Opening Space for Peace Week '07?

[Patricia Haines]

I have an idea I'd like this group's thoughts on -

Taking inspiration from Harrison and Michael's experience, I've been working with others in my
hometown (Ithaca, NY) to put together a series of events and gatherings for what we're calling Peace
Week  - Sept 11 through Sept 21st, the International Day of Peace.

Thanks to the email below, I'm now adding an Open Space on Peace to our calendar.

I'll also be inviting members of the U.S. Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (global UN decade - see<uspartnership.org> to offer up their own versions of Peace Week.
Since the Partnership uses Open Space as a core process, if any of you would like to join this
effort for your own hometowns, let me know. We'll be putting information and linkages up on the
Partnership website, Adult & Community pages - and, as I know you all know, the synergy of doing
this together creates irresistable energy.

Your thoughts?

----- Original Message -----
From: Harrison Owen <hhowen at verizon.net>
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Sent:         Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:37:26 -0500
Subject: Opening Space for Peace

> You may remember that last year Michael Pannwitz and I had the privilege of
> Opening Space for the Congress of Imams and Rabbis in Seville. The occasion,
> as I reported, was more than a little exciting and definitely not according
> to whatever "Plan" I might have had. That said, the gathering was also
> profoundly moving and powerful for the two of us and, we believed, the
> participants as well - at least that is what we saw, and they said. Now
> almost a year later it was very nice to receive a note from an advisor to
> the King of Jordan and sometime Ambassador to the UN, which said in part,"
> It was wonderful in Seville and the great role you played changed the entire
> atmosphere, into what turned out lively, warm and cordial." 
> 
> Had the event been only another community/corporate gathering, the words
> would have seemed nice but not particularly significant. But that event was
> filled with virtually every conflict and tension imaginable - and at points
> seemed quite ready to fly into a million pieces. The shift from catastrophe
> (as some were calling it) into "lively, warm and cordial" was, to put it
> mildly, mind blowing, and confirmed once again, if confirmation was needed
> that opening space for peace can be very effective. And of course, the real
> heroes were not Michael, me or Open Space. The people did it all by
> themselves, as usual. Once they had the space to become what they already
> were - a vibrant self-organizing system searching for peace with themselves
> and their world, nothing else was needed. 
> 
> As we sit at the edge of 2007 watching the so called "world powers/leaders"
> going in circles, seeking to control events and the lives of others with
> disastrous results, I find the experience of Seville to be nothing short of
> uplifting. To be sure we could all blow it this time around, but there is an
> alternative. It is also true, I think, that we in this funny little online
> community have a lot of work to do.
> 
> Harrison 
> 
> Harrison Owen
> 7808 River Falls Drive
> Potomac, Maryland   20854
> Phone 301-365-2093
> Skype hhowen
> Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>
> 
> Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> Personal website www.ho-image.com 
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