Progress lies not first in the teaching of how to make or build, or the knowledge of simple facts, but in how to live
Political, Social, Economic and Ecological Justice and Sustainability are the central rallying points in the continuous effort to attain Holistic Development, Liberation, and Self-Determination. From this perspective development begins by reclaiming freedom and dignity which are interdependent and interconnected to the freedom of all human beings. Inherent in this premise is the indivisibility of justice, peace and harmony – without equality that is accessible to everyone there is no justice, and without justice there can be no peace.
Political and economic ownership are at the heart of a shared humanity where peace with justice is the guiding principle. Development and Education are primarily about liberating people from all that prevents them from having a full life with dignity, justice and freedom. Therefore, ultimately development and education are about transformation at many levels– a process that involves spiritual, personal, economic and political growth.
Transformation is not a process where one person can do the transformation for somebody else, rather it is intrinsic to each individual person. People, through the continuous praxis of reflection and action, learn to understand their realities, write their own history and evolve strategies that will best enable them to realize their aspirations and live a full life.
Development and Education are made possible through inclusive participatory processes where people take ownership by deciding what is best for them, followed by acting on these decisions. These processes embrace and represent their values, lives experiences, worldviews and aspirations. Specifically, the values of self-determination facilitate a people’s growth to become makers of their own culture and their destinies.
Revitalizing sustainable democracy and economies means rethinking and carefully examining how we learn, which is much broader than formal education. No learning experience or education is neutral or fully objective, it needs to facilitate people’s growth and capacity to be critical thinkers, pro-active when responding to injustice, have the flexibility and courage to adapt to radical change, and uniquely design development projects to meet their real needs. We can no longer be passive to injustice, reactive and generally dependent on outside authorities for our survival. Not only is our dependence in specialization taking over, we are abdicating our true selves in order to get ahead. We need to critical question how and why our realities are in such transition, and specifically why we would accept that certain ‘truths are truths at all’ which have been externally imposed on us.
Any holistic learning process absolutely involves the whole person, our mind, spirit and body, through critical assessment, critical thinking, and action in order to generate a collective critical consciousness. EF Schumacher points out that the root of what is wrong with society is a failure of thinking of values and ultimately education. The solution lies deep within us. We are our own impetus for progress. Progress lies not first in the teaching of how to make or build or the knowledge of simple facts, but in how to live in the real world.
