Invitation for the Swaraj 100 gatherings
Greetings Dear Friend,
We are writing to share with you, and invite you for the first of the gatherings on ‘Swaraj 100’. With the 100th anniversary of Hind Swaraj coming up, it is our hope to find 100 people under 45 who are committed to Swaraj. Details follow below; we seek your valuable suggestions and ideas on this process.
Life in modern day industrial/urban society seems to be getting increasingly violent and fragmented. The environmental crisis, wars and terrorism (state-sponsored and otherwise), growing superficiality of existence and resulting unhappiness, break-down of families and communities, the blind rat race towards ‘success’ and the maddening pace of life, cancerous urbanization, the widening disparity between the rich and poor, etc., all beg us to rethink the direction and values our way of life us based on.
In response to this crisis, many of us are already trying to walk a different path as individuals and communities, from this current dominant reality. Living lives of more simplicity and love, while holding the vision of a just, peaceful and earth-friendly society.
Gandhi articulated the practice and search for such a way of life as a ‘quest for swaraj’. While he is not the first one to have articulated the philosophy of ‘radiance of the self’ and ‘rule over the self’ (sva-raj), his discourse is still very valuable to us. He helps us to re-contextualize ancient wisdom for our present day society. In 2009, it will be a hundred years since Gandhi wrote Hind Swaraj. The questions he raises in this little powerful booklet on the values of the industrial civilization, its dominant economic, political and social institutions, as well as on different possible paths and alternatives we could explore, are more relevant today than ever before.
In the event of the coming centenary, we are looking to organize a series of four gatherings for Swaraj 100, over the next two years (one every 6-8 months). It is hoped that these intergenerational gatherings would help build a community of friends from different parts of the country who are guided by this quest for swaraj in their lives and communities. This event would also serve as a platform:
Ø For dialoguing on the various notions of Swaraj many of us hold, understanding the diversity of visions, critiques and practices, and inspiring new actions.
Ø For sharing Life questions, dilemmas, skills, inspirations, etc. with others.
Ø For making new friendships and organic connections between people and groups.
The gathering would be for 6 days and will be held at a place that is already actively exploring simple sustainable ways of living. The event is not meant to be a conventional conference, and while there would be some ‘structured’ time (activities like learning exchanges, group dialogues, cooking, cleaning, etc.), there will also be time and scope for unstructured, spontaneous interactions. While we are there, we will also be contributing in labor, doing a special project at the venue, like building a mud house, digging a well or a small pond for collecting rainwater, getting a field ready for sowing, harvesting, etc. (The motive behind this is to strengthen the place we visit by giving something in return and not just taking from it).
It is our hope that by spending time together, many of us will feel strengthened and motivated to continue this dialogue on Swaraj in our own communities back home. This could take many forms: a collective book, an exploration of great ‘swaraj’-like people in our localities and regions, some small films, a theater play, etc. We will be happy to help financially support some of these endeavors too. Let’s see what emerges!
We anticipate that the first Swaraj gathering could happen in March 2008, then October 2008, and finally March 2009 (These dates are all negotiable by the group). We are not asking for a time commitment up front, but we do hope we all can be involved in shaping this space and dialogue over this year and next.
In the spirit of Swaraj, this initiative will be run using our collective resources. There will be no government, corporate or donor funding used. We can help those who need travel assistance. We are still determining locations and will confirm that as soon as we can.
Will you let us know:
1. if this event is of interest to you?
2. if the dates work for you?
3. if you can suggest people who would be good for this event, particularly dynamic youth?
We hope to finalize a list of participants in the coming weeks.
With much love,
V. Naveen Kumar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu naveenv@gmail.com
Nitin Paranjape,
Nashik,
Shilpa Jain,
Manish Jain,