[PeDAGoG] Global Tapestry of Alternative's Newsletter #03 - February 2021

Thu Feb 18 18:19:46 CET 2021

Dear everyone,
Here is the third issue of GTA newsletter. It has
fascinating contributions by Natural Justice, SANGAT- a feminist Network,
and Convivialist along with a perspective piece on 'Power of the
Alternative' by Ana Cecilia Dinerstein.

Take a look and share widely!

Warmly, S

GTA's Newsletter #03 - February 2021

*The contents of this newsletter are also available online in this webpage
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:03: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 in these times from our endorsing networks-
Natural Justice,SANGAT-a feminist collective, Convivialist and a
perspective piece from our core team member, Ana Cecilia Dinerstein.
News from GTA Webinars updates

In our 13th Dialogue we were joined by Monkoxi leaders from the Indigenous
territory of Lomerio, Bolivia,sharing their experiences dealing with
COVID-19 and how the Monkoxi were able to control further spread of COVID
by blocking access in and out of their territories, coordinating with
partners the delivery of biomedical equipment, and (esp. important)
reviving traditional medicine and community care values and relations.

Our 14th dialogue <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/webinars:14> was
co-organised with Global Working Group Beyond Development and Rosa
Luxemburg Stiftung Brussels Office on the recent book on Cities of Dignity
– Urban transformation around the world. The dialogue explored What
conditions and strategies enable radical transformation in urban contexts?
What kind of economic and political processes can sustain radical urban
transformations?

For our 15th dialogue <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/webinars:15>
 and the last one for the year 2020, we were joined by Lara Monticelli,and
Suryamayi Clarence-Smith to discuss Capitalism, Its Crises and Its
Alternatives: Understanding Real Utopias

We started year 2021, with an exciting 16th dialogue
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/webinars:16> with our endorsing
network WoMIN on African ecofeminist alternatives to development for a just
and resilient post-extractivist future.

*You can listen and watch to all our webinar recordings in this link
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/webinars:index>.*

Virtual World Social Forum 2021

GTA actively participated at the Virtual World Social Forum 2021.
Initiated, co-organised and presented in dialogues on crucial themes like
Power and Democracy, Parliament of World Citizenship, Global Dialogue on
Solidarity and Mutual Aid, Climate & Ecology and Environment Space, Rural
environmental struggles for system change, and Zapatista visions, voices
and practices. All the sessions recordings and details are available online in
our website <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/wsf>.

GTA's core team member Ashish Kothari was part of the opening panel along
with Yanis Varoufakis, Lula da Silva, Leila Khaled, Aminata Traore, and
Miriam Mirand.

GTA helped initiate dialogue among eight global processes on 'How do we
resist fascism and promote radical democracy'?. The seven global processes
include:

   - Global Dialogue Process <https://globaldialogue.online/>
   - Global Green New Deal <https://www.globalgnd.org/>
   - Global Tapestry of Alternatives
   <https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/>
   - Global Working Group Beyond Development
   <https://beyonddevelopment.net/>
   - Grassroots to Global <https://www.grassroots2global.org/>
   - Progressive International <https://progressive.international/>
   - Towards a New World Social Forum <https://foranewwsf.org/>
   - World Social Forum <https://fsm2021.mayfirst.org/noticias-fsm/>

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
Crianza Mutua updates

During the month of November, the people who are part of Crianza Mutua
México continue with our periodic meetings through the Zoom platform. These
meetings, even remotely, help us to follow up on our fabric, be aware of
the activities we are doing and share the challenges that each one
experiences in our territories. In addition, they allow us to exchange the
knowledge, experiences and strategies that we are generating in the midst
of the pandemic to channel our activities, in such a way that these spaces
provide tools and knowledge that emerge in our daily lives and allow us to
continue resisting.

On the other hand, we are organizing ourselves to attend the Crianza Mutua
meeting between collectives from Mexico and Colombia (more below). In
addition to getting to know each other, we will have the opportunity to
exchange knowledge and experiences in small groups and agree on our forms
of interaction from now on. We are convinced that these exchanges are
essential to strengthen the tapestry of alternatives in the social base,
which advance in the autonomous construction of their own ways of life
while conventional institutions continue to fall apart around them.

In Colombia and Mexico, Crianza Mutua has been formed during a process for
a couple of years. The initiative took the name of Crianza Mutua, inspired
by the practices and philosophies of the peoples of Lake Titicaca and Valle
del Cauca; in the relationships between peoples and the beings that inhabit
the earth, because that is the main intention - to raise each other back to
the communal connection with the earth. But we also want to knit together
to offer each other solidarity. And the idea has arisen that we should also
have some visibility, so that the millions of disaffected can be inspired
by our practices to take similar initiatives.

In Colombia, from the Tejidos between peoples, communities and processes in
Colombia –*Tejido de Colectivos-UniTierra Caldas* and southwestern Colombia,
 *Tejinando sentipensares, pluriversidades de a pie, Tejido de
transicionales, Campaña Hacia Otro Pazífico Posible*– came the idea of
getting in touch to learn from each other. In Mexico, we also started
various collectives, groups, communities. In both Mexico and Colombia we
have linked the fabrics, although we have been meeting, each in their own
way.

Motivated by the advancement of these twinned processes, on December 19,
2020 we carried out the first international dialogue of “Crianzas Mutuas”.
We are summoned by topics such as: Food and eating; Knowledge and learning;
Healing; Audio-visual autonomies; Writings and editorials;
Intergenerational weavings and Defense of life and territory.

News from the endorsing organisations African solidarity with community
defenders

By *Natural Justice*

On the 22 October 2020 we heard the shocking news of another assassination
of a community defender. 63-year-old community activist, Fikile Ntshangase,
was gunned down in her home in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Defender of her land and
heritage, Mam Ntshangase stood in opposition to the expansion of the
Tendele Mine and she paid for this opposition with her life. This is a
great tragedy. Mam Ntshangase’s death is another example of the stakes at
play in the struggle that thousands of people across Africa are facing as
they seek to protect their land and resources from exploitation.

*Keep reading ->
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:03:nj>*
Raising Gardens of Hope and Love towards Feminist Solidarities

by *Sangat: A Feminist Network*

We find ourselves today caught in the currents of tumultuous time. All
around us we can see the consequence of letting years of plundering Nature,
systemic oppression and exploitation continue unchecked. The Covid19
pandemic has revealed and deepened the existing social and economic fault
lines of our society. It is a subtle reminder from Mother Nature of the
importance of living in harmony with Nature. It is a hint that this race
for power and control is futile. The pandemic is an exposé of the myth that
humans are the supreme race.

*Keep reading ->
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:03:sangat>*
Convivialist wishes for 2021

By *Convivilist Network*

What can convivists convivialists wish for and wish for themselves for
2021? The same things as the largest number of people on this earth:

*Keep reading ->
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:03:convivialist>*
Perspectives from GTA core team The power of the alternative

By *Ana Cecilia Dinerstein*

Twenty-five years ago, late Subcommander Insurgent Marcos from the EZLN,
described globalisation as a 'war against humanity'. His *“Seven Loose
Pieces of the Global Jigsaw Puzzle”* (1997) pictured several dimensions of
this war including the omnipresence and omnipotence of money. Today the war
against humanity has reached a point of no return. Crises are inherent to
the fabric of capitalism. Through crises, capital renews itself to continue
self-expanding. The problem that we face is not the 1% of greedy
capitalists standing against the 99% of the world. Rather, this
ill-conceived idea of the Occupy Wall Street movement prevents us from
understanding that the problem we have to confront is that capitalism is an
(im)possible project, i.e. a system tis alive but has colonised human and
non-human to the point of self-destruction.

*Keep reading ->
<https://globaltapestryofalternatives.org/newsletters:03:ana>*
*Global Tapestry of Alternatives*
*contact at globaltapestryofalternatives.org
<contact at globaltapestryofalternatives.org>*

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-- 
Shrishtee Bajpai
Kalpavriksh/Vikalp Sangam/Global Tapestry of Alternatives

http://kalpavriksh.org
www.vikalpsangam.org
www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org
www.globaltapestryofalternatives.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shrishtee?s=03
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/shrishtee.bajpai/
My response to your email might be slow but you will definitely receive it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD3VxRvIeuo

-- 
Shrishtee Bajpai
Kalpavriksh/Vikalp Sangam/Global Tapestry of Alternatives

http://kalpavriksh.org
www.vikalpsangam.org
www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org
www.globaltapestryofalternatives.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shrishtee?s=03
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/shrishtee.bajpai/
My response to your email might be slow but you will definitely receive it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD3VxRvIeuo
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