MayasvevakMayasvevak
The alternate timeline world of Svevi Avatar serves not only to explore the compelling issues of our time, but also to give us hope that through deliberate choices it is possible to overcome the seemingly insurmountable challenges that confound humanity. The conflicts, struggles, and social dilemmas described in Svevi Avatar mirror those in the world we inhabit with respect to 7 core ecosocial (ecological + social) issues, but the outcomes may not be the same. We are preparing to launch a podcast, named Ecosocial, through which we hope to reshape mindsets to achieve global environmental and social justice.
Maya Svevak hosts EcoSocial, a forum that seeks to explore the 7 Core Issues by unraveling the consequences of our thoughts and actions on the interconnected wellbeing of human beings and ecosystems, especially those marginalized.
Through discussions with activists, authors, experts, and the guardians of living history each of our podcasts tackles one or more of the seven issues intimately tied to human activity in our world and that of Svevi Avatar.
Still today, indigenous peoples around the world face human rights violations, forced displacement, cultural and physical genocide, and misappropriation of their lands and knowledge.
Recent human activity has caused unprecedented climate change, loss of biodiversity, species extinction, and large-scale ecological destruction.
As diverse human communities intermingle, many face the adverse consequences of racism, colorism, white supremacy, unconscious bias, post-colonial complexes, and violations of LGBTQ+ rights.
A significant proportion of individuals must deal with the life-long trauma that ensues from domestic violence, sexual assault, and rape, with women facing misogyny in various forms.
Capitalism is associated with systems that are detrimental to many, such as patriarchy, imperialism, proselytization, exclusive property rights, corporate greed, and international monetary institutions.
Disease and mortality are affected worldwide by big pharma, agribusiness, for-profit healthcare systems, food insecurity, GMOs, and the misappropriation of intellectual property, such as yoga, seeds, and other ancient knowledge.
With the capacity for almost limitless imagination, we humans express our identities through art, literature, theater, music, festivals, and other forms of entertainment, and social norms.
EcoSocial is excited to feature discussions around certain recurring themes.
Having committed severe atrocities against entire communities in the past, a few governments across the world have set up commissions to discover and reveal past wrongdoing, in the hope of resolving these conflicts.
Emotional, financial, physical, and sexual abuse by a partner, spouse, or relative is sadly a reality that a large proportion of human beings, mostly women, endure and that leads to life-long trauma, self-doubt, ostracism, and health challenges.
The forefathers of the modern multinational, companies chartered by European monarchies to conduct overseas trade were the most powerful constructs through which Europe pillaged communities and ecosystems spread across all of earth’s continents, leaving a devastating legacy of genocide, violence, and indigence.
Closely linked to capitalism, the increasingly unbridled consumerism of human beings has devastated ecosystems around the world and led to widespread biodiversity loss, natural disasters, global warming, disease, and hunger.
The economic mechanisms of globalization include vesting more and more profit-making powers in corporations, while decreasing their accountability, leading to the disappearance and misappropriation of ancient knowledge and technologies and pervasive ill-health and food insecurity.
Despite and perhaps because of our tribulations, for several millennia, humans have given life to their dreams and hopes through unique artistic, musical, theatrical, and athletic expressions, many of which are in danger of being lost unless we shine light on them.
Stay tuned.
Theme: The Company & European Imperialism
Synopsis: In the 1400s, much of the world’s wealth was concentrated in Asia, notably in India, the world’s only continuous civilization that had established long-standing trade relations with its neighbors near and far since ancient times. India had for millennia been a sophisticated producer of high-quality tangible goods, such as fine cloth and spices, and intangible innovations, including knowledge and science. In contrast, Europe suffered from overpopulation, starvation, poverty, and pervasive epidemics, like the Black Death. Coveting the luxuries and wealth of Asia, Europe began sending out naval trade expeditions in the 1400s. One of the tools invented to conduct overseas trade was the shareholder-owned company, which was granted a charter by a European monarchy. For example, in 1600, the East India Company (The Company) was founded with a charter giving it the monopoly on trade between England and Asia. As an influential forefather of the modern multinational corporation, the main objective of The Company was to maximize profit for its shareholders and the British crown.
Theme: The Company & European Imperialism
Synopsis: The East India Company (The Company) was the world’s richest company, greatly surpassing the wealth of the largest multinational corporations of today. And just as is the main objective of corporations today, the primary goal of The Company was to maximize profit for its owners. As a result, The Company used private armies to take control of key parts of India, conduct wars that killed Indians, smuggle opium into China, and engage in horrific human rights abuses, all so that dividends could be maximized. The British occupation and looting of India was a direct result of the Company’s exploitative trade (and proselytization) activities. To free themselves of this European plague of corporate and imperialistic avarice, Indians paid the ultimate price during the partition of Bengal in 1905 and the partition of India in 1947, when millions of Indians died. Beyond India, European imperialism under the guise of trade devastated countless indigenous peoples across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, leaving behind a horrific legacy of genocide, cultural annihilation, impoverishment, disenfranchisement, and terror that over 50 years later still haunts the majority of the world’s peoples.
Theme: Surviving Domestic Violence
Synopsis: While governments globally are imploring citizens to stay at home as a safety measure against the COVID-19 pandemic, for a vast majority of people, especially women and children, home is a dangerous place to be. Reports from many regions worldwide clearly show the alarmingly rising level of domestic violence, notably within marginalized communities. While the number of calls to domestic violence hotlines is showing a significant spike in countries like Brazil, Mexico, China, and India, countries like Australia, Germany, and the United States have also reported a serious increase in domestic violence cases since the Coronavirus outbreak. Domestic violence was a global issue long before the current global pandemic outbreak. According to a recent analysis conducted by the United Nations, 243 million women worldwide in the age group of fifteen to forty-nine were subjected to physical or sexual violence in the past twelve months in a domestic setting. The current rise in unemployment, financial anxiety, and scarcity of resources has contributed greatly to aggravating the domestic violence crisis, hijacking it to a new extreme.
Theme: Truth & Reconciliation
Synopsis: It began in the 1880s. As a matter of federal policy decided in the Parliament of Canada, First Nations (indigenous) children across Canada were removed from their homes and families, often forcibly, to be put in residential schools. According to the testimonies of the surviving former students, not only did children in these schools suffer unspeakable atrocities, such as physical and sexual abuse, starvation, and neglect, but the very objective of the policy was one of cultural genocide. First Nations children were indoctrinated and subdued to ensure continuous and systemic destruction of the indigenous cultural and linguistic heritage, legal and religious freedoms, and the very identities of Canada’s First Peoples.Until recently, this despicable chapter in the history of Canada remained unexplored. However, as a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada has been mandated to document the occurrences of this period and publicize the experiences of the survivors.
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