Hi Gabriel and Florian: I have had a number of experiences opening space with local political leaders in British Columbia. Most recently I gathered with mayors, councilors First Nations Chiefs and councilors from local governments in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, a region that is mostly dependant on ranching and logging for its economic base, and where First Nations issues are heavily dealt with. The meeting was a follow up to a regional visioning Open Space we did there last year, an event which itself spawned four follow up workshops. In the OST meeting of a couple of weeks ago, it was just politicians, and the question put to them was, as political leaders, what do we need to do right now with each other? There were some good projects started, but what was even greater was the depth of conversation. Here we had Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal leaders regarding each other as colleagues and trying to figure out what they needed each other for and answering the question. One of the most poignant groups had a discussion about trust and racism, resulting in one of the mayors admitting that he always felt intimidated when he had to meet with First Nations groups and leaders and that this posture of his translates into society to almost endorse a sense of mistrust between the groups. He declared that he wanted to do something to address this, both personally and publicly and among other ideas, declared that the local councils should get together and buy space on a billboard on the highway that goes through town and put the pictures of all the six or seven local mayors and chiefs with a slogan like Working together in the Cariboo for all to see. This was a truly amazing moment for many people. Picture a typical western North America town, with real cowboys and Indians who have had a series of complicated relationship about the land and each other for 100 years. Picture the real racism, the poverty and the struggle. Five years ago when I first started really working in the Cariboo the idea of a mayor and a Chief appearing together on a billboard would have been political suicide (for both of them!). Now people are starting to recognize that without that kind of statement, nothing will change, and all the people in the region will be poorer for it. Remarkable. Local government is the most accessible level of government. People can easily get into it and get elected and when they do there is often a change that comes over them as they struggle to play the role of a mayor or a councilor or a Chief. But they are still community members, and for the most part still the same people they were before the election. Opening space to help them remain human and to connect to the other humans in their community is a great act of citizen engagement. When local politicians get it, it really hums. Chris --- CHRIS CORRIGAN Bowen Island, BC, Canada http://www.chriscorrigan.com [email protected] (604) 947-9236 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gabriel Shirley Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 3:45 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: City council and civil conversation Hi Florian,
It's been a long time since OSonOS Vancouver! I just forwarded this post of yours to Robert Gilman, a local (Langley, WA, US) friend and (hopefully) soon-to-be city council member who is interested in doing community-wide open space as part of an ongoing civil infrastructure. I am helping him to develop a prototype online environment to help support the process with a design team of about 40 citizens who want to help facilitate a community vision of the future of our town. Thought others on the list might be interested to hear that this thread continues on this side of the big pond as well. Take care, Gabriel On Dec 17, 2003, at 12:06 PM, Florian Fischer wrote: Am 16.12.2003 19:07 Uhr schrieb "Dominique Proudhon" unter <[email protected]>: ... Will get in touch with city councils around and see what happens. . .dear all, I`m living for some weeks at our place in southern spain. the spring of this year I facilitated an open space looking to the coming local elections of the district. the space had been opened / sponsered by a new local party. they and no one here around had never before done a meeting like this. in the closing circle the sponsor mentioned, that this experience opens a new epoch of communication for the region. meanwhile they have got the government in coalition with two other parties the party which I worked for is responsible for planning/development of the district, staff affairs, health and police. to start a general masterplan for the development there are ideas of participation. today I had a first contact with them. I look forward to offer what I can. I`ll inform you how it will go ahead. florian ------------------ florian fischer facilitador de desarollo c/sta.bárbara 18 E 04115 rodalquilar/nijar fon/fax 950. 389819 mailto: [email protected] * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -- Gabriel Shirley - [email protected] Founder and Partner BigMindMedia - http://bigmindmedia.com 360.221.7701 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
