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| Kavita Ramdas is the president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, the world's largest grant-making organization on women's empowerment. Photo by: Terry Lorant |
I recently watched Kavita Ramdas’ engaging TED talk on Radical Women, Embracing Tradition and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Ramdas, the president & CEO of the Global Fund for Women, explains how the concept of ‘tradition’ can be brought into radical thought and be used as a tool to create social change.
She calls this solution a ‘third-way raga’ that challenges some of the most common and accepted polarities (ie. modernity vs. tradition, first world & third world, etc) in society. We can understand how an extreme relationship between ‘tradition’ and ‘radical’ can be ineffective in our organizing and she argues that there are ways for us to bring traditional values or practices into our organizing, to further mobilize us as agents of change.
The best part of her talk is how she communicates her message through colorful and inspiring stories of 3 women from different parts of the globe that have used this concept to challenge oppressive practices.
I’ll let you see for yourself and would love to hear your views and thoughts on Ramdas’ message and how we can bring her methodology into our day-to-day practices and communities.
Watch the video please.