Where Are We Going Next?
“It’s a dangerous business, going out your front door…
…you step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” — JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Whew. These days are packed with emails, skypes, livestreams, and every possible electronic communication. Our cellphones ring and ring. There’s a request in every exchange. In between, C.T. and I talk and talk and talk about what’s coming next. What is coming next, you might ask?
Yeah, we don’t know.
The temptation looms large to just go back to New York, embed with OWS and get this consensus thing right. But the call of California hasn’t quieted. Lack of money limits our choices. Maybe we should just stay in DC and get jobs.
Conventional wisdom would ask, “What do you want?” But it isn’t that simple. We are the only people teaching what we’re teaching, Value-Based Consensus. So we can’t just tell people to get someone else to do it, nor can we quickly train other teachers.
Nor can we simply walk away from a direct democracy model which appears to be the one that truly does interrupt privilege and oppression and allow for all voices to be heard. It’s needed at this moment, more than ever.
Part of what we teach are paradigm shifts that support consensus, including a shift from, “What do I want?” to, “What’s best for the group?” The stakes are high. In this case, “the group” is the world, and particularly the activists who would battle economic injustice and climate change.
Strategically, we’d like to be writing books to help the teaching (and funding) go deeper. That’s a yet another direction.
These are baking days.
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Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday Nights: 3 Livestream Interviews with C.T. Butler
TUES, WED & THURS nights at 8pm EDT (July 10-12, 2012):
Looking at my collection of Direct Democracy Tour camera phone shots, I am amused at how often I catch C.T. talking on the phone. My theory is that when he takes calls to consult on consensus process, I often see that as a break in [...]
One for the Scrapbook: ACT UP, Kennebunkport, Maine, 1991
Ahh. I’ve been occupying the home of some friends while they’re away. Ahh. C.T. and I have a place to ourselves for a whole month! This is sweeter than raw, unfiltered, local honey to this weary hippie chick. I’m just starting to relax some muscles that got habitually tensed on tour. But already, it’s clear [...]
Jewelry in June
Time flies! It looks like I’ve been neglecting my blog duties while we transition from our Direct Democracy Tour to a summer schedule.
Summer for us looks like touring flea markets and festivals with my jewelry, a trip to the ocean, dance camp and a consensus workshop in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas…About a month in each place—July [...]
Marching in that Desputed Number: May Day OWS
The first article I read when I got home put the number at one thousand. While I was marching down Broadway from Union Square to Wall Street, I passed an official counter who was up past ten thousand in his count. We were maybe half way to the destination, with throngs behind us.
Compared to what [...]
The Structural Engineer and the Colander
Like thousands of other people across America for the past six months, I have lived, breathed and oozed Occupy since it’s beginnings, dedicating my waking and sleepless moments to the beautiful, hopeful, flawed movement.
Most full-timers buried themselves in working groups and showed up for every next direct action of their local Occupy. My partner, Food [...]
C.T.’s DIY Book Process
Many people wonder about the plastic binding of C.T.’s original book, On Conflict and Consensus. Originally a cost saving measure, C.T. has continued to order new printings with that spine because so many people have liked that feature, which allows them to easily lay the book open at meetings for quick reference.
What they probably don’t [...]
Dragons Are Not Afraid of Thunder, or A Fine Time at the St. George Day Festival
How do I end up in a pet dragon contest when I’m supposed to be coteaching a consensus workshop in Philadelphia? My life is like a road movie, just a string of random randomness.
Having postponed a workshop in Philadelphia, C.T. and I found ourselves with time to volunteer for and attend the St. George Day [...]
Discovering the Secret World of Strollers
I never would have come up with this one on my own. But as I have found my way through the rivers of people in New York City, I’ve discovered that owners of dogs, particularly small dogs, travel the sidewalks and subways with their pets in purses, totes and, get ready for it, doggie strollers.
I [...]
Third Indymedia Journalist Killed
From Wren—I’ve been posting a lot of death on HCD these days. Our pet goats, some activist friends. It’s surreal to read about the death of former Monkees singer Davy Jones. The Monkees were a part of my subversive childhood, and my early awareness of the struggle of principled people trying to operate in our [...]
