1. Its origins
The idea for this Movement first
came to us in Lecce in January of year 1998,
following a debate entitled «The society based on justice. What we can and must
hope for», one of the many debates I had held around that time after publishing
my book L’utopia. Rifondazione di un’idea e di
una storia (quoted) and once I had realized that it was no
longer simply a book, but a message,
i.e. the just society, its construction, the meaning of the history of man, the
dawning of hope for mankind, a message that would have to be passed on to the
people, everywhere and in every way. This book was the result of about twenty
years’ studies carried out in a «research community», a group whose members
have been working together for a long time in an environment where it is
possible to swap and pass on ideas and criticism and where creativity is
encouraged: the Lecce University Interdepartmental
Group and Centre for Research into Utopia.
The original idea for the Movement
came into being amongst people talking after the debate since they had realized
its potential. They had realized that this message required further discussion
in order to get to the bottom of it, to feel it and experience it, to make it a
principle for action within society, a principle for commitment at all levels.
Then the message would have to be conveyed so that more people could grasp and
experience it, so that the hope could be passed on to the many. The idea was, then, for a movement made up of people who would meet to discuss the problems
of the just society at its various levels, to foster hope in the face of
difficulties, to help one another act justly in their existence, in social life, in their work, and to help found
just institutions. Meetings would be
held monthly or fortnightly in local groups in various towns and villages. This
project was debated in various venues until the movement’s basic charter was drawn up, one which also acts as the membership
document and which is set out as follows.
2. The foundation
charter and membership document
This Movement was formed as a result
of certain fundamental convictions:
that the entire history of mankind, despite many
difficulties, strives towards the design of a society based on justice;
that since the English Revolution, that is for
three centuries, it has been building this society;
that this course of history to some extent
guarantees its continual construction for the future;
and builds hope
for the whole of mankind, for every one of us, a vision of the past, present
and future which comforts us, gives us strength and drives us to commitment.
The nodal points of this construction of justice through the last
three centuries:
the great ethical principles which reached maturity in the modern conscience:
the principle of man, dignity and rights of a person; the principle of liberty
and liberties, of equality, of sovereignty of the people; the principle of
reason and interiority, the principle of solidarity;
the establishment and endorsement of
these principles in the peoples’ charters:
the English Agreement of the People of 1647; the Declaration of American
Independence of 1776; the first Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen of 1789; the democratic constitutions of nations, starting with the
American and French; and then the Atlantic Charter, the Un Treaty and the other Un
charters and treaties;
the democratic model which came into being in the English Revolution
and its development through the stage of mediated and parliamentary democracy
to direct democracy;
the destruction of the power of the monarchy and aristocracy;
the abolition of slavery; the abolition of the death penalty;
the rise, in the 1800’s and 1900’s,
of the working class and the improvement
in living standards as regards work, income, social security, education and
culture, and well-being;
the expiry of the continental empires, and subsequently of
the colonial empires, the principle
of the self-determination of peoples;
the assertion of the dignity and
rights of children, youths, women, social outcasts, the disabled through the
student revolts of the Sixties and Seventies;
the rejection of war, the beginning of the destruction of arms, cuts in
the size of regular armies;
the principle of respect for nature and its balance,
respect for animals as man’s younger brothers,
recovery of the environment.
This construction goes on but,
inevitably, there are still many problems
to be solved: poverty and
unemployment; drugs, neurosis, and crime; local tension and conflicts;
hegemonies, dictatorships, fundamentalism; migration of peoples.
This construction progresses at different rates in different
continents and nations and will continue to do so until the process of universalisation
gains ground.
This tending towards a just society and towards
hope brings about commitment:
to spreading the message of the just society
and of hope;
to acting justly, in our own lives and in
social life, in our work;
to founding just institutions.
The Movement
is made up of people who share this commitment and meet to experience it
intensely, to pass it on to others as best they can, to help build the society
based on justice and spread hope.
It is formed of local groups who meet monthly or fortnightly for discussion
meetings based on a report drawn up on a set topic concerning man’s problems
and the problems of national and local society, a topic all those attending
will have read up on.
In order to carry out its activities the group
can nominate a board with a moderator.
Signing in acceptance of this proposal
constitutes membership.