Help! I need a couple of good stories

Michael Wood mjwood at admin.uwa.edu.au
Thu Nov 29 21:31:29 PST 2007


I have had some conversations with a potential sponsor (an NGO with
links to Government, Indigenous Communities and Mining Companies) about
working with some indigenous communities in North West Australia. The
theme relates, in the short term, to the dynamics and presssures of
negotiating with mining companies and longer terms themes of
sustainability for aboriginal communities.
 
What I am picking up from the sponsor is a huge (palpible) anxiety
associated with the potential for OS to get out of control. I've
detected control anxiety with other clients, but never with this
intensity. There may also be some good basis for their anxiety. They
describe an emotional landscape in some of the communities in question
as being of extreme conflict. The conflict has roots in the following
areas a) anger at historic dispossesion of land by European Settlement
b) anger and powerlessness at current dispossesion by mining companies
(i.e. "the land will be taken anyway - so what does it mean to "profit"
from this?") c) anger between tribal family groups based on historic
tensions d) tensions associated with differences in law and custom e)
anger associated with "wedge politics", fuelled by the fact that HUGE
amounts of money are now up for graps from mining companies. The latter
is a really hot topic - the NorthWest of Australia is experiencing a
"gold rush" at present, except it's actually an "iron ore rush", as
China sucks in ore to make steel and f) the fact that in some of these
communities it is not uncommon to resort to physical violence to sort
out differences.
 
One of the key concerns of the sponsor is actually one of the physical
safety of participants. i.e. "if we opened up the kind of space you are
describing, we could actually just end up with a fight".
 
I have given no commitments to the sponsor that such a possibilitity
might not exist. However, I have suggested that some of the safeguards
of OS are a) voluntary association b) a topic which is of common concern
to whoever shows up and c) the law of two feet.
 
The sponsor has asked if I have any stories of OS being used in
indigenous settings involving the kind of powder keg dynamics described
above. I said that I thought some work along these lines had been done
in indigenous communities in Canada and Nth America, but that I would
ask around and get back to them.
 
So....I am asking around via this wonderful email network.
 
Does anyone have any stories (either of success or warning) in
circumstances similar to what I have described above, AND which you
would be willing for me to share with my potential sponsor AND whether
you may be willing to be contacted by email by the Sponsor to seek more
detail if required. As you can see - the stakes are high - related to
potential risk to people's safety! (and I don't discount my own anxiety
in all this. At a head and experience level I know that "OS always
works", but at an emotional level, the context sounds very challenging.
 
Many thanks!!
 
Michael Wood
Western Australia

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