“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”–Japanese Proverb
“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision” – Dalai Lama
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.” – Theodore Hesburgh
Sri Lankans have been given an excellent opportunity to understand the meanings of ancient proverbs and statements made by visionaries such as the Dalai Lama and Fr. Hesburgh, similar to those mentioned above.
We are hearing the sounds not only of an uncertain trumpet but also a whole gamut of uncertain orchestras made of the country’s executive and legislative branches.
We are living through a series of nightmares created by visionless actions of the decision makers who have been given the authority by almost seven million of our countrymen.
We have been conditioned to accept democracy as the best form of Government. This means that we accept the situation in which people of the State, elect representatives to form a body which presumably would lead them to prosperity and happiness by governing the affairs of the State through a truly democratic way.
One of the main feel-good factors of democracy is that each and every voter is made to feel knowledgeable and empowered. However, in reality they do not even realise to what extent they have been misled by the candidates until they start seeing all the incompetent decisions made, corruption and abuse of power by the elected officials of the Government.
Political equality is at the heart of democracy. No citizen or a group of citizens can be more powerful than another. But the moment citizens elect a group of people to rule their country it creates the two groups, rulers and the ruled.
Rulers and their confidants become more powerful than the ruled, violating the fundamental condition of equality expected in a democracy. For democracy to work positively for all the participants of the process must have the proper understanding of both micro and macro needs of such a system.
Selfish needs
While individual participant’s ability to think independently and put the country first before their selfish needs would be the minimum requirement at micro level, all the participants being well educated about who and what they are voting for should be the minimum requirement at macro level.
Dissatisfaction with democracy is growing across countries with a general belief that it is unable or unwilling to deal with citizens’ demands and concerns. The role of money in politics has also increased to an extent where politicians pay attention to the issues or demands of people or organisations who contribute the highest amounts to their campaigns.
Government policies are then shaped by the economic elites and organised groups. Demands of the poor and minorities usually fall on deaf ears.
International experts have said that the economic pain inflicted upon the country has further complicated Sri Lanka’s crisis of external debt repayments which the policymakers are struggling to make, together with finding solutions to the crippling food shortages and other domestic needs.
Though these types of crises usually are resulted by accumulated effects of visionless actions based on incompetent and/or selfish decisions made by successive administrations, this time around the fiscal and monitory policies of the current administration are the biggest contributors.
Members of the Opposition in Parliament cannot just give excuses such as “they never ask for our opinions and/or solutions” or “we informed the Government, but they did not listen” and feel that they have done their duty and therefore next time around people should elect them to rule the country.
What people should understand is the type of thinking that brought the country to where it is today is exactly that. They perhaps should ask even the Opposition members what they did after they found out that the Government is not ready to listen to their ideas and suggestions.
If the Opposition’s solution to the problem is changing the Government, then the people should ask them to clarify exactly how they are going to solve the current problems if they were given an opportunity to govern. This is the best time for each and every citizen of this country to make an effort to understand the real meaning of democracy and their role in it.
Important decisions
Democracy, as we have come to accept it today, allows anyone who is eligible to vote to be a candidate who, if elected, will have the power to make important decisions affecting the lives of all the citizens of the country.
Voting to elect people to represent their interests in a legislative body such as the Parliament or electing an Executive President is just a part of the democratic process. Within the current political culture of Sri Lanka, one doesn’t even have to be elected by people’s choice nor be capable of handling the position to get into a powerful and extremely responsible position as the Minister of Finance.
Though we do not intentionally go to an unqualified person for medical, legal, financial, or architectural advice we seem to be willing to give the power to any ignorant person to make important decisions about how we lead our lives.
While we should find out exactly how the problem was created so that we can take steps to prevent further damage and think about appropriate solutions using that information to blame the responsible parties is not what people expect now.
However, if the current Government is not intelligent enough to listen to possible solutions, even the ones coming from the Opposition, and not capable of implementing the best solution immediately then of course one of the steps should be a change of Government. Otherwise, the priority should be coming out of the economic hole we have dug ourselves into without thinking about any political gain.
This is where “Social Economy” which focuses on the relationship between social behaviour and economics, through solidarity and co-operation among associations, co-operatives, foundations, NGOs, trade unions, private companies, social enterprises, and state sector services, might be of help.
Organisations within a social economy put social and environmental concerns at the top of their priorities instead of profit maximisation. Their mission is to serve the common good by increasing the individual and community welfare while protecting the general interests.
Organisations within social economies implement only sustainable practices that are respectful of the primacy of human needs and natural ecosystems in the environment, empowering diverse stakeholders in their decision-making processes, respecting true democratic values.
They operate at local levels expanding the potential for collective social innovation by collaborating with all potential stakeholders such as: entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers, and citizens in the area.
Indian economy
We can learn from our neighbours in India where “Cooperative Movement” has made remarkable progress making it the largest of such movements in the world. It plays a pivotal role in Indian economy, especially in the field of agriculture facilitating rural credit, distribution of raw material and fertiliser, storage and marketing strategies and even affordable housing options for farmers.
The movement has shown that it is more effective in meeting their people centered objectives than private and State sector organisations. This is a perfect example to show the meaning of the phrase “Think globally, Act locally”.
Though the phrase usually refers to sustainable development practices especially regarding environmental issues, it can very well be applied to agriculture, trade, consumption, volunteering, politics, art and culture all the way to individual roles as parents and teachers too.
The writer has served in the higher education sector as an academic over twenty years in the USA and fifteen years in Sri Lanka and he can be contacted at [email protected]