DECLARATION
OF GOVERNANCE AND LAW
By the
People of the People
A Unique Peoples Collective Document
How Can the Inalienable Rights of
People of Earth be Fully Recognized and Supported?
Written Circa
1992. Latest Update Aug, 2014.
Laceweb folk and resonant other Unique Peoples from
the East Asia Oceania Australasia linking locally and laterally have
contributed to drafting this version of this document. It envisions the re-evolving
of societies post some regional or global catastrophe or disaster. It draws
upon indigenous and small oppressed minority wisdoms about nurturing love care
and respect enriching wellness of folk and Earth cooperating well together in
jointly evolving wise local regional and global societal frameworks.
Rather than been a
preplanned unified abstract ideal, Laceweb way is very 'short' on 'grand
theory'. The Laceweb way is - 'use local wisdoms and knowings - act and check
outcomes - repeat what works - go for what's missing in our local wellbeing'.
Just as occurs in nature, each 'local' may be different. The meta-outcome in
each 'local' may be a tentative, or even a sustained move to a world where our
particular local wellbeing needs are fully met - a utopia. So there may be many
possible utopias in the making - not preplanned, not as 'pious hopes' and
'grand illusions' - rather, as experienced wellbeing grounded in practical
action by the local people of the local people.
CONTENTS
Core Values, Norms and Benchmarks
The Wellness of People and Earth
Sequence for Evolving Local, Regional, and Global
Governance
Inter-People Healing Treaty between Governance
Bodies Non-Governance Bodies and Unique Peoples
Criteria for Funding Transformational Proposals
Throughout the World
It is recognized that we,
the one people from all the world’s continents and islands are now free to choose our own actions for
ourselves, as long as we each stand in full responsibility and liability
for those actions.
Our
Inalienable Rights both as individuals and as
collectives (of our own choosing) extend to deciding how we arrange our local,
regional and global ways of living well together including our governance, law
and complementary interfacing of mutual-help and service delivery.
Three themes will be
introduced.
Firstly, A
few people in a unilaterally-appointed top-down hierarchy deciding things for
people is in direct contradiction to the first two paragraphs.
Secondly, more
than fifty years of action research has revealed that there are, on the very margins of global
societies, extremely wise ecological spiritual elders who are already very
quietly engaged in evolving local wellness action supporting the reconnecting
of locals in taking back ability over their lives together as they begin
recognizing and using well their inalienable rights. Refer www.laceweb.org.au.
Thirdly,
a growing appreciating of what Recognizing Inalienable Rights actually means may lead to embracing role shifts, especially
among funding providers.
From
Doing things for people (in violation
of those Inalienable Rights)
to
Locally
and laterally supporting locals engaged in mutual-help as per the second
theme (with this supporting extending to regional and global cooperative
initiatives of people).
There are folk who know
these wise ecological spiritual elders on the margins who may act as interfacing
relational mediators of integrity between people with non-compromising funding and
wise ecological spirit elders towards evolving socio-ecological spiritual
transforming action.
People of planet Earth have the inalienable right to
evolve their own Governance and Law:
a.
Local Governance of Local Matters
b.
Regional Governance of Regional Matters
c.
Global Governance of only those matters related to the Global Commons (seas, air,
rivers, inter-regional peacekeeping and
the like)
This is a transitional document setting out processes
for evolving the above. It has been evolved through decades of relational
exchange and respectful deep intercultural engaging between Unique people,
including Indigenous People, Unrepresented Nations & People, and Oppressed
Small Minorities, as well as resonant natural nurturers from around the World.
This document is ‘transitional’ in that it is continuing to be fine-tuned in
widening global dialogue. It is forming as an expression of inalienable rights
from diverse peoples.
Any reasonable move to evolve new forms of Global,
Regional and Local Governance may well start
with the motto:
The Wellness
of People and Earth is the Supreme Law.
There is no law
on Planet Earth above this Law. It supports evolving Homo Amans (Loving People)
and the decline of Homo Aggressans (The Biology of Love. Maturana, et al,
1996).
The words 'Well and Wellness' are used for the experience of wellness in the
Illness-Wellness Continuum. What constitutes wellness may vary considerably
between different cultures, communities and people in their varied habitat and
context. It is more about better feeling in context, rather than 'trying to
feel better'. Forms of wellness may include (in no
particular order) communal, cultural, physical, family, clan, inter-family,
personal, interpersonal, spiritual, emotional, psychological, habitat,
relational, village, inter-village inter-religious, inter-clan, geo-social,
environ-mental, inter-faction, eco-nomic, and inter-cultural wellness.
Generalised wellness flows from the interaction of the above forms.
All people of
planet Earth have inalienable rights, including rights as to:
o
what and how they
believe
o
how they live their
lives – their culture
o
determining their
own lore, governance, and laws
Top down action is unacceptable. Local and
lateral action with equality is the Way.
All dominating, imposing,
and stripping of agency and ability from people is unacceptable.
Any documents or actions purporting to ensure
or support these rights while denying, undermining, or degrading them are
unacceptable.
All deciding and
doing things for people that they can
decide and do for themselves is
unacceptable.
Past use of
dominating, imposing, and stripping of agency and ability has limited local
grassroots folk. Given this limiting, action research over the past fifty years
has consistently demonstrated that affected local grassroots folk do still have
the life experience, psychosocial resources and resilience to engage in
mutual-help and self-help in transforming all facets of their lives together in
ways of their own making as is their inalienable right, especially with
non-compromising wellness enablers supporting them to be more able, if the
local folk want this.
Wellness and illness in many domains of life
may be viewed as a continuum with
each end representing an extreme. At any given time, one's position along the
continuum represents the window through which the individual experiences
wellness.
'Wellness of People ' may be defined as:
A generalized self-perception based on the individual’s sense of participating in and enriching from life.
This generalized sense of wellness is a
function of the relative significance of the various wellness domains and the nature of their
interconnectedness – domains such as physical, psychological, mental,
emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, relational, habitat, communal,
intercultural, economic, and environ-mental domains.
A
person's self-report is the best predictor of wellness, and only they know when
they do not have wellness.
Grassroots
folk do know what constitutes their
wellness and know when they have not got wellness in its many forms.
In this
document the term 'Wellbeing' is being used in the widest possible sense and
covers the nurturing healing aspects of human living. 'Nurturing cultural
action' implies 'healing' in its widest sense. ‘Healing refers to the original
sense, namely, ‘to make whole’.
It follows that the
place to start on any transforming of governance based upon the Supreme Law
namely, The Wellness of People and Earth,
is with the people - the common folk.
This is the complete reverse of the dominant system.
If a society collapses (like Bosnia and East Timor) the dominant system rushes:
1.
To set up government
2.
Then to set up law with its associated justice,
police, and prison system.
3.
The people come a very poor third.
Recognising that the
Wellness of People and Earth is the Supreme Law, now is the opportunity to
reverse the above order and put the people first!
Refer www.laceweb.org.au/ext.htm.
The dominant system assumption is that common folk are
incompetent, traumatised and needing experts to do things for them. Both
Ability and Agency are stripped.
The dominant system has generated a system of top-down action delivered by thousands of experts in academic, government and non-government bodies who,
together with their administrative backup, sort out aspects of our lives for
us. Behind these are even more thousands of bureaucrats who keep track of what
all these experts are doing for us. The unquestioned hardly noticed system for
all of this is ‘Service Delivery’. In the vernacular – We decide and do things
for you.
In contrast, when one goes with an open mind to
post-disaster contexts one can readily find among grassroots folk extraordinary
practical wisdom. One can readily find natural nurturers - folk with experience
and capacity in psychological, communal, and social healing ways, as well as
find folk with extensive psychological, social and emotional resources and
resilience. The consistent report from affected people in disaster contexts is
that the best support they received
is from fellow affected people engaging
in mutual-help. Refer Professor Protacio-De Castro et al, 2000. Recognising and Evolving Local-lateral Links Between Various Support
Processes. (Note third
column) – www.laceweb.org.au/lll.htm.)
Grassroots self-help and mutual-help
initiatives
(fundamentally different from Service Delivery) are involving people in acting
together to take back ability over their
own lives. Experts are used as resource people and not as power brokers and
decision-makers – refer:
http://www.laceweb.org.au/nlp.htm#soci
On Laceweb exemplar
mutual-help initiatives refer:
Nurturing culture involves ways of joint action in mutual-help (rather
than service delivery) that continually spreads and enriches the wellbeing competence base throughout the
local community.
Dominant systems have through the ages crushed
grassroots folk engaging in mutual help supporting themselves.
Dominant systems want social control. They want folk
with needs that the dominant system controls through debt slavery, regulation,
and through supply of, or regulation of scarce, expensive, service delivery managed by governing departments or regulated
NGOs.
These entities divide service into narrow sectors
where programs and sectors and different departments have little or no
cross-cooperation.
Holistic Wellness emerging from mutual-help is not in
dominant system interest.
In respecting the Supreme Law focus on the Wellness of
People, nothing happens unless the
local people want it to happen, agree on what is to happen and are fully involved in every aspect of making it
happen.
The Sequence:
a)
The place to commence, consistent with the
Supreme Law, is the Wellness of Local People in their respective places
b)
From Local Wellness continues to emerge Local
Lore
c)
From Local Lore emerges local humane caring
norms and values
d)
From caring norms and values emerges our way of
life together (our local culture)
e)
From Local Lore emerges Local Law
f)
And from Well people living with Lore-derived
Law - emerges Well Local Governance
g)
From Local Governance and well people evolves
Regional Cooperating
h)
From Regional Cooperating Lore evolves
collaborative Regional Governance
i)
From Regional Governance emerges collaborative
Global Governance of the Global Commons
From the above sequence emerges:
a)
Local Governance of Local Matters
b)
Regional Governance of Regional Matters
c)
Global Governance of only those Matters related to the Global Commons (seas, air,
rivers, inter-regional peacekeeping and
the like)
Advanced exploring of possible global futures has been
under way amongst Unique People for decades.
Experience and competence in the above processes have
been actioned researched around the World for over fifty years by Unique People
– grassroots folk cooperating with interculturally and transculturally
sensitive academia to post-doctoral and professor levels.
Action for wellness has been evolving on the margins
far away from dominant Systems.
Consistent with Supreme law, the roll-out of the above
is guided by the following principles:
The wisdom of interdependence will be shared.
The following practices must end – namely: use of force, policies and laws
which promote dependency.
Western and dominant models of development
must not be used in designing programs and policies affecting the common folk;
these practices must be stopped in favour of those which help, heal and build
solidarity, culture, values, and other relevant customs.
Any
transition away from the current power-over system is to follow principles developed consistent with the
following Inter-people Healing Treaty. Once
transition is occurring, Governance and Law may emerge consistent with this document.
The following Treaty has been evolved by
Unique Peoples around the World
towards values guided ethical behaviours during transitioning to compliance
with the Supreme Law.
INTER-PEOPLE HEALING TREATY BETWEEN GOVERNANCE BODIES
NON-GOVERNANCE BODIES AND UNIQUE PEOPLES
As between Unrepresented Nations and Peoples, Indigenous Peoples; their
Leaders, Non-Government Organisations and Practitioners around the World,
hereafter referred to as "Unique Peoples" (UP); and other
Non-Government Organisations, or persons hereafter referred to as
"NGOs" and Governance Bodies hereafter referred to as “GOs”.
Whereas dominant and Western development models have failed to achieve
the healing, learning, equality, fairness and development objectives promised
to Unique Peoples; and
Whereas some GOs and NGOs have imposed dominant development models,
programmes and values in their projects which have contributed to the
destruction of the environment and of Unique Peoples cultures and populations;
and
Whereas GOs and NGOs respect the evolving declarations, charters and
treaties of Unique Peoples, recognise Unique Peoples' rights to
self-determination, rights to traditional territories, and to cultural,
healing, identity and collective inalienable human rights,
the undersigned parties hereby recognise and affirm the following code
of ethics for GOs and NGOs when entering into joint activities with Unique
Peoples, and recognise and affirm the following:
1.
Transfer of values: Existing practices and approaches of some
GOs and NGOs contribute to what amounts to the imposition of Western and
dominant values and culture on Unique Peoples. This must be recognised and
approaches and models of equality and consensus will be adopted to minimize,
reduce and heal these effects.
2.
Community control, management and ownership: Unique Peoples' programmes will be based on
an ethic of self-development consensus. This takes into consideration Unique local
control, management and ownership of projects and initiatives. These are based
on local Unique values and cultural institutions.
3.
Community-based planning: Community-based planning and healing
development based on principles of community participation will be the
cornerstone of Unique Peoples development supported by, and nurturing to, GOs
and NGOs.
4.
Unique Peoples' Knowledge: The basis of Unique Peoples' development is
Unique Peoples' knowledge, which is owned, collected, documented and
implemented by Unique Peoples. Its stewardship may be celebrated with GOs and
NGOs for the artistry of mutual benefit.
5.
Spirituality: GOs and NGOs will recognise, and can accept
healing from, Unique Peoples' spirituality, which is the manifestation of the
harmony in their way of life and holistic thinking.
6.
Respect: The principle of respect that is the
foundation of Unique Peoples' human-development policy means respect for self,
community, Mother Earth, other people and nature, as well as respect for the
gifts and contributions of all forms of life. GOs and NGOs will be helped to
learn this.
7.
Sharing: The principle of sharing will be the basis
of healing relationships between GOs and NGOs and Unique Peoples, with balance
and caring at all levels, between individuals, community, others and Mother
Earth.
8.
Technology: Unique Peoples' concepts and technology are
fundamentally different; therefore culturally appropriate technologies must be
found that can be applied and controlled by Unique Peoples.
9.
Sustainable development: Unique Peoples' understanding and philosophy
of development are based on cyclic and sustainable concepts and approaches that
can be shared with GOs and NGOs to benefit GOs and NGOs and their respective
countries.
10. Capacity
building:
Unique Peoples can expand their skills, knowledge and plans for healing,
education, development and implementation in various programs and projects and
in their own GOs and NGOs.
11. Unique
Peoples societies: The
practices of earlier colonizers must end - namely use of force, religion,
schools and administrative policies and laws which promote dependency. The
wisdom of interdependence will be shared with GOs and NGOs.
12. Unique
Peoples models:
Western and dominant models of development must not be used in designing
programs and policies affecting Unique Peoples; these practices must be
stopped, in favour of those which help, heal and build solidarity, culture,
values, and other relevant customs.
13. Unique
Peoples GOs and NGOs:
Non-Unique GOs and NGOs will support the development, training and financing of
Unique Peoples GOs and NGOs.
14.
New Unique Peoples' institutions: Non-Unique GOs and NGOs will support the
development of new kinds of regional and international institutions which
coordinate and support Unique Peoples in carrying out self-evolving planning.
15. Unique
Peoples' financial institutions: GOs and NGOs will recognise that Unique Peoples' financial institutions
must be managed and controlled by Unique Peoples. This will promote economic,
environmental and human development initiatives in the community; and learning
for GOs and NGOs.
16. Financial
management: GOs
and NGOs will establish healing relationships, structures, and policies which
make them more responsible and accountable for their development initiatives
with Unique Peoples.
17. Consultation
and Agreement: GOs
and NGOs will develop policies which provide fair consultative mechanisms to
harmonize their policies with Unique Peoples priorities, values and culture.
18. The undersigned parties agree to seek knowledge and assistance that
embody compatible spiritual and cultural values. This will allow dominant
non-Unique people to behave with humility and respect. They may thereby seek
spiritual forgiveness for past injustices, show how forgiveness can help heal
the wounds inflicted between peoples, and promote the continuing healing of
Mother Earth.
The above statements are hereby agreed to and affirmed in order to contribute to Unique Peoples'
survival and self-development, to create a new partnership between dominant GOs
and NGOs and Unique Peoples, and to fundamentally change and heal the
relationship between Unique Peoples and dominant or Western institutions, so as
to correct and heal the mistakes and errors of recent centuries.
Signed at
On
UP:
GOs:
NGOs:
For implementing proposals under this Criteria, we would accept co-vision
relationships with international Indigenous/minority academic/research
groups known to be experienced in participatory
mutual-help and self-help models staying well clear of a kind of pseudo-help that disempowers and
leaves control of process and content to outside 'experts'.
'Co-vision' is a concept borrowed from
transnational management consulting. The term encapsulates contexts where
trainers find that feedback from trainees train and change trainers so much
that they have to change their ‘training’ to fit the wisdom of the trainees.
The concept equally applies to 'enabling' contexts. It is resonant with
‘co-envisioning’ from Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Indigenous
Research Projects namely – creating, democratising, discovering, envisioning,
negotiating, naming, networking, reframing, remembering, restoring,
revitalizing, sharing, storytelling (Smith, 1999, p.142-167), and enabling and fostering proactive
action research, structural change and cultural change
Unique Peoples’ way is experiencing
learning in contrast to ‘training’.
The networks involved in this energy realise that they may participate
in activities funded by others. It recognises the value of cross-cultural,
cross-national and international guidance, and intercultural interfacing
support in such circumstances. Refer www.laceweb.org.au/int.htm.
The principles it favours are that in this wider context of Humanitarian
Epochal Transforming activities:
·
Funding
entities monitor finance
·
Humanitarian
(caring) people skilled in mutual-help
and self-help action assist with ethics and nurturant process
·
Disadvantaged
Small Minority, Indigenous, and resonant natural nurturer people (wise
spiritual elders on the margins) assist in developing good results
The principles of balanced wide representation of stake-holder entities
can be continuously explored. Past Irish peace initiatives provide valuable
lessons in this regard.
We will be fully accountable for funds. However to tie funds to doing
‘unalienable rights based participatory mutual-help and self-help' according to
'service delivery' criteria is a
contradiction in terms and action.
Evaluation is built into every participatory mutual-help and self-help
action. However, it will be evaluation using 'participatory mutual-help and self-help criteria of local people',
not 'service delivery' criteria of
outsiders – and certainly not anything based upon ‘Universally Applicable’ Law devised by a few. It entails action by
the people of people.
Local, Regional and Global Law may emerge and evolve by local action
evolving local lore and linking and cooperating between people respecting and
celebrating valued difference who have evolved way as embodied knowing in no
need of explicating.
If funding bodies are so tied to 'service delivery' and filtering
templates designed by the few that they insist be used, then funds will not be accepted for this Plan and associated ongoing epochal transforming action among
Unique Peoples around Planet Earth. Our progress will be so much slower -
though remain based upon local people everywhere actually participating in and making governance and law-making
based on local lore of their own making as is our unalienable right. Ex
facto Entities of wise discernment recognise this.
Over the past 14 years a ‘Unique
Peoples Joint Partners Proposal and Funding
Grant Application’
has been evolving among Unique Peoples fully consistent with this Governance
and Law document that may be used as a process for having Unique Peoples and associated interfacing entities ensuring
extensive integrity in anyone being supported with funding towards Epochal
Transforming. A copy
of this Proposal and Application is available.
Funding entities may fund and monitor Epochal
Transforming financing.
Humanitarian (caring) people skilled in mutual-help and self-help action assisting with ethics and
nurturant process are available and already well under way.
Disadvantaged Small Minority,
Indigenous, and resonant natural nurturer people assisting in developing good
results are available and well under way.
Processes for Epochal
transforming are well underway as changes in consciousness and understanding
growing in human relating in the midst of experiencing wellbeing with others;
refer Realising Human Potential.
May this Governance and Law
Document Value Frame the Wise
Exploring of Global Futures.
E-Book Resource:
Nurturing Community for Wellness