During the course of their deep conversation on the significance of solidarity, Vedabhayas Kundu and Munazah Shah in their book, The JoyfulTalisman: Conversations on Human Values for a Joyful World introduces their concept of Solidarity Footprints. In today’s troubled world where individualization holds the roost with the preponderance of divisive and dehumanizing forces, they underline how inculcating values of solidarity will take us to the deep realization on the importance of our shared humanity.
Vedabhyas and Munazah point out that as human beings, we may have our own individual ways of thinking about values, but it is imperative that we learn to practice deep listening skills to understand how express their own values and interests. This is our ethical obligation and the starting point of Solidarity Footprints. They argue that we should learn to help and support others to realize their humanity and attainment of humane conditions they want to be in, just as we want the same from them.
According to Vedabhyas and Munazah, the fundamental pillars of Solidarity Footprints demands that all of us put our common human identity above all other differences, be in the name of religion, caste, class, and backgrounds. In the context of different conversations in the book, which underlines the importance of human dignity, they observe the shared desired for equal dignity of all should be above all our differences. This shared desire for equal dignity of all is an important ingredient of Solidarity Footprints.
In the book, Vedabhyas and Munazah share in details the framework and elements of Solidarity Footprints. These includes:
• Mutuality,
• Deep respect for each other including nature and other living beings,
• Sensitivity to Human Interdependence and realization of our shared humanity
• Empathy,
• Kindness,
• Compassion,
• The scale of our affinity bias,
• The ability to use the strategy of nonviolent communication for deeper connections,
• The ability to do common good,
• Encouragement and promotion of altruism in the society
• Human dignity, and
• Equality
Vedabhyas and Munazah underline how individuals’ right from school level could be motivated and inspired to self-reflect and self-introspect to measure their own Solidarity Footprints. They argue that higher the Footprints, the more joyful and happy an individual will be. We could all self-reflect ourselves on the extent of our spirit of our solidarity with others especially those who might be distinctly different from us; this is in fact the challenge. They feel practical initiatives need to be initiated in different institutions to promote this concept. Such initiatives can help people start seeing on their commonalities and developing deeper connections with individuals from diverse background and identities.
They argue this is not an attempt to erase the differences; instead, Solidarity Footprints should help us to accept the differences and contribute towards emotional-bridge building which would lead to pro-social action in the society. In the entire canvas of Solidarity Footprints, Vedabhyas and Munazah looks at the phenomenon of human solidarity as a deep concept, which needs to be delved beyond the surface level. When we try to measure the Solidarity Footprints, it has to have a larger and deeper context beyond tolerance of those who are distinctly different from us; in fact, it entails how much we are collaborating and supporting individuals with multiple and plural value systems.
The idea of Solidarity Footprints is a counter to terms like ‘us’ vs ‘them’. According to Vedabhyas and Munazah, when we start discriminating people on the basis of ‘us’ vs ‘them’, definitely seeds of conflicts are sown which could get bigger and bigger. It is in this backdrop we need to promote the concept of Solidarity Footprints. This can be reflected by this quote of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama who while talking on the root causes of conflicts, points out, “The only remedy is to look at things on the deeper, more fundamental level of our being physically, mentally and emotionally the same. We need to see ourselves as equally human beings. Once we see ourselves as human brothers and sisters there will be no basis for harming or killing each other. So we need to develop a sense of the oneness of humanity.” (https://www.dalailama.com/news/2016/why-we-need-dialogue-and-solidarity-in-the-global-crisis)
To conclude, here are the words of Jacques Delors speaking at the UN Conference on Environment, Rio de Janeiro, 1992 where he underlined how human solidarity has to be the order of the day. He said, “The world is our village: if one house catches fire, the roofs over all our heads are immediately at risk. If anyone of us tries to start rebuilding, his efforts will be purely symbolic. Solidarity has to be the order of the day: each of us must bear his own share of the general responsibility…..We need a global ethics to guide us in solving global issues, in strengthening our global interdependence and solidarity.”
