[OSList] OST encourages avoidance of conflict

Tue Feb 6 08:59:18 PST 2018

Martina, I just read your post, on this long and interesting thread…

You wrote… "Well, even if that were true (which I don't think it is): would
it be a bad thing? I would rather have "conflict avoidance" than war. I
would rather have "conflict avoidance" than rips in a community."

What resonated for me about what you wrote, is that in the conflict
transformation workshops I offer, I often start with a participatory
activity where we fill in a polarity four-square… starting with, "the
benefits of avoiding conflict"… (of which there are many!)… then proceeding
to "the drawbacks of avoiding conflict"… then up to "the benefits of
engaging in conflict"… then, "the drawbacks of engaging in conflict".

I find it a deeply useful activity, for us to being by honoring all four
quadrants…

Another point of resonance for me, with your post (and others in this
thread) is the general undesirability of "too tight containers". In other
kinds of conflict transformation work I do (though I also appreciate and
practice OST) we also DO NOT "lock the doors"! J  Participants are free to
step out whenever they need to… and step back in as they wish.  I see this
as an essential aspect, not just of OST, but of other processes that work
with conflict, as well.

***

Michael, I particularly appreciated your post on the "prerequisites for
unfolding self-organization", and would like to learn more about those.

What it makes me think of, is the "prerequisites for addressing difficult
social challenges" that need to be in place, on a macro level… and the role
of non-violent activism for "encouraging" powerful institutions to "come to
the table"…. which I see as one form of the "creative disruption" that
Peggy writes about in her book on *Engaging Emergence*.

And so it seems to me, there may be another creative polarity here… while
completely respecting each person's freedom of choice, I think we also need
to respect our own agency, and the ability we have to create conditions
that in turn influence other people's choices. Not restrict, not constrain,
but influence…

Along those lines, I wrote a blog post
<https://thelisteningarts.org/2011/10/29/the-listening-arts-and-social-change/>
a while ago, about the interdependence of "emergent process" and "social
activism"...  how unlikely it is that* any* form of  "emergent process"
(whether OST or World Café or Deep Democracy or DF or...) is likely to
bring about large-scale social changes on its own, *without* the complement
of people's passion self-organized into activism… which can then set the
stage for various kinds of  "emergent process" to be successful.

**

Peggy, thank you so much for the awesome story!

As you well know, a story can offer multiple insights... what's jumping out
at me --in addition to the obvious usefulness of "Open Space for turning
conflict into opportunity", and, not knowing any more of the details than
what you shared in your story --

...is the value of those two *prior *years of conflict, which seem to have
led to NOAA's agreement  to fund a meeting to deal with it... and thus set
the context for that powerful one day of Open Space. This could be seen as
wonderful example of Anne's version of the "law of two feet", that you
shared with us in your post: "stand for what you care about".

For those who may be interested in the activism end of things (strategies
for creating a context, that makes it more likely that people will feel the
need to come together, and thus discover the opportunities in conflict...)
a few of my favorite resources are Engler and Engler's *This is an
Uprising: How Non-Violent Revolt is Shaping the Twenty-First Century*,
along with Bill Moyer's *Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing
Social Movements.*

To that short list, I've recently added the work of
scholar-practitioner-activist Dr. Véronique Dudouet. In a recent webinar
hosted by the International Center on Non-Violent Conflict, she explores
the intersection between "civil resistance", aka non-violent activism, and
"peacebuilding", a term that includes facilitation, mediation, negotiation,
etc. (From this perspective, OST would be a form of "peacebuilding.)

If you scroll down on the webinar page
<https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/can-integrating-civil-resistance-peacebuilding-strategies-improve-movement-effectiveness/>,
you'll also find a link to her report. And, as you wrote in your post,
Peggy -- not specifically about Veronique's work, but I think it can be
applied here -- these are "yin and yang responses to conflict and we need
them both."

with all best wishes,

Rosa

*Rosa Zubizarreta*

*meet me at my DiaPraxis website <http://diapraxis.com> and on my Listening
Arts blog <https://rosaz.wordpress.com/>*
* <http://www.DiaPraxis.com>*

On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 4:42 AM, Martina Roell (Structure & Process) via
OSList <oslist at lists.openspacetech.org> wrote:

> Hey Daniel,
>
> Daniel Mezick via OSList wrote:
> > I am hearing this pointed criticism from some quarters: That OST
> > actually encourages conflict-avoidance via the Law of 2 Feet.
>
> Well, even if that were true (which I don't think it is): would it be a
> bad thing? I would rather have "conflict avoidance" than war. I would
> rather have "conflict avoidance" than rips in a community.
>
> > In other
> > words, people who need to be resolving conflict (or at least discussing
> > it) can just avoid the touchy topic... and each other.
>
> I wonder who "people who need to be resolving conflict" are. When I hear
> that rhetoric, I think it tells me more about the speaker than about the
> "people" they are speaking about: The speaker seems to have some idea
> about "the people" who "need" to do something: "they (!) should (!) be
> resolving conflict!" "They (!) should (!) not be avoiding (this and that)".
>
> It's the position of a "leader" who thinks they know better than "the
> people".
>
> To them, I say: well go ahead and make an invitation for people to step
> into a tight container and "resolve conflict" or "go into conflict" or
> whatever you think is needed. See if anyone shows up.
> Or, if you feel yourself empowered to do so: "force" the people to "do"
> whatever you think "they should" do. See what happens. But why continue
> to whine about Open Space?
>
> Love,
>
> Martina
>
> --
> Structure & Process | http://structureprocess.com | @strucproc
> Martina Röll | GSM: +49 178 4984743
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