Perspectives on the Confluence about Radical DemocracyJune 2025
Dear readers,
It is with immense delight that we share the Global TapestryThe weaving of networks of Alternatives of AlternativesAre activities and initiatives, concepts, worldviews, or action proposals by collectives, groups, organizations, communities, or social movements challenging and replacing the dominant system that perpetuates inequality, exploitation, and unsustainabiity. In the GTA we focus primarily on what we call "radical or transformative alternatives", which we define as initiatives that are attempting to break with the dominant system and take paths towards direct and radical forms of political and economic democracy, localised self-reliance, social justice and equity, cultural and knowledge diversity, and ecological resilience. Their locus is neither the State nor the capitalist economy. They are advancing in the process of dismantling most forms of hierarchies, assuming the principles of sufficiency, autonomy, non-violence, justice and equality, solidarity, and the caring of life and the Earth. They do this in an integral way, not limited to a single aspect of life. Although such initiatives may have some kind of link with capitalist markets and the State, they prioritize their autonomy to avoid significant dependency on them and tend to reduce, as much as possible, any relationship with them. (GTAGlobal Tapestry of Alternatives) sixteenth periodical with you. This space seeks to create solidarity networks between Alternatives around the globe and promote the creation of new processes of confluence. You can read more about GTA in our introductory note.
In this edition of the periodical, we have curated reflections from the Radical Democracy, Autonomy and Self-Determination (RaDASD) confluence that took place in the Wild Coast of South Africa from February 1- 6, 2025. The gathering, co-organised by the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, Academy of Democratic Modernity, Jineolojî Academy, WoMin African Alliance, and hosted by the Amadiba Crisis Committee, brought together over 50 participants — land defenders, activists, representatives from Indigenous communities and grassroots movements — from across 20 countries across the Global South who are actively resisting and subverting, oppressive structures, while also reclaiming power and (re)asserting alternatives to these dominant, extractive forms of governance.
True to its name, the central theme of the gathering was the ongoing struggle for autonomy and self-determination amidst the constraints imposed by authoritarian, militarist, and imperialist regimes. As Ashish Kothari writes, 2024 was one of the biggest election years in human history, with more than half of the world casting their votes. However, democracy is not limited to electoral politics; other forms of democracy — beyond the liberal model — not only exist in theory but are actively being practiced on the ground, especially by communities in the Global South. Encounters such RaDASD serve as important spaces to share the commonalities (and differences) in how communities and grassroots movements practice forms of radical democracy despite the constraints of the nation-state, law, and institutions actively clamping down on their autonomy.
In his contribution, Carlos Tornel highlights that communities are not only rejecting capitalist modernity and a ‘development’ model that entrenches inequalities, but they are also reclaiming, defending and creating direct decision-making structures rooted in place-based governance. Struggles for autonomy around the world need to be grounded in global solidarity, so that communities can collectively construct a pluriverse of possibilities beyond the current unjust systems. He recalls that one of the most powerful moments from the gathering for him was when a participant mentioned that “Collective and Indigenous peoples' rights cannot be limited to human rights. These rights are based on the rights of nature, on our relationships with territory and place, and on our capacity to determine how we relate to and in these places”. Doe Doh echoes this need for global solidarity, emphasizing that “the mutual recognition of collective struggles for self-determination over territorial rights and autonomy is the key to systems change.” In his piece, he shares inspiring stories of how the indigenous Karen peoples in Burma are reclaiming their territorial rights and self-determination through collective-decision making and self-strengthening processes.
In a similar thread, Sutej Hugu shares the milestone achievements of the Indigenous Taiwan - Self Determination Alliance (ITW-SDA) in negotiating with the Taiwanese government and successfully setting up an institutional process for self-determination. Intergenerational learning is an important ingredient in the community’s self-strengthening process — elders guide youth to both revive indigenous knowledge systems and also envision futures beyond the trappings of modern institutions. The spiritual guidance and presence of our elders and ancestors — both human and more-than-human — is fundamental to our work of envisioning systems of life beyond borders, extraction, and domination, highlights Simon Mitambo in his piece. Simon adds that at the gathering, invoking the energy of the four elements, our ancestors, and spirit-beings created the right conditions to engage in the slow and life-affirming work of radical democracy.
In the final piece, Franco Augusto interviews Nonhle Mbuthuma from the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), the hosts of this gathering. Nonhle shares the current challenges facing her community — namely, extractivism, state negligence and the lack of basic healthcare services — alongside the ways in which her community continues to self-organise, mobilise and build social and communal infrastructures to meet their needs. She reflects that participating in international gatherings like this Radical Democracy is very important. Firstly because sharing information is power. It has empowered them as communities because they are learning from other countries and from other communities about how they solve issues. And secondly, this is an important process for building grounded solidarity.
Each reflection in this periodical offers a glimpse of worlds rooted in justice, solidarity, autonomy, and bioregional governance attuned to cultural and ecological realities. The contributions contain grounded, practical initiatives towards radical democracy, and the conceptual, theoretical and cosmological underpinnings of these practices. Together, they illustrate that our endeavours for autonomy and self-determination are not isolated or disconnected. Like a mycelial network, our struggles and liberations are deeply entwined. Our power lies in our relationships and solidarities, in our continued insistence on joy and celebration even as we resist and subvert violent, oppressive structures.
We hope that these contributions infect you with courage and hope, inviting you to look for stories of how communities in your land are dreaming and practicing forms of radical democracy.
Editorial team, Pooja Kishinani, Shrishtee Bajpai, and Franco Augusto
This visual report presents the experiences of a process of weaving the pluriverse called The Global Tapestry of Alternatives (GTA). This is an illustrated and condensed version of our previous publication “Articulating Crisis and Creating Radical Alternatives”.
This series of short videos features the voices of four of GTA's WeaversThey are local, regional, or national networks or organizations that connects or consists of multiple Alternatives on different themes/spheres, in an inter-sectorial way. A global network cannot be a Waever, neither a thematic one. It should be a collective process of some kind, rather than only a single individual or single organization. By being a "weaver", they are committed to participate in the GTA, developing ways of dialogue, interconnection, collaboration and solidarity with other Weavers. GTA promotes the interconnection of the Weavers, identifying [[:weavers:criteria|a series common criteria for the weaving of Alternatives]]. Examples: Vikalp Sangam and Crianza Mutua. members, coming from India, Colombia, Mexico, and South-East Asia. In each of them, they reflect and share insights about a common triggering question, visibilizing the powerful commonalities and also the different perspectives grounded and weaved in our tapestry. It features the voices of Itzel Farías (Crianza Mutua Mexico), Shrishtee Bajpai (Vikalp Sangam), Solangel Murillo (Crianzas Mutuas Colombia), Ryan Martinez (MASSAMovement for Alternatives and Solidarity in Southeast Asia (South East Asia)) and Jenito Santana (MASSA). It was created by Marco Andrade and Franco Augusto, with the collaboration of members of the GTA Facilitation Team.
Join us for the launch of this Declaration, issued at a Global Confluence held at Port Edward, South Africa in February 2025. It will take place next June 10th. The declaration speaks from the ground up: from the struggles of Indigenous, feminist, ecological, and community-led movements around the world who are imagining and building other possible worlds.
Organised by Global Tapestry of Alternatives, Academy of Democratic Modernity, WoMIN, and Amadiba Crisis Committee.
During 2-6 February, 2025 a confluence of 44 people form 20 different countries and 34 communities, organizations and/or social movements was held in Port Edward, on the Wild Coast of South Africa. We came together to discuss our common struggles, and to build a common understanding of how we exercise radical democracy and autonomy, while recognizing our differences. For us, radical democracy entails our responsibility and right to decide on all matters relating to our lives, including to say yes or no to any proposals from outside our communities and territories. This includes the right to reject the developmentalist projects that have long defined us as poor and underdeveloped, have dispossessed and displaced us, and alienated us from our own lands and waters. This means rejecting economic, political, and cultural models that impose violence on our bodies, territories and world experiences, and attempt to homogenise us into replicas of ‘western’ stereotypes. Instead, we demand the right to maintain and keep evolving our own diverse systems of learning, healing, inhabiting, knowing, acting and eating—rooted in the defense of life, land, and collective existence.
Link to the Declaration of Port Edward on Radical Democracy
How has modernity shaped the way we perceive, inhabit, and relate to our physical bodies? What does it mean to “reclaim whole body sovereignty”? How do we free not only our minds, but also the body from the shackles of coloniality and extractivism? How do we unroot the old myth of separation and domination from the sacred soil of our physical sanctuaries? And how might we begin to see our bodies as living systems - extensions of our Earthly home, interwoven with the fabric of life? Many of this questions were explored in this session.
The historical moment we are currently facing requires that we simultaneously recover ancestral wisdom and constantly adapt to the new challenges. To achieve this, it is very important that we weave an intergenerational wisdom that incorporates both the stories and worldviews of the past, as well as the perceptions and capabilities of the new generations. In this dialogue with Alcar, Belén and Itzel (Crianza Mutua México) we explored together the importance of building this “intergenerational wisdom” to collectively navigate the complexities we face today.
In this episode of our series on creative expressions featuring the more-than-human world, filmmaker Janet Solomon was in conversation with Ashish Kothari about her film Blue Burning – a powerful piece of work documenting impacts on South Africa’s coasts and seas due to oil and gas exploration. Janet shared her journey of telling stories that need to be told in these times of climate ruptures, interweaving art and activism to bring wider awareness and connection to the natural world.
The “Call for Peace and Democratic Society” issued by Abdullah Öcalan, the founding leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who has been held captive in isolation for 26 years at the Imrali island prison, and shared with the public on February 25, 2025, may create a significant opportunity to put an end to the nearly fifty-year conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state. In this session, we explored its meaning, implications, and impact on the Kurdistan process and the radical alternatives movement abroad.
The Global Tapestry of Alternatives is a “network of networks”. Each of those networks acts in different parts of the planet by identifying and connecting Alternatives. They are the Weavers. In the following section, our Weavers, the networks that currently weaves it, from India, South-East Asia, Colombia, and Mexico shares updates from their recent activities and actions.
by Ashish Kothari
The contrast could not be starker. In 2024, with over 60 countries covering half the world’s population going to the polls, there Soumya Duttawas a clear tendency to vote in right-wing political parties with thin democratic pretensions. In many countries including India, USA, Argentina, and Russia, and in the European Parliament, the trend was clear.
By Carlos Tornel
Radical democracy directly challenges the failures of liberal democracy, whose crisis is becoming increasingly evident worldwide. As parliamentary and representative systems unravel, organized communities—including urban and peri-urban collectives, Indigenous and peasant movements, and grassroots networks—are reclaiming, defending or creating direct decision-making structures rooted in place-based governance and shared community identity.
By Doe Doh
The earnest desire as humankind in this world is to have a peaceful life, a life free of pain and suffering. Leading a dignified life in a democratic society where our rights to life, culture, and territory are recognized, protected, and guaranteed is fundamental to our struggle for socio-political aspirations. However, living under the repressive military regime in present-day Burma, that firmly upholds the ideological doctrine of Burman supremacy “we are the master mindset”, our Indigenous Karen peoples from Kawthoolei of Burma have never experienced peace in our lives. Instead, we’ve endured intergenerational atrocities at the hands of fascist Burman military dictators for almost eight decades.
By Simon Mitambo
As the world faces the limitations of nation-state control, many communities are forging their own paths of governance, rooted in Indigenous worldviews that honour the interconnectedness of all life. Rather than relying solely on state laws, these communities are revitalizing governance systems inspired by nature and ancestral wisdom.
By Sutej Hugu
GTA should promote mutual recognition among Indigenous peoples/local communities in resisting and seeking for the alternatives to survive and revive. It should be implemented with consensus resolution of people/community, by traditional ceremony and signing treaty of alliance and cooperation.
By Franco Augusto
Nonhle Mbuthuma is the cofounder and spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), a community-based social movement that formed to fight the proposed mine. Her grandfather was a traditional healer and she learned early on that nature takes care of those who take care of it. Nonhle is the 2024 co-winner of the Goldman Prize.