Vidya Ashram
= community and learning center applying the Lokavidya philosophy of emancipatory learning for equality
URL = http://www.vidyaashram.org/
Description
Mission:
"We believe that a radical intervention in the world of knowledge is a necessary condition for a radical transformation of society.
This belief has deepened since the appearance of the internet which has brought great flux to the world of knowledge. Virtual networks of knowledge are ascendant, Science is losing its place of command and lokavidya (people's knowledge) is getting new recognition.
At the same time, globalization and corporate reorganization in the Age of Information are shaping new forms of exploitation uprooting the lives of peasants, artisans, adivasis, women and small retailers, all bearers of lokavidya.
In the Knowledge Age equal respect for all streams of knowledge is a pre-condition for shaping a world based on ideals of equality.
A people's knowledge movement that resides in the mass movements of people on the other side of the digital divide, alone can lead to a new philosophy of knowledge required for a radical pro-people transformation of society."
Practice:
"The Ashram honours its visitors equally. Peasants, artisans, intellectuals, women, adivasis, scientists, artists, administrators, statesmen, all are seen as epistemic beings, none inferior or superior to any other.
The Ashram is a place where people interested in Vidya come. They come for a day, a week, a few months, for even longer, or for indefinite periods. They come because they find the dialogue at the Ashram enlightening and rewarding. They come because they want to contribute to the Ashram by their ideas & lifestyle.
The Ashram is at Sarnath, seven kms north of the Varanasi cantonment Railway Station. Seven kilometers south of the Station is Banares Hindu University. This is the north south expanse of the city of Varanasi.
Sarnath symbolises the pan-national tradition of the perennial philosophy of change." (http://www.vidyaashram.org/ashram.html)
More Information
Video series: Sunil Sahasrabudhey on the New Basis for Radical Social Change in India