Understand

Glossary

The 54 terms of the We-ism doctrine and of the Institute, as the book and the Statutes define them.

This glossary is arranged by family rather than alphabetically: where a word sits already teaches something. The index below allows direct consultation.

For an in-depth reading of five founding notions, see Key Concepts.

Index

Active and Useful Presence Ambassador Art of We Awakened Listening Awakened Service Builder Charter of the Companions Civilisation of We Co-development Co-Genesis College of Founders Communication of We Community Selves Community Stewardship Companion Card Companion of the Way Constructive Friction Destiny sovereignty Diplomacy of the Bond Eagle with Three Fabrics Economy of Elevated Sharing Economy of stewardship Ethics Committee Fear of Otherness Heart/Conscience Horizontal Alliance Illusion of the « I » Indivisibility of Peace Institutional Flag Intimate and Relational Circle Knot of Destinies Living Landmark Method of We-ism Pathologies of Hatred Preventive Mediation Realism of Forgiveness Relational Existence Scientific Council Shared Memory Social Capitalisation Socio-Economic and Material Circle Solitary Death Systemic and Civic Circle Thirty Spheres of Transformation Three Circles of Application Trophy of the Living Landmark Truth and Reparation Tuzafrika Circle Unity, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Useful-Existence Way of « We » We-ism Weaving Word Word of We

The doctrine

What We-ism is, and what it tends towards.

We-ism: Philosophical and political doctrine of relational existence, which seeks to go beyond the alternative between the radical individualism of the « I » and the collectivism of the « All », by founding existence on usefulness, relationship and service.
Way of « We »: The general orientation of the doctrine: moving from an existence centred on the « I » to an existence founded on relationship, contribution and service.
Relational Existence: A conception of the human being according to which existence is not fulfilled in isolation, but in the relationships that allow each person to contribute and to be fulfilled.
Art of We: The daily, embodied practice of the three pillars — Useful-Existence, the Knot of Destinies and Awakened Service — intended to lead progressively towards the Civilisation of We.
Civilisation of We: The collective horizon towards which the doctrine tends: an order in which cooperation becomes stronger than individualism, and in which peoples recognise their shared destiny.

The three pillars

The doctrinal frame. Everything else follows from it.

Useful-Existence: First pillar and founding axiom: « I am useful, therefore We are. We are, therefore I exist. » Existence is not a biological given but a relational act: it is realised in the usefulness rendered to others.
Knot of Destinies: Second pillar: the principle of interdependence between peoples and nations, applied in particular to geopolitical relations and cross-border spaces.
Awakened Service: Third pillar and method of action, which breaks with vertical charity in favour of horizontal alliance and co-construction.

The four disciplines of Awakened Service

How the third pillar is practised.

Active and Useful Presence: First discipline: direct, non-bureaucratic intervention on the ground, wherever the social bond has been weakened.
Weaving Word: Second discipline: a use of language that brings together rather than divides, notably against defamation, hatred and narratives of separation.
Preventive Mediation: Third discipline: intervening upstream of relational ruptures, in order to prevent their aggravation and restore the possibility of dialogue.
Awakened Listening: The primary practice of Preventive Mediation: listening to what goes unsaid and understanding the fears of each side before judging. Long used as the name of the third discipline itself, it now designates its concrete exercise.
Economy of Elevated Sharing: Fourth discipline: replacing selfish accumulation with social capitalisation, by making the sharing and redistribution of material capacities a principle of action.

The method and its circles

How the doctrine becomes decision, and where it applies.

Method of We-ism: An operational decision-making protocol, made up of seven rules and seven steps, intended to translate the three pillars into concrete practices across the three circles and the thirty spheres of application.
Three Circles of Application: The practical architecture that allows We-ism to be applied: the Intimate and Relational Circle, the Socio-Economic and Material Circle, and the Systemic and Civic Circle.
Intimate and Relational Circle: First of the three circles of application: it brings together family, education, health and the search for meaning.
Socio-Economic and Material Circle: Second of the three circles of application: it brings together enterprise, the economy, agriculture and technology.
Systemic and Civic Circle: Third of the three circles of application: it brings together governance, justice, the media and geopolitics.
Thirty Spheres of Transformation: The full set of concrete domains, distributed across the three circles, in which the doctrine is called to be tested as a method of transformation, and not as a merely contemplative philosophy.

The anthropology

What the doctrine says about the person.

Heart/Conscience: The seat where intelligence, will and sensitive affectivity are integrated; in the anthropology of We-ism, it constitutes the seat of Useful-Existence.
Community Selves: The relational circles that an individual brings into being around themselves and with which they identify: family, communities and other spaces of belonging each constitute a level at which the « We » is realised.
Constructive Friction: The process by which individual singularity reveals its full value in contact with others. Disagreement is therefore not necessarily destructive: it can enrich the relationship.
Companion of the Way: A person who puts the principles of We-ism concretely into practice and takes part in embodying them in daily life.
Living Landmark: Synonym of Companion of the Way: a person whose daily existence testifies to the soundness of the doctrine. Recognition rests on negative exemplarity — the absence of misconduct — and positive responsibility — an active and continuous commitment to others.

The critical diagnoses

What the doctrine fights, and how it names it.

Illusion of the « I »: A critical diagnosis of modern radical individualism: the belief that the individual can build themselves independently of others, and that their interest can be separated from the relational fabric.
Solitary Death: The existential dead end produced by voluntary isolation. It represents the outcome of the « I » that accumulates, separates itself, and turns otherness into rivalry.
Fear of Otherness: The common diagnosis the book proposes for the pathologies of hatred: racism, violent extremism, hate speech, xenophobia, the manipulation of identities, migration crises and sexual violence.
Pathologies of Hatred: The whole set of phenomena that rupture the human bond — racism, violent extremism, hate speech, xenophobia, the manipulation of identities, migration crises and sexual violence — which We-ism seeks to treat at their relational root.

The geopolitics of the bond

The Knot of Destinies applied to peoples and states.

Destiny sovereignty: The true autonomy of a state does not rest on the tightness of its borders, but on the solidity of its interdependencies with others.
Indivisibility of Peace: The security and peace of a territory cannot be durably separated from those of its neighbours.
Co-Genesis: The political art of recognising that the future of two neighbouring peoples cannot be written separately. It constitutes the political crowning of co-development.
Diplomacy of the Bond: An approach to relations between peoples and states that seeks to build and preserve interdependencies, rather than treating them solely through the lens of confrontation.
Co-development: A conception of development as mutual construction between interdependent peoples and territories, rather than as a one-way relationship between beneficiary and donor.
Horizontal Alliance: The mode of relation favoured by Awakened Service, founded on cooperation and co-construction rather than on a vertical relationship of charity or assistance.
Realism of Forgiveness: The third strategic truth of the Knot of Destinies, which transforms punitive justice into a lever of reparation in order to break the cycle of vengeance, without denying the facts or the demands of justice.

The economy

Owning otherwise.

Economy of stewardship: The principle that a tool or an infrastructure is not owned exclusively, but entrusted to the community that keeps it alive.
Community Stewardship: The collective application of the economy of stewardship: shared infrastructures and tools are entrusted to those who keep them alive, and must be preserved for the community.
Social Capitalisation: The logic of growing the collective value of relationships, skills, resources and capacities, rather than seeking individual accumulation alone. It is the principle opposed to selfish accumulation within the Economy of Elevated Sharing.

Speech and memory

Speaking and remembering, without rupture.

Word of We: A model of communication that turns speech into an instrument of relationship, responsibility and collective construction. The Weaving Word constitutes its practical application.
Communication of We: A communicational model developed from Jakobson's schema, to which We-ism adds a seventh factor: Useful-Existence.
Shared Memory: An approach to collective memory aimed at allowing the peoples concerned to recognise shared experiences and wounds, in order to rebuild the bond rather than sustain its instrumentalisation.
Truth and Reparation: The articulation between recognition of the facts, memory, justice and reparation, intended to rebuild the relational fabric after ruptures and violence.

Governance

Four common notions, reread through the doctrine.

Unity, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Four notions of governance that the book rereads through the doctrine: Unity → the Knot of Destinies; Diversity → constructive friction; Equity → the Economy of Elevated Sharing; Inclusion → Useful-Existence.

The bodies of the Institute

Who decides, who watches over, who arbitrates. Definitions drawn from the Statutes.

College of Founders: A body instituted by the Statutes, composed as of right of the founding members who signed the constitutive act. It organises the amicable mediation of any internal dispute between members, or between a member and the association, before any judicial recourse. It also manages the association's whistleblowing channel.
Scientific Council: An advisory body instituted by the Statutes, composed of figures external to the association — philosophers, researchers, sociologists, historians and peace specialists — appointed by the administrative body for a renewable term. It ensures the intellectual rigour of the doctrine and its continuous confrontation with established knowledge. According to the book, it carries the doctrine's instituted contradiction: collecting the objections made to the doctrine, publishing without prior authorisation those that remain unresolved, and periodically evaluating the conditions of refutation.
Ethics Committee: An advisory body instituted by the Statutes, tasked with ensuring that the teaching, practice and dissemination of the doctrine remain faithful to its founding principles and to the Charter of the Companions.

Commitments and roles

How one enters the Way, and what one becomes there.

Charter of the Companions: Act of commitment to Useful-Existence: the ten principles of the Way of « We », signed by everyone who becomes a Companion, and the five guarantees the Way owes them in return. Membership is free and open to every origin and every conviction.
Companion Card: A personal and non-transferable object, handed over upon signature of the Charter, bearing the Companion's name and number.
Builder: A Companion who practises the Economy of Elevated Sharing in a regular and structured way, by supporting the Institute's training, field mediation and publications. The status presupposes prior signature of the Charter: it is not an outside donation, but a Companion's practice.
Ambassador: A Companion who carries the word of We-ism publicly — in their networks, their talks, their writings, their professional life. This is the Weaving Word placed in service of the dissemination of the doctrine.
Tuzafrika Circle: A local group of Companions who meet regularly to practise the Art of We together. A circle is not an administrative branch of the Institute: it is a community self in the proper sense. Its creation requires at least four Companions.

The signs

What the doctrine gives to be seen, and what the Institute awards.

Eagle with Three Fabrics: The doctrinal emblem of the Way of « We »: a bronze eagle bearing on its breast three knotted fabrics — ivory for the Knot of Destinies, gold for Useful-Existence, sienna for Awakened Service — born of the geography of Lake Kivu. It is distinct from the TUZAFRIKA logo, which identifies the institute.
Institutional Flag: Three equal bands — ivory, gold and sienna — each occupying exactly one third of the surface, because no pillar takes precedence over another. The Eagle stands at the border between the ivory and the gold, recalling that Useful-Existence grows only from the soil of the Knot of Destinies.
Trophy of the Living Landmark: A distinction awarded by the Institute: a torsion of bronze — the Heart/Conscience in continuous movement — bearing three spheres, each linked to the ribbon of its own colour. It is never awarded on the signature of the Charter alone, but when the constancy of one's acts, verified by peers, has made the promise a lived self-evidence.

Go further

These terms are not labels: each designates a requirement. The book and the Manifesto give their full scope.

Key Concepts Read the Manifesto Objections and Debates →