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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The Commonwealth People’s Forum 2015
(CPF2015), the largest gathering of civil societies pan Commonwealth
was launched this morning in Malta, under the auspices of the Secretary
General of the Commonwealth Mr Kamalesh Shama and the Prime Minister of
Malta Dr Joseph Muscat. The keynote speech on ‘What makes societies
resilient?’ was given by the world famous activist and scientist, Dr
Vandana Shiva.
With a stirring call of “resilience is life”, Dr Shiva urged delegates
to embrace resilience as a means for the world to break out of vicious
cycles of violence and competition. Dr Shiva also spoke on the need for
humility and internal reflection as we ponder some of the challenges
facing the global community today. Encouragement for constructive debate
in the Forum was opened, with Dr Shiva posing the question of “whether
resilience leads to transforming imbalances of power, or acts as a cover
for maintaining the status quo?”
Commenting on the speech, the director of the Commonwealth Foundation,
the main organiser of the People’s Forum, Vijay Krishnarayan, said “Dr
Shiva reminded us that resilience is an ageless discourse. We need to
understand systems related to resilience and consequences of our
actions, but we also accept with all humility our agency”.
Discussions with more than 400 plus registered members of civil society
from across 39 commonwealth countries will focus on the nexus of
resilience with governance and societal development. According to
Krishnarayan, “Resilience is often just thought about withstanding
stress and natural catastrophe. Yet we at the foundation feel that it is
much more than that. It is a function of existing political, social,
economic and cultural institutional structures. This is what we want to
unpack over the next few days using the People’s forum”. Sessions will
explore resilience from different perspectives including looking at
urbanisation; small states and using cultures as a lens.
Commenting earlier on in the welcome session, the chair of the CPF
subcommittee Mrs Jacqueline Micallef Grimaud spoke of the valuable space
the forum offered for unheard voices from the Commonwealth being able
to be heard at a policy level whilst building consensus. “CPF2015 would
like to break the silence by rallying and listening to the voices of
commonwealth citizens but more importantly by generating ideas and
messages on governance for resilience”.
The People's Forum in Malta will also be pioneering real time policy
dialogues with decision makers as well as interactions with
parliamentarians from the host country. The Forum will end with specific
proposals for civil society engagement with Commonwealth Foreign
Affairs Ministers and initiatives for the Government of Malta as
incoming Commonwealth Chair-in-Office to take forward.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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