Declaration of Interdependence

By Women of Color Resource Center*
Oakland, CA.


The Declaration of Interdependence
Oakland, California -- July 4, 2004


When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for the people to dissolve the political bands which have tied them to an immoral government, and instead to acknowledge the bands that connect them with the people of the world, a basic respect for the dignity of all humanity requires that they should state the causes which impel them to declare their interdependence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

That all people are created equal and interdependent; that all life on this planet exists interdependently; that the future of all people requires that they live with respect for one another and for this earth.

That all people are endowed by their very humanity with certain universal, inalienable, and indivisible rights; that among these rights are the rights to life, liberty, clean air, clean water, food, shelter, consensual intimacy, education, health care, political participation, cultural expression, peace, justice and the pursuit of happiness.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these unalienable rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish their government and to institute a new government that promotes the security, dignity, happiness, and human rights of all. When a long series of abuses in foreign and domestic policies subject the peoples of the world to greater fear, physical threat, environmental destruction, and despotism, it is the right of the people--indeed, their duty--to throw off the offending government and to provide new safeguards for the future security of all.

Such has been the patient sufferance of the residents of the United States of America, and the current circumstances now compel the people to alter their former systems of government. The history of the current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over its citizens and over foreign nations and peoples.

To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
The President has waged unilateral and pre-emptive war against distant neighbors, killing thousands of innocent civilians and hundreds of U.S. soldiers.
He has refused his assent to international laws, treaties, and standards -- those most wholesome and necessary for the global good.
He has ignored the dependence of human beings on unpolluted air, water, and land while overemphasizing their dependence on cheap oil.
He has deprived U.S immigrants, political detainees, and overseas prisoners -- from Abu Ghraib to Guantanomo Bay -- due process of law.
He and his servants have lied to drive the nation to war.
He has refused to acknowledge the authority or interests of foreign or international entities for the common interests of peace and stability.
He has combined with others to subject weaker nations to jurisdiction foreign to their consent, to occupy distant lands, and to dictate the lives of vulnerable peoples.
He has cut taxes for the wealthy and set in motion policies that will continue to widen the gulf between the wealthy elite and average working people.
He has threatened long-term domestic economic security by plundering the budget surplus that existed when he took office and by driving the federal government to deficit spending.
He has affected to render the military might of the United States a higher priority than the wellbeing of its people.
He is at this time transporting large armies to complete the works of torture, death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

In every stage of these oppressions we have voiced disapproval. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A president whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. President George W. Bush has been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity of a new government.

We, therefore, the people of the United States of America, in the good of the interdependent people of the world, solemnly publish and declare that we are -- and of right ought to be -- free people; that the president's unilateral and independent actions have blighted our interdependent futures; and that we are absolved from all allegiance to a nation ruled by George W. Bush. As a free people, we break our binds to the Bush Crown by declaring our common cause with the citizens of this world in the pursuit of peace, justice, and human rights for all. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of each other, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our security in this world we all inhabit, and our honor.


*To sign onto the Declaration, email jchoi [at] coloredgirls.org or for more information about Interdependence Day, visit http://www.coloredgirls.org