SONGKET MELAYU: SERUMPUN BANGSA SESANTUN BUDAYA

History has shown that the “songket” is in a class of its own in the socio-culture of Malays in the Malay Archipelago. Fundamentally, “songket” and its wearing have been the symbol of acceptance and the collective instillation of cultural values. The textile was created based on cross- and multi-cultural elements that have long been established and further assimilated into society today. Therefore, this study aims to trace the beginnings and roles of the royal institutions in spreading this heritage art between Malaysia and Indonesia, specifically for “songket” Terengganu and Riau. The research focuses on the similarities based on acculturation and assimilation of culture. This study is critical as a form of knowledge documentation for both countries, which share similar connections and homogenous values. The research employs the qualitative approach, with a focus on observation and conducting interviews. A secondary study is also conducted to analyse the historical and socio-cultural aspects involved. Interview subjects from both countries were chosen based on specific fields and locations. Each finding leads and adds to the existing body of knowledge. Since issues on the Malay World usually take on a broader outlook, the implications of the study can contribute to the ethnic group itself, especially the scholars, weavers, cultural activists, art historians and the community at large. Based on the quality and uniqueness of the “songket”, there is no doubt that the textile should be acknowledged as one of the greatest heritage art, saturated with civil values and symbols of the finesse of the Malays.

Fantasy is More Believable: The Shadow Civil Sphere in Chinese Online Fiction

Using online fiction in China, this chapter explores whether there is still space to express civil values in a “subjective” civil sphere when that civil sphere lacks institutionally protected legal and communicative spaces. Based on online observations, interviews with online fiction writers and readers, and content analysis of selected popular works of online fiction, I argue that online fiction has created survivalist and revenge-themed fantasy worlds that act as a shadow civil sphere. On the one hand, shadow refers to the dark side of the civil sphere wherein people use extremely anti-civil online fictions to reject the empty moral values promoted by the state. On the other hand, in the shadow people are still expressing moral ideals through cynicism. By creating a fantasy world that’s more nasty and brutish than reality, they are expressing their cynicism regarding the society, the social system and the pretense of the public world. However, their cynicism actually articulates their belief in those civil values.

Via Tertia for the Orthodox Churches

Since its national awakening in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Ukrainian people have had two options for development: to pursue the modernist program of nation-building or to submit itself to the imperial projects that first the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, then the Soviet Union, and lastly Vladimir Putin were trying to build. The Ukrainian Maidans of 2004 and 2013–14 indicated a third way, a via tertia: to developing a civil society based on civil values, such as transparency, justice, and solidarity. This third option is a way towards modernization. The Ukrainian churches found themselves at the crossroads facing the same choices—the modernist, imperialist, or civil. A public theology that advocates for a ‘symphony’ with civil society, instead of a traditional symphonic relationship with the state, suggests a way for the churches: it would make them coherent with the social developments in the country.

SOVIET CITIZENS’ IDEAS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION IN THE 1960S AS A REFLECTION OF THE CORE SOVIET VALUES

The article analyzes letters addressed to the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union. In their letters written in the 1960s, Soviet citizens shared their ideas about the new edition of the Constitution. The authors of the article analyze Soviet citizens’ core values and their ideas about the political regime, civil rights and civil liberties. This analysis is essential for the assessment of the role of civil values (such as democracy, guarantees of civil rights and civil liberties) in the Soviet public mind. The article maintains that Soviet citizens of the said period shared a set of mental attitudes to civil and economic issues. The authors conclude that these mental attitudes reflected people’s ideas about democracy and freedoms and were based on a combination of both democratic and totalitarian principles. Soviet citizens actively supported democracy as a key element of civil society and promoted an improvement in the electoral system. However, they were against a multi-party system, they maintained that party organs should be endowed with greater authorities, and the Constitution should grant power to the Communist party. Soviet people highly valued civil liberties and civil rights. However, they believed that it was natural to oppress those who committed crimes or those who didn’t share the generally accepted ideals. The authors conclude that Soviet mental attitudes were only partially based on civil values, which naturally tells on the process of civil society formation in the modern world.

Multiculturality and multiculturalism in “Western Balkans”

When researching multiculturalism and the process of Europeanisation in Serbia and countries of the region, one must first examine the status of multiculturality and multiculturalism, from the normative framework to states? policies which decidedly determine the nature and functioning of a political community. Starting from the fact that the context, nature and structure of a political community determines the essence of rights and freedoms stipulated by the constitution and laws, as well as that a synergy of good laws and sound policies enables an effective policy of multiculturality, integration and interlacing of cultures of diverse national communities in a society, the proclaimed multiculturalism was studied in this paper, with a view to ascertain whether such constitutional and legislative framework and policies exist, and if they did, whether there was concerted action between them. The key finding was that the states of the region support a civil state in principle, that they are exclusively or predominantly nationally legitimised by the highest legislative acts and that the factual state is marked by various national cultural identities that are not integrated into the model of plural citizenship. The paper shows that there is a lack of political will to transform the declared support for a pluralistic civil state into public policies affirming the values of multiculturalism, as well as that there is a lack of strong institutions to support such policy. Creating civil awareness, strengthening civil values and virtues are not priorities for state institutions or media controlled by governments. Rather than that, their priority is to strengthen national identities. Hence, based on the above, we can affirm that civil states, civil values and civil identities are only at initial stages, i.e. that they are still, only occasionally, at the level of general programme orientation and set aims. The necessary ingredient for their firm establishment is a consolidated democracy and acceptance of universal values of developed democracies, such as the rule of law and protection of human rights and freedoms.

Budaya Politik Sivil dan Pendemokrasian di Indonesia : Sebuah Analisa Politik

<em>Democratization in Indonesia is a political shift from non-democracy to democracy. This political shift affects political change in Indonesia. Many scholars see that this democratization is due to the factors of economic recession, internal internal conflicts and political parties of New Order advocates, Student Movements or opposition. The aim of this study is to see how the process of political culture in Indonesia has come to the democratization of many scholars who have overlooked this political culture. The method used is literature study in the context of collecting data through documents such as Books, Journals, Bachelor Theses and some other references, this method of inquiry is chosen to better understand the political condition of Indonesia textually. In this context, political culture has become a major factor in the catalysts of democratization because the political culture of a middle-class society is a result of a long process resulting in the formation of civil values that impede democratization. This article ultimately aims to contribute thought in the process of building democratic values during democratization.</em>

The Environmental Education Dimensions for Sustainable Development

Based both on a historical approach regarding the evolution of the environmental education between 1960 and present days, and on empirical research as well, the author proves that the efficiency of the environmental education could be much higher if included within the broader sphere of moral and civic education and if it is driven by a more extensive ideal sprung from the fundamental human right to a clean and well preserved environment, by the contemporary moral and civil values. The author pleads and motivates for an increased capitalization of the humanities and social sciences, of art, of environmental ethics and aesthetics in shaping “the ecological personality” of the tomorrow people. When shaping these personality traits through environmental education activities, one must emphasize the importance of practice and applied actions aimed to protect the environment, and in general, the practice of civic-moral education methods.