First Mission Statement Signed by the Founders of WDDM during the Greek Congress

We, members of the Continuing International Congress on Direct Democracy, believe that all citizens have the right to directly perform lawmaking and other governmental functions in any polity in which they live. Therefore, we seek to develop and promote any participatory processes which allow people to exercise their rights to make their own laws and/or manage their own governance.

People are sovereign, they are the source of authority and the base of legitimacy.

We are against any form of armed aggression and violence in general and advocate respectful dialogue and constructive proposals. We believe that it is our moral duty to vote on proposals.

We are in favor of the principles expressed in the Forum for Citizens Democracy Declaration published in the April 1999 issue of the Worldwide Direct Democracy Newsletter.

We are also in favor of the principles formulated on page 3 of M.N.Mautner´s book A Constitution of Direct Democracy (Legacy Books, Christchurch 8002, New Zealand), namely,

1.      The power to formulate laws and policies shall be vested directly in the People.

2.      The people will define the major issues and policy alternatives by setting the agenda (list of issues selected for public vote) for binding referendums and polls.

3.      Public decisions will be based on well-informed choice.

4.      Each issue will be deliberated independently and decided strictly on its own merits.

5.      Public debates will be the platform for issue discussions. People are capable of reason but are readily manipulated, therefore, public debates must be factual, balanced, impersonal and non-manipulative.

6.      Public participation will be actively solicited. People exercise their power willingly, but are often inert. Public participation will be actively solicited but not forced.

7.      The results of public decisions will constitute the body of the law.

We support family education for democracy as the base of any community.

International Committee for the formalization of the Worldwide Direct Democracy Movement

Signatories:

George Sagi, Canada (spokesman)

George Kokkas, Greece

Prof.Milad Alshebani, Libya

Dr.A.Rossin, Italy

Ph.D.Angela Ionita, Romania

Shuji Imamoto, Japan

Franz Iseman, Germany

Ph.D.Jiri Polak, Sweden/Czech Republic

The Mission Statement is preliminary and subject to adjustments until the final adoption.