Asian Future: Dialogues for Change (Volume 1)

The fourteen contributors have each lived through political upheaval and periods of gross human rights violations. Their common ground is a passionate commitment to achieve change in society, to social justice and ecological sustainability. These are the voices of considered, engaged action and transition in Asia.

For several decades the Western model of development has been criticized forcefully from Asia. But there has been little intellectual articulation of what the alternatives might be--at a micro and macro level--from an Asian perspective. Do the various communities in Asia share anything significant beyond an abhorrence of the local effects of globalization and Western dominance? These two volumes bring together the ideas and experiences of some of the outstanding politicians, intellectuals and social activists from diverse traditions and faiths in Asia. Through in-depth interviews and dialogues an understanding of shared spiritual, social and ecological values emerges.

The fourteen contributors have each lived through political upheaval and periods of gross human rights violations. Their common ground is a passionate commitment to achieve change in society, to social justice and ecological sustainability. These are the voices of considered, engaged action and transition in Asia.

Pracha Hutanawatr is Director of the Wongsanit Ashram near Bangkok; Deputy Director of Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute; Program Director for Grassroots Leadership Training; and a board member of the Spirit in Education Movement.

Ramu Manivannan is Reader in Political Science at the University of Delhi and founder of the Spirit in Life Movement.