OST and violent conflict (long)

[Birgitt Williams]

Hello Gilbert and thank you for your post regarding OST and violent
conflict.

I have one observation from my experience that I add for consideration of
those following this thread.  I also have a recommendation.

In my experience of facilitating OST meetings for street youth in North
America, we had a wonderful opportunity of observing the results of frequent
OST meetings for a group of youth, who had in common the desire for
participation in our community center. The youth were representative of over
50 language groups, with youth who had spent much of their childhoods in
countries at war and living in refugee camps. They were taught to hate. They
were taught to fight for their very survival. Most carry weapons. We
attempted to work with these youth on the streets, with no success to deter
the fighting. We sought a common desire and discovered that they wanted to
participate in some way as a feeling of belonging in our center. When we
"ran" the programs, it didn't work. When we used OST meetings for them to
run their own programs in accordance with their desires, we had huge
successes WHILE THEY WERE IN THE CENTER. The weapons had to be "checked at
the door" for entry to the meetings. The meetings and programs were well
attended. The programs flourished and the behavior of the youth when IN our
center was great. However, weapons were returned to them upon their
departure. Back on the streets, the gangs resumed, and violence occured. I
could say the OST meetings were successful regarding violent conflict if I
measured this by what took place IN THE CENTER. Or do I measure success by
what took place following the meeting. The OST meeting was a pause from the
usual patterns. The only shift in ongoing behavior was that injured youth
sought our staff out for help which was a big step in reaching back to us.
The violence did not end. In one instance that I am aware of, the OST
meeting was indeed a catalyst for further violence. In this situation, a
young Muslim woman was beaten by her husband for participating in a
discussion with males in her discussion group, males that he had not given
her permission to speak with. I believe there were more such experiences but
this was the only one I heard about. I agree with your caution regarding the
situations of violent conflict and the use of OST--not during the meeting,
but following the meeting.

And yet, the paradox for me is what I will now say in my recommendation.  I
cannot think of any other means that has the potential to bring about peace,
even in situations of violent conflict, than what a well done OST meeting
offers. I have previously written what I encourage as a well done OST
meeting where the facilitator attends to the pre-work, the "givens", and the
metaphysical aspects of opening and holding the space with love, a higher
energy frequency. An aspect of the art of working with Open Space Technology
is to choose the theme to be of an issue of concern that all will feel
passionate about. I recommend against a theme that challenges a group to
look at resolving their conflict. What is an issue of concern of a very
practical nature??? And if done well, conflict resolution has a chance to be
a by-product, just as community development can be a by-product of a well
done OST meeting.

Blessings to you and all whom you make genuine contact with

Birgitt  Williams

Mentoring for Organizational Effectiveness

We invite you to visit us at www.genuinecontact.com and join the list serve
at http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/genuinecontact

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organizations incorporating these values have exciting, tangible results
including wealth, prosperity, and abundance. Daily, these organizations
attend to their health and balance. Participating in the Genuine Contact
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balanced organization (the conscious Open Space Organization).”  Birgitt
Williams, Dalar International Consultancy



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  -----Original Message-----
  From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Gilbert
Brenson-Lazan
  Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2002 12:01 PM
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
  Subject: OST and violent conflict (long)


  Good Morning all:

  Until now I have remained silent regarding the use of OST in the case of
civil conflict and violence, specifically in the case of treaty negociations
en Colombia where there are a multiplicity of factors and actors, both armed
and unarmed.  At this time, however, I feel both the need to share our
learnings and the authority to do so, as I have lived and worked in Colombia
for over thirty years, the last ten years of which I have taught OST to
hundreds of grad students and have opened spaces in over one hundred social
systems in Latin America, most of which involved serious conflict.  We are
also currently training and mentoring several teams of facilitators in
community development and refugee management in the Colombian war zones.

  First and foremost, I can only agree in part with Harrison´s statement
that OS is pretty much the same in conflict-violence situations as it is in
"normal" situations.  We have very successfully used OST in many conflict
situations in companies, NGOs, communities and governmental agencias.  Our
learning, however, is that there is a point in the process of escalation of
a conflict (Glasl, Gnass and Brenson, 1998) in which OST ceases to be a
viable option, simply because there is no shared need to be agreed upon or
met, only the "need" to destroy one another. This has also been borne out by
the excellent work of ICA-Canada in the development of strategies of
facilitating conciliation.

  In our experience in violent conflict situations, when there does not
exist an awareness or recognition of a common need shared by a critical mass
of participants,  the space rapidly degenerates into a launching pad for
mutual attacks, retaliations and even greater polarization, because, from
the beginning, that was the hidden agenda of so many of the participants.
Even in the Incan Empire, where open space techniques were successfully used
by the Mitimaes "facilitators" over 1500 years ago, the "Minga" and the
"Tequio" were never used when the conflicts reached a certain "temperature"
(translation of the Quechua word used).

  It might be thought that this would not be a problem if the sponsors
arrived at an agreement beforehand and that has, in fact,  been the case in
some  situations.  However, in others, the "agreement" is "De dientes
pa´fuera"  (From the teeth out) and it behooves us to remember that
"agreement" has different meanings in different cultures. Just last weekend,
two dear friends and clients of ours, the Governor of the Antioquia Province
and his Advisor on Peace (a former a Colombian Defense Minister) were on a
peaceful citizens march for non-violence.  As they approched the last town
on their schedule, a messenger from one of the guerrilla groups approached
the almost 1000 marchers and informed them  that the FARC Guerrilla Movement
would not allow the march to continue unless the Governor agreed to sit down
and negociate with the local Guerrilla leader in a nearby village.  The
Governor, his Advisor and a half dozen clergy and leaders of the social
pastorate willingly went with the messenger with the best intentions to
negociate.  Once they arrived, they were immediately informed that by order
of the National Guerrilla Headquarters they were to be held prisoners of the
FARC.  All but one of the priests were released and the last one, the
Provincial Chaplain, was released the following day to tell the tale and to
carry demands for capitulation to the Colombian President. No word has been
received in the last week on the condition of the Governor or his Advisor,
who now are a part of the list of thousands of kidnapped citizens in
Colombia.

  Regarding the specific case of the Colombian situation, there is no black
and white and not even a couple of shades of gray.  There are dozens and
dozens of conflicting social, political, commercial, international and
criminal interests simultaneously at work, some intent on physically
annihilating some of the others for a variety of reasons: power, revenge,
money, drug trading, arms dealing, etc.  The rest of Colombia is in the
middle of this multiple crossfire.

  I can certainly see an effective use of OST with the GOs, International
and National NGOs and Civil Society to bring them together to generate
effective estrategies.  I can certainly see an effective use of OST to bring
concerned citizens together.   I cannot see OST as a useful intervention in
the communities in the war zone, since any gathering of even a small group
of citizens can and does easily provoke a guerrilla, paramilitary or
military attack. Nor can I see its usefulness in conversations in another
country between leaders of the different armed camps whose only declared
intent and reason for existence is to kill one another.  That has been going
on for years now, with some of the best negotiators from around the world,
but with no results.

  I hope I am wrong.

  Warm regards,

  Gil


      **************************************
      AMAUTA INTERNATIONAL, LLC
       Bogotá, Colombia - St. Paul, MN
   Gilbert Brenson-Lazan - Socio-Gerente
    Tel: (+57-1) 345-2724 - Fax: 345-2072
  U.S. Voice Mail and Fax: (206) 888-4386
           e-mail: <gbl at amauta.org>
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