Interdependence is neither a humanistic bromide nor a ritual invocation.
It takes on meaning through the practice of solidarity that weaves together a sense of cooperative enterprise undertaken by equals. Interdependence is brought home when people participate together to accomplish shared goals or to protect joint interests. The basis of a democratic politics that reaches across nations is a revitalized civic life nourished in the particular settings we inhabit. More and more young activists are learning to negotiate their way among overlapping identities and allegiances and to think and act as multiply situated selves. Far from being isolationist and protectionist, they embrace contact and juxtaposition between cultures.