Our Purpose

The building blocks for sustainable development lie in the cultures of the peoples concerned. They have the right to determine the direction of their own economic development and cultural identity. Representative political institutions should be developed on these two foundations.

We select initiatives to support and promote which have these characteristics. We look to illustrate these as collective models of what can be achieved in diverse and ethnic regions of China and other countries facing similar dilemmas of economic transition and cultural identity.

We support work for ethnic diversity and culturally sustainable development which uphold or advance alternative models to those espoused by mainstream institutions associated with the Washington Consensus.

What is Ethnic Diversity?

Every society has the fundamental human right to pursue its own ethnic traditions, lifestyle, culture and beliefs. Preservation of the environment is integral to the sustenance of many traditional lifestyles. Environmental desecration assaults ethnic diversity, the preservation of which can in turn protect the environment. The melting-pot ideology and its commercialized "mainstream" value system damage ethnic diversity rights. Many of the world's social and security problems are reactions against this politically driven, commercial assault to eliminate ethnic diversity through the unilateral and global propagation of neo-conservative values, rigidly applied. This erodes the defining value of humanity, its diverse identity.

What is Culturally Sustainable Development?

Cultural eradication is not a prerequisite for modernization. Improvement in living standards does not mean replacing one culture with another. Culture can evolve with economic development and in turn provide the social fabric to ensure economic stability. The Washington Consensus for development fails because it forces economic and financial models upon societies whose different cultures and conditions render these models inapplicable. Capital accumulation and conspicuous consumption do not assure human happiness. By eroding indigenous cultural values they often destroy it. Economic development should improve the quality of life, not undermine it.