9th February 2001

Proutist Universal’s 17th Global Prout Convention is to be held in Wellington at the Tapu te Ranga Marae in Island Bay from the 2nd to the 7th March 2001. It follows those held in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 1998 and Bangkok in 1999.

Those attending include Ac. Parameshvarananda Av. the Secretary General of Proutist Universal (PU) based in New Delhi and Ac. Krtashivnananda Av. Global Organising Secretary based in Denmark. Other participants will be attending from Brazil, the USA, Philippines, Finland, Ireland, South Africa, Japan, Netherlands, Australia and elsewhere. The diversity of representation reflects Proutist Universal’s global reach.

PU is the organisation created to develop the Progressive Utilisation Theory (PROUT) first conceptualised by Indian philosopher Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar in 1959. PROUT is a comprehensive social and economic system that recognises the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of human nature and as such provides a map for the holistic development of a truly progressive society. It is an alternative to Capitalism and Communism, neither of which has adequately met the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of humanity. While communism has severely restricted individual expression and human freedom, capitalism has widened social divisions with the unequal access to goods and services and the environmentally and socially destructive over-accumulation of wealth by a few.

PU is committed to social, economic and political transformation.
In New Zealand this has led to its organising the
“Beyond Capitalism” seminar held in Wellington in October 1998 and the
“Reclaiming APEC” conference held in Auckland in September 1999.
Its latest conference is the “Globalisation or Localisation – reclaiming the economy for the community” that’s being held in Wellington on Saturday 3rd March 2001.

Other Proutist initiatives include the establishment of co-operatives, regional loan trusts, neo-humanistic schools, model land communities and social movements.

The most developed social movement is Amra Bengali ("we are Bengalis") in the state of Tripura, India. An Amra Bengali rally held last June to protest the violence against Bengalis aimed at driving them out of the state, attracted over 30,000 people - the largest ever held in Tripura. The BBC as well as all the Indian media networks covered the protest. Moreover for the first time the leading English, Hindi & Bengali newspapers are supporting Amra Bengali.

Further information about PU can be obtained from www.prout.org and www.proutworld.org

Further Information about the Global PROUT Convention can be had from

Bruce Dyer email: bdyer@prout.org
Phone: 03 548 7284

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