Civil society and the night of January 16

Ramu Damodaran

Member, International Advisory Committee for C20

IN the television series The Office, Michael Scott speaks about not being “superstitious, but a little stitious.” It’s in that spirit of good omen that the kick-off of the 2023 ‘Civil 20’ process can be framed. It will be tonight, the night of January 16; those of us young enough to remember Ayn Rand will recall her play of that name, a play whose conclusion was determined at each performance by the votes of members of the audience, a vote that represented, in essence, a choice between individualism and conformity.

‘Civil 20’ or ‘C20’ is one of the ‘engagement groups’ of the G20, which India chairs this year, with the focus on bringing ideas and ambitions of civil society organisations (CSOs) into the discussions and outcome of the collective political processes by the world’s largest economies, accounting for 80 per cent of the gross world product created by two-thirds of the global population. Initiated at the 2013 G20, chaired by Russia, C20 came into being the year after the largest global manifestation of civil society aspiration and articulation at the 2012 United Nations Sustainable Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro which initiated a process that was to lead to the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals three years later, goals which, while drafted and endorsed by every government, could well have been crafted by civil society organisations themselves.

“You are the light” is the simple and elegant tagline of C20 India, phrased by Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), a spiritual and humanitarian leader, who has been designated its Chair. It is a straightforward, unambiguous assertion of fact, not a peremptory injunction as, say, “Be the Light” would have been. Because CSOs have proven themselves illuminators of the paths before us, some tested, some dangerous, some untrodden. Historically, their actions have often spoken more eloquently than the words of governments. At times, this has prompted a relationship adversarial, but this would seem a time when, to return to ‘The Night of January 16’, a process can begin which celebrates individualism and personal creativity while affirming conformity, not to tired practice, or even to each other, but to the energy of commonly visualised possibilities.

We have worked together before. In Saudi Arabia, which hosted the C20 in 2020, the King Khalid Foundation researched instances of abuse of women and children and proposed the elements of a law to address these; the national government translated those proposals into binding legislation. In Brazil, host to the 2024 G20, CSOs collected more than six million signatures to ensure the inclusion of a section establishing human rights for boys and girls in the 1988 Federal Constitution. Closer home, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini — which is also the Secretariat of the 2023 C20 — has, for more than 40 years, provided training programmes for those who will frame the laws by which we are governed, including members of Parliament and legislative Assemblies.

But these are also pointers to the possibilities of, in the words of the Canadian CSO, WaterAid, a “monumental shift in ambition and approach.” Yes, the Sustainable Development Goals offer a necessary and realisable minimum, which were certainly revolutionary when they were first defined, acknowledging an international responsibility of national governments to their peoples. Working collaboratively on their remarkable foundation, governments and CSOs can do much, much more. As our planet and its species age, our sense of adventure and daring diminish, and our threshold of satisfaction often extends to little more than survival. The achievements and discoveries that enhance our lives are attained by a small minority with their advantages shared by a vast majority, a majority that lives in the third person. It is time we restored to the majority the capacity to truly live in the first person, to thrive and not just survive, summoning imagination and practical action arising from the exhilaration of shared ideas, shared agendas, shared opportunities, a sharing of the light each one of us is in a resurgent renaissance of human flourishing.

That is the true possibility of C20 India. Amma is supported by an energetic Sherpa, Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, who was senior adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General as the world radiated from the twilight of the Millennium Development Goals to the molten sunrise of those for Sustainable Development. We also have a troika of the current and immediate past and future Chairs of the G20. Indonesia, the 2022 Chair, is represented by the Executive Director of Perkumpulan Prakarsa, Ah Maftuchan, who has energised CSOs to support the government in its deployment of vaccines and health workers to stem the pandemic, summoning their capacity “to organise, provide food and drink, to the location of vaccination.” Alessandra Nilo who co-founded Gestos, a CSO addressing HIV and AIDS in Brazil, has worked with her government on national delegations to UN deliberations on the subject, bringing practice to parchment. The 2023 Chair is represented by Swami Amritaswarupananda, President, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, an institution which has received national government approval to develop a synthetic bone graft which provides a first-of-its-kind solution in the world for patients who lose part of their lower jaw through cancer, injury or trauma, recapacitating them, if you will, with the ability to excel.

January 16 brings to mind another anniversary, the day in 1969 that a young Czech student, Jan Palach, immolated himself in Prague in protest against the suppression of his country’s then nascent democracy with the invasion of Soviet troops and the brutal end that put to possible reform. It is an anniversary that reminds us of how much we take for granted, including the regular punctuation point every five years where the democratically elected leader of the democratically elected largest party in Parliament is entrusted with the care of our nation, a care that can only be furthered with the daring and vigilant support of a civil society which seeks nothing less than the full flourishing of each individual. To return to Ayn Rand, “the ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity,” rungs governments can shape for civil society, just as civil society, in its turn, can craft them for governments.

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