Science for the People is a science-activist organization dedicated to building a radical political movement in science and society. Membership in SftP is defined by actively participating in national work or local chapters. SftP members use bottom-up strategies to build a science-activist organization that:
- Opposes all forms of oppression, exploitation and marginalization, while recognizing the role of science in these conditions, and the responsibility of science in liberatory struggles against all of these conditions
- Builds parity within the organization for marginalized, oppressed, and exploited peoples
- Works to organize labor in the scientific workforce
- Conducts radical, politically and scientifically informed investigation into problems of science and society
- Promotes positive instances of the use of scientific and technical expertise, providing scientists with knowledge and opportunities to use their specific training in accordance with SftP principles
- Resists the use of science for exploitation, oppression, capitalism, imperialism, war, and environmental destruction
- Struggles for system change to address the root causes of social, economic, and ecological problems
- Affirms a deep respect for all life in the motivation for and practice of science
- Opposes the assumption that humans have the right to exert violence upon, exploit, and control other humans, non-human animals, and nature
- Recognizes scientific knowledge outside of establishment institutions
- Recognizes, supports, and encourages the role of scientific knowledge and scientific investigation in building equitable futures, increasing understandings of our world, and guiding public policy
- Fights the corruption of science by systems of power and builds democratic forms to expand access to scientific tools and knowledge