Brainstorm 8 - Haleh Mawson

One of the pieces that stood out to me in these readings was the claim that Western, patriarchal power structures work to divorce communities from their environment, in part as a side effect of trying to eliminate indigenous and so-called undesirable values and knowledge, but also to weaken the communities themselves. Being divorced from nature robs a human being of something essential, and it makes sense that groups would be empowered by rediscovering their niche in creation (not to say that it was ever fully lost). The four principles of buen vivir/sumak kawsay all center on humanity as a part of the world rather than above it, and not in some Edenic sort of blissful harmony where the lion lays down with the lamb, but a role with tension and give, conflict, dependence, and conciliation.

My first instinct on reading that Ecuador's constitution was built on these principles was to dismiss it as probably immaterial. I suspect, all else aside, that most states treat constitutions as guidelines rather than absolute rules, and even countries such as our own with strong constitutional law bicker regularly about what each clause means. The context Walsh provided just strengthened my doubt. The constitution is not, as yet, a guiding principle, but rather lip service in an attempt to appease the people. Community and grassroots organizing (like the marches) are strong-arming the state into change, and, frankly, I think that's the only way positive and lasting change can happen. I don't think basic values and beliefs can or should be imposed from above.