New Articles from Ashish Kothari - Great Transition Initiative

Ashish Kothari has several recent articles in Meer:

“Vikalp Sangam: a decade of alternatives for India,” September 13

The VS initiative attempts to celebrate the ability of ‘ordinary’ people to innovate, persevere, collaborate, and find solutions to crises. It shows further that the visioning of a better society, is not the prerogative of formal ‘experts’. It can be done by putting together the wisdom, knowledge, and experience of people anywhere – at different stages of life, in diverse cultures and livelihoods, at different levels of learning and education, in nature, on the farm or in classrooms. And in doing so, it can be subversive of conventional, top-down, colonial ways of generating knowledge and action.

Over the last few decades, some of the key participants have learnt that process is as important as product. The more democratic, participatory, diverse, and exciting one can make the process, the greater the likelihood of at least some aims being met, and of unanticipated benefits. Also, even as some of our activities may be oriented at trying to influence state policy, ultimately it is people’s empowerment that will carry forward transformation, and the process of meaningful participation is itself enormously empowering.

“Sustainability and Costa Rica: not all is Pura vida,” August 13

At the end of my trip, I reluctantly bid farewell to Costa Rica in the traditional way of the residents: pura vida (pure life)! I was sad to leave, not only because it is such a beautiful country with beautiful humans and other beings, but also because I could not shake off images and memories of the ugly underbelly of this beauty. I could only hope that Costa Rica’s citizens find it in themselves to regain a sense of balance, searching for pathways of well-being that lie not in the glitzy “developmentalist” world of modern consumerism and materialism, but in a mix of traditional and new livelihoods that are dignified and ecologically wise.

“Judicial activism vs. climate crisis,” May 14

Three court orders in three different contexts, all pointing to one conclusion: that a stable climate, or to be shielded against the disruptive impacts of climate change, is a human right. One says this in the context of youth and children, another in the context of the elderly, and the third in the context of poorer and vulnerable sections of society in general. The Indian court’s order also brings in the imperative of another marginalized section, that of wildlife, though it does not go as far as to talk about its rights.