[OSList] Safety

[Michael M Pannwitz via OSList]

Dear Chris,

to me it was the concept of
"A nutrient-rich, relatively protected environment"
as one of the conditions under which the force of self-organisation 
could thrive.
(If you look into the "Power of Spirit - How Organizations Transform" 
you can see the other 4 on page 42.)

"A relatively protected environment" is something quite different from a 
safe space if there even could be such a space.

"A nutrient-rich, relatively protected environment" looks like one of 
the components that would contribute to a welcoming space.

As I read your post I kept looking for the concrete situation you had in 
mind. Is there one?

In the more practical aspect of a "relatively protected environment", 
there are some things in planning an open space that do matter. In 
Germany there are safety regulations regarding the number of chairs 
allowed in a room and the allowed patterns in which they are arranged 
and their proximity to emergency exits(fire department) and the use of 
materials that could catch fire (paper, pinwalls made of cardboard, gas 
filled balloons, cushions on the floor, etc) and the requirements on 
smoke detectors... and if your meeting space is in certain high risk 
buildings security guards and/or police are required to be present...

Systemic oppression, forced silence and the more frightening givens you 
are mentioning probably do not jive with a "relatively protected 
environment"...

Greetings from Berlin
mmp

On 21.09.2016 20:16, Harold Shinsato via OSList wrote:
> Dear People(s) of Open Space,
>
> What is the importance of safety? What, if any, work is needed in the
> "pre-work" to help ensure safety?
>
> It seems that safety is doomed if the "givens" are that the people in
> the organization must either be silent or agree with the "powers that
> be" on everything.
>
> I'm seeing two aspects to this. At one level, systemic oppression (such
> as explicitly killing, imprisoning, or otherwise effectively punishing
> dissent) clearly would shut down any opening in an open space.
>
> And at another level, safety is something we can be responsible in
> ourselves. With enough passion and courage, we can take responsibility
> for own safety. And also, it can be easy just to stay silent, or not to
> look beyond the smallness of our comfort zone because of the lenses we
> look through. And then we won't even try something out of fear, when
> something powerful could have been a result of us taking a small step
> (or a small series of steps to the center of the circle).
>
> What do you all think about safety, and helping to encourage people to
> source their own safety, as well as working with the "powers that be" to
> help ensure some level of safety?
>
>     Thanks!
>     Harold
>
> P.S. I did find one interesting post about this in the archives from the
> late Father Brian Bainbridge.
> http://www.mail-archive.com/oslist@lists.openspacetech.org/msg01333.html
>
>
> --
> Harold Shinsato
> harold at shinsato.com <mailto:harold at shinsato.com>
> http://shinsato.com
> twitter: @hajush <http://twitter.com/hajush>
>
>
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-- 
Michael M Pannwitz
Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany
++49 - 30-772 8000



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