manish jain

via manish

As I moved around, I started to discover that there were deeper linkages and assumptions which connected and served to keep in place these power structures.

I started to have deeper questions about the labels which we used to describe diverse people/lifestyles from around the world (such as ‘under-developed’ or ‘illiterate’), about the framing of peoples’ problems around the world (from a deficit perspective within a larger worldview of scarcity), and around the nature of the experts, technocratic solutions and institutions.

I realized that no matter how clever I was, these only served to further fuel the monster.

love this:

For the past 9 years, I have been trying to explore what swaraj means today in the context of my life and my community in Udaipur, India. I have been trying to understand dignity, wisdom and imagination in new ways that stem from the mundane, the small, the slow, the inefficient, the invisible.

on swaraj:
via Mahatma Gandhi, 1908 called Hind Swaraj - real purpose of the freedom struggle. He clarifies, “It is not about getting rid of the tiger [i.e. the British] and keeping the tiger’s nature [tools, systems, worldview, etc].” He calls for swaraj (rule over the individual and collective Self) and for the need to look beyond the logic of “modern” colonizing systems of health, justice and technology. 


oh.. huge.. how can i do what i do instead of waiting...

How can I live my values today rather than waiting for the System to change?

reduce my family’s dependency on large institutions and re-value physical bodily labour 

I have met people from all over the world who are making similar efforts in honestly regenerating their own communities – many of whom have never called themselves activists and would never think of doing so.

I think the main struggle in front of us lies in reclaiming control not only over what we choose to see and value in our life, but also how we see and value things. 

For me, the most exciting examples of Now Activism in India are those which are seeking to re-legitimize and re-connect to the local knowledge, imagination and wisdom that exists within traditional communities. Giving top priority to regenerating local languages, ways of seeings, expressions and dialogical spaces -- on their own cultural terms rather than through institutionalized and commodified lenses -- is urgent, if we are to find our own ways out of the massive crises that overwhelm us today.  As I meet with friends, there are some questions which seem relevant to explore:

- What else do I need to unlearn to see/tap into new forms of power, identity and relationships?

- What are the diverse ways in which people are self-organizing outside the purview of dominant authority and institutions?

- What are new tools that not only allow us to creatively express our dissent but more importantly regenerate our cultures, our wisdom ecologies, our imagination and our inter-connected beings? 

thank you Manish.. curious when this was written.. so 2 yrs ago..