<DIV>
<DIV>as I mentioned at OSonOS, and as I always say, for me the power of OS is to shift the mindset from one of 'indifference, powerlessness, isolation' to 'abundance, action, responsibility'</DIV>
<DIV>which is absolutely fundamental for authentic, grassroots, effective social change </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>OS is the most powerful empowerment medicine I've ever seen...:) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>filiz</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>"Pannwitz, Michael M" <mmpanne@boscop.de></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Dear Funda,<BR>I live in a rich city: Berlin.<BR>My colleagues and I have facilitated about 300 os-events since 1996<BR>in this city alone.<BR>The dark sides of this city have in that same period grown:<BR>unemployment, poverty, homelessness, dismanteling of social services,<BR>cuts in primary education and health care, disentchantment with the<BR>political process....along with the widening gap between poor -<BR>middle income and rich people.<BR>So, whats all this effort led to?<BR>Heaven knows<BR>and<BR>almost every day I get little signs<BR>someone approaching me in a bus, on the street, an email, a telephone<BR>call, <BR>characterized by a smile.<BR>As far as I am concerned, thats pretty much all I need to keep going.<BR>A few days ago I returned from Karachi, Pakistan,<BR>somewhere between 14 and 19 million people,<BR>where Yaari and I lead a training for 26 colleagues from
Afghanistan,<BR>Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.<BR>There, I saw grand opportunities for open space and talked about it<BR>to people.<BR>That environment with its many challenges invigorated me,<BR>especially those thousands of people I saw while going to the<BR>railroad station, the harbor, the markets, along teeming streets...<BR>all of them, including the tenacious begging children, rising to the<BR>really difficult situation making a go of things,<BR>seemingly at a very high level of "muddling through".<BR>What splendid resources!<BR>And: I dont need to understand their struggle to facilitate an open<BR>space technology event.<BR>And: I am certainly not going to help them to get what they need not<BR>really knowing or being able to understand their need.<BR>Neither in Berlin or in Karachi.<BR>What I can supply, is assistance in getting an os-event set up and to<BR>facilitate it (or, in the case of Karachi, train people to do that)<BR>which will definitely provide the best known
framework for<BR>selforganization including the optimal use of whatever resources are<BR>available.<BR><BR>While I was in Karachi, I read the "Dawn" every morning (in fact,<BR>there is hardly a dawn or dusk in Karachi, it seems to go from light<BR>to dark to light within minutes)<BR>and a story about "Karachi 2020" caught my eye.<BR>It described in great detail all the stuff a huge staff of<BR>consultants (foreign) was hired for to "understand" the problem,<BR>about 20 fields of investigation, half a newspaper page full (census,<BR>roads, income distribution, migration patterns.....)<BR>with side remarks about the government scolding the local planners<BR>for not being competent to develope proper plans.<BR>I read it all and at the very end I found a note that after the plans<BR>would all be drawn up,<BR>citizens would be invited to explain the plans to them,<BR>with the possibility to then fine tune them.<BR><BR>Well, what a neglect of local resources!<BR>What an upside down
procedure, producing another set of eventually<BR>useless data under the ill fatet belief that this kind of planning<BR>will actually improve Karachi.<BR>Lots of room for open space, though.<BR>Maybe some of my colleagues will get busy on those and other areas<BR>there.<BR><BR>Greetings from Berlin<BR>mmp<BR><BR><BR><BR>On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 13:40:56 +0300, Funda Oral wrote:<BR><BR>>Dear John and everybody,<BR>><BR>>I live in a city where one can see extreme cases ( richness and poorness, <BR>>joy and powerty so on...)<BR>>in a short distance from each other.<BR>><BR>>One sees so big problems, and so strong struggle for life<BR>>that sometime the word "open space" looks funny, silly and luxury.<BR>><BR>>I still believe that "opening space", inviting people to<BR>>exist, to talk, to express their needs and struggle is<BR>>"something", a very small step maybe, but still helpful.<BR>><BR>>But it's not enough, the ultimate aim is to understand
their straggle<BR>>and help them to get what they need...we don't need to be poor with the <BR>>poor;<BR>>sick with the sick ( as Judi beautifully mentions)...the least we can do<BR>>is to open space to respect them.... but this is only the minimum.<BR>><BR>>And i am very worried and sad to see that in many cases all i could<BR>>do would be to open space. I am not strong or rich enough to end<BR>>struggle.<BR>><BR>>I guess we need more trembling hearts, more resources and better<BR>>cooperation for that.<BR>><BR>>Funda<BR>><BR>><BR>>----- Original Message ----- <BR>>From: "john engle" <ENGLEJOHN@HOTMAIL.COM><BR>>To: <OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU><BR>>Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 10:17 PM<BR>>Subject: powerful poem! help me understand it.<BR>><BR>><BR>>> hi brendan, kairi and others.<BR>>><BR>>> i've never opened space in a prison but i have participated in a <BR>>> touchstones discussion
(http://touchstones.org) with about 25 men serving <BR>>> life sentences. the discussion centered around "power" and not <BR>>> surprisingly, i learned a great deal.<BR>>><BR>>> great that you are doing this! i look forward to following developments as <BR>>> you work toward opening space in prisons.<BR>>><BR>>> on another subject, kairi, thank you for sharing that poem in your <BR>>> message. i love it! and, i loved being at OSonOS! Judi, you and your team <BR>>> did a great job at receiving us and making us feel at home.<BR>>><BR>>> while i love the spirit of the poem, i just don't know what to do with <BR>>> "banish the word struggle from your vocabulary." how do others see this?<BR>>><BR>>> removing the word struggle from MY vocabulary seems like it could have <BR>>> some positive outcomes. at the same time, it's hard for me to think of a <BR>>> better word that describes daily life
for so many people. and, not <BR>>> acknowledging this seems like i might be missing something as i work with <BR>>> folks in circumstances so much different from my own.<BR>>><BR>>> i'm in haiti as i write and catching up with friends and colleagues. there <BR>>> are at least hundreds of thousands of people here--some estimate in the <BR>>> millions--that don't consume a meal each day. and when they do, they don't <BR>>> know when they'll eat next. i can't begin to imagine what living with so <BR>>> much uncertainty and discomfort must be like. and i've also learned that <BR>>> far too often we who live in financially prosperous countries romance <BR>>> poverty, saying that poor people are happier.<BR>>><BR>>> it serves us (people who live in financially prosperous countries) well to <BR>>> see things this way and it pains me when i have US American visitors with <BR>>> me in Haiti and conclude
after a week here that the people are "so happy." <BR>>> in many cultures, those in the southern countries included, it is <BR>>> appropriate to put one's best face forward especially when meeting <BR>>> visitors. those same Haitians who looked so happy to the visitor might be <BR>>> totally stressed out because they're worrying about how they're going to <BR>>> pay school fees for their kids and get a meal together, etc. when they <BR>>> speak in their own language to me, "struggle" projects from their facial <BR>>> expressions, body movement and words.<BR>>><BR>>> i would not feel comfortable asking folks who live such realities to <BR>>> remove "struggle" from their vocabulary.<BR>>><BR>>> thanks for your patience as i vent and live emotions connected to being <BR>>> with friends in extremely difficult situations.<BR>>><BR>>> john<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>>
http://JohnEngle.net<BR>>> email: john@johnengle.net<BR>>> P.O. Box 337<BR>>> Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033<BR>>> tel. 202-236-6532<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>><BR>>><BR>>>>From: Brendan McKeague <MCKEAGUE@IPRIMUS.COM.AU><BR>>>>Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU><BR>>>>To: OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>>>>Subject: Re: There is a river flowing now very fast<BR>>>>Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:26:54 +0800<BR>>>><BR>>>><BR>>>>"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary.<BR>>>>All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.<BR>>>>aahhh....thank you so much Kairi<BR>>>><BR>>>>What a moment to receive this gift - the start of a brand new <BR>>>>day...beautiful and inspiring...today I will let go a wee bit more...<BR>>>>I am about to depart for a day's 'space-making' in a
maximum security <BR>>>>prison with long-term offenders..<BR>>>>I will be present and holding space with individual men - my dream is that <BR>>>>one day there may be more collective open space within such confinement...<BR>>>>.<BR>>>>Anyone ever opened space in a prison?<BR>>>><BR>>>>peace to all<BR>>>>Brendan<BR>>>><BR>>>>*<BR>>>>*<BR>>>>==========================================================<BR>>>>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>>>>------------------------------<BR>>>>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<BR>>>>view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:<BR>>>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html<BR>>>><BR>>>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<BR>>>>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist<BR>>><BR>>>
_________________________________________________________________<BR>>> MSN Messenger : discutez en direct avec vos amis ! <BR>>> http://www.msn.fr/msger/default.asp<BR>>><BR>>> *<BR>>> *<BR>>> ==========================================================<BR>>> OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>>> ------------------------------<BR>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<BR>>> view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:<BR>>> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html<BR>>><BR>>> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<BR>>> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist <BR>><BR>>*<BR>>*<BR>>==========================================================<BR>>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>>------------------------------<BR>>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<BR>>view the archives of
oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:<BR>>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html<BR>><BR>>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<BR>>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist<BR>><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Michael M Pannwitz, boscop eg<BR>Draisweg 1, 12209 Berlin, Germany<BR>++49-30-772 8000<BR>www.boscop.de www.michaelmpannwitz.de<BR><BR>Check out the new Open Space World Map now with 309 resident Open Space Workers in 57 countries (working in a total of 115 countries worldwide)<BR>www.openspaceworldmap.org<BR><BR>*<BR>*<BR>==========================================================<BR>OSLIST@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU<BR>------------------------------<BR>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,<BR>view the archives of oslist@listserv.boisestate.edu:<BR>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html<BR><BR>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:<BR>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><BR><DIV><FONT
face="arial narrow" color=#7f007f size=3><EM><STRONG>f i l i z</STRONG></EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><EM><FONT color=#7f007f></FONT></EM></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.barakam.blogspot.com"><FONT color=#7f007f>www.barakam.blogspot.com</FONT></A><FONT color=#7f007f> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#7f007f></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#7f007f>"come out of the circle of time, </FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#7f007f>step into the circle of love"</FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#7f007f>Rumi</FONT></EM></DIV><p>
<hr size=1> <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=34442/*http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs">Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page </a>
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