A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

In the immediate world political context, the construction of a collective
way of life to replace capitalism is a political imperative of humanity.
However, at a time of historical transition, we can only foresee advances
at the edge of what our imagination can make out. Thus, Houtart’s discourse
abounds with NGOs, alliances between nations, international
conventions, a series of initiatives already under way – still marginal,
perhaps, but with potential to make change viable at a time of historical
transition. What is novel and encouraging is the search for civilising elements
and paradigms in the memories and local practices of (indigenous)
peoples, which also represents a work of recovery, of invention
and open and systematic elaboration. A work of elaboration that implies
an intercultural practice that learns how to ask and to learn from others,
before unleashing the imagination.
In conclusion, we have tried to give a historical and cultural foundation
to the invention of sumak kawsay as a concept referring to a way of life
historically situated in the Andes, based on the practice of minka, collective
work implying the normative principle of social responsibility to
care for one another. The question of its meaning and utility on different
social and geographical scales remains open, not only because of the
particular historical context in which it arose, but also because of the legitimacy
that other ways of life might complement and even oppose it
with. The same goes for the complexity of societies on the global scale,
defined to different degrees by technological development. The trans -
culturation of objects, of ideas, of ways of life is so important, as is the
ability to listen and to learn from others.
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