updated plan for 4 Aug

As there will be 6 of us, possibly 8, and many of us live in south London, I suggest we meet on 4 August in my house in Walworth, near Elephant and Castle, and use Burgess Park if it stops $£$£^% raining. I'll send directions to those of you I know are coming.

If you are coming, please post in a comment below what food you will bring, so we can coordinate and not bring too much rice/couscous/humus ;)

I have suggested facilitators (in brackets) for each item - please feedback if you want to do this, or something else?

see some of you on Saturday,
xKathryn

Using our skills and experience: building good workshops
aim to explore and develop our skills as facilitators of active non-violence workshops through peer teaching (sharing, mentoring and being mentored).
agenda
- gathering (any)
- homework groups/discussion (any)
- our facilitation styles (indiv, in pairs) (De)
- facilitation tools - go rounds, small groups, jig saw, puzzles, different coloured thinking hats, world cafe etc (sharing/discussion) (De)
- crumple buttons (what to do when things go wrong) (H)
- building good workshops, including what makes a good agenda? (building a model from group brainstorm) (K)
- reviewing the TTT course to date including feedback from TTT mid term evaluation (C)
- how will we facilitate later sessions? (C)
- evaluation (any)
- closing (any)

Attending: Carl, Zaria, Denise, Diana, Kathryn, Rachel
Maybe: Helen G, Frances
Not attending: Mary Lou, Helen D, Hannah, Jenny

C olombian Peace Community leader murdered - please act

On 13 July, Dairo Torres, a leader of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community in Colombia was taken from a bus by two armed members of an army-backed paramilitary group. The next bus along that rounte discoved his body by the road; he had been shot.

Dario Torres's murder is but the most recent of 160 murders of members of this Peace Community since its establishment ten years ago: people who have chosen not to align with any army actors in Colombia's messy wars. You may remember the film about this community, Until the Last Stone, that showed the fear and the basic poverty in which these people live. Agreeing to be a leader looks like a suicide bid.

The San José de Apartadó Peace Community is accompanied by PBI in Colombia. As a result of this murder PBI has issued an urgent activation of its support network; a step PBI only takes when things are really serious.

More information about Dario Torres, his community and the background to this case can be found on Amnesty's website.

Please write to your MP and request that the British Government asks the Colombian Government to
- give guarantees that these acts of persecution against the Peace Community will cease
- quickly investigate the facts of this case, including the role of the police in the assassination of Dairo Torres
- take immediate measures to ensure and effectively stop impunity for the crimes committed against the Peace Community, impunity that opens the way for repetition of such crimes.

Sat 4 August - the group's workshop

Since we do not have a workshop scheduled for Sat 4 August, at the July session we agreed that the year group could use this as an opportunity to reflect on the series so far, our own skills and experience as facilitators, and the input we might like to have in future sessions. Kathryn, Carl and Rachel offered to coordinate the workshop, so here is a tentative plan.

aim: to explore and develop our skills as facilitators of active non-violence workshops through peer teaching (sharing, mentoring and being mentored).

tentative agenda
gathering

homework groups/discussion

our facilitation styles (indiv, in pairs)

facilitation tools - go rounds, small groups, jig saw, puzzles, different coloured thinking hats, world cafe etc (sharing/discussion)

crumple buttons (what to do when things go wrong)

building good workshops, including what makes a good agenda? (building a model from group brainstorm)

reviewing the TTT course to date including feedback from TTT mid term evaluation

what to do in the future with TTT?

evaluation

closing

Attending: Carl, Zaria, Denise (?), Helen G, Kathryn, Rachel
Not attending: Mary Lou, Helen D
Venue: still to be decided (depends in part on numbers)

We really need feedback, particularly on whether you can a) attend b) facilitate any of it and c) what you would bring for lunch (so we don't have lots of pots of humous). If you are member of the TTT year group, could you comment on this post, or email Kathryn, with your responses to a) (even if you are not coming), b) and c), as well as any other comments have. Thanks!

crime pays.. does violence?

There was an article in last Sunday's Observer about a painting forger who had spent 4 months in prison, and now continues to forge paintings but is quite open about it. He gets up to £75,000 for his fakes and has had an order from the leader of the jury that sent it down. Clearly he is doing very well out of the publicityof his trial. (Notably his accomplice still denies involvement and is still in prison 6 years on).

It reminded me of the debate about violence, and whether it is needed as the last resort. Would South Africa have escaped apartheid if it had been an entirely non-violent campaign?

Clearly it's simplistic to say 'crime pays'; I guess usually it doesn't (though this kind of crime, which is not hurting anyone physically, and is stealing property rights but not property itself, raises interesting questions). And the same with violence. But the nagging question remains - can we change everything with non-violence?

Reflection for activists

A reflective practice, offered to the group as homework during the July session, is based on the Examen or Examination of Consciousness. It is a technique that encourages us to reflect on where we find energy for what we do as well as where the challenges come from...to step back and observe these in a non-judgemental way....to sit with our experience and see what emerges. It is not about thinking through or analysing our experience but about feeling and letting that experience speak to us.

Often people use it in the evening to reflect back over the day. I suggest we use it to reflect back over our time as activists, focusing on these 2 questions:

1. What has been energising and given you life during your activism?
2. What has been draining and taken life away during your activism?

I encourage you to try it out at least once. It is a practice and I've found that I get more from it the more regularly I do it so you may want to give it a few goes!

How to do it (a suggestion!)
Set 10 - 15 minutes aside for this....
Find a relaxing space and get comfortable.
Close your eyes or find something to focus on.
Be still. Become aware of your breathing.
Cast your mind back over your time as an activist.

And, when you're ready, bring the first question to mind, spend some time with it....
....and then move on to the 2nd question.

You may want to mark the end of the reflection in some way...reading or saying an inspiring quotation, with a prayer, a number of deep breaths....

Spend 5 minutes (of the 10-15 minutes) writing down anything that came to you.

Support
If anyone has any questions about this, is finding it difficult or that it doesn't work for them I'm happy to answer questions or offer other suggestions.

Chocolala -- new fair trade (and Quaker) chocolate

When Helen did her presentation on fair trade it reminded me of some chocolates I had at a meeting a couple of weeks ago. Chocolala is a new fair trade chocolate company. They are a bit pricey, but they are good. A nifty present for someone special (... or yourself :-)

spirituality and our activism

I was talking to friends last night (over a damn fine veggie lasagne in Kennington's The Dog House; recommended) about our workshop, and the things we could have covered. That then occupied me in insonmnia at 3am. So I'll share them.

My friends agreed that it would be fascinating to think about why we do what we do - at the very least, why do we give up one Saturday a month to attend these workshops? Why do we want to bring about change (without being paid for it)? So many people don't; why do we?

Related, but maybe not the same - what are our values? Can we map or somehow visualise them? Do we do this ourselves? (I know I don't) Why/why not? Does that matter? (Then, and for me only then, we could look at what supports us in living out those values).

Grasp the scary language: what does spirituality mean to us - both in terms of a definition of the language, and how do we relate to it? Why are some of us turned off by the language, and why or how does it support others? How can we communicate better using or not using that language?

Do we each believe there is something bigger than us? (How) does that affect our activism? Does that affect who we are activ(ist) with?

What do you think?

is your mobile fuelling war in the Congo?

My colleague Jonathan recently surprised me by explaining that he doesn't have a mobile phone as a matter of principle, because the trade in coltan - an essential mineral for manufacturing mobile phones - is propping up the rebels in the DRC.



While most of the world's coltan comes from legitimate mining in Australia, Brazil and Canada, a worrying amount passes through warring hands,and there is little way of knowing which is which. This report from 2001 explains how money and wars are made through our calls:

Given the substantial increase in the price of coltan between late 1999 and late 2000, a period during which the world supply was decreasing while the demand was increasing, a kilo of coltan of average grade was estimated at $200. According to the estimates of professionals, the Rwandan army through Rwanda Metals was exporting at least 100 tons per month. The Panel estimates that the Rwandan army could have made $20 million per month, simply by selling the coltan that, on average, intermediaries buy from the small dealers at about $10 per kg. According to experts and dealers, at the highest estimates of all related costs (purchase and transport of the minerals), RPA must have made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months. This is substantial enough to finance the war. Here lies the vicious circle of the war. Coltan has permitted the Rwandan army to sustain its presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The army has provided protection and security to the individuals and companies extracting the mineral. These have made money which is shared with the army, which in turn continues to provide the enabling environment to continue the exploitation.

And more information on guns, money and cells phones is avaliable if this has got you worried.