Changers' Foundation Paribartak (CFP)

Changers' Foundation Paribartak (CFP) is an NGO situated in Howrah, India. It was established on May 18, 2005 following the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961. In the name, the word "Paribartak" is originated from Sanskrit, it means "Changer". The content that follows below is extracted from the CFP website.^[1]

History of origin

There is not much in the history of CFP as it has been established only on May 18, 2005. But, CFP claims a span of 17 years to be identified as their "History of Origin" - 1988-2005.

A batch of youngsters formed into an informal organization in December 1988; the location was around the present office of CFP. Since then, they organized a number of programs in which they performed individually and as a group in accordance with their excellence.

In 1992, the organization took the name "Paribartak Sanskritik Sangha" (PSS; means Changers' Cultural Association) and with this name, they worked until May 18, 2005.

There are two phases in the History of PSS - 1992-2001 and 2001-2005. In the first half, they organized only once in each year to arrange one program at different places in Howrah and Kolkata. In the second half, PSS reorganized itself to something that CFP claims to be bearing now. At this half, it arranged some seminars and programs, and started working on cognitive development through discussions, exchange of views and information, study circles etc. Within 2001-2005, most emphatic of its several units was the wing for Theatre.

Theatre Formation Paribartak was a wing of this informal organization Paribartak Sanskritik Sangha. It produced several theatres like Waiting For Godot (following the Waiting For Godot written by Samuel Beckett), Godot Waits For Homeland Security (written by Martin Kimeldorf), Piano (following the short story O Piano written by Anibal Monteiro Machado), Pedro Páramo (following the novel Pedro Páramo written by Juan Rulfo) and Danawala Ekta Buro (means An Old Man With Wings; following the short story Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes written by Gabriel García Márquez).

Another wing of Paribartak Sanskritik Sangha was the Education Formation. This Formation organized four seminars in this period. The topics of the four seminars were -

1. Mental Problem is Not Necessarily Mental Illness (March 2002, Howrah)
2. Politics of Knowledge (August 2002, Kolkata)
3. Self & Other: Conditioning by Hegemony and Political Dicta (March 2003, Kolkata)
4. 'Illusion' and 'Interpretation of Reality' (August 2003, Kolkata)

Number of Members in CFP at this period reached to 54 (this piece of information is collected from elsewhere).

Objectives

This NGO prefers to identify itself as a "Cultural Organization". To define itself precisely, it has provided a Definition of Culture as -

A Culture is a particular combination of an array of knowledge and
degree of usage of science to use that knowledge.

CFP has three sets of objectives -

1. Legal Form
2. Compact Form
3. Details Form

According to them, the Compact Form is an extension of the Legal Form and the Details Form is an extension of the Compact Form. The Legal Form is actually the set of objectives with which it was registered. The two extensions, according to CFP, do not contradict with the Legal Form.
An extract of the Legal Form is provided below (this is collected directly from the Memorandum of Association of CFP):

1. To encourage cognitive development of people through attainment and nourishment of Knowledge and Scientific Procedure of Thinking as two basic elements of culture;
2. To spread awareness on Social and Cultural Rights as essential Human Rights and as rights integrated to all other kind of Human Rights;
3. To promote Cultural Exchange by formation of access for all to Foreign Culture, Global Culture and Indigenous Culture;
4. To promote tolerance towards and assessment on Customs, Rituals & Beliefs of different cultures, religions and communities;
5. To promote, practice, present, study and train different kinds of Fine Arts & Literature ... ...

From a section in the Details Form, the objectives of CFP seem vast -

• • No person suffers from hunger
  • No person is without a shelter
  • No person is without required clothing
  • No person is without access to education
  • No person is without medical support
  • No person suffers from natural environmental degradation
  • No person suffers from emotional or material exploitation
  • No person is without access to healthy entertainment
  • No person is without access to information
  • In brief, all the recognized Human Rights are exercised in a social system where the probability of further violation of any such act becomes negligible

Another section in the Details Form indicates existence of some political purpose -

• • The two pillars of the modern social order are Capitalist Democracy and Free Market system
  • Democracy has been mixed up with the dictum of profit-seekers and/or with the desires of unlearned and undisciplined people who may be honest
  • The dictum of profit-seekers by which Democracy is exercised in modern time is Capitalism
  • Capitalist Democracy has failed to ensure development for all, to ensure sustainable development and to ensure human rights in a sustainable manner
  • The system of Free Market is bearing in one hand the problem of Consumption Fetishism and on the other the problem of Wealth Fetishism
  • Mere increment in consumption and wealth cannot solve most of the problems like distribution of wealth, health hazards, environmental degradation, gender-bias, child-abuse etc.
  • Thus most of the problems cannot be solved by the Free Market System
  • When the two pillars of the modern social system have jointly failed, and failed to secure each other, there is no reason to put confidence in what is being done while nothing is being done more than nourishing or developing the same two pillars
  • The global culture that has emerged and still is emerging is the culture transmitted by profit-seekers with profit-motive
  • Thus, in one hand the indigenous cultures are being suppressed in hegemony
  • On the other hand, the fusion of cultures cannot lead to welfare of the adopting people as what is being imported in one-way is partial and thus illusive

However, another section in the Details Form directs the CFP as below -

• • Let’s first act on cognitive development of people so that they can feel what is bad for them and so that they can realize what they want
  • Let’s then act on cognitive development of people so that they can analyze their environment and draw conclusions
  • Let’s then act on cognitive development of people so that they can achieve the technical abilities to pave their way towards what they want
  • Let’s then act on cognitive development of people so that they can identify themselves as one in diversity and as one in unity
  • Let’s then move to safeguard rights of people
  • Let’s then act on facilitation for people when they move to achieve and sustain their rights
  • And so let’s move to change culture
  • In due course, let’s not say what is a right choice and what is a wrong choice without showing reasons
  • In due course, let’s not school people and label them again
  • In due course, let’s not ourselves to be formed into an establishment that cannot change itself
  • In due course, let’s not cause our organization exist after our objectives are fulfilled
  • In due course, let’s know we are doing nothing more than nourishing our own individual streams of life which are interwoven in society, so if we sacrifice anything we are not sacrificing for any so-called ‘great cause’

Observing these statements issued by CFP, one can think them to be Anarchist or Communist. But, in one section in the Details Form, they declare that they do not like a label. It seems that if they are not Anarchists or Communists, they are at least Anti-Capitalists.

Activities

From the objectives of CFP stated above, it is difficult to define the scope of their activities. However, it seems that they concentrate on Cognitive Development and Human Rights.

In the year 2005-6, their activities were as follows —

• They started two Projects on July 1, 2005 - Project Paribartak and Project IBLM. Project Paribartak integrates mass in general with the self-developmental activities of CFP. Project IBLM (Internal Bengali Liaison Magazine) produces a Bengali quarterly.
• In August 2005, they started a Workshop naming Workshop on Project Management in NGOs with only three participants. It has still not been closed.
• On October 2, 2005, they organized a cultural program at the premises of a school near their office in Howrah. Theatre Formation Paribartak presented two of their theatres in the program.

References

1. ^ CFP website, former address was "geocities.com/paribartakss".