At the first glance, some may think that variety of movements that exist in diverse fields of life is a threat to the unity of society. In fact, these multiplicities could be transformed into a real advantage for community-living, says Noam Chomsky. It can be a genuine way of learning about ourselves and how to go about with what we want to do. One of the striking advantages of the multiple movements is that they have initiated a lot of people into social life. This grass-root level basement is a tremendous strength for the society to develop. But there needs some forms of integration, inter-communication and collaboration among the movements and their sub-parts in order to co-ordinate the resources of local traditions.

How to build up a system capable of integrating the varied forms of movements and sensitivities? The mainstream institutions can’t do that, says Chomsky. It would be crazy to think that structured institutions will encourage such kind of networking. We cannot expect an institution to say, ‘help me to destroy myself’. That is not the way institutions function. If anybody inside the institution does that job, they won’t be inside it much longer. It does not mean that revolt from the inside can’t do anything but such initiatives can bring only slight changes because the existing institutions have their own commitments which are basically to private power. Media can’t do this function, because they are committed to the interests of the powerful. This alternative cannot be another single movement because then the corporates will chop off its head. There should emerge a series of interconnected associations of people with similar concerns who can work together for a change in the society. Chomsky suggests that people with creativity can integrate the differences of these different movements. Such network of interconnected movements will be able to put up alternative systems which can consistently present before people the picture of the world, differently from the agencies of indoctrination.

To those who doubt about the feasibility of such large scale of networking, Chomsky replies saying that drastic social changes have come about in the past only when lots of people worked hard to find out other people working hard and worked together with them. There are plenty of resources in the society people can use but they are scattered. Partly the resources are kept scattered by the establishments so that people may not have access to them. So the people movements have to do the opposite. Unity groups have to be formed in local communities to fight against the atomization of society. With the installation of community Media and local organizations, people have to be continuously challenged with different perspectives and then they will be enthused to involve in the public debates. They must be encouraged to knock at the ideas of others and get beaten by others’ ideas. This is the way they will discover who they really are, what they really want and what they can really do. The method of indoctrination has to be substituted by learning through dialogue. In brief, through a righteous practise of virtuous dialogue people can recognise the similar set of values that animate the multiple groups and then learn one another the means of defending themselves against the agencies of exploitation.

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