Help! I need a couple of good stories

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Fri Nov 30 06:36:57 PST 2007


Ah Anxiety! I love it. You can tell your client that for 22 years, opening
space in all sorts of places with all sorts of people, some of whom had
recently been killing each other – Never have I ever seen any physical
violence. The conflict can become very intense, particularly when it starts
out intense – but there has never been a situation which the people could
not take care of themselves. I have never intervened, nor have I ever needed
to. 

 

As for stories, I presume you have a copy of The User’s Guide (and if not
SHAME ON YOU!) – The opening story about an Open Space I did should be right
down your alley. 225 Native Americans, Federal Bureaucrats and State
Officials (equal numbers) trying to figure out how to spend 1 ½ billion
dollars for highways on tribal lands. Hot issue! Most folks were predicting
Wounded Knee one more time.  In fact people were so afraid of the potential
for conflict that the meeting had been postponed for 2 years while everybody
tried to imagine some way to “manage the conflict.” Finally they ran out of
time, and the money (Highway Trust Funds) was going back to the Federal
Treasury if the parties (Feds, State, and Native Americans) could not
collectively figure out how to spend it. With 6 weeks remaining the love of
money trumped the fear of conflict and we opened space. Not a problem. Not
even a little one.

 

Oh there was one problem, and you might make your client aware of it. Seems
like the Native Americans felt much more at home in Open Space than all the
rest (White folks). One Navajo Chief rubbed it in a bit as we were leaving.
He shook my hand, smiled, and said, “What took you so long White Man?”

 

 

Don’t like that story? How about the 50 Palestinians and Israelis in Rome?
Now those folks actually were killing each other before they got together.
Was it HOT!? Definitely. Did it work? Perfectly. For the details, go to –

 

http://www.openspaceworld.com/opening_space_for_peace.htm 

 

So have fun! Guaranteed to be quite a ride and the big thing for you will be
to remember to keep breathing. When things get real tense – DO NOTHING
except to take a (several) deep breaths, and KNOW that the people will take
care of the business. 

 

Harrison 

 

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20854

Phone 301-365-2093

Skype hhowen

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


Open Space Institute  <http://www.openspaceworld.org/>
www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website  <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com 

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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael
Wood
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:31 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Help! I need a couple of good stories

 

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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