Coordination Groups
SPIRAL is a societal progress approach co-constructed by the territories of co-responsibility, now grouped together within the TOGETHER International Network, under the initial impetus of the Council of Europe. Find more about Spiral
- The response to the crisis we are currently experiencing involves the construction of social progress, which has been abandoned until today, the notion of progress is essentially limited to science and technology and to the continuous increase in labor productivity and the production of material wealth that have been going on for 2 centuries. To know more...
- Rethinking progress in society and not just in science and technology implies a radical revision of our ways of investigating and building knowledge.The construction of social progress concerns everyone. It thus goes through the intersubjective co-construction that is radically different from the investigation that prevails in the scientific approach, but with rules and criteria of the same level of verification and validation. To know more...
- These rules of the intersubjective co-construction of social progress converge with those of a true direct and inclusive democracy, or collaborative democracy, an indispensable complement to representative democracy. They are not imposed restrictions but they free everyone's thought and expression and result in the expression of collective intelligence at the scale of society.
- The intersubjective co-construction of societal progress cannot be done without a universally shared objective. The fairest and most acceptable objective is the well-being of all, including future generations and the planet in general. Sharing this goal means that we all feel co-responsible for it. Co-responsibility for the well-being of all today and tomorrow is therefore the clearest expression of this.
- Two types of arguments legitimize the choice of co-responsibility for the well-being of all as a guideline for societal progress : on the one hand, great efficiency thanks to the openness of resources, knowledge, and responsibilities that it allows, in an atmosphere of collaboration and trust that aims to avoid major control and security costs; on the other hand its relevance because it directly generates well-being at all levels.
- The systematization of these arguments and the communication on them is an essential process to reinforce the credibility and the adhesion of the greatest number of citizens to this objective (see TOGETHER's Political and Research Project) and to counteract the forms of withdrawal and defense of real or supposed privileges that constitute barriers to societal progress.
- Co-building co-responsibility for the well-being of all today and in the future is a collective learning process at the scale of society. Such a process must have a common conceptual and methodological framework and an organization that makes it possible to develop this process. The SPIRAL approach aims to co-build this scope and the TOGETHER network and create SPIRAL stimulators that generate conditions for its development.
- Two dimensions of the approach are complementary: a territorial dimension to co-construct co-responsibility from the local level. And a global approach to specifying and promoting the legal and public policy frameworks that must be applied at national, European and global levels. The Co-ACTE project introduces this second dimension into the SPIRAL approach.
- Born in the Council of Europe as part of its strategy and action plan for social cohesion, the SPIRAL approach and the TOGETHER network now function autonomously. Partnerships have been developed with all organizations that join the same objectives and contribute to providing complementary responses to each other in a shared global process. To know more...
- In summary, the construction of social progress towards co-responsibility for the well-being of all implies a process of research-action at the scale of society at various levels, all of which are indispensable:
- An investigation into the principles of intersubjective co-construction as a way of producing knowledge with a level of legitimacy comparable to that of scientific research. Such an investigation requires going back to the foundations and meaning of knowledge and its production.
- An investigation systematizing the arguments that legitimize the choice of the well-being of all and co-responsibility as the objective of social progress. It is the political and research project of the TOGETHER network.
- An action-research to evolve the methods and know-how of building co-responsibility for the well-being of all. This is the role of the SPIRAL community of animators, at the national level of each country and at the international level.
- The intersubjective co-construction of a political project to transform legal frameworks and public policies to allow society to evolve towards co-responsibility and the well-being of all today and in the future. This is the CO-ACTE project.
- The conduction of each of these 4 levels needs a “spiral” process because this process is conducted in the first place by a small group of people and it gradually expands to progressively co-construct living together with all the issues. at the scale of each territory and at the national, continental and world scales.
- To conclude, these processes imply a sixfold change of paradigm: in the conception of progress, knowledge, democracy, society, economy and the role of public authorities.
Faced with the urgency of developing a co-responsibility of all actors (governments, citizens, the world of economy and media) for the well-being of all, the only effective way to face the environmental, social and peace challenges facing humanity in this century, a Manifesto and Appeal for Co-responsibility was proposed by the Council of the Alliances to the Secretary General of the United Nations on March 20, 2022, on the occasion of the World Day of Happiness, The Manifesto and Appeal proposes general principles for co-responsibility and an inventory of the responsibilities of each type of actor.
Humanity is at a critical moment in its history. Through its activities, which have become excessive, it is exposing the planet to extremely serious risks (global warming, soil, water and atmospheric pollution, destruction of natural ecosystems and biodiversity, ocean acidification, invasion of plastics in the sea bed, etc.). More than anything else, it is incapable of instilling the changes necessary to put an end to these catastrophic trends. The conclusions of the COP 26 once again confirm that the commitments made fall far short of what is needed. They are more about "greenwashing" than about a real will to change. Moreover, peace between nations is increasingly threatened by the emergence of new areas of tension and war.
Yet solutions exist to put an end to all destruction, to protect the natural heritage, and to carry out the necessary repairs wherever possible, while ensuring the peace and well-being of all women and men and of life in general. They require a radical change in the way of life, cooperation and economic and social organization, requiring a general mobilization, not only of States and public authorities, but of all public, private and citizen actors, each at their own level of responsibility.
In other words, it requires a co-responsibility of all human beings, individual or collective actors, in relation to a unanimously shared global project, a project in which each type of actor assumes his or her own responsibilities in order to ensure, together and in consultation, the well-being of all, including future generations, and that of the planet, and to live well together. This is the purpose of the Manifesto and Appeal for Co-responsibility. Click here to access the latest version.
Subsequently, the Manifesto and Appeal was the subject of a seminar on the theme TOWARDS A SOCIAL CONTRACT OF CORESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WELL-BEING OF EVERYONE, held on the occasion of the 2nd International Forum on Living Well in Grenoble. See the proceedings and conclusions of the seminar as well as the press release to be widely distributed following the seminar and the proposal to operationalize the reduction of CO2 emissions through co-responsibility..
The Manifesto and Appeal also gave rise to the Universal Solidarity Project.
These actions are a continuation of the project "Together let's learn to make the right choices" launched during the 4th International Meeting of Territories of Co-responsibility in November 2020. You can participate as a citizen (individual or family, people sharing the same living space, group), collective actor (company, school, association, etc.) or territorial entity (municipality, local platform, etc.) by following this guide. You can also send an email to contact(at)wikispiral.org introducing yourself briefly and specifying the username you wish to have.
Since the 4th International Meeting of Territories of Co-responsibility in November 2020, a network meeting takes place at the end of each quarter to review the project.
The third quarterly meeting was devoted to the identification of the responsibilities of the different types of actors in a shared dynamic of co-responsibility to ensure the well-being of all and the preservation of living conditions on earth, in particular the reduction of greenhouse gases.
The fourth quarterly meeting took place in two parts: 1) a new assessment of the project in the morning: what improvements should be made in the proposed exchange tools; and 2) in the afternoon, a meeting of the Council of Alliances on the follow-up to the manifesto elaborated during the last months.
Like the fourth quarterly meeting, this fifth quarterly meeting took place in two parts: 1) a new assessment of the project in the morning: what improvements should be made in the proposed exchange tools; and 2) in the afternoon, a meeting of the Council of Alliances, this time with the finalization of the Manifesto before submitting it to the Secretary General of the United Nations on the occasion of the World Day of Happiness, 10 years after its launch. From the fifth meeting onwards, the quarterly meetings coincide with those on the Universal Solidarity project.
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