Open Space in conflict zones
Lisa
lisaheft at pacbell.net
Tue Mar 2 20:53:33 PST 2004
Hello, Paul --
It is hard right now for me to reach this man who did OS in Northern
Iraq – to ask him how he defines the success of the OS. He is currently
off again for his conflict resolution work and it may be a bit hard for
me to reach him soon. I cannot answer this question for him.
What I hear in what you are saying are the age-old questions of people
who do good work in hard places where people die and suffer – is the
work I do helping people really or is it just offering a temporary
refuge, as you say
can what we do make lasting change
are we fooling
ourselves
I will let our colleagues who work and live in Haiti, Russia, the Middle
East and other life-challenging places buffeted about by oppression,
violence, rage and constant physical danger share their impressions of
their own Open Space work and how that affects their own lives and their
own communities.
I know three things.
I know what I have heard; what participants of Open Spaces say. I know
what I see and feel. I know how I measure change.
I have heard and seen and felt that for even one tiny moment, people
felt human. And saw others as human. Felt spirit, and felt others’
spirit. Felt hope, and felt others’ hope. Built ideas, conversations,
organizations, friendships, networks, pride, faith, heart, courage,
conviction
felt release, flow, wholeness, wonder. And they remember
that moment, and hold that memory, even when things get crazy again.
I do not look for a measurement to indicate that a certain Open Space or
ongoing Open Spaces created change – though I hear that change happens
because of this moment of breathing and feeling and witnessing and
sharing and co-creating. Behavioral scientists have been struggling for
decades to measure what moments create human behavior change and they
still struggle – knowing that a single intervention or moment does not
create change, but rather a network of support, a nutrient-rich
environment, access to tools for change, seeing models for change, help
in sustaining change and so on all work together. And that change does
not flow in one (behavior gets and stays better) direction but moves
back and forth on a continuum as life
happens.
I have been working in the AIDS epidemic since 1985. I have held dying
people in my arms far too many times, have made dear friends with
amazing activists who know they may be dead within the year and whose
whole families have died before them; have an entire AIDS Memorial Quilt
in my head. Am I fooling myself to believe what I do in the AIDS
epidemic is helping against this amazing tsunami of AIDS?
If it – or my facilitation in Open Space – helps one person
it is
helping one person more. And it is telling people face to face that
someone, somewhere, cares about them and believes in them.
That is what I know.
- - -
Since my early days in AIDS work I have kept close a poem by Marge
Piercy that I wish to share with you here:
The low road – by Marge Piercy
What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can
bust you, they can break
your fingers, they can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can’t walk, can’t remember, they can
take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can’t stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.
But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.
Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and start
an organization. With six
you can rent a whole house, eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.
It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and you know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more.
________________________________
L i s a H e f t
Consultant, Facilitator, Educator
O p e n i n g S p a c e
2325 Oregon
Berkeley, California
94705-1106 USA
+01 510 548-8449
lisaheft at pacbell.net
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
EVERETT813 at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 6:17 PM
In a message dated 3/2/04 9:31:02 AM, lisaheft at pacbell.net writes:
This fine gentleman of faith and skill and humility reported at our
workshop that the Open Space worked marvelously.
Lisa,
This is probably not a popular question but what does it mean for OS to
"work marvelously"?
What are the criteria? What are the real results
on the ground? Are there any changes in the decisions and the
decision-makers, the one's who decide who lives or dies in many areas of
the world? Is the surrounding region more prosperous, peaceful or
what? Do people have truly better lives or is the OS just an oasis in
an otherwise bleak landscape, a temporary refuge from the desperate
scenes of their lives?...I'm wondering about Haiti where John Engle has
labored mightily to bring some sanity and hope to one of the most
intractable, poverty-stricken regions of the world. I presume there
were many OS's there. Now, he has had to leave in the face of the
complete collapse of any sort of order other than that which grows out
of the barrel of a gun. I guess what I am wondering about is can OS make
lasting change in un-free societies? Is that a reasonable expectation
or are we fooling ourselves and our clients? Or, equally valuable, does
it open the door for change but often nobody really ends up walking
through because they value their lives, health, etc., in the face of
anti-freedom violence. I'm struggling with the whole concept of making
or enabling change in the world. Is force the only way for un-free
people to become free? It would seem like it because I can't think of a
transition from dictatorship or other non-democratic government,
especially a repressive one, that hasn't been preceded by violence and
force. (I guess the collapse of the Soviet Empire was relatively
non-violent, although not entirely so). Or, in which the people didn't
slip into abject poverty and degradation first (there was a lot of
violence in South Africa before it emerged in a negotiated way from
white rule). And is OS really most useful for already-open societies to
find out how to work together better to resolve the inevitable
collisions of interests and that is its real claim to effectiveness? Is
that where we should be focusing our efforts (and it probably already is
where most of the OS work is occurring.)
Paul Everett
*
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>From Wed Mar 3 12:54:56 2004
Message-Id: <WED.3.MAR.2004.125456.0800.>
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:54:56 +0800
Reply-To: pov at iinet.net.au
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Robyn <pov at iinet.net.au>
Subject: Re: Systems Thinking
In-Reply-To: <1df.1a30b0f3.2d749d5b at aol.com>
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Hello folks
Since we're on the topic, I'll meander a while:
re: < 'System' - a collection of elements connected to form a whole. >
I suggest that a system is a whole in which there are
connections/communications amongst elements in endless feedback loops.
And each element is a whole. How is that different to the definition
above? Fractals rather than Leggo?
For me it's an evolutionary shift, beyond a linear modification of the
status quo. To paraphrase Einstein, "If we keep doing what we've always
done, we'll keep getting what we've always got". Thinking like water (F.
Peavey). Despite our heart and mind felt intentions, our cultural and
circumstantial conditioning constrains us. Like yoga; how I understood
it when I started and how I get it now, even though I'm less flexible,
is light years apart.
"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll
meet you there."
(from a poem by Rumi)
Similarly, Open Space is so simple at a mechanical level, yet is an
opportunity to tease our own evolution. And of course, whatever
happens.....
Joanna Macy offers Deep Ecology workshops based on systems theory
through experiential and intellectual processes towards embodiment of
the concept. Joanna's website: www.joannamacy.net Perhaps not the
first stop for the Treasury dude ;-)
cheers
Robyn Williams
*
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; =
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<TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2733.1800" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD>
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<DIV><FONT face=3DTahoma><FONT size=3D2><SPAN =
class=3D952512323-01032004><FONT=20
face=3DArial size=3D3>Hello folks</FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DTahoma><FONT face=3DArial><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DTahoma><FONT face=3DArial><SPAN =
class=3D952512323-01032004><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004>Since we're on the topic, I'll meander a =
while:</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DTahoma><FONT face=3DArial><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004>re: =
< </SPAN>'System’ - a collection=20
of elements connected to form a whole. <SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004>></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=3Dltr style=3D"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004>I suggest that a system is =
a whole in=20
which there are connections/communications amongst elements in endless =
feedback loops. And each element is a whole. How =
is that=20
different to the definition above? Fractals rather than =
Leggo?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004>For me it's an evolutionary=20
shift, beyond a linear modification of the status =
quo. </SPAN><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004>To paraphrase Einstein, "If we keep doing =
what we've=20
always done, we'll keep getting what we've always got". Thinking like =
water=20
(F. Peavey). Despite our heart and mind =
felt intentions, our=20
cultural and circumstantial conditioning constrains us. Like =
yoga;=20
how I understood it when I started and how I get it now, even though =
I'm less=20
flexible, is light years apart. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004>"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing =
and=20
right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004>(from a poem by =
Rumi)</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004>Similarly, Open Space is so =
simple at a=20
mechanical level, yet is an opportunity to tease our own =
evolution. And=20
of course, whatever happens.....</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004><SPAN =
class=3D952512323-01032004>Joanna Macy=20
offers Deep Ecology workshops based on systems theory through=20
experiential and intellectual processes towards embodiment of the =
concept. Joanna's website: <FONT =
color=3D#008000><A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.joannamacy.net">www.joannamacy.net</A> </FONT><FO=
NT=20
color=3D#000080> </FONT></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN =
class=3D952512323-01032004><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004>Perhaps not the first stop for the Treasury =
dude=20
;-)</SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004>cheers</SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004><SPAN =
class=3D952512323-01032004>Robyn=20
Williams</SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN=20
class=3D952512323-01032004></SPAN> </DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY><=
/HTML>
*
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