The defining moment in my life that shifted the way I was thinking...and brought me to ubuntu.
Great question. Tough to answer.
In the sense of living and breathing and working and playing.
Ela Bhatt delivered an incredible acceptance speech upon accepting the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, on 18 February 2013 in New Delhi. She works with SEWA: Self Employed Women's Association. I became very familiar and in awe of this org. when I was there in 2011.
My highlights?
Poverty strips a person of his or her humanity and takes away freedom.
This is so utterly true. We all work to simply provide for our family and ourselves. To live free lives, dedicated to the experiences and actitivites (and people) we love. Poverty takes that away, it makes people lose their pride, makes them turn violent, and, just as power does, poverty corrupts.
In India, we are proud of our multicultural society. Bahudha is at the heart of what makes us who we are: social diversity, political diversity, religious diversity, biological diversity. But in our rush to modernise let us not forget one of our greatest assets: our economic diversity. In our markets, we have the street vendor, the cart seller, the kiosk owner, the shop owner, and the supermarket owner, all plying their trades at the same time. Let them cater to different strata of society, co-existing and competing in a natural, organic way. Let our planning include ample room for the millions of small entrepreneurs and self-employed, who cater to the widest strata of society, to flourish and grow. They are the agents of an economic development that reaches the grassroots; they weave the living web of social and economic relationships that will bind our nations together.
This is ECONOMICS 101 for me. This is what the "global marketplace" was intended to look like. Not a hundred multinationals who are taking over everything and everyone in their way.
I would urge us to ensure that six basic primary needs are met from resources within 100 miles around us. I call it the "100 mile principle". If food, shelter, clothing, primary education, primary healthcare and primary banking are locally produced and consumed, we will have the growth of a new holistic economy. (Let me make clear, however, that the 100 mile principle is not a recipe for isolation. I am not asking at all that we go back but move forward with heightened awareness about how and where we spend our money and what our work is doing to us and those around us. In fact, technologies can help to share knowledge and ideas across countries.)
Enough said. An amazing woman. And once again, she's inspired me to be looking in my own community for women's organizations to volunteer with. Here we go!
Here's the speech >>
My highlights?
Poverty strips a person of his or her humanity and takes away freedom.
This is so utterly true. We all work to simply provide for our family and ourselves. To live free lives, dedicated to the experiences and actitivites (and people) we love. Poverty takes that away, it makes people lose their pride, makes them turn violent, and, just as power does, poverty corrupts.
In India, we are proud of our multicultural society. Bahudha is at the heart of what makes us who we are: social diversity, political diversity, religious diversity, biological diversity. But in our rush to modernise let us not forget one of our greatest assets: our economic diversity. In our markets, we have the street vendor, the cart seller, the kiosk owner, the shop owner, and the supermarket owner, all plying their trades at the same time. Let them cater to different strata of society, co-existing and competing in a natural, organic way. Let our planning include ample room for the millions of small entrepreneurs and self-employed, who cater to the widest strata of society, to flourish and grow. They are the agents of an economic development that reaches the grassroots; they weave the living web of social and economic relationships that will bind our nations together.
This is ECONOMICS 101 for me. This is what the "global marketplace" was intended to look like. Not a hundred multinationals who are taking over everything and everyone in their way.
I would urge us to ensure that six basic primary needs are met from resources within 100 miles around us. I call it the "100 mile principle". If food, shelter, clothing, primary education, primary healthcare and primary banking are locally produced and consumed, we will have the growth of a new holistic economy. (Let me make clear, however, that the 100 mile principle is not a recipe for isolation. I am not asking at all that we go back but move forward with heightened awareness about how and where we spend our money and what our work is doing to us and those around us. In fact, technologies can help to share knowledge and ideas across countries.)
Enough said. An amazing woman. And once again, she's inspired me to be looking in my own community for women's organizations to volunteer with. Here we go!
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