Warp and Weft: Governance through Alternation

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This paper was written as the counterpart to another on Spin and Counter-spin: Governance through terrorism that provides the context for the development of the Gandhian arguments here.

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Introduction

The focus on terrorism as a strategy employed by 'terrorists', and the response to it by the saviours of 'civilization', has created a strange environment for the evolution of governance in the 21st century. The introductory paper on Spin and Counter-spin explores the implications for the individual faced with the challenge of interpreting new kinds of messages from 'terrorists' and from government -- and the implications for world governance.

The question raised in what follows is the nature of the learnings to be gained from the metaphor in bridging between the activities of 'spin doctors' and how future governance is to be spun and enabled by the individual. The ability of individuals to 'spin their own yarn' has been severely eroded to the point of non-existence -- because of the apparent quality of the imported product. Consequently the individual is forced to import truths and memes that have been 'spun' elsewhere and has become totally dependent on them to provide threads of discourse with contemporaries. At issue here is the process whereby individuals construct their own sustaining realities as a way of relating to realities spun elsewhere. The issue is the process whereby individuals can develop viable 'homespun' realities as the most sustainable basis for healthy and meaningful world governance.

The modern spinners of exported realities derive much of their viability, if not all, from the manner in which their truths can be made to persuade and seduce individuals to buy into them. The paper explores insights from Gandhi's thinking, arguing that the focus on nonviolence also tends to obscure consideration of some of the more personal implications of his initiative that are relevant to the issue of world governance in a society dominated by spinning. His phrase 'self-rule' tends to be understood by many as relating to political independence whereas to others it can more fruitfully be applied to one's own self. As normally translated as 'home rule', it obscures this sense of personal governance of one's own domain. Gandhi endeavoured to combine both senses, although less attention has been paid to his thinking in relation to the second or the process of their combination.

The exploration here of Gandhi's spinning-wheel raises the question of what might be an equivalent symbol, appropriate to the many cultures of the world, that would weave together the threads of insight appropriate to world governance? Modern governance is seen here as essentially conceived in terms of 'warp' -- the threads of a single directionality -- and every effort is made to avoid designing in 'weft' -- namely threads of a contrasting directionality (such as those of 'anti-globalists' or 'terrorists'). The argument points to a kind of reality-spinning radical philosophy that could represent an individual reframing of Gandhi's swaraj. Part of the challenge is that, through inability to respond to such cross-cutting issues in the governance of one's personal world, they are projected onto the challenges of world governance.

The argument raises the possibility of a reinterpretation of Gandhi's satyagraha to transcend its implicit polarization -- as a way to engender a different quality of world governance.

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