This Declaration is not a moral doctrine, political program, or worldview. It does not prescribe how people should live, what they should believe, or what ends they should pursue. It establishes only the minimum conditions required for free and peaceful coexistence among diverse peoples.
Its purpose is to define the boundaries beyond which authority becomes illegitimate. It identifies when power has exceeded consent, imposed coercion without harm, or blocked the right of exit. It does not seek agreement, unity, or shared values, only the conditions under which many ways of living may exist without domination.
These principles are universal in a limited sense. They do not claim universal truth about meaning or morality. They apply only to conditions that make coexistence possible: life, individual agency, responsibility for harm, consent. They also recognize the recurring tendency of unconstrained power to concentrate and dominate, which makes such limits necessary.
This Declaration must be treated as a boundary, not a goal. It asks only whether an action preserves the conditions of coexistence, not whether it is virtuous, correct, or desirable. Any use of these principles to impose belief, conformity, or authority beyond consent violates the Declaration itself.
This Declaration does not grant any person, group, institution, or federation the right to intervene, enforce compliance, impose sanctions, occupy territory, compel reform, or rule others on the basis of these Principles.
A finding that authority has lost legitimacy under this Declaration does not transfer authority to any other actor. It releases only the moral obligation to comply and justifies defensive resistance to direct harm, nothing more.
Any attempt to use these Principles to justify conquest, humanitarian intervention, ideological enforcement, collective punishment, or permanent supervision violates the Declaration and nullifies any claim of legitimacy made in its name.
This Declaration must be adopted and interpreted as a whole. Selective adoption or partial enforcement invalidates any claim of legitimacy under it.
Life is the foundation of all value. Without life, there can be no experience, choice, meaning, or responsibility. To recognize that anything matters is to recognize that life matters.
Life continues through action. Every living being must be able to move, choose, respond, and adapt in order to survive. Freedom of action is therefore not a privilege granted by authority, but a condition of life itself. Where freedom is denied, life is diminished.
Human beings act by choice. Each person experiences consequences in their own body and time. No collective can choose, suffer, or repair harm in place of another. For this reason, freedom begins with the individual, and no person is born with rightful authority over another.
Because all people share this condition of life and agency, equal dignity belongs to every person. No life is inherently superior or expendable. Authority, where it exists, must arise from consent and remain accountable to those it affects.
Choice carries responsibility. To act freely is to become responsible for foreseeable consequences. When harm occurs, relationships are damaged; when repair is made, relationships are restored. Justice serves as the protection of life and the repair of harm, rather than the enforcement of belief.
Human life is relational. No one survives alone. Each person depends on others, on land, water, air, and the living systems that sustain all life. Freedom is not isolation from these relationships, but participation without coercion. Responsibility therefore extends beyond the self, without erasing individual choice.
These First Principles define the minimum conditions under which diverse peoples may live together without domination. They establish a moral floor beneath all systems of power and bind only those who claim authority over others.
They do not prescribe a way of life, belief, or purpose. They do not authorize conquest, forced reform, or rule without consent. Their purpose is to preserve the conditions of life, freedom, responsibility, and relationship, so that many ways of living may coexist without one claiming the right to govern the rest.
Every human being has equal dignity and value. No one is born with the right to rule another. Children and vulnerable people share this dignity and may never be treated as property. No collective, majority, or institution may override the equal dignity, liberty, or consent of any person. The individual may not be sacrificed to the group.
Every person owns their body and their life. No one may be enslaved, tortured, mutilated, or subjected to cruel, degrading, or inhuman treatment under any circumstance. No person may be compelled to labor, serve, or fight against their will except by voluntary and revocable consent.
No power is valid without consent. Consent must be free, informed, specific, and revocable at any time. Every person holds the right to leave any group, contract, or association. All obligations must be limited, clearly defined, and time-bound. No group may impose endless duties, hidden terms, or punitive conditions on exit. No person may be bound by obligations imposed before they were capable of consent.
Every person has the right to free movement within their community and across borders, except where temporarily restricted to prevent direct harm to others. No authority may obstruct exit with barriers, penalties, or deprivation of survival needs. Entities controlling essential access corridors (roads, ports, water sources) must allow non-hostile passage sufficient for exit, subject to reasonable safety conditions. Freedom of movement guarantees the right to leave without penalty; it does not obligate any community to grant entry without consent.
No one may initiate violence, coercion, theft, or fraud of any kind. Defensive force is justified only to stop an immediate and actual threat, must be proportionate to that threat, and must end once the threat has passed.
Every person and community retains the right to defend themselves against aggression, using means proportionate to the threat and consistent with these Principles. No authority may forcibly disarm or deny the capacity for proportionate defense. Personal arms suitable for individual defense remain legitimate. Individuals may voluntarily limit their own arms by agreement, provided exit remains open. Weapons or methods that cause indiscriminate or irreversible destruction to mass populations or the shared environment, such as chemical, biological, or nuclear arms, are illegitimate.
To claim a right is to accept the duty to respect it in others. To harm means to violate a person's body, freedom, property, or to damage the shared environment beyond repair. Each person is responsible for harms they knew or reasonably should have known their actions would cause. When harm occurs, the duty is to restore or repair it as far as possible. In cases of irreversible harm (e.g. death), restitution extends to dependents, heirs, or community. Duties extend to future generations, whose equal freedom must not be destroyed by present actions. No debts, obligations, or conditions may be imposed on those who did not and could not consent.
No person may be tried or punished more than once for the same act of harm. No person may be compelled to confess, testify against themselves, or submit to repeated proceedings for the same act. A closed case may be reopened only if materially new evidence emerges that could not reasonably have been presented earlier and an independent body authorizes review under strict limits.
Every person is free to think, believe, speak, publish, and assemble peacefully. No worldview may be forced. Speech may not be punished unless it directly violates rights, such as fraud and coercion, or is direct and intentional incitement of violence.
Every person has the right to privacy of body, home, communications, and possessions. Intrusions, surveillance, or seizures are illegitimate without consent or due process as defined herein.
Air, water, soil, and ecosystems are the common inheritance of all. They may be used but not destroyed or degraded beyond timely and practical repair. They must be cared for and passed on in healthy condition to future generations. Exploitation that destroys the base of life is a violation of these Principles. Protection of commons cannot justify confiscation of private use that causes no demonstrable harm.
All authority must be open to independent and public audit by bodies not controlled by those in power. Rules must be published, predictable, and subject to challenge and appeal before a neutral and transparent process. Every person accused of harm has the right to know the charges, to answer them, to present evidence, and to be assisted in their defense by others of their choosing.
Decisions must be made at the most local level capable of resolving the matter without violating these Principles. These Principles must be applied with respect to lived relationships, local conditions, cultural contexts, and ecological realities. No abstract rule may be enforced in a way that severs people from land, kin, or community without consent or demonstrable harm.
No office or position of authority may be inherited, permanent, or beyond recall. All power exists only by the continuing consent of the People and must remain practically and continuously subject to removal or replacement.
No one may be punished unless they have caused actual harm as defined in these Principles or violated consent. Punishment refers to any imposed penalty or deprivation used to compel compliance, regardless of how it is described. Collective punishment is forbidden.
Freedom is the default. What is not forbidden by these Principles is allowed. Rights not listed are still retained by the People so long as they do not violate these Principles.
No person, group, or institution may claim exclusive ownership or control over the essentials of life and survival—food, water, air, shelter, or medical care—in a way that coerces dependence or denies others a real alternative. Monopoly over survival means is a form of coercion and loses legitimacy under these Principles.
Any person or body exercising authority over others must disclose the basis, limits, and rules of that authority publicly and in advance. Secret laws, regulations, powers, or judgments are illegitimate. The process by which rules are made must itself be open to challenge.
No temporary emergency, crisis, threat, or declared state of exception may suspend or override these Principles. Emergency measures must be proportionate, time-limited, publicly justified, and subject to immediate challenge. Any authority that uses emergency powers to entrench or expand permanent control loses legitimacy.
Any person, community, or federation that finds its authority structure in sustained and material violation of these Principles retains the right to withdraw consent, dissolve association, or nullify compliance with that authority. This right is defensive only and may not be used to initiate aggression or claim authority over others.
The ability to understand the nature and consequences of an action and to make a choice that reflects genuine understanding and will. Determinations of incapacity must be transparent, reviewable, and proportionate. No person may be declared permanently incapable without periodic review. Capacity may not be removed as punishment. No binding obligation may be imposed before capacity for binding consent is established.
The quality of rightful authority. Power loses legitimacy when it violates these Principles, regardless of custom, force, or law.
Any living human being, regardless of age, sex, ability, or condition. Each person bears equal dignity and is the subject of rights. The exercise of duties depends on capacity and responsibility. Institutions and legal fictions are not persons.
The unbroken right of any person to leave a group, contract, association, or system of authority. Obligations must be limited, clearly defined, and time-bound. The right of exit includes freedom of movement across borders and resettlement without coercive restraint. Exit may not be obstructed by physical barriers, penalties, or deprivation of survival needs. Exit must be free of retaliation or deprivation.
A violation of life, liberty, equal dignity, rightful property, or the shared environment that sustains life. Harm includes direct and demonstrable attempts to violate these interests where a credible and imminent threat is present. Harm does not include mere offense, disagreement, or emotional discomfort unless caused by fraud, coercion, or direct violation of these Principles. Harm must be non-trivial and demonstrable with evidence.
Compelling action or inaction by credible threat of harm to life, body, liberty, property, or essential needs.
Obtaining agreement through deliberate deception, concealment, or false representation of material facts necessary for an informed choice.
The rightful control of tangible goods, land, or creations acquired through peaceful use, voluntary exchange, or original stewardship of unowned resources.
The caution a prudent person uses when risks are known or reasonably should be known.
The duty to repair or compensate for harm caused. Where exact restoration is impossible, restitution must provide fair replacement or equivalent remedy. In cases of irreversible harm (e.g. death), restitution extends to dependents, heirs, or community.
Shared resources not created by any one person and relied upon by all, such as air, water, and ecosystems, which no one may rightly destroy, degrade beyond timely and practical repair, or monopolize.
Using resources while maintaining or improving them for future life, including active repair of damage caused.
Fair and open procedures: public rules, impartial and independent judgment, reasons for decisions, and the right to appeal to a neutral body. Secret laws, evidence, or courts are illegitimate.
The principle that decisions must be made at the most local level capable of resolving the matter effectively, with higher levels acting only where local capacity is insufficient.
The exercise of power over others, whether by individual, group, or institution. Authority is legitimate only when it conforms to these Principles.
A duty voluntarily accepted or clearly defined in advance, limited in scope and time, and not imposed without consent.
Free from control or influence by any party to the conflict or subject of the decision. Independence requires transparency, accountability, and verifiable separation from those in power.
Only direct, intentional advocacy of imminent violence, under circumstances where such violence is likely to occur, qualifies as incitement.
Alternatives are real (technically feasible), viable (affordable and reliable), and accessible (non-discriminatory and practically available to all persons).
It is a set of universal conditions for legitimacy that no authority may break. They are the foundation of liberty, responsibility, and stewardship. Any constitution or government must respect them or lose legitimacy. This Declaration is not a moral doctrine or worldview; it is a framework for peaceful non-domination among people who may never agree on meaning, purpose, or truth.
Because they rest on observable facts: people can consent or not, harm and repair can be measured, and all humans share equal dignity and dependence on Earth's life-support systems. These are not opinions but conditions of reality.
No. Authority can exist, but only if it is voluntary, transparent, recallable, and bound by these Principles. Governments, councils, and leaders may exist, but their legitimacy depends on continuing consent.
Through open and neutral processes. Communities may use juries, restorative circles, or councils selected by lot. Higher federations may be created to handle disputes that cross community boundaries, but all remain accountable to these Principles.
They remain free as long as they do not violate the rights of others. If they cause harm, they must make restitution. If they persist in aggression, communities may exclude or isolate them, but not torture or degrade them.
Children share the same dignity as all people and cannot be treated as property. They may not yet exercise full responsibility, but their care is a duty of family and community until they are capable of self-responsibility.
Because liberty cannot survive on a dying planet. Air, water, land, and ecosystems are shared inheritance. They may be used, but not destroyed or degraded beyond repair.
No. Everyone has the right to exit freely, but entry into another community or federation requires that group's consent. Freedom of movement means no one can be trapped, not that anyone must be accepted against others' will.
Yes, provided they are voluntary, defensive in nature, and accountable to the Principles. Militias may not initiate aggression, enforce rule by force, or prevent people from leaving.
Yes, but only by voluntary consent. A community may agree among its members to live without firearms or other weapons. However, no one can be forced to comply against their will. Those who disagree must always retain the Right of Exit without penalty.
No. Defense must always be proportionate and consistent with the Principles. Weapons that cause irreversible harm to life, liberty, and the Earth's systems—such as nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons—are inherently illegitimate.
No authority may impose taxation, conscription, or permanent debt without consent. Communities may pool resources or organize labor, but only through voluntary agreements.
The Declaration does not set one answer. Different societies may define when life begins in their own constitutions, but no rule may be enforced without consent or the Right of Exit.
Ideally, large populations would cooperate, but only as federations of smaller, voluntary communities. Each layer of association must remain open, accountable, and recallable.
This Declaration does not guarantee economic outcomes. What it ensures is that no one may be enslaved, exploited, or denied liberty by monopoly or coercion.
The Declaration does not forbid personal choices unless they cause direct harm to others. Using drugs or engaging in private behavior is not a violation on its own.
Everyone has the right to seek care freely. Communities may choose to provide healthcare collectively, but no one can be forced into service or treatment without consent.
Parents and guardians have duties of care, but children are not property. Communities may set standards, but belief, conscience, and the Right of Exit remain protected.
Peaceful ownership, exchange, and wealth are allowed. What is forbidden is monopoly over essentials or destruction of the commons.
Defense is legitimate if it is proportionate, voluntary, and aimed at stopping aggression. Aggression and conquest are illegitimate. No authority may conscript people into military service without consent.
Communities are free to create currencies or banking systems, but monopolies that trap people in debt or dependence are illegitimate. Alternatives must always remain open and accessible.
Each society is free to create its own constitution and laws, however, no authority may violate these Principles without losing legitimacy.
Conflicts must always be resolved in favor of liberty, consent, equal dignity, responsibility, stewardship, transparency, and accountability.
These Principles cannot be suspended or rewritten. Communities may create their own constitutions, rules, and cultures, but none may violate this floor.
Yes, but only if they align with and strengthen these. None may contradict or weaken them.
This Appendix is illustrative and explanatory only. It does not expand or alter the Principles.
Throughout history, authority has betrayed the trust of the people and violated the natural foundations of justice. To remind ourselves why these First Principles are necessary, we set forth the common abuses by which liberty has been denied:
Such acts have been repeated across ages and nations, proving that tyranny wears many masks but always seeks the same: domination without consent.
It is for defense against these wrongs, and for the protection of liberty and responsibility, that we establish the First Principles as unbreakable law.
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