Open Space in conflict zones

Wed Mar 3 09:53:17 PST 2004

John Paul:

I hate to say it, but there are no measurable results, at least not in
the class of results you are looking for.  Open Space is a challenging
approach that often operates in the face of deeply entrenched power
structures.  In Canada, for example, Aboriginal communities have been
almost completely absorbed into the mainstream colonial governing
system.  In fact, it is seen as the pinnacle of achievement to obtain a
self-governing First Nations government using the structures and process
of the colonial legislation known as the Indian Act, a law which has
been in place since 1870 and which basically tells First Nations how
they will be governed.  To think that control of this instrument
represents freedom is simply to change the nature of the slave-master
relationship that John writes so eloquently about.  It does nothing for
freedom.

My experience in using Open Space in our communities is that it turns on
a few lights.  Some people begin to see how deeply we have been
colonized and what it means to our communities that we have simply
bought the model that has been foisted upon us.  In the most beautiful
conversations I have had, people have shared with me a realization that
Open Space offers the possibility of relating to oneself and others in a
new way based on traditional patterns and yet still retaining an
understanding and the tools of the governing and leadership systems that
allow First Nations to talk the language of the federal and provincial
governments.  This invites traditional governments and perspectives back
into the mix and has resulted in some amazing hybrids, such as the
Sijitus process, which you can read about here:

http://www.openspaceworld.org/network/wiki.cgi?DeeperOpenSpaceWeblog/Sij
itusNotes

These new blends and openings represent something of the beginning of a
tipping point, but they are not due to Open Space per se.  Certainly
there are only a handful of us using the process in our communities, and
only a few people truly get what we are doing, but our work is supported
by some Elders who are beginning to find new ways to tell old stories
about who we are and how we need to be in this world.

I'll give you an example:

At a recent Open Space in which my partner Chris Robertson and I invited
70 "emerging Aboriginal leaders" to an Open Space to talk about and
begin working on the challenges that face them in the next 20 years, the
opening and closing was given by a young man from the Squamish Nation,
the Nation in whose territory we were meeting.  He spoke about the
Squamish flood story, when the Creator warned the Squamish people to be
prepared by choosing the most resourceful people among them to get into
canoes in order to survive the flood.  The rest of the Nation died, and
while the flood was happening, the survivors asked themselves what it
was about them that was special.  They discovered that when the waters
receded that the land was scraped clean and there was nothing left with
which to build their nation up again.  It was then that they discovered
why the Creator had chosen them: because of their deep inner resources
that would help the Nation regain its strength.  Those who were
dependant on the external world would have died because the external
world disappeared.  A whole new way of life had to be imagined and then
lived.

Our storyteller, a young man who has been in this world several times
over, compared the 70 people in our gathering to those people in the
canoes.  He remarked that colonization has washed our cultures almost
clean and what is now required is people that are internally resourceful
who can bring our Nations back to life.  He remarked that Open Space was
amazing, but more important was the fact that we are engaged in some
kind of work that was supporting this movement.  We took the long view
that in supporting one another and understanding the challenges of 20
years and more, we could continue to find new ways to make both
mainstream society and First Nations reality grow together in a way that
was TRANSCENDANT.  And that is the key.  Open Space invites our internal
truth and our inherently resourceful leadership to come forward, and
although it does a good job of moving through difficult situations
quickly, it also has a profound effect on people over time.  Harrison
warns about this in the User's Guide, which is one reason I have
continued to explore this process.my life continues to change and deepen
as a result of my engagement with the process.

At what point could one measure the beginnings of modernity?  When did
the industrial revolution begin?  Was it a moment in time, or was it
indeed a tipping point, whereby people woke up one morning and
remembered something of life 20 years ago and said "it's different?"
Thomas Kuhn has said that old paradigms die with the generation that had
them, so maybe that's why we chose 20 years.  In 20 years time, all of
our leadership will be drawn from people who DID NOT go to residential
school, the mandatory schools that the Canadian government used to
"civilize" First nations people until the 1970s.  In 20 years there will
be a palpable change, and it is my hope that it will show up in the
external world, but just as significantly, it will have changed people's
internal worlds as well.

Cheers,

Chris
---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
(604) 947-9236

Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Weblog: http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot
Homepage: http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com
(604) 947-9236

-----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
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Open Space in conflict zones

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"?  My Senex Self is growling along the lines
of--working 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.)

Man without answers.

Paul Everett
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