Appropedia Blog

Swadeshi is a term popularized by Gandhi meaning self-sufficiency, and being mindful of what one consumes. Global Swadeshi, with the tagline because one world is plenty, is a network of globally minded people who believe in enabling self-sufficiency - being in a community producing what we need, rather than living beyond our means.

Not everyone at Global Swadeshi is a hardcore isolationist, with a "grow or make absolutely everything" philosophy. Vinay Gupta, the co-founder, relies heavily an the power of mass-production for his flat-pack refugee shelter, the Hexayurt. I'm a believer in trade (with provisos about the nature of the transport). But we can agree on self-sufficiency as the norm - being productive where we are - which means a resilient community, greater connectedness with others and with the earth that supports us. By nature it also means greater sustainability - not for the sake of a trend, but because it makes sense, and is the opposite of waste.

And among other things, Global Swadeshi is a meeting place for people interested in:

• The Open Sustainability Network
• Appropriate technology
• Open Manufacturing
• "Emergency permaculture" (wiki stub) - food production where it's really needed.

Just as Gandhi's Swadeshi movement came at a moment of crisis - the oppression of India by another nation - and offered practical measures that ultimately worked, so Global Swadeshi comes when the human race as a whole is facing unprecedented challenges, and is working on real solutions. No time for fluff and games - this is serious.

While so many are poor, we cannot say that we are a rich world. Rather, we are a world which has the capacity first to support everyone, and secondly to manifest the latent abundance of the world in ways which this generation cannot even dream of. - from the Global Swadeshi manifesto