VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAN

- FORUM FÖR OMFATTANDE DEMOKRATI -

Bakgrundsinformation på svenska

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan är sanskrit och betyder 'världen är en familj'. Det är också namnet på ett nytt internationellt demokratiinitiativ.
 
Bakgrund
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam har vuxit fram under det senaste decenniet som ett resultat av växelverkan mellan medborgarorganisationer i Nord och Syd. I Sydasien har Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan - Coalition for Comprehensive Democracy under de senaste åren väckt stort intresse. I de nordiska länderna och Finland är processen fortfarande i sin linda. Målsättningen är att grunda Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam som registrerad förening i Finland och Norden under 2002-2003.
 
Ideologiska riktmärken
  1. Grunden för Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan är ett brett demokratibegrepp. Vi vill synliggöra detta genom att tala om demokrati i  minst sex dimensioner:
  2. politisk demokrati: den offentliga maktföredelningen och utövningen bör vara folkstyrd. Demokratiska former är inte nog;
  3. social demokrati: den politiska makten förblir ett tomt skal om inte dess sociala grund, rättvisa och deltagande, är i ordning;
  4. ekonomisk demokrati: enbart reglering av marknadens villkor räcker inte långt, kooperationerna, den fria fackföreningsverksamheten, försvaret av de lokala ekonomierna och utvecklingen av den rättvisa handeln är några andra nycklar till ekonomisk demokrati;
  5. ekologisk demokrati: till de nyare demokratiska utmaningarna hör uppgiuften att rättvist uppmärksamma kommande generationers och andra arters behov
  6. kulturdemokrati: demokratin som politiskt ideal har universella rötter och en lång, mångsidig historia i olika kulturkretsar. Demokratins utveckling kräver mellankulturell växelverkan och ett vårdande och utvecklande av demokratins bästa arv i olika kontexter.
  7. demokrati mellan könen; kvinnans och mannens olika samhälleilga positioner och identiteter är idag ofta en källa till orättvisor och förtryck men den mänskliga mångfalden kan vara en nyckel till frigörelse och solidaritet.

 

Mål
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan är ett långsiktigt initiativ som arbetar för att främja omfattande demokrati, global solidaritet och rättvisa. Verksamhetens främsta uppgift just nu är att arbeta med de utmaningar som på senaste tid orsakats av globaliseringen. Huvuduppgifterna i den nära framtiden är att
  1. att hejda avpolitiseringen och stärka det demokratiska deltagandet och inflytandet på alla nivåer från det lokala till det globala;
  2. hejda den fascism, rasism, främligsfientlighet och våldsbenägna identitetspolitik som gror i lyliberalismens grumliga bakvatten; 
  3. -avvärja marknadsfundamentalism och bryta den nyliberala hegemonin
  4. förbättra alla individers säkerhet genom att främja en samarbetsbottnad säkerhetspolitik.
  5. Målet är att bidra till en ny hegemoni för demokrati och solidaritetsvärden världen över.
Handling
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakams viktigaste form för politisk intervention är dialogisk.  Rörelsen strävar inte till att själv förverkliga kampanjer utan syftar till att initiera pro-aktiva politiska processer som främjar samarbete mellan individer, rörelser, partier och organisationer för en omfattande demokratipolitik.
 
Nord-Syd-Syd -samarbetet spelar en central roll. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam är med om att utveckla nya metoder för erfarenhetsutbyte och politisk samverkan mellan folkrörelser i olika kulturer och på olka kontinenter. Verksamheten ger utrymme för olika aktörer att engagera sig vare sig de är medborgarrörelser, politiker, intresseorganisationer, konstnärer eller forskare.

 

Samarbetspartner
Vasudhaiva Kutmbakan verkar internationellt särskilt inom ramen för World Social Forum -processen. I Indien är de centrala samarbetsorganisationerna folkrörelsenätverket Lokayan, och forskningsinstitutet Centre for the Study of Developing Societies samt det första asiatiska socialforumets organisationskommitté. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan har i Finland vuxit fram inom inom Servicecentralen för utvecklingssamarbete (Kepa) och inom Jordens Vänners verksamhet. En bredare organisering har påbörjats i Finland under hösten 2002.

 

Kontakt
Marko Ulvila, vk-finland@kaapeli.fi, tel +358-3-5425423

 

 

 

 

THE 'VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM' INITIATIVE

 

A Coalition

For

Comprehensive Democracy

 

Lokayan

South Asian Dialogue Group (Kepa)

 

 

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The Earth is a Family), a Coalition for Comprehensive Democracy, is about furthering, strengthening and deepening 'democracy' simultaneously in economic, social, political, cultural, gender and ecological dimensions of life, from local to global levels.

 

Pursuing the Democratic Dream

 

Modern day dominant science, social and economic processes, and polity tend to fragment life, issues and people's ways of looking at them.  Democracy has come to mean merely 'representative' political structures. Despite this dominant thrust of institutionalisation over the past 200-500 years, which has culminated in the present processes of monopolistic, hegemonic, and humanly disempowering   globalisation, there is another perspective of democracy which is still widely espoused intellectually and intuitively. It is an idea about relationships being based on equality, mutuality and respect in individual interaction between family members, between communities, between human beings and the rest of nature, in the market, between genders, and the nation state, and between peoples across the nations. The challenge for all of us is to build politics around this perspective to channelize all institutions towards ever expanding and deepening democratisation. 

 

People in South Asia have long cherished values which, in modern times, are best expressed under the rubric of 'universalism' and various dimensions of 'democracy'. Before the colonial interventions of the West, even when there were rulers of foreign origin, the participatory mode of governance from the grassroots to the top, devolution of political power at all levels, and cultural plurality were hallmarks of our social-political system. We had our own failings such as the obnoxious practice of untouchability. The communitarian principles manifested through the caste system degenerated into hierarchical fundamentalism. But, despite all kinds of failings, the sense of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'' (The Earth is a Family) has been part of our cultural sensibility since time immemorial. That is why our socio-cultural diversity is a source of strength and, in fact, the primary defining force behind our unbroken identity. There have, of course, been brief phases of ideological or identity polarizations. But soon, the pluralist perspective prevails again. The basic premise of this world-view is that no sect, religion, ideological group, class, socio-political formation, the state, or church can claim a monopoly over TRUTH. Each one's 'truth' is able to capture only some aspects of the TRUTH, depending upon the vantage point, and not 'the TRUTH' as a whole.   Other dimensions are contained in the 'truth' possessed by our enemy, and our allies.

 

Threats to Democracy

 

All epochal transformative moments in  history are pregnant with two opposing possibilities  a     new dawn or an era of darkness. What are the forces of darkness at this juncture?

 

Globally, an elusive 'Consumer Paradise' is being promised through the mass media and the market. There is a mad rush for this kind of globalism. Socio-political forces, whose world-views and dreams are anchored in a doctored view of history (such as Huntington's view on 'Clash of Civilisations'), are becoming victims of the prevailing social pathology of a 'mad-race syndrome. Social identities are getting hardened and becoming more and more competitive. These forces believe that they are engaged in a survival struggle, in which moderation finds little place as a democratic trait.

 

The Democratic Agenda

 

No one organization can aspire to fulfil the need of all types of interventions required to realize democratic values in all walks of life.  So, by definition, there cannot be any one Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.   It is a way of relating to at each other, not a structure for unifying or homogenising the diverse.  It is an attempt to 'own' each other and nurture each other's democratic interventions despite differences.  Therefore it can be more-or-less a space for enabling ideas on concerns about democracy and a platform for diverse interventions.  It can be a forum where people from diverse backgrounds, sharing this broad search come and share their work and create new coalitions without necessarily merging their respective institutional/organisational identities.

 

Such an initiative could also be seen as an effort to engage the civil society in dialogues on a number of crucial issues at various levels: local, regional and international.  The dimensions can be articulated as,

ÆEmpowerment of the daridranarayan, the 'last person' (Economic Democracy),

ÆEcological regeneration and people's control over natural resources (Ecological Democracy),

ÆEnsuring human dignity (Social Democracy),

ÆStrengthening plural co-existence (Cultural Democracy),

ÆDeepening of democratic structures and institutions  (Political Democracy)

ÆEvolving gender relations based on mutuality, equality and respect (Gender Democracy)

 

Our Faith

 

Our shared view is that selfishness and greed are only one part of the human journey and not the defining characteristics of human life. Wants can be fulfilled, and even indulged in, without being glorified.

 

The task of building true democracy today is inextricably linked to the global struggle to reform or transform capitalism without a readymade version of any ism. It is a project based on the perennial values of non-violence compassion, justice, equality and freedom and truth.  

 

Many radical movements think that their responsibility is only towards a fundamental transfer of power in favour of the oppressed and marginalized. They feel no responsibility towards the larger whole while pursuing the cherished ideals. Moral renewal of individuals and institutions in society, with a sense of the larger whole, is the responsibility of all.

 

Our Hope

 

In a phase of phenomenal upsurge of democratic aspirations, new norms have to be agreed upon through a process of participatory dialogue even with the adversary, at various levels of human collectivities. One has to recognize the complementarity of each other's 'truth' and consciously avoid being judgmental regarding the other's viewpoint. The critical evaluation of other viewpoints has to be in an idiom which encourages moderation and introspective engagement on all sides. Such processes are unfolding and can consciously and actively be pursued today.

 

Our Method

 

We espouse a three fold method for democratisation.  One is 'dialogue', basically to recognise the contours and the calling of our times. Dialogue at all levels, including with the adversary, is possible only if we believe in the willingness of the human spirit for struggle and self-sacrifice against injustice instead of believing in the conspiracy theory. The dialogue must consciously be across hierarchical structures at each level, incorporating the idiom and aspirations of the most marginalised. Constructive action to strengthen and promote modes of production and ways of life consonant with the various dimensions of democracy is the second aspect, which must be based on a participatory process at each level and across levels. Simultaneously, we have to fight the injustice. For this, multiple forms of non-violent political action are the only answer.  One is  conscientious civil disobedience, to use Gandhi's word, 'Satyagraha'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Address

Vijay Pratap

GW IV, Ganga,

Jawaharlal Nehru University

New Delhi-110067, India

Tel: +91-11-6713251 (O),

+ 91-11-6102638/ 6102752 (R)

Email: vasudhaivakutumbakam@vsnl.net

vijaypratap@vsnl.net

ritupriya@vsnl.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--