Dear all, Here is the fourth issue of Global Tapestry of Alternatives newsletter bringing in news and updates from around the world on transformative alternatives and processes. Take a look and share among your networks. Best, Shrishtee (On behalf of GTA core team) GTA's Newsletter #04 - May 2021 *The contents of this newsletter are also available online in this webpage <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:04:index>.* Editorial Dear readers, It is our pleasure to share Global Tapestry of Alternatives' third newsletter with you. The Global Tapestry of Alternatives or GTA as a process or a dialogue began in 2014 and was officially launched in the year 2019. The Global Tapestry of Alternatives seeks to build bridges between networks of Alternatives around the globe and promote the creation of new processes of confluence. You can know more about the project, in our introductory note. This newsletter comes to you at times of immense uncertainties that pose very serious challenges and have social, economic, political, cultural and ecological implications for most of us. The attempt of this newsletter is to bring to you the news, perspectives, thoughts, ideas, reflections, and dialogues on alternatives to the current dominant regime. Importantly, what can do they offer us as pathways towards just, equitable and ecologically wise futures. It is a humble attempt to bring together the collective envisioning of these pluriversal alternatives by creating a space for sharing and dialoguing. We intend to share this newsletter every two months to share perspectives, news on activities being seeded through GTA, as well as perspectives/news/thoughts/questions from tapestry weavers and endorsing organisations and networks. We do not see it as a newsletter that is simply a conglomeration of news/updates but rather as a process of knowing each-others' work, engaging with ideas, facilitating collaborations and initiating co-writing and co-learning processes. Yes, the objectives are ambitious and that is why we need your support, your contributions and engagement. We invite you to this sharing, reflecting, dialoguing, healing, and envisioning space. This newsletter features updates from our weavers in India (Vikalp Sangam), Mexico (Crianza Mutua), and Colombia (Crianza Mutua), updates on GTA's activities, community responses and perspectives in these times from our endorsing networks- The African Earth Jurisprudence Collective, Global Alliance for Rights of Nature, Global Ecovillage Network, and a fascinating piece by eco-feminist Ariel Salleh. This newsletter is compiled by: Shrishtee Bajpai, Anna Hedin, Upamanyu Das and Franco Augusto. News from GTA Webinars and online activities Weaving Systemic Alternatives from the Global South *A conversation with the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, presented by EDGE Founders Alliance <https://edgefunders.org/>* May 11th 14:00- 15:30 UTC - Register now <https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0WU9mM6sR5WfAtNGyq-RoQ> As the world struggles to find ways out of multiple global crises (ecological, climate, inequality, health), we need to heed myriad voices emerging from Indigenous Peoples and other local rural and urban communities. There are thousands of alternatives, grounded in specific ecological and socio-economic contexts, and based on diverse worldviews and ethics that are profoundly different from the currently dominant system. These alternatives cover the full range of human concerns, including food, water, health, education, livelihoods, governance, culture, justice, while attempting to sustain all life on earth. They are, however, often isolated and fragmented. There is a need to build more bridges amongst them to enable cross-cultural and cross-sectoral collaborations, mutual learning and critical engagement, collective envisioning of possible futures, and a critical mass for macro-change. The Global Tapestry of Alternatives (GTA) aims to be a non-hierarchical process, seeking to weave together myriad networks of alternatives across the world. Though formally initiated in 2019, it builds on much longer experience of related work by its constituents. The webinar will present this vision, illustrated by real-life experiences from various parts of the world, and the kind of actions being undertaken or proposed by GTA to achieve its objectives. The list of speakers from GTA includes Arturo Escobar (Colombia), Marta Music (ex-Yugoslavia); Alejandra Jiménez Ramírez (Mexico); Ashish Kothari (India) and Vasna Ramasar (South Africa). Feminist Alternatives to the "New Normality" Inspired by the work of community support networks of marginalized groups located on the peripheries of institutional power, the aim of this webinar is to explore feminist alternatives to the new normality which go beyond the State and policy recommendations. This activity will bring together members of different feminist movements, organizations and collectives from the “Global South” to continue amplifying grassroots feminist alternatives that emerged during the pandemic and collectively explore how to build and consolidate feminist economies and societies centered around care and the sustainability of life. This webinar took place on past March 13th. The video recording is available online in our website <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/webinars:2021:01>. News from the Weavers Vikalp Sangam updates In the month of December, the national core group of the VikalpSangam process (which includes 67 organisations and networks from all over India) met virtually to reflect on the year long activities of VS, how communities and networks are responding to crises, the proposals of holding gatherings of alternatives on various themes like health, disability, and data/privacy. The meeting was focused on reflecting on the VS process, its activities and its relevance in these exceptional times. A third youth alternatives confluence was organised online with about 30 to 35 youth and a few facilitators and speakers from across the country (all of whom may not fit into the classic definition of ‘youth’!).The confluence attempted to share hope, learn, dialogue, discuss and more; build friendships that we carry into the future. The three thematic sessions during the sangam were: Visioning Alternatives: Exploring what would make for an Alternative world - Sustainable Livelihoods and Resilience - Sustaining Movements and Building Synergies Updates from Crianzas Mutuas by *Patricia Botero-Gómez* and *Alejandra Jimenez* The process of mutual nurturing has been sharing knowledge, knowledge, solidarity between peoples, groups and communities in resistance. In the second meeting of mutual nurturing we shared with 38 groups linked to peoples, organizations and communities in processes of defense of life from the autonomic resistance, we formed learning communities with which we have been interacting in each of the bioregions and with some itineraries to the processes of each territory. Weaving from below has become one of the most forceful ways to create alternatives to mega-projects of development from the custody and care of the seeds, the same that allow us to heal ourselves and the earth. Likewise, we have strengthened the tapestry of different processes and paths with which we agree on the importance of strengthening communicative autonomies for counter-hegemonic purposes; share experiences from the Pluriveresities of on foot (Pluriversidades de a pie), guard the stories from the narratives of sisterhood, and the personal and communal, all of them as practices that we do to defend life, joy and dignity. In this way, with our tissues we try to suture broken intergenerational, socio-territorial and communal weavings, sharing our forms of action from our own experiences, beyond localism and globalism, is a source of co-inspiration for all worlds. Also, in recent months the pandemic has been a challenge that we have been facing, without ceasing to continue weaving and sharing our paths, by the means we have at our disposal today, seeking in the near future the possibility of having face-to-face meetings. We recently inaugurated our radio space, which we named “Crianza Mutua. Experiences of new worlds”, which we will be transmitting weekly through Radio Unitierra <http://giss.tv:8000/radiounitierra.mp3> and different friendly community radio stations such as Radio Padiushri. In this first transmission we had the interview of the independent editorial collective: “Fusilemos la noche”. We invite you to listen to it soon on Untierra's Sound Cloud Site <https://soundcloud.com/unitierra>. Updates from the endorsers New endorsers - African Biodiversity Network - International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples - MINGAnet (Colombia) - Alexander Dunlap, Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway. - Martha Giraldo, Colombian, naturist, Coordinator for MINGAnet a network of networks to life care. The African Earth Jurisprudence Collective: Navigating towards a Resilient Future by *The African Earth Jurisprudence Collective* A new, uniquely African hope is emerging to counter threats to the continent’s most precious ecosystems and to revive ways of life that restore the relationship between communities and their lands and waters after centuries of colonial harm. The African Earth Jurisprudence Collective is made up of dedicated Earth Jurisprudence Practitioners from across East, West, Central and Southern Africa, working closely with The Gaia Foundation and the Siama Programme. Together they accompany local and Indigenous communities to put into practice African alternatives to the destructive industrial development model, helping to navigate towards a more resilient future for the continent. *Keep reading -> <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:04:aejc>* Nature is alive, she has rights by *Natalia Greene* for Global Alliance for Rights of Nature Nature is alive, and she has the right to exist. This seems obvious; even a child wouldn’t question this assessment. Why then isn’t Nature rec-ognised as a subject of rights in local, national and global jurisprudence? The answer is that people are afraid that if Nature has rights, it will challenge corporate power and thereby the economy. However, it’s important to remember that the Latin root for ‘economy’ is eco, oikos, home, for our home. Our planet is at risk, and so are all her inhabitants. To regain the harmoni-ous balance, we need systemic change and recognising the rights of Nature is that ground-breaking paradigm shift. *Keep reading -> <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:04:nature>* Building the New Normal by *Global Ecovillage Network* “Until living from a place of love within becomes the New Normal, our global problems that are symptoms of that love’s absence, will remain.” During this past year, we have heard the term “the New Normal” buzzing around in many countries around the world. It has generally been associated with social distancing, work from home, heightened hygiene, as well as empty roads, skyrocketing online shopping, and closed borders. *Keep reading -> <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:04:gen>* Re-Worlding—with a Pluriversal New Deal by *Ariel Salleh* So where to start but with the Anthropocene, this non-sensical civilisation where the ‘means’ to life has overtaken ‘ends’. The Eurocentric fantasy of mastering nature has always been a problematic ontology. Ecologically minded feminists believe this ancient drive to power re-enacts a sublimated form of ‘mother killing’, allowing men to ‘birth themselves culturally’ without dependence on mysterious natural flows. In any event, pandemic anxieties have released a shadow epidemic of terror by men on to the bodies of women. French statistics show a 30-per-cent rise in domestic violence; in Australia the figure is said to be 50 per cent. *Keep reading -> <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:04:ariel>* *Global Tapestry of Alternatives* *[email protected] <[email protected]>* To subscribe and get our updates, visit this link <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/contact> --- To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to this address: global-tapestry-alternatives-observers-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net
