{"id":18629,"date":"2021-01-29T11:15:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T11:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=497856"},"modified":"2021-01-29T11:15:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T11:15:45","slug":"its-time-to-reimagine-our-future-here-are-3-ways-to-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/29\/its-time-to-reimagine-our-future-here-are-3-ways-to-begin\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to reimagine our future. Here are 3 ways to begin."},"content":{"rendered":"

We live in a time of great turmoil, one marked by a pandemic, deepening economic inequality, and a rapidly changing climate. Yet these challenges provide an opportunity to create a more equitable, open, and sustainable society, one focused on community, cooperation, and respecting the natural world. In The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crisis<\/em><\/a>, 28 activists and intellectuals provide a glimpse of what this might look like — and how we can get there. These three excerpts, which have been lightly edited for clarity, provide three calls to action.<\/p>\n

Create a new community<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"New
Grace Abe<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

\u201cUbuntu: The Dream of a Planetary Community\u201d
\n<\/strong>By Mamphela Ramphele<\/em><\/p>\n

Moments of existential crisis bear within them the ability to dream and imagine new possibilities. They contain the opportunity to see beyond the self-imposed bounds of what is possible and embrace a new horizon. COVID-19 has revealed a space where the human community can go beyond our comfort zones and reduce the risks we face together. The impact of behavioral change on the scale we have seen the last few months is shocking to many, but this shift reflects the untapped capacity of human beings to change in response to an existential threat.<\/p>\n

The extensive behavioral changes have been about more than personal survival, such as wearing protective masks and gloves. They have unleashed a reservoir of compassion and reaching out to those around us in distress, those who are in need of food, care, and protection. The \u201cwe are in this together\u201d sentiment has been widely shared, especially in the early days and weeks of the pandemic. We showed up with the best face of humanity: generosity and solidarity.<\/p>\n

I suggest that as we draw from the well of generosity and solidarity within us, we accept an invitation to reclaim the essence of our \u201chumanness.\u201d This essence lies deep in the souls of each living human being. Kofi Opoku, an African scholar and elder descendant of the Akan people of Ghana, expresses this more eloquently:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept of human beingness, or the essence of being human, termed Ubuntu <\/em>in the Bantu languages of Africa, is central to African cultures and religious traditions. It is the capacity in African culture to express compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony, and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining community.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mutombo Nkulu-N\u2019Sengha, another African scholar of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, elaborates further to show how this concept finds resonance in the wisdom of other cultures across the globe:<\/p>\n

\u201cBumuntu is the African vision of a refined gentle person, a holy person, a saint, a shun-tzu, a person of ado, a person of Buddha nature, an embodiment of Brahman, a genuine human being. The man or woman of Bumuntu is characterized by self-respect and respect for other human beings. Moreover, he\/she respects all life in the universe. He\/she sees his\/her dignity as inscribed in a triple relationship: with the transcendent beings (God, ancestors, spirits), with all other human beings, and with the natural world (flora and fauna). Bumuntu is the embodiment of all virtues, especially the virtues of hospitality and solidarity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The core of the African concept of Ubuntu <\/em>is that one cannot be a complete human being without the reciprocal affirmation of other human beings \u2014 umntu ngumtu ngabantu. <\/em>The Akan of Ghana would say Onipa na oma onipa ye onipa<\/em>: It is a human being who makes another person a human being.<\/em><\/p>\n

The often quoted \u201cI am because you are\u201d is pregnant with the profound meaning of the generative essence of being human:<\/p>\n