True equality means that the citizens of this country are really on the same page on the efforts to be taken to truly create a fair game for millions of citizens that have been disenfranchised in so many ways. Privilege will always remain, and the point is not just to do away with it
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day, mostly known as MLK Day, a day that commemorates the birthday of the iconic civil rights leader that played a fundamental role in making the United States a better place to live for millions of Afro-Americans citizens that had been disenfranchised of their most basic rights for too long.
This day has been celebrated as a national holiday in the USA, a day dedicated to community service, a term that could be interchangeably used for volunteerism.
Yet the overarching goal of this special day is not just the promotion of volunteerism for the sake of it but rather an invitation to think and discuss about social justice.
As we are witnessing from the events in the States, this conversation can be highly divisive and polarizing, especially when people stop listening to each other and keep trying, also by leveraging social media, to prevaricate over others.
That's why volunteerism or service can play such a healing role in bringing diverse communities together even though just one day in a year is not nearly enough to truly forge a new understanding and new dynamics that would allow a nation like the United States of America to unite as a community of citizens.
Moreover how can we think of volunteerism as a silver bullet that can solve a nation's deep troubles? Certainly it can have a very meaningful role but together with it, we also need to imagine different forms of politics and with it, a novel way of policy making.
The quest of Martin Luther King was, after all, one aimed at achieving social justice, something that can materialise only through a comprehensive array of policy initiatives that can be transformational for the people who need them the most.
I am writing this column because I believe in the universal values that are attached to the pacific and non-violent struggle that was embraced by King and many others before him, including Mahatma Gandhi, himself an inspiration to the civil rights movement in the United States.
Yet in a far away region and country, it might be difficult to extrapolate the real meanings of such a discourse.
Each nation, as we know, has its own history and traditions and with these, also a unique political culture that is reflected in the dayto-day politics and also in the overall dynamics that come at play within the broader society.
A country like Nepal is in many ways a land of contrasts.
It is a nation with a strong democratic culture that was able over the past decades to upend multiple times authoritarian regimes, but at the same time there is still so much that can be done to achieve social justice, assuring that many citizens left behind so far can have a shot at a better life.
Social justice means eradicating preconceptions and biases and with them archaic traditions that are inconceivable in modern times.
It is also about effective poverty eradication programmes and efficient economic policies that can truly uplift those at the bottom.
We can see that governance, an effective one able to formulate such solutions, is essential, but the mistake so far committed in Nepal and elsewhere is to think that governance is just an exclusive domain of the political class, those elected and hold power as a consequence.
It is a mistaken conceptualisation and, unfortunately, it is a common misunderstanding on the meaning of politics and policy making.
The real solution to changing such status quo is to rethink policy making with novel ways to involve and engage the people.
In this way volunteerism can be an effective tool to start a journey towards a renaissance of civic engagement that would motivate and involve more people to take an interest in the common problems faced by the society.
It is also about leadership, personal and collective leadership, and it is not a case that King was at the helm of a mass organisation, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, that as the name itself suggests, invested on people's skills and development.
That was not done for the sake of someone's personal success but for higher stakes, the common good.
A new way of policy making at the foundations of a new type of politics can happen only if people are ready to step up and, with that, if they are equipped to do so.
As I have already written, societal change requires a huge effort, a systematic effort that must include everyone.
True equality means that the citizens of this country are really on the same page on the efforts to be taken to truly create a fair game for millions of citizens that have been disenfranchised in so many ways.
Privilege will always remain, and the point is not just to do away with it.
The goal would be to effectively undertake deep reforms to do away with the injustices, many of which are hidden and entrenched, which are a by-product of unequal power relations.
That's why it is a common and shared responsibility to understand the implications of social injustices and the self-awareness that many have a much easier life than others. It is also a common responsibility for each of us to do something to change this.
Let's not forget that MLK Day is Social Justice Day.
This would be probably the best way that King would commemorate this special day that carries his name.
Galimberti is the co-founder of ENGAGE, an NGO partnering with youths living with disabilities. He can be reached at simone_ engage@yahoo.com
A version of this article appears in the print on January 30, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
