Happiness is...*participating* (and taking a break from facilitating) in an OS

[Harrison Owen]

Every now and again, you find footprints in the Open Space that may well be
your own. Raffi mentions that his Russian friend, Anna ran into OST at a
human rights program in Montréal. Unless I am mistaken, which I often am,
that OST was facilitated by me and Jean Pierre Beaulieu. We had a grand
time, but I am not sure the sponsors did – as it seems the whole thing
rather got out of control.  Apparently the participants talked about what
they cared about and not what was in the curriculum. Horrors!  Anyhow – we
were never invited back, but it is nice to think that maybe the ripples
continue to spread. Raffi – if I am correct, please say Hi to Anna, and add
a big hug too, if she will not think I am being too forward.

 

ho

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>


Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Raffi
Aftandelian
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 1:20 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Happiness is...*participating* (and taking a break from
facilitating) in an OS

 

Greetings OpenSpacers,

 

Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity of *participating* as opposed to
facilitating an Open Space.

As I have written before, I am one of the facilitators/trainers in the
community volunteer conflict resolution training program, Alternatives to
Violence Project (www.avpusa.org). The program started in US prisons at the
initiative of inmates in the mid-1970's and now exists both in the community
and prisons in over 30 countries.

 

This was a gathering of AVP facilitators (for our personal development) and
for not-yet-facilitators who are active in the project. There were only
about 8 of us.

 

A Russian friend of mine, Anna Bernikova (very active in street orphan
issues and an editor of a magazine, Bezprizornik "Street Orphan"), who'd
gotten a short intro to OST at a weeklong human rights training in Canada
(in French!) and had tried a few impromptu OS'es on her own led it. She
realizes that she wants to get more into OS. So we made a deal: I
coach/mentor her in OS and she leads a few OS's, OS's where I need/want to
be a participant.

 

During the coaching, while I was demo'ing the walking the circle, she
noticed how she was starting to get sick to the stomach! I began thinking,
"my goodness, do I generate negative, destructive energy when I open space?"
An interesting doubt, but I'm inclined to think that's the effect of
entering chaos. I have heard of people being in analagous states during the
chaos stage of group formation. I told Anna, "when you open space, it's up
to you to do what feels right for you, though I feel like walking the circle
is very important."

 

So, when Anna opened space, she just stood there in the very small circle.
No speaking of wisdom, energy, looking around the room, no breaths. Just the
theme, passion, responsibility, the 4 principles, the Law, and reports. Some
of us had participated in an OS before. And of course there is no way of
knowing what would've happened had she done all those other things. For me
personally, it was a very fruitful day. 5 hours worth of sessions. I
personally proposed 5 topics! Too bad we didn't get to one of them.

 

And in true OS spirit, after opening space, she took off to take her 3 kids
from one end of Moscow to another and came back some three hours later. 

 

Among the topics we discussed:

1. Improving the AVP-Moscow website

2. Attracting more participants to our workshops

3. Process psychology and AVP

4. Making the Basic level workshop more dynamic

 

We didn't get to, sadly:

1. developing a "moral code" for facilitators

2. the hidden agendas of facilitators

3. AVP in Ingushetia

 

Yes, for an unfortunate reason, really, the coordinator (and senior trainer)
of the Alternatives to Violence Project in Ingushetia, a delightful Chechen
friend named Mir was in town. 

 

As some may have seen in the news in the past week or so, there was a
terrorist act during the May 9 World War II V-day celebrations in Grozny,
and the president of Chechnya, Ahmad Kadyrov was assassinated. 5 others
died, including one of Mir's closest friends, Adlan Hassanov, a friend from
his student days and a Reuters journalist. Reuters organized a special event
in memory of Adlan and invited different pepole close to Adlan, including
Mir. They wined and dined all those who came, put them up in the 5-star
Radisson-Slavyanskaya hotel, treated to VIP european buffets (all you can
eat everything.) Some of the Chechens during these meals were driven to
tears because this was such special treatment on such a sad occasion and in
such sharp contrast to how they usually live. They had come out of a totally
different context. They were taken to see Swan Lake at Moscow Bolshoi
Theater. One Chechen remarked that even in death Adlan was taking care of
them. And yet, when I heard all of this I was very sad, it spoke so much to
the post-modernist absurdity of our existence. Mir doing peacework at home,
organizing workshops, living on a tiny salary (even so, there are sometimes
wage arrears; and this is while working with an international humanitarian
organization!). 

 

I know how Mir lives, until recently he lived in a tent camp, that is until
the Russian authorities tore those refugee camps down (another violation of
international law). And he was able to secure a room in a multi-family
plywood house. Basically it's a wood house, his family  of 4 has 6 square
meters...The tent by comparison was a palace, at least there was space (even
if it was sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter). And it
occured to me this morning that with the money reuters had spent on putting
him up and wining and dining, he probably would be able to buy his family a
small home in a Russian village. Living absurd.

 

And it was difficult listening to him, because I heard essentially a
numbness, a pain so deep as a consequence of this death, that he sees only a
point in living today. Other than that, he has no desire for anything, not
for leaving Ingushetia (which he doesn't care for); nor for going abroad
(more loneliness); nor for moving to Moscow (constant harrassment by
authorities; being targeted/hated by others; shaken down for "chump change"
by the police here). There was nothing I could say but just listen...and
cry.

 

And yet, I was very happy to see him. It's the people in Chechnya who are
trying to do *something* that give me hope. Even if there aren't a lot of
them. I look forward to going to Ingushetia in the next month of so to work
with him a little.

 

I had hoped during the OS to interview him (as I had done previously) about
his work, and to publish it somewhere. But, whatever happens, happens. I had
the common sense...(eventually!) to stop for a moment and really sit down
and listen instead of being the whole time in idea generation mode. 

 

I asked myself during the closing, did breakthrough learning happen? Yes, it
did.

I guess we could call this just another day in OS!

 

To all out there a friendly salute and a warm handshake,

Raffi Aftandelian

Moscow

 

 

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