Gentle economics

By: Katherine Marshall

May 17, 2010

Ela Bhatt began her career as a labor organizer, a métier that lends itself more to conflict than to peace. She does not have any formal religious affiliation. And yet last week in Japan she was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize, which highlights the positive roles that faith and religion play in world affairs. (I am a member of the selection committee.)
She said in her acceptance speech that the award is causing some stir within the peace community. It's not hard to see why.

Founder of the huge Indian labor union and movement SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association), Bhatt is a champion for poor people and women worldwide. She has a long string of honorary degrees and prestigious prizes. Still, the Niwano Peace Prize, founded by the leader of the Buddhist lay organization Rissho Kosei-kai, honors an individual and organization each year for their outstanding contributions to world peace. Bhatt's work focuses on women's work in the most basic of trades - domestic workers, street hawkers, garbage collectors. That's hardly the stuff most people associate with peace diplomacy.

At the award ceremony in Tokyo May 13, the many reasons given for honoring Ela Bhatt came down to this: nothing can contribute more to world peace than addressing the injustices that poverty and lack of opportunity represent. Poverty is violence, Ela Bhatt said again and again. We must redefine peace to mean more than the lack of war and riots. Peace, she said, is above all about the ordinariness of life, about having an identity as a worker who contributes to society, a decent salary, a pension number and an insurance policy.

Women are not often central to discussions about peace, especially when religion comes into play. Yet, Ela Bhatt argues, peace is about life, about "how we understand each other, share meals, and share courtyards; and that is what women do. That is what keeps communities together." Her work has contributed in many ways, especially in India, to changing women's position in society. She has helped move millions from a situation where they have no power, no respect, no dignity, and little hope, to a position where they have gained self-confidence and the capacity to manage and direct their lives. Some call this empowerment, though Ela Bhatt hesitates to use the term because it suggests something conferred by others. She sees self-reliance and self-respect coming through financial self-sufficiency, self-management, the learning of skills, and decision-making.

Ela Bhatt is an eminently practical and action-focused woman, and for her that is what spirituality is really about. She draws on and is inspired by Gandhi's philosophy, especially his teachings about economic independence, organizing for social change, and striving for social justice. "Gandhian thinking is the guiding force for SEWA's poor, self-employed members in organizing for social change. We follow the principles of satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), sarvadharma (integrating all faiths, all people) and khadi (propagation of local employment and self-reliance)".

So Ela Bhatt gives a new definition to peace. She makes a compelling argument that women are at the core of peace, and she gives a new oomph and meaning to the perennial questions about whether and how religion is linked to peace. She is an example of non-violence in the cause of peace, but she is also a model of a determination to act and of a humanity that is firmly grounded in personal values. And none of this is abstract: SEWA is a dynamic, bustling organization with 1.2 million members, knocking at the door of institutions at every level, from global to community, each and every day, with ideas and insistence on changes to make the lives of women better.

At the ceremony, Ela Bhatt made a plea for what she calls a gentler economy. She sees the world's terrible problems and blames an economic environment that is out of touch and out of balance because it is too far from simple human needs like food and water and shelter. Bring back the Grihini perspective, she asks. That is the perspective of women, as guardians of the home and family, as workers, producers, creators, conservators, and nurturers. A shared meal is shared peace, and a shared environment is a guarantee against war. Above all she calls for bringing global problems back to home truths and home values. She's truly an inspiration.
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