“I am human because I belong.” I participate, I share.”
"I AM because You are"
Walking Out and On EXCERPT ARE YOU A WALK OUT?
All systems go through lifecycles. There’s progress, setbacks, seasons. When a new effort begins, it feels like spring. People are excited by new possibilities, innovations and ideas abound, problems get solved, people feel inspired and motivated to contribute. It all works very well, for a time.
And then, especially if there’s growth and success, things can start to go downhill. Leaders lose trust in people’s ability to self-organize and feel the need to take control, to standardize everything, to issue policies, regulations and laws. Self-organization gets replaced by over-organization; compliance becomes more important than creativity. Means and ends get reversed and people struggle to uphold the system rather than having the system support them. These large, lumbering bureaucracies—think about education, healthcare, government, business—no longer have the capacity to create solutions to the very problems they were created to solve.
When a system reaches this stage of impotence, when it becomes the problem rather than the solution, we as individuals and communities have a choice. Either we struggle to fix and repair the current system, or we create new alternatives. New alternatives can be created either inside or outside the failing system. But if we choose to walk out and walk on, there are two competing roles we’re called upon to play: We have to be thoughtful and compassionate in attending to what’s dying—we have to be good hospice workers. And we have to be experimenters, pioneers, edge-walkers. Playing these dual roles is never easy, of course, but even so, there are enough people brave enough to do so.
Skilled hospice workers offer comfort and support to those at the end of their lives far beyond attending to physical needs. They help the dying focus on the transition ahead, and encourage them to see what their life has taught them—what wisdom and values shine clearly now that the distractions are gone.
Walk Outs need to do this kind of hospice work on ourselves. Even as we stop struggling to fix things, even as we reject the status quo, we don’t leap empty-handed into the future. We need to consciously carry with us the values and practices that feel essential. What have we learned, what do we treasure as the means to create good work, fulfilling lives, meaningful relationships? From our many experiences—the battles, victories, disappointments, successes—we need to glean our hard-won wisdom and preserve it at all costs. This is what we’ll most need as we walk out and walk on to give birth to the future.
Inside dying systems, Walk Outs who Walk On are those few leaders who refuse to work from the dominant values that permeate the bureaucracy, such things as speed, greed, fear and aggression. They use their formal leadership to champion values and practices that respect people, that rely on people’s inherent motivation, creativity and caring to get quality work done. These leaders consciously create oases or protected areas within the bureaucracy where people can still contribute, protected from the disabling demands of the old system. These leaders are treasures. They’re dedicated, thoughtful revolutionaries who work hard to give birth to the new in very difficult circumstances.
And then there are those who leave the system entirely, eager to be free of all constraints to experiment with the future. You’ll read their stories in the next pages. But even though they might appear to have more freedom than those still inside, they encounter many challenges that restrict their actions. Old habits and ways of thinking constantly rear up on their path. It’s easy to get yanked backwards, or to doubt that this is the right direction. It takes vigilance to notice when these old ways of thinking block the path ahead.
Pioneers have to expect to feel ignored, invisible and lonely a good portion of the time. What they’re doing is so new and different that others can’t see their work even when it’s staring them in the face. These are difficult dynamics to live with, especially when you know you’ve done good work, that you’ve solved problems that others are still struggling with. This is why it’s so important that pioneers work as community, encouraging one another through the trials and risks natural to those giving birth to the new in the midst of the breakdown of the old.
If you’ve walked out of confining situations, you’ve probably experienced at least some of these dynamics. They’re easily observable in the lives of innovators and courageous leaders everywhere. They’ll be quite noticeable in the stories you’re about to hear as we journey through these seven communities. In each visit, we’ll see how these difficult dynamics lose their power as we work together in community. It’s so much easier to keep walking on when we’re in the company of kindred spirits.
Daniel tells you a story that begins in Guatemala, where he met Carlos Marroquin of Maya Pedal. Carlos and his colleagues conceived of bicimáquinas back in 1997, when they recognized that salvaged bicycles could be reconstituted into human-powered machines that grind corn and cacao, pump water, sharpen metal, blend beverages—and ultimately wash clothing, generate electricity, plow soil and saw wood. Maya Pedal’s intention was to contribute to environmental conservation while supporting local family economies. Its commitment was to give away all its knowledge freely so that many other friends and partners could participate in the evolution and diffusion of the ideas.
Daniel returned to Oaxaca City carrying a few photos and the concept of a bicimolino, a bicycle-powered mill, that could help ease the task of grinding cacao beans that he, Chivo, Drakula and a few others were using to make solar-roasted Oaxacan chocolate. What he did not carry with him was a blueprint—or any design documents at all, for that matter—on how to build the bicimolino. Based on Daniel’s memory, a few rough photos and a spirit of bricolage (a do-it-yourself process of assembling something out of the materials at hand), the trio set about making it up. The early models were clunkers—heavy, slow and not exactly a smooth ride. But over time, through ongoing experimentation and occasional input from Carlos, the bicimáquina designs became increasingly graceful and more complex. The CACITA crew offered their designs to youth in villages and schools, leaving behind the models that the learners built so they could continue to adapt and improve them until bicimáquinas began appearing like scattered seeds among communities throughout Oaxaca and Chiapas.
FROM POWER TO PLAY Most leaders believe that it’s their job to motivate people, that without their directive control, no work gets done. The most common way to motivate people is through external means, using punishment and reward. Experience Warriors Without Weapons, where play, not power, evokes people’s passion, creativity and motivation to work hard on seemingly overwhelming challenges.
Walk a few blocks down from Apene, and you’ll find the site designated for the jardim das crianças, the promised children’s garden. It can’t be true! Where once stood a multi-story home, its arched façade proclaiming its colonial Portuguese heritage, now towers a pile of refuse and rubble more than eight feet off the ground. You duck your head to pass through the entryway and scramble up the 45-degree slope into a world that’s like nothing you’ve ever encountered. There, in front of you, is a yellow brick road of trash, beckoning you to follow its path. You step gingerly on headless teddy bears and cracked pipe fittings, rotting banana peels, crusty yogurt containers and stained coffee mugs. Baked in Brazilian sunshine, the stench is staggering. Up ahead is a tiny shelter, no bigger than a doghouse with a makeshift plywood roof perched against a remnant of a brick wall. Smoke is pouring from the darkened space. Someone lives here!
A man crawls out of the shelter to check you out. It is impossible to tell his age. He tells you about his home—how about fifteen years ago, there had been a fire and the landlord let the tenement fall into disrepair; how the squatters gave it up after four years and the site became a neighborhood garbage dump. Now he is the only one left, and he points you toward the back half of the old building and invites you to explore.
You shuffle past the shelter and gasp at the beauty that explodes in front of your eyes: an Emerald City of life—carpets and walls and rafters of green dotted with splotches of pink. Jungle vines reach skyward and twine around ancient fortress walls. Birds nest in hidden crags that once formed rafters. Even this place can’t resist Brazil’s dogged commitment to create life. A jardim das crianças here? Absolutely. Yes.
So you begin with these mountains of trash, attacking them with pickaxes and shovels, gaining on them by only inches per hour. Today, five children show up to help you collect the loosened bricks that will become the stairway entrance. Tomorrow, they’ll bring ten more children along to help build the garden and then ten more after that, including an 11-year-old boy nicknamed Boizinho who wants to man your wheelbarrow. From that day on, he’ll be there in the garden every day, waiting to greet you and spending the day by your side, working and playing and singing songs with you—no matter that you don’t speak a word of Portuguese.
Each day, more workers will appear, neighbors bearing gifts of shovels and wheelbarrows and the sweat of their labor. One day, bags of sand and sod will be dropped off—nobody knows by whom—so you can lay down a lawn and create a sand garden. A pile of old vinyl records are discovered, which the children paint and hang off of old crossbars to create luminescent chandeliers. This oasis has magic in it—a magic that beckons people to stop by, to contribute, to create something beautiful together.
There is no blueprint for this garden. There are no foremen. Everything is a constant process of discovery and creation. Messes happen. Sometimes one person builds half a wall and then someone else comes along and tears it down to start another. Redundancy happens. There is chaos and confusion—and there is also laughter and joy and pride. There is wild self-expression as children design their own rock gardens and declare that the jungle must be preserved, for it offers places to climb and to hide. Yes, there are architects among us. There are urban planners and permaculture farmers. We have expertise. But instead of relying on our expertise, we all pitch in wherever we can, and a community is rediscovered. Together, we become garbage collectors and ditch diggers and bricklayers—side-by-side with the eight-year-olds and eighty-year-olds who will be visiting this garden every day.
FROM PROBLEM TO PLACE Today’s approach to social change posits that large and complex issues must be addressed one by one, with institutions and experts who specialize in that particular problem. Explore tiny Joubert Park in Johannesburg, where people have created changes in education, public safety, arts, ecology, food and more using the principle of start anywhere, follow it everywhere.
WE’VE GOT WHAT WE NEED
Joubert Park may seem an unlikely setting for one of Africa’s most progressive green initiatives, but against all expectations, the Greenhouse Project proudly sprawls across the northwest corner of the park. Pick your way through a maze of green: chicken-wire barrel gardens of vegetables that burst through their sidewalls and pour out the top in a form of vertical agriculture; raised brick beds with row after row of spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onions, potatoes and herbs; aromatic compost piles of straw and organic waste fermenting into richly fertilized soil. Two young boys race through, pushing wheelbarrows. A couple of elderly men rake up straw that has gathered in the pathways. A woman harvests corn that she will bring over to Lapeng for the children’s lunch. She is part of the urban agriculture co-op whose member organizations have plots in the garden. Others come here to learn the skills of vertical agriculture so they can grow food at home on their balconies and rooftops. Every inch of space is in use—growing food and replenishing soil, capturing rainwater and cleansing greywater (recyclable wastewater), developing eco-friendly buildings, conserving energy and recycling waste.
Claiming its space in Joubert Park in 2002, the GreenHouse Project is an ambitious effort to create a holistic approach to environmentally friendly city living. A young woman with intense eyes and a wide grin comes rushing at you, already talking a mile a minute. This is Dorah Lebelo, the impassioned director of the project, and you’ll need to give her all your attention if you want to keep up. Immediately, she launches into an explanation of the deeper purpose of her work. “What we’re doing here at the GreenHouse is about empowering people so they can realize that they’ve already got the knowledge,” she says. “They have once lived like this; they have once grown their own food; they have once built their own houses; they have once fetched their own water; they have once dealt with their own waste.” Dorah knows this personally. She herself moved to Joubert Park in 1997 as a new arrival from Limpopo, South Africa’s northernmost province. She stayed two years during the area’s peak crime period, then moved to a northern suburb only to return to Joubert Park four years later as part of the GreenHouse team.
What Dorah learned living in a rural community she’s now applying to life in the city. “We start from a place of abundance—knowing that we’ve got what we need—and we operate from that,” she says. “We’re not looking to other people to solve our problems; we work to maximize our own potential.”
Evidence of this belief abounds in the imaginative and thrifty re-use of the park’s neglected structures from its apartheid years. The old potting shed was a small, damp rectangular building constructed of brick and asbestos that provided access to three long hothouses. This would become the GreenHouse’s main office—and a demonstration of community engagement and green-building principles. The bulk of the materials that had to be dismantled were set aside for reuse. Rubble from the demolition was used as a porous substrate for the “willow wall,” a living fence designed to purify and release greywater. Old steel radiator pipes were re-welded into light fixtures. Broken pieces of glass were fitted into a mosaic decorating the front steps.
New construction materials were natural, renewable or second-hand. The GreenHouse team invited the community to participate in Learn and Build courses, where they constructed the straw-bale wall that anchors the conference room. They experimented with a dung-finished earth floor, but they ultimately couldn’t get the recipe quite right and settled for pine boards. They made natural paint from various combinations of cottage cheese, builder’s lime and pigment powder.
The office is fitted with water-free compost toilets, rainwater harvesting systems and a solar water heater and stove to cook staff lunches. Dorah directs your attention to what looks like a metallic satellite dish attached to a bicycle. She giggles as she explains how they’ve sent staff members cycling around the neighborhood, selling hot dogs and popcorn cooked on the solar panel of this sun-powered hot-dog stand.
In the inner city of Johannesburg, people are being reminded of what they used to know - how to grow food, build shelter, and deal with their waste. This is the work of Dorah Lebelo, Executive Director of the GreenHouse Project, which applies a holistic approach to the city's challenges, integrating green building and design, efficient and renewable energy, recycling and organic farming and nutrition.
FROM EFFICIENCY TO RESILIENCE Conventional attempts to solve problems of scarcity focus on efficiencies—attempting to do more with less by cutting budgets and staff, minimizing resources, optimizing outputs. Kufunda Learning Village has achieved resilience in a time of total systems collapse by choosing a different approach. They engage in a wide range of small local actions that give them the capacity to continuously adapt to an unpredictable and chaotic world.
In 2004, a few years after founding Kufunda Learning Village, Marianne Knuth wrote an essay reflecting on what inspired her to return to Zimbabwe. Here are excerpts from that essay.
Marianne Knuth
I returned to a country seemingly facing imminent collapse. We are now well into that process—political violence is ripe, with the government being the main aggressor, by passing legislation and following up with the police, effectively turning Zimbabwe into a police state and dictatorship. Many NGOs are being shut down, rural communities are afraid of receiving visitors or hosting gathering larger than a handful of people, as they are often broken up and the initiators are brought to book soon after—even if the gathering was not political in nature. The economy has fallen apart, leaving us with critical shortages of basic commodities, including maize-meal, cooking oil, wheat and bread, salt, sugar, fuel and more, after being the breadbasket of southern Africa for years. Was it madness that prompted me to return at this time?
It is simple. With my return to Zimbabwe, I stepped into what the universe was asking of me. That was and continues to be my experience of what this is all about. I have had some sort of vision of this for many years—though it only fell into place [in 2001] when I celebrated my 30th birthday with 40 friends from around the world. I knew then that it had to be here and it had to be now.
What my birthday brought home to me—as we all celebrated together in my grandmother’s rural village in Mhondoro—was that people here have something to offer the rest of the world too. People here have challenges, and they are struggling. But in the midst of that, they have such a wealth of culture and community and approach to life that is critical for the rest of us to tune into and understand deeply, if we wish to move forward in more sustainable ways. They themselves also need to recognize these treasures as treasures. The colonial chapter seems to have left people deeply wounded and disbelieving of their own wealth and power.
I moved back because I suddenly had the sense that this was what I had to do. I had to go back and create something real. I didn’t really know what it was that I had to create—some kind of learning community, an opportunity for us all to realize what we can do when we come together.
I announced to the world that this was what I was doing, and then I thought, “Oh my god, now I have to do it, and I don’t even know exactly what it is.” I traveled to different places in Zimbabwe, I met people, I told them this was what I was doing. I sat down with my sister and said, “I think we need a date. We need to say we’re going to start something at this point.” And so we announced, “We’re going to start a program on May 4th. We’re going to bring people to live at the village, and together we will explore how we can create sustainable communities.”
And then things just started moving. Everything we’ve done so far has been created by people who want to support this—in terms of money, as well as know-how and time from friends, family and people who have since become friends, that have been attracted by what we are up to here. It wasn’t easy to ask for help from friends initially, but I have since come to realize that they actually appreciate being invited into the experiment.
In July of 2002, our first 15 students arrived for a three-month learning program for leadership and self-reliance. And it has been just an incredible experience for all of us. It has been an experiment in seeding a learning community in which we live that life, which we believe to be possible; in which we experiment with a microcosm of another way of being and doing together. We’ve cooked together, planted our food together, built the village together, read articles of what others are learning and doing across the world, explored the nature around us, explored ourselves—who am I and what are my gifts?—explored our communities—what is their potential, what is their richness already now?—learned practical skills of soap making, candle making, organic agriculture, project management and more. It is hard to summarise. We are living and learning and doing and being.
In a way, it is funny to look back and see my journey. From being the president of a 50,000-student organization, to being a co-creator and facilitator of a network of 1,000, to now being the creator of a small learning village which hosts 15 people at a time. And yet it feels like though the scale is diminishing in one sense, it is growing in another. What we are doing at Kufunda seems more real than anything I have done to date. It is not theory; it is the real thing. It is not only conversation; it is also about actually learning to live and work together, and to create something (food, furniture, soap, etc.). I feel like what we are learning here is incredibly important, and that perhaps some of the deeper changes I am seeking have to happen in smaller groups over longer periods of time.
It’s not as pretty as it may sound. Sometimes I lose touch with the source of my inspiration, and often I found myself to be someone who I don’t even recognize, managing in a very old-style command-and-control way (especially when we were physically building the village before the program start). One time, something went wrong with the building, and the workers—four big Zimbabwean builders—were trying to explain it to me. “We thought this, that, and the other and da da da da.” I’m standing there, just fuming, and I scream, “My word is law! Do you understand that?!” And they stopped and just looked at me, and I thought, “Did I just say that? What is happening to me? Where went the life-affirming values?”
While my not being the perfect life-affirming leader is still a challenge, my source of inspiration is increasingly coming from the community we have created. My key learning from Kufunda is that as we rebuild the fabric of our communities, we will find ways of moving forward. This is what I am learning alongside the students. We need to come back together again. I believe this to be as true for the West as it is here in Zimbabwe. We need to learn to work together again, and play, and learn and simply be. To join in community again. Such power is available as we learn this, and move into it. As we support each other, we grow stronger as a group, and as individuals. As we recognize that we each have something of value to offer the community, our sense of self-worth grows and our process of unfolding, too, just like a flower opening up.
FROM TRANSACTING TO GIFTING The transactional culture of today promotes self-interest and scarcity; people strive to take as much as they can and accumulate more than they need. In a gift culture—common in many traditional societies—generosity prevails and money loses its power. Shikshantar is experimenting with gift culture, replacing mindless growth with the confidence that we have what we need.
CYCLE YATRA
Twenty-five bicycles are parked outside Shikshantar, bedecked with ribbons and balloons, papier-mâché masks and puppetry, hand-held drums and flutes and whistles. Twenty-five riders are bustling around, strapping sleeping bags to rear racks and affixing signs to the handlebars: Dosti (Friendship), Ram Bharose (We’re in God’s hands), Jaiso an vaiso man (So we eat, so we are), Apne seekh apne hath (Our learning is in our hands). The riders themselves are adorned in garlands, headscarves and bandanas. They are preparing for a weeklong cycle yatra, a journey out of the city and into the arms of whomever they might meet along the way.
Would you like to join this adventure? All you have to do is leave behind your money, credit cards, cell phone, iPod, snack food and all things plastic. For you are entering Gift Culture, and there will be no monetary transactions this week. Over the next 200 kilometers, you will secure your food and shelter with the gifts of your labor, your creativity and your capacity to build relationships with strangers. You will practice surrender. Surrender to the tires that will bust on the unkempt dirt roads, surrender to the single gear that has the hills claim victory over your legs and your lungs, surrender to the brakes that may fail as you soar downhill—and to the wisdom of the veteran rider who advises under such circumstance that you wait for a curve in the road and then jump!
And you will receive the refreshment of floating in a cool lake, the soothing touch of fellow riders massaging your feet and walking on your tired back, the ambrosial rush that comes from sucking on bits of sugarcane from a passing field.
You may find yourself hauling stones and being offered a place to sleep, painting murals and receiving fresh buttermilk, singing songs and entertaining children and performing short plays just for the sheer delight. This is
world of reciprocity, the antithesis of the market, and there’s no guarantee that what is exchanged will balance out. Here, you throw yourself into the hands of the universe and say, I offer my gifts to you, and so shall others to me, strangers and friends alike…
Are you willing to make yourself this vulnerable? To trust that someone, somewhere will provide? Can you give yourself over to a rhythm that is determined by the people you meet, the places you journey and the experiences you participate in? Can you be this trusting of life?
When you return from the yatra, be gentle with yourself. It may seem strange to notice how much of our lives are devoted to consuming the ready-made world. It may be unsettling to discover how little is required to feel joyful and secure—and how freely those who have less than we do share what they have. We put so much effort into seeking security—accumulating wealth, advancing our career, acquiring things, planning for the future. How much of that security is real and how much illusion?
Of course we can’t live in gift culture all the time. But we can taste it, we can begin to explore the edge between seeking security and trusting that we’ll find what we need. We can experiment with what it would be like to participate in the transactional economy just enough to have what we need—and to gift out everything else.
FROM INTERVENTION TO FRIENDSHIP In our pursuit to find what works, we seldom notice how disempowering it is when we look for answers from experts and best practices created elsewhere. At the Art of Learning Centering at Axladitsa-Avatakia, participants walked out of dependence on experts and learned to trust the capacities and creativity available in friendship to address their community’s needs.
FROM HERO TO HOST When a community stops waiting for a hero to save them, it discovers internal resources and solutions to solve otherwise intractable problems. People in Columbus, Ohio, are walking out of heroic leadership and walking on to a new “operating system” of using conversational processes to address complex problems, such as healthcare, homelessness, poverty, public safety and more.
Tuesday Ryan-Hart of Columbus, Ohio, talks about the difference between leaders-as-heroes and leaders-as-hosts—and why she chose to become a host.
In an emotionally charged talk, MacArthur-winning activist Majora Carter details her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx -- and shows how minority neighborhood suffer most from flawed urban policy.
The Freetown of Christiania is a self-governing neighborhood in Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital city, where the people actually live freely.
Chritiania was created in 1971, and consists of the old Bådsmandsstræde Barracks and parts of the city ramparts. After the barracks were abandoned by the military, the area was simply taken over by the locals in the surrounding neighborhoods, as a playground for their children. This was actually a protest against the Danish government of that time, started by the article of one Jacob Ludvigsen.
He was a popular journalist who wrote for a magazine addressed mostly to the young and the restless, and his piece, entitled Civilians conquered the forbidden city of the military eventually led to the proclamation of the free town. It became a small state within a state, governed by its own laws, where people were free to express themselves any way they liked.
The inhabitants of Christiania practice meditation and Yoga, but are also passionate about doing light drugs like marijuana or skunk weed. They’ve developed their own set of rules, independent from the Danish law. These rules forbid violence, stealing, knives, guns, bikers’ colors and the use of hard drugs. Other than this, pretty much anything else is allowed.
Consensus is a decision-making process that works creatively to include all persons making the decision. Instead of simply voting for an item, and having the majority of the group getting their way, the group is committed to finding solutions that everyone can live with. This ensures that everyone’s opinions, ideas and reservations are taken into account. But consensus is more than just a compromise. It is a process that can result in surprising and creative solutions – often better than the original suggestions.
Consensus can work in all types of settings: small groups of activists, local communities, businesses, even whole nations and territories. The Zapatista movement in lower Mexico (Oaxaca and Chiapas) answers to a public control called “la consulta”. This group – comprised of all men, women and children age 12 and over – meets in local meetings where discussion is held and all the members make the final decision.
Within a small group of up to 20 people consensus tends to be more simple, as everyone can get to know each other and reach a mutual understanding of backgrounds, values and viewpoints. For larger groups different processes have been developed, such as splitting into smaller units for discussion and decision-making with constant exchange and feedback between the different units. Our briefing Consensus In Large Groups has more examples and ideas for reaching consensus with hundreds and even thousands of people.
What’s Wrong with Majority Voting?
Many of us have been brought up in a culture which believes that the western-style system with one-person-one-vote and elected leaders is the supreme form of democracy. Yet in the very nations which shout loudest about the virtues of democracy, many people don’t even bother voting anymore, because they feel that it doesn’t make any difference to their lives.When people vote for an executive they also hand over their power to make decisions and to effect change. This goes hand in hand with creating a majority and a minority, with the minority often feeling deeply unhappy with the outcome.
It is true that majority voting enables even controversial decisions to be taken in a minimum amount of time, however there is nothing to say that this decision will be a wise one or morally acceptable. After all the majority of colonial Americans supported the ‘right’ to hold slaves. People in a majority rule system don’t need to listen to the dissenting minority, or take their opinion seriously because they can simply outvote them. Majority rule systems say that the majority is infallible and they have nothing to learn from the minority.
This creates a situation where there are winners and losers and promotes an aggressive culture and conflict, and lends itself to steam rolling an idea over a minority that dissents with the majority opinion. The will of the majority is seen as the will of the whole group, with the minority expected to accept and carry out the decision, even if against their most deeply held convictions and principles. A vivid example is the imprisonment of conscientious objectors against military service in democratic countries such as Germany.
Why Use Consensus?
In contrast to majority voting consensus decision-making is about finding common ground and solutions that are acceptable to all. Decisions are reached in a dialogue between equals, who take each other seriously and who recognise each other’s equal rights.
People are often inactive because they feel that they have no power in the system and that their voice won’t be listened to anyway. In consensus every person has the power to make changes in the system, and to prevent changes that they find unacceptable. The right to veto a decision means that minorities cannot just be ignored, but creative solutions will have to be found to deal with their concerns.
Another benefit of consensus is that all members agree to the final decision and therefore are much more committed to actually turning this decision into reality.
Consensus is about participation and equalising power. It can also be a very powerful process for building communities and empowering individuals.
Who Uses Consensus?
Consensus is not a new idea, but has been tested and proven around the world. Non-hierarchical societies have existed on the American continent for hundreds of years. Before 1600, five nations – the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca – formed the Haudenosaunee Confederation, working on a consensual basis and which is still in existence today. Each Nation within the Confederacy selects individuals to represent them at confederacy meetings. Issues are discussed until all are in agreement on a common course of action. Never would the majority force their will upon the minority. Similarly no one could force a warrior to go to war against their better judgement.
A second example of consensus based organisation is the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The Muscogee have the oldest political institutions in North America, with a recorded history going back beyond 400 years. If consensus on a major issue could not be achieved to everyone’s satisfaction, people were free to move and set up their own community with the support – not the enmity – of the town they were leaving. This is in stark contrast to political organisation today, where the state’s need to control its citizens makes it virtually impossible for individuals disagreeing with general policy to just go and do their own thing.
Consensus cannot only be found in the indigenous societies around the world but also throughout European history. Many medieval institutions, such as guilds, town councils, the influential Hanseatic trading league as well as governing bodies of countries (German and Polish Imperial Courts) required unity.
There are also many examples of successful and stable utopian communes using consensus decision-making, such as the Christian Herrnhueter settlements 1741-1760/61 and the production commune Boimondeau in France 1941-1972. The Herrnhueter complemented the consensus system with the drawing of lots to choose the members of the community council, making intrigue and power politics superfluous. This tool for decision-making is unfortunately rarely used or discussed today, even though it can offer a fair way out of a decision-making dilemma.
Christiania, an autonomous district in the city of Copenhagen has been self-governed by its inhabitants using consensus since 1970. This includes regulating economic, cultural and educational issues, water and electricity supply, health and security.
Within the co-operative movement many housing co-ops and businesses are using consensus successfully, including making difficult financial and management decisions. A prominent example is Radical Routes, a network of housing and workers’ co-ops all using consensus decision-making. Through Rootstock Radical Routes raises and loans out substantial sums of money to member co-ops.
Many activists working for peace, the environment and social justice regard consensus as essential to their work. They believe that the methods for achieving change need to match their goals and visions of a free, non-violent, egalitarian society. Consensus is also a way of building community, trust, a sense of security and mutual support – important in times of stress and emergency.
In the antimilitarist protests at Greenham Common in the 1980s thousands of women participated in actions and experimented with consensus. Mass actions involving several thousand people have repeatedly been planned and carried out using consensus.
How Does Consensus Work?
There are many different formats and ways of building consensus. Some groups have developed detailed procedures, whereas in other groups it may be an organic process. This also depends on the size of the group and how well people know each other. Below we have outlined a process that covers all the aspects of consensus, but can easily be adapted to fit your group. There are however a few conditions that have to be met for consensus building to be possible:
Common Goal: All members of the group/meeting need to be united in a common goal, whether it is an action, living communally or greening the neighbourhood. It helps to clearly establish what this overall goal of the group is and to write it down as well. In situations where consensus seems difficult to achieve, it helps to come back to this common goal and to remember what the group is all about.
Commitment to consensus building: All members of the group must be committed to reaching consensus on all decisions taken. It can be very damaging if individuals secretly want to return to majority voting, just waiting for the chance to say “I told you it wouldn’t work”. Consensus requires commitment, patience and willingness to put the group first.
Sufficient time: for making decisions as well as to learn to work in this way.
Clear process: Make sure that the group is clear about the process they will use for tackling any given issue. Agree beforehand on processes and guidelines. In most cases this will include having one or more facilitators to help the group move through the process. See also our briefing on Facilitation.
The CDM Process
There are lots of consensus models (see flowchart in the Resources section).The following basic procedure is taken from Peace News (June 1988), a magazine for peace activists: 1.The problem, or decision needing to be made, is defined and named. It helps to do this in a way that separates the problems/questions from personalities.
The problem, or decision needing to be made, is defined and named. It helps to do this in a way that separates the problems/questions from personalities. Brainstorm possible solutions. Write them all down, even the crazy ones. Keep the energy up for quick, top-of-the head suggestions. Create space for questions or clarification on the situation. Discuss the options written down. Modify some, eliminate others, and develop a short list. Which are the favourites? State the proposal or choice of proposals so that everybody is clear. Discuss the pros and cons of each proposal – make sure everybody has a chance to contribute. If there is a major objection, return to step 6 (this is the time-consuming bit). Sometimes you may need to return to step 4. If there are no major objections, state the decisions and test for agreement. Acknowledge minor objections and incorporate friendly amendments. Discuss. Check for consensus.
Presenting alternatives within a new vision is the next step as you are so eloquently illustrating in these posts mudra. Folks know the systems has succumbed to atrophy and I suspect many are ready to move in a new direction once they get some good bearings with respect to visualizing alternatives they can move in.
_________________ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night, the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. With deepest respect ~ Aloha & Mahalo, Carol
Carol wrote:Presenting alternatives within a new vision is the next step as you are so eloquently illustrating in these posts mudra. Folks know the systems has succumbed to atrophy and I suspect many are ready to move in a new direction once they get some good bearings with respect to visualizing alternatives they can move in.
I completely agree with you Carol. I believe Imagination born from Heart is the necessary pull that will drive the world into something better and brand new. Replacing the old ways of seeing all to predictable as we see them failing is a way to discover a power that everyone has within that can drive life into unity after so many eras of separation . This is a peacefull revolution and the very basis of evolution as well.
Old economy :The measure of a healthy economy is a growing GDP. Get real :A healthy economy meets real needs within ecological limits.
Old economy: All you need is money. Get real: You can’t eat money. What we need is healthy families, communities, and ecosystems.
Old economy :Booms and busts are inevitable in a modern economy. Get real:The boom/bust cycle is a result of letting banks create money.
We usually think of money as neutral—it allows buyers and sellers to make deals, and that’s good. But it’s not neutral when we give private banks the right to create money that we taxpayers have to borrow. It gets worse when banks get entangled in exotic speculation, creating trillions of electronic dollars that inflate financial bubbles. Then—because the paper wealth is disconnected from the real economy—the bubble pops, and finances crash. The banks don’t know how to untangle the mess, and they stop making loans. Even when things are going well, there’s this little problem about interest-based money—it concentrates more and more wealth in the hands of those lending it at the expense of your average home buyer, credit card holder, or tuition-paying college student. In the new economy, there are better ways to get money circulating.
NEW ECONOMY, NEW WAYS TO DO FINANCE
Old economy :Wall Street is the engine that powers our economy. Get real: Most real economic activity is local.
Old economy :Corporate banks are too big to fail. We need them to keep our economy going. Get real:Small, responsible banks and credit unions build real wealth in our communities.
Old economy :The smart investor insists on high returns. Get real: Slow community investments pay back in dollars and quality of life.
Finance begins with a simple idea—individuals or groups sell shares to investors or borrow money from banks, and use the funds to start businesses, buy land, or build houses, factories, or roads. Investors gain a stake in these ventures; if these companies are publicly traded, investors can buy and sell shares on stock exchanges. But as the small U.S. stock exchanges of the late 18th century grew into the vast institution that is now Wall Street, the relationship between trading and the real economy of goods and services fell apart. We’ve witnessed what happens when “owners” of businesses have no accountability for outcomes in the real world. Financiers are rewarded for generating short-term profit, even when the investments turn out to be phony or to cause harm. As mega-finance crumbles, many farsighted individuals are putting their money in enterprises and financial institutions that benefit working Americans and the places they live.
NEW ECONOMY, NEW WAYS TO WORK
Old economy : Well-run businesses require a hierarchy of highly paid executives. Get real: Worker co-ops are efficient and democratic, and workers keep the profits.
The freedom to do ecological damage improves the business climate. Get real: If we destroy the environment, there is no business … or climate.
Old economy : Large corporations are efficient, innovative, and create jobs. Get real: Locally rooted small- and medium-sized businesses create the jobs and innovations we need.
Do you want new jobs in your community? With layoffs and businesses closing, who doesn’t? The standard formula is to offer big corporations subsidies and tax breaks. Throw in lax environmental and labor standards, and you may win the new-jobs sweepstakes—until another city offers a better deal. There’s another way—build your economy from local assets. Worker co-ops, in particular, are enjoying a resurgence. The Mondragón cooperatives in Spain started up to provide jobs during an economic slump; today, they employ 100,000 worker/owners. In the South Bronx, a new green worker co-op is reselling salvaged building materials. In Cleveland, co-ops will soon be servicing the city’s most stable employers—hospitals and colleges. These businesses employ the poor and keep jobs local. Many have a distinctly green tinge. Instead of flying off to distant shareholders, the profits go to the worker/owners who keep them circulating close to home.
The Community Exchange System (CES) is a community-based exchange system that provides the means for its users to exchange their goods and services, both locally and remotely. It could also be described as a global complementary trading network that operates without money as it is commonly understood.
Unlike the conventional money-based exchange system, the CES has no physical currency. The idea that such a currency is required before any trading can take place is an ancient one and increasingly irrelevant in this day and age of computers and the Internet. Information can replace currencies and at the same time eliminate most of the problems associated with regular money.
There are many similar trading systems around the world, commonly know as Community Exchange Systems, Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), Mutual Credit trading systems or Time Banks.
Apart from using information instead of currencies to effect exchange, these exchange systems are community-focussed in order to build community and keep wealth where it is created. The CES takes this a step further by providing the means for inter-community trading, right up to the global level.
As the 'currency' in the above types of exchange systems is information it does not have to be ‘created’ like conventional money so there is no need for an issuing authority or for a supply of it, and none is required to start trading. ‘Money’ in these systems is a retrospective ‘score-keeping’ that keeps a record of who did what for whom and who sold what to whom. There can never be a shortage of information as there can be of money, as information does not have to be created and limited by a third party (banks or government) in order to give it value. For this reason the concepts of borrowing, lending and interest are meaningless in the CES.
There are many different types of complementary exchange systems (CESs) and they are growing in popularity throughout the world. Some use ‘hard’ currencies, where notes and coins are issued by the group for their own use; others use time as a 'currency' rather than notes; and yet others use a ‘virtual currency' which is the recording of the values of goods and services exchanged.
Complementary exchange systems foster the real wealth of communities and rebuild a sense of worth and self-esteem among their users. Around the world they report an increased sense of vitality in all sectors of the communities using them. While these exchange systems might have a slightly different function for each of these sectors, they certainly have relevance to all.
These systems provide infinite opportunities for exchanging one's narrow specialisations for the goods and services offered by others. In this way a complementary exchange system acts like a supplementary currency, creating an additional stream of value in a community. By supplementing conventional cash flow with a local exchange system a community can provide an additional source of essential goods and services that become scarce in economic downturns and protect itself from changes and fluctuations in the national money supply.
I help you, and you help another—and someone else helps me. The recipients of help become, in turn, the providers of help. What goes around comes around. By helping others you become entitled to receive goods, services or help from someone else. When you receive something, someone else is entitled to claim from the community the equivalent of what they provided.
How does it work?
CES exchanges compile and distribute a directory of goods and services offered by the users registered with them, as well as a list of their ‘wants’ or requirements. When a user requires something advertised in the directory the seller is contacted and the trade takes place. The buyer 'pays' the seller by signing a trading sheet provided by the seller or by handing over a cheque-like trading slip that records how much the buyer is agreeing to be debited by the seller for the goods/service delivered. The slip is either handed by the seller to a group administrator who will enter the amount into the computerised system, or the information is entered directly by the seller. Sales are recorded as credits for sellers and as debits for buyers. The central book-keeping system records the relative trading positions of the traders. Those in credit can claim from the community goods and services to the value of their credit and those in debit owe the community goods and services to the value of their debit. Traders receive a regular statement of account that lists their trades and gives their balance at the end of the period. Information about the trading position of others prevents unscrupulous buyers from exploiting the system. Newsletters assist in building links and enhancing the sense of community.
Is this a form of Barter?
No! Barter almost always involves bargaining between two individuals to establish the relative worth of the goods or services they wish to exchange. There is no bargaining in the CES as the receipient is in no way obligated to the provider; you 'pay' for what you have received by delivering/selling something to another trader in the community at a later time. Complementary exchange systems are as versatile as conventional ones.
Is this just a tax dodge?
Definitely not! Our motives are noble. Our aim is to create a more equal society where wealth is distributed according to contribution, not according to the ability to ‘make money’. In other countries where these systems have become big, the state has either ignored the tax angle because it saves state expenditure on welfare payments, or there is an agreement to provide services to the state. Our approach is that when the CES becomes big, the state should become a user of the CES and participate in the normal way. In this way the state could credit itself through the services it provides to all user and debit itself by purchasing the services of CES users.
Can I only trade with members of my own exchange group?
The CES is an international trading network with exchanges in many countries. Credits earned in one exchange can be spent in another, or if you are visiting another area you can trade with local CES traders. New exchanges are starting in new areas all the time, and existing ones are growing steadily
What other benefits are there in using a community exchange system?
One of the reasons why we took the initiative to launch this project is that it is in line with our New Economics thinking. New Economics is about rebuilding society using alternative/sustainable economic policies and practices. Complementary exchange systems fall into this category because they are instrumental in:
Mobilizing the Real Wealth of a Community: The knowledge and skills of its people is the real wealth of a community. Conventional money drains away while a local exchange system keeps this wealth moving about the community, generating economic activity and providing access to the common wealth for all involved. People who have accumulated a wide range of skills and abilities suddenly become once again highly valued members of the community. Fostering Self-Reliance & Self Esteem: In our communities unemployment is growing and increasing numbers of people are unable to get their needs met. Single-parents may need respite care or other services for their children. Elderly pensioners also need a range of specialised services or may simply require company to combat loneliness. At present a person's ability to access these and other services is proportional to their purchasing power. The community exchange system breaks this bottleneck by making it easier to match someone's need with another's offerings. People are no longer dependent upon welfare or charity, and everyone's self esteem is elevated.
Increased Personal Savings & Disposable Income: Because CES users can acquire local goods and services through their local exchange system, this reduces their need for national currency. Disposable income in conventional money, available after basic needs are met, thus increases. Those who trade regularly with complementary exchange systems will find they have more money left in their pockets at the end of each week. The rate of community savings, and therefore of community investment and capital generation, will improve. This will result in an improvement in the quality of life for everyone. Creating Local Economic Control: Complementary exchange systems help to plug the leaky bucket of the local economy. By creating an exchange system that reduces the leakage of wealth from a community, uncontrolled and activity-limiting capital outflows are reduced. As wealth generated by users of a local exchange system only has value in the community in which it is generated, it continues circulating to create more wealth for everyone. They give community members a powerful new tool with which to "steer" the local economy in directions which benefit everyone.
Building Community Support Networks: Because the CES plugs its users into a local information network, it provides new or isolated residents with an instantaneous social support network. This avoids the embarrassment of introductions for strangers. Through a CES network all users have a ready reason for calling for support or help. Elderly pensioners, people with disabilities, unemployed youth, supporting parents, new arrivals, and single-income families with partners trapped in a dormitory suburb can all build firm friendships on relationships established through a functioning network.
Fostering Social Justice & Equality: Because the value attached to one's time and commitment is set individually by participants, a complementary exchange system equalises the differentials that exist in the conventional economy between the work of women and the work of men. This greater equality helps prevent the polarisation of the community "haves" and "have-nots". There is no point in accumulating community credits as they do not earn interest. It is only by spending them back into the community that the individual or community benefits. Local exchange systems foster participation at all levels in the community.
Building a Sense of Community: The increasingly transient, temporary and mobile lifestyle in the world today has seriously damaged our sense of belonging to a meaningful community. Because a local exchange system builds relationships it is a powerful means of regenerating a sense of trust among community members, a necessary component to the health of any community. As communities become more self-aware and self-reliant through the use of a local exchange system, isolation, fear and loneliness diminishes and everyone benefits.
Keeping Wealth Where it is Created: National currencies always leak away to the 'money centres' creating money deserts and the dwindling of local economic activity. Local exchange systems, on the other hand, are community based and so keep wealth where it is created. Where previously economic activity was stagnant, the local exchange system can stimulate trade and permit things to happen where formerly there was no economic activity due to a lack of money. By being community focussed the entire community becomes self-sufficient and does not have to rely on 'imports' and external businesses to provide what is required.
Bringing the 'Money Power' Back to the Commons: The money we use in our daily lives is provided by the corporate financial system as a profit-making enterprise, not by the government as a public service to the community. As such, the money we use does not belong to the commons and so we have little control over how it is spent and who it benefits. A local exchange system is democratic because it brings the 'money power' back to the people. Its users can decide how that power is exerted.
THEeXchanger wrote:very interesting post Mudra, many thanks for starting this posting gives me something, i know, i need to ponder, before posting more
You are so welcome Susan This video is one the most powerfull and touching I had viewed since a long time. I too have things to ponder .
Imagine a model society where people live in harmony with the land and each other; a society which boasts a zero per cent crime rate and not one single act of vandalism; where people live in the absence of fear; where the young and the old are cared for; where nurturing the beauty inside of each person is of utmost importance; and where no one ever needs Prozac. Fairy tale or reality?
Tucked in the Alpine foothills of northern Italy sits Damanhur, a community of 500 adults, their children, and approximately 350 affiliated others who are living this dream.
Artisans abound at Damanhur, where all are encouraged to express their talents. In a science laboratory, for example, one can explore the use of sound with plants, while others learn the art of mosaic in one of the community's art studios. The community seeks to nurture that which is beautiful in each person in order for that person to express their unique gifts and purpose for being on the planet. Instead of delving into one's painful past to heal one's inner being, the idea at Damanhur is that by nurturing that which is of beauty in each person, all will flourish.
Damanhur has a self-made political infrastructure, its own constitution, and a small council of respected members who serve as mediators in those rare times of unresolved dispute. In addition, Damanhur operates its own schools, produces a daily newspaper, and uses its own currency, the Credit. Over forty businesses, privately owned by Damanhurians, honor the Credit, as well as other local businesses.
Damanhur is comprised of numerous towns in which members reside alongside the local people. In four such towns, members sit on the regular town councils in order to actively engage in policy making decisions which benefit the entire community.
Members live collectively in group houses, and each home strives to embrace a wide age range, the idea being that learning is enhanced when people live in a multi-generational context. The oldest member of the community is eighty-five.
Originally considered outcasts by Italian society, the federation of Damanhur now receives greater validation for improving the quality of life for the entire valley in which it exists. Damanhur has both ecologically and financially regenerated the area which had largely been deserted due to poor economy. Now enterprises flourish, while forests, mountainsides and farmland have been restored. The community also raises its own cattle for meat and grows its vegetables organically.
Members of the Damanhur community are comprised of professionals such as geologists, architects, scientists, and teachers, as well as farmers, decorators, gardeners, tailors, etc. At Damanhur, all tasks are considered worthy and members engage in all of the activities necessary for a society to exist and thrive.
About half of the members work within the Italian mainstream, while the other half work within Damanhurian enterprises such as a textile company which has gained notoriety for its weaving of luxurious clothing on century-old looms. Members pay regular Italian taxes in addition to financially contributing to the community.
But there is even more to Damanhur than all of this...Deep beneath a quiet hillside upon which an occasional meditator may be found sitting in repose, exists what is now referred to as, "The Eighth Wonder of the World," a temple of such profound beauty that all who witness it are immediately in awe of its magnificence-as well as the fact that it is completely hidden underground with no evidence above ground of its existence.
For sixteen years, construction of the "Temple of Mankind" was carried out in secret by no more than thirty workers at a time who entered into the mountain via a small house sitting on the hillside. Built on the juncture of the earth's crust, the temple is larger than a football field. It also contains the largest Tiffany dome in the world, backlit to show off the beauty of the glass.
Damanhur and the temple were created by Oberto Airaudi, a master of the esoteric arts. Witnessing the increasing destruction of the planet's resources as well as the falling apart of communities everywhere, Oberto had a vision to create a civilization based upon a new understanding-where the soul of each person could be nourished so that humanity could evolve in a better way.
Oberto sought to create both an internal and external environment where "there would be no separation between what you thought, your connection with the Divine, and what you did in your every day life," says Esperide Ananas, the international publicist for Damanhur. "He believed that it wasn't enough for people to be spiritual on weekends. If you really wanted to live a spiritually-based life, your life had to become a 24-hour meditation."
Oberto was speaking from personal experience. Born in Balangero, Italy in 1950, from a young age, he displayed exceptional paranormal abilities. Through meditation and other non-traditional forms of study, Oberto taught himself hypnosis, out-of-body travel, how to materialize objects and levitation.
In order to teach and to conduct further studies in paranormal experimentation, in 1975, he founded the Horus Centre in Turin. Members of the Horus Centre became the founding members of the community known as Damanhur, acknowledging Oberto as their spiritual guide.
Although he held the vision for the temple, being in his early twenties, he had neither the money nor the necessary skills to build it. But he reasoned that if cathedrals could be built in the Middle Ages by people who weren't engineers or architects, then he could do it, too. Discovering that no laws existed regarding building beneath a mountain, he decided to go ahead without anyone's permission. Referring to books and research papers, as well as through experimentation with the actual land and rock itself, digging for the temple began.
As a way to raise funds, Oberto first sold encyclopedias, but then decided that becoming an insurance agent would yield higher profits. Setting up an office in Turin, he employed disabled people, none of whom could find jobs elsewhere. At age twenty-three, he was the youngest insurer in Italy. His business experienced an astounding increase of 1500% per year for the first three years, and then a steady increase of nearly 300% each year thereafter. Eventually, Oberto gave the business to a friend, but continued to privately support the funding of the temple by setting up centers for healing in different parts of Italy.
Although the temple was built in secrecy, over the years authorities in the surrounding area developed suspicions that something unusual was happening on the mountainside, but no one could provide proof. Then in a strange twist of fate, in the early '90's, a map of the secret temple fell into the hands of a local judge, courtesy of a former member of Damanhur.
Armed with this crucial piece of evidence, the judge contacted the Italian army to "destroy the terrorist cult under the mountain." While helicopters pivoted overhead, hundreds of armed soldiers descended upon the entranceway ready to storm the temple. But when they pushed through the door and gazed up at the magnificent structure with its mammoth columns, exquisite stained glass, custom mosaics, and monumental size, they stopped in their tracks. Overwhelmed, the judge cried. The troops left.
Instantly, the judge became one of Damanhur's greatest supporters from the outside community. To prevent Italian authorities from ever seizing the temple, he "seized" it himself, so that no one could ever interfere with its existence again.
According to Esperide Ananas, the international publicist for Damanhur, "At this present point in history, numerous living species of plants and animals are disappearing, impoverishing culture and diversity, as well as the precious resources of our world. Damanhur is like the formation of a new cell in opposition to this involution. Our intention is to create a new people with a new culture and civilization-a people based on the exhaltation of differences in which everyone, thanks to their own characteristics, represents a precious piece of the whole mosaic."
Now that the temple is open to the public, Oberto is taking a less active role in the community in order to pursue his lifelong interest in research. For example, under Oberto's guidance, the Damanhurians have revived a form of healing from ancient times known as "selfica," involving the use of alchemical liquids and metals to help people recover from life-threatening conditions. Far from being a "woo-woo" experiment in New Age-ism, Damanhur has attracted the attention of the University of Turin for its groundbreaking work in this field. Local hospitals even refer terminal patients whom they can no longer treat successfully, and results appear to offer promise.
Another area of research at Damanhur involves what is called, the "Music of the Plants." Rather than hooking up a biofeedback sensor to a plant to then threaten it and watch it shrivel in response, the Damanhurians interact with plants in one of the most positive ways imaginable-they hook up several sensors to a plant, then using a MIDI-synthesizer, assign a musical sound to each of the different "blips" that the plant emits. By assigning a sound to each blip, the plant, in effect, makes its own music. The Damanhurians have discovered that each plant has its own song, and once it becomes aware that it is making music, it will improvise with the humans who are interacting with it.
According to Esperide, one reason the community has been so successful is because of its willingness to embrace change. If a system works, it's kept, and if it doesn't, it's discarded. For example, initially the community operated from a communistic perspective where members shared in all possessions. But when the communally shared car broke down and no one wanted to take responsibility for fixing it, it became clear that that particular system wasn't working, so it was discarded.
Based on the idea that nothing lasts forever, the community offers various forms of marriage, including one year renewable contracts as well as other arrangements for those who desire to be lifelong partners.
If a couple desires to have a child, they can make arrangements for the community to financially support their child until age fourteen, provided they make that arrangement before the child is conceived. Children are not acknowledged as members, but are considered to be guests of the community until they are eighteen when they are invited to choose whether or not they wish to become members.
Those who choose to become members change their names to that of an animal and then that of a plant as a way of being reminded of the interconnectedness of all species. Names of members include, "Skipper Butterfly Pineapple," "Clam," and "Gorilla." According to Damanhurian values, life-like one's name-is meant to be fun; no one should not take themselves so seriously.
People now travel from all over the world to experience the wonder which is Damanhur. Arrangements can be made to visit for a three-day or seven-day tour. Festivals, celebrations and workshops are offered throughout the year. For those who are seriously interested in studying Damanhur as a model for community or to conduct research, individual arrangements can be made to stay for longer periods of time.
Abigail Washburn wanted to be a lawyer improving US-China relations -- until she picked up a banjo. She tells a moving story of the remarkable connections she's formed touring across the United States and China while playing that banjo and singing in Chinese.
A space to know oneself. A space to grow. A space to experiment. A space to do what YOU are really passionate about. A space to stumble and fall, make mistakes. A space to make friends. A space to understand diversity, community and democracy. A space to question, and be questioned. A space to DO SOMETHING, for the environment, for society, for one’s community, for oneself!
“There is a lot of teaching and training happening in India but very little learning or understanding.” - Yashpal Committee report
It is no secret that the present education system is struggling, and while there have been massive efforts to revamp it through quality education, teacher training and other such means, these have had little positive effect. The present education system has not been able to adapt to the fast-changing social, economic, cultural and political transformation that has been taking place over the past decade. Moreover, growing threats to our ecology, disruption of local communities and the rise of global consumerism have made it necessary to question many of the basic assumptions that have shaped the modern world. Today, we are left with a worldview of society as a great machine whose purpose is to extract and convert natural and human resources into commodities for concentrated profits.
As a result, today’s youth find themselves at a crossroads, not sure of their own ideals and values, or of their identities. Alien (and alienating) institutions like schools and colleges, the mass media and government promise a successful life, but in reality drain their labour and energy and leave them cynical and dependent. The education system has not prepared them to understand their needs, strengths or dreams. Rather, it has urged them to become standardized products, designed to fit into techno-industrial moulds.
With such complex situations facing our world today we need a new kind of youth leadership and a radical way of learning. Swaraj University is an attempt to provide this to today's youth.
Swaraj University was birthed in 2010 as a two year learning programme for youth. The focus of the programme is on self-designed learning and on green entrepreneurship, including exploration of basic business skills within the context of ecological sustainability and social justice.
This self-directed learning process invites learners to identify their hearts’ visions and engages them in developing the skills, relationships and practices they need to manifest those visions.
The programme is as much about developing the capacities and confidence we need to create and pursue our unique learning paths as it is about strengthening the leadership capacity and right livelihood opportunities in communities. There is NO degree or certificate required to join Swaraj University, and we do not give any degrees after the course. We are proud of being totally unrecognized and un-deemed, since we believe in creating portfolios based on one's own experiences rather than degrees and certificates as a proof of one's education. We are also part of the campaign, Healing Ourselves from the Diploma Disease, a national campaign to say NO to degrees and certificate and promote a better evaluation framework such as that which is based on experience and portfolios.
Year 1
The aim of the first year is to unlearn the dependence on external sources of knowledge and to engage in co-creating their self-directed learning path. Khojis also learn basic jugaad (playful improvisation), planning, facilitation, media and communication skills, as well as identify a practice area to pursue in more depth. There are various explorations and experiments to understand the meaning of Swaraj, and the core principles related to it, which are sustainability, social justice and holistic living. Khojis are exposed to different kinds of community contexts – rural villages, social movements, entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations.
The Birth Of Barter: How One Greek Town Dropped The Euro And Moved On APRIL 19, 2012
Greece was the first country to defect from the non-default game theory regime of the European Union (a move which ultimately will be in its great benefit, as it is forced, very shortly, to default higher and higher into the 177% of GDP secured debt, until finally even the Troika's DIP loan is impaired). It has also become the first country to demonstrate that people can, contrary to apocalyptic claims otherwise by the global banker consortium which realizes oh too well it will be its death if people stop playing by the broken rules, exist under a barter regime. The video below shows how the Greek town of Volos develops its own bartering system without the aid of the euro. Yes - it can be done, especially since one is forced to produce in order to consume, and borrowing infinitely from the future becomes impossible.
