced four wake-up calls that have forced us to look reality directly in the eye. The fires in the Amazon; the outbreak of (and political response to) COVID-19; the police killing of George Floyd in the United States; and the floods back home in Denmark last winter, where one climate record kept replacing another.
These four events stand on their own—but they are not co-incidental.
They demonstrate the consequences of a cancerous economic system, which we have let define the fate of all life on earth. They demonstrate a failing political structure that has not been able to address fundamental injustices.
The four wake-up calls are mere symptoms of the world we live in. Both as symptoms of a diseased capitalism and an untamable neoliberalism—destroying our environment, bringing our climate into a complete imbalance, threatening our civilization’s survival. And also as symptoms of an accelerating inequality: not merely economic, but materializing itself in different and unequal opportunities that still endure, on the bases of gender identity, ethnicity, age, religion, socio-economic status or sexuality.
In the past year, we have been forced as humankind to confront our own reflection. It has not been pretty. But it is the reality that has birthed us: the Independent Greens.
Political platform
Independent Greens has five areas of focus:
1. Nature is sacred
2. Diversity breathes life into our society
3. Art and culture is the soul of our society
4. Civil society is democracy’s immune system
5. The future economy is green, feminist and democratic
Independent Greens are supported by a 50-page political platform that will continually be made public. Some examples of our policy proposals are:
Nature brought into our cities – 25% of public spaces in larger cities should be green breathing spaces.
Automatic citizenship after seven years of legal residency in Denmark, and citizenship for all born in Denmark.
Equal pay for equal work – for everyone. Both women and minorities.
Ban large billboard advertisements in public spaces – and replace them with art.
A climate law 2.0: An addition to the law on climate that sets ambitious goals on the basis of all CO2 emissions, also the ones not currently counted.
Independent Greens are the first new left-wing party in Parliament in 26 years
Independent Greens is not something we are yet, it is something we are fighting for us all to become: free to be independent and green.
We are fighting for full emancipation and freedom of all people, as long as someone’s freedom does not constrain another’s. We are fighting for everyone to have the freedom to be who they are. We are fighting for the freedom from discrimination, racism and oppression. We are fighting for all life, no matter how it unfolds, to be equal in worth. We are fighting for greater economic equality. We are fighting for diversity – in nature, in society and in the opportunities an individual has. We are fighting to set free both communities’ and the individual’s propensity to create. We are fighting for a person’s possibility to unfold their potential not being limited by inequality. We are fighting for freedom of thought, zest for life and creativity. We are fighting for nature, which we cannot live without, but which also has inherent worth in itself. We are fighting for art and culture as the prerequisites for rich, meaningful lives. We are fighting for a world free of the deadly climate crisis. We are fighting for a world where we face challenges together, across borders. We are fighting for all generations yet to come, and for all those who do not have a voice.
We are the Independent Greens because we know the effort to stop and mitigate the biodiversity-and-climate crisis, and create a livable planet in balance, is a project of liberation, a fight for freedom and equality. It is the fundamental condition of creating a well-functioning and sustainable society.
Click photo to enlarge
We want to set the force of life free – in nature, local communities and in each individual. To ensure the possibility for freedom of choice and rich lives for future generations.
We are the Independent Greens because we know we only can create the world we dream of, if we give everyone the opportunity to contribute.
We are the enraged youth that demand our rights, we are the worried parents that want to pass on a better world to their children, we are the experienced grandparents that, in the last stages of life, understand what something really means. We are the minorities that each on our own is a rumble, but together we are a thunderstorm. We are the boy pointing at the emperor’s new clothes, we are the canary in the coal mine, we are the watchdog of the climate crisis. We march on the street, we research, we rethink, we protect, we engage, we experiment, we work together, we learn from the best. We kneel with Colin Kaepernick, we stand side-by-side with Joshua Wong and we strike with Greta Thunberg.
We are anti-racist, we are feminist, we are climate activists, we are cosmopolitans, we are internationalists, we are volunteers, we are artists. And we know we can do so much better.
We are the Independent Greens.
Political position
Independent Greens see ourselves as a part of the diverse undergrowth of new and undogmatic political, cultural and social initiatives, movements and parties that have emerged out of the European and global left over the last 25 years. We base our political work in an anarchistic solidarity. We view art and culture as a fundamental transformative power and we are, to our core, feminists. We view nature as sacred and we want a diverse and multicultural society.
We more often find hope, inspiration and dedication on the streets than on polished floors. We find it in the civil resistance, social ingenuity and political creativity we have seen in Extinction Rebellion, in Black Lives Matter and in the movements for democracy all over the globe, like in Hong Kong, in Portland and most recently in Minsk.
In our daily work we are open to working with everyone, but we will not compromise ourselves. In our political configurations we will initially support candidates from the left-wing, but we will not guarantee any support before elections are over.
Independent Greens will never work in defined parliamentary coalitions. We want (using the words of the French thinker André Gorz) a “non-reformist reform”; we need an alternative to the politics of “there is no alternative”. Where the establishment seeks to reform to preserve the status quo, we wish to reform in order to create a real new green and democratic economic model, which is a precondition for a sustainable post-capitalist society.
Where most other parties will evaluate new policy in relation to old politics, Independent Greens will evaluate new policy on the basis of an acceptably high level of ambition. We will give convincing solutions to the enormous crises—in the economy, climate, environment, empathy, equality and cultural spheres—that the world is experiencing at this moment, and that only will get worse.
We are not just another “green party”, but a real climate-radical party that takes responsibility for the climate crisis. In addition, we are fighting against the failed and dangerous economic thinking that has sent us towards this societal collapse.
What it means to be labelled “green” has been hollowed out quite substantially over the last few years. So our approach differentiates itself by rejecting all “green” compromises that don’t follow the best scientific recommendations.
Furthermore, we are an anti-racist party: we will do away with decades of demonization of primarily Muslim and brown peoples, as well as many other minorities. We commend diversity—we can’t live without diversity—and we reject all romanticizing of nationalism.
Finally, we reject the penchant for the lowest common denominator that has characterized many political parties for years. We applaud and want to promote the unique, the challenging, the Avant Garde.
We have reached a point where we can’t accept small adjustments to the status quo. The established political system and its habitual thinking needs to be challenged. Small steps in the right direction are not enough. What counts is actual fundamental change. The window of opportunity to act responsibly and in time is growing smaller, at an overwhelming speed. Our seats in Parliament should therefore not be used to change small commas, but to ensure multiple parties move in a more sustainable direction. Not tomorrow, but now. Through innovative solutions and honest, constructive criticism. But don’t be mistaken: we are not afraid of calling-out greenwashing, racism and national conservatism.
What lies ahead is an uphill battle. But it is an important battle, and it will also be a fun one. An inspiring one. A battle that springs from a zest for life, the will to change, the courage to rethink.
