[OSList] Occupy report

[Raffi Aftandelian]

dear spacenik friends,

I'd just like to share that on Saturday we held a daylong OST event for Occupy here in San Diego. 50 souls showed up and worked with passion. 

Nothing truly earth-shattering to report. 


People left feeling very inspired, satisfied. Perhaps the work of this event was more directed towards building trust, building community than anything else. As one Unitarian Universalist minister (he mentioned to me that he'd taken part in a multiday OST event for 4,000 Unitarians!...and while that found that event to be fruitful, organizing it seemed like too much work to them so they didn't want to hold their annual meeting in OST in subsequent years) who took part pointed out, Occupy skipped the work of creating a foundation of relationships and community before moving to action and now it's doing that work.

New things for me:
* as part of my personal preparation for the event this was the first time I used an applied awareness tool called "Catastrophizing Consciously," which, among other things, prepares one to be surprised. This was especially helpful because one of my fears was that someone would disrupt the opening. And we have had our share of provocateurs here in San Diego. Doing that preparation reminded me that no one (and everyone) is in charge...

It was interesting that right after the opening someone did try to take charge-- and was ignored.


One of my fears was that since the organizing group did not include many key people in Occupy locally (I was the original "caller") that the event would not have weight and would not be well-attended. However, actively seeking co-inviters and endorsements from the multitude of local Occupy sites gave the event weight.

* One question that remained unanswered to me was how or if to engage/invite the one Occupy group many don't like and trust. I had seen one of the people from that group in other meetings very skillfully manipulate and disrupt meetings (as best as I can guess- and I can't prove it- it looks like the actions of someone working for the authorities). So, I was not prepared to invite that person into the planning and while I did want to personally invite that group to the event, others were not prepared to do so. In the end, they came anyway. And things were fine.

But I'm curious, how have you dealt with a person or people in a planning group who seem to be anxious to subvert the process? Or in an OST meeting?

I'll explain a little more: I'd seen this person basically make meetings grind to a halt by following process to a "T"- (reminds me of the "Work to Rule" strikes  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule ).

Again, I want to thank this community and the training I received from Birgitt Williams in the Genuine Contact approach to OST in making this event successful. There were a number of little things from fellow practitioners that informed this event. And the careful and thorough approach to planning offered in the Genuine Contact Program ensured we had a good foundation of trust within the planning group to do the work.

in gratitude,
raffi




 
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