GlobeMed: Taking the road of pragmatic solidarity

Published May 31, 2008 @ 04:06PM PT

Our generation has come to an important crossroads. At this moment, interest in the work of advancing health and social justice is at an unprecedented high. We have reached the time where we must choose to continue on the path of charity or to embark on a new path of pragmatic solidarity.

We have been born into a world of charity. A world of “us” and “them” (us with the answers vs. them that need to be saved). A world of surface level problems with surface level solutions. A world filled with good intentions. Yet one in which the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.

Pragmatic solidarity is about communities coming together for mutual understanding. It’s about digging deeper to truly understand the root causes of surface level problems. Just as Bertolt Brecht did nearly a century ago, it’s about asking “Where does the damp come from?”.

Pragmatic solidarity is also about being humble and recognizing the knowledge, skill, and wisdom of those who we are working with. Too often do we assume that a university degree gives us the all-encompassing superiority of knowledge over those who have never received a formal education. This is especially the case with students abroad. The Peace Corps has even received similar criticism. As students, our generation needs to make a much more concerted effort to recognize the unique resources that we can bring to the table, rather than what we want to bring to the table.

Most importantly, pragmatic solidarity is about collective action. It is about communities working together to achieve a common goal. Take for example the newly formed partnership between GlobeMed at George Washington University and the Rwandan Village Concept Project. Students at GWU are working with medical students from the National University in Butare, Rwanda to improve health in the nearby rural villages. Over the next few months, the GWU students will mobilize the resources of their campus community to support RVCP’s efforts to improve a rural health center. Several GlobeMed students may even travel down to Rwanda this summer to work with RVCP in their research and community outreach efforts.

It is through pragmatic solidarity that real, sustainable change takes place. Charity (albeit often important) leads to short-term care and concern that typically ceases as soon as the check is dropped in the mailbox or soup is handed to the homeless woman. When people come together as brothers and sisters to dig deeper, exercise humility, and fight to achieve a common cause, we are transformed from momentary “givers” and “receivers” to life-long partners and advocates to bring about a more just and equitable world. Let’s be the change and take the road of pragmatic solidarity.

– Peter Luckow
(Associate Executive Director, GlobeMed)