Skills Share -- Street Acts

Seeds for Change and TTT will hold a day-long workshop Tuesday, 30 October for the TTT community. A trainer has been invited from Street Acts who will lead participants in exploring what we can learn from drama techniques to enliven role-plays and other activities in NV workshops, as well apply the techniques in the street.

The training will take place at Friends Meeting House 30 Oct from 10 to 5pm, please mark your calendar and let 'Sophie R' know if you plan on coming.

letter to Helen

Helen, your news hit us like a thunderbolt on Saturday morning.

You remained with us, in our thoughts and your presence and your devastating circumstances lending an atmosphere - for me - of intensity, of the reality of life, as we discussed empowerment with ourselves and with the people on the streets around Euston.

Grief is such a personal thing, our own and how others around us respond to it. But it is, or should be, a time when the community around us comes together. You have been such a giving, member of our Turning the Tide community: contributing, constructively challenging others but most of all challenging yourself over the past year. You have been a pleasure to work with.



We tried, I think, to hold you with us on Saturday, making no claim to understand how you must feel, but to keep you present in our thoughts and our struggles with all that is sore in the world.

If there is anything we can do to support you, provide a source for strength, let us know. I am aware of the danger of speaking for others, but for myself at least, I will keep holding you in my thoughts. Take good care of you, and I hope others are taking good care of you too.

SOMA - more training opps for activists

‘SOMA – an anarchist experiment’ group. It will run for 12 weeks every Monday evening, from 24th September to 10th December. The two introductory workshops are open for people interested to know more about SOMA, and also they will be a first ‘get together’ for participants of the group.


Introductory Workshops
Wednesday 12th September – 7 to 10 pm
Monday 17th September - 7 to 10 pm
(Suggested donation £10 full /£7 concession)

12 week group on Mondays, 7 to 10pm
From 24 September to 10 December
£120 / £80 Please contact us to indicate interest

The Boxing Club
Limehouse Town Hall
646 Commercial Road
LONDON
E14 7HA

SOMA is a series of sessions/experiences using body games to create a group dynamic, inspired by principles of self-organisation and solidarity. When Roberto Freire created ‘SOMA – an anarchist therapy’ in Brazil, more than thirty years ago, he was looking for therapeutic methodologies that could help people emotionally who were fighting against the military dictatorship. Changing therapy into experiment, we have turned the SOMA (which means ‘totality of being’ in Greek) approach away from an emphasis on neurosis (we have something wrong) towards the gaining of skills (we can learn something new).
This approach breaks the traditional rational way to develop skills, where the mind is split from the body, the individual removed from its surroundings. SOMA games are proposals to play in a group - sharing experiences of collaboration, trust and responsibility. It’s this group dynamic created by SOMA games that stimulate the whole being to engage with the world. After the games, the participants will feedback, talking about their perceptions and behaviour playing together.
The body is the material to work with: movement, perception and contact with each other to dare to be creative in everyday life. Play is a way to rediscover the body, just as collaboration helps to rediscover relationships.

FACILITATOR:
Jorge Goia has been a Soma practitioner since completing his training in 1993 with Roberto Freire, the Brazilian psychologist who created ‘Soma – an anarchist therapy’ in 1970s. He has coordinated Soma groups in many cities in Brazil during more than 10 years. Since March 2004, he’s been doing Soma in Europe (England, Scotland, Germany and Spain). Goia has a PhD in Social Psychology and he researched the changes that Soma and Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art used in some Soma exercises) can make to individuals and groups. With Capoeira, he has been working with special schools and young people with behavioural issues. He is also a Research Associate in the Brazilian and Portuguese Studies department at King’s College, University of London.

Info: 07758224334 (Goia) jorge.goia at bol.com.br
and 07947596589 (Arthur) arthur.swindells at gmail.com


For directions see http://twenteenthcentury.com/lth/#directions

map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=536720&y=181065&z=1&sv=536750,181250&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

Working on it ourselves (Oct & Dec TTT sessions)

Working on it ourselves (Oct & Dec TTT sessions)
Eleanor Roosevelt said 'It's not enough to want peace. You have to believe it in. And it's not enough to believe in peace. You have to work for it.'

Well the time has come for us Turning-the-Tiders to start doing our little bit of work IN THE WORKSHOPS for peace, (active) nonviolence, NVDA, campaigning, empowerment, the constructing the alternative, facilitation, and group-process.

As you know, the first part of the course has focused on content, and now we're switching gears and going to start working on the how to help other groups work on these topics: the facilitation and group-working skills bit of conducting trainings.

In August a group of us met to talk about any suggestions or recommendations we might have for how to organise these remaining sessions. The notes from this meeting have been circulated via email, and today I'm posting them here with the idea that the blog might provide a quicker and more easily accessible forum for us to discuss these ideas.

At the end of the Empowerment workshop 8 September, time has been made for us as a group to talk about how we'd like to collectively organise and facilitate the Oct (group-process) and Dec (facilitation and basic group skills) sessions. Since not everyone was able to come in August, this conversation will hopefully be more inclusive and an action-planning time.

This week Carl and I are going to work on a framework to suggest to the group about how we might facilitate Oct & Dec. We'll post these ideas ideas, and look forward to your comments and ideas, as well as your offers for more active involvement when we discuss this next Saturday. And so, welcome to September and see you next week. Notes are posted below.

Notes from 4 August

August small TTT group (AsTTTG) meeting

Who was there?

Carl, Denise, Kathryn (host, thank you), Luke and Zaria

What did we do?

It was decided to modify the proposed agenda and focus mostly on our learning, the design and delivery of the course to date. NOTE: this discarded agenda can be viewed in an earlier blog posting, scroll down to the end of July/beginning of August.

There were two 'sessions' (conversations really). Carl facilitated the first on evaluating the course so far – what have we learned about facilitation, NV practice and theory. Then we had a lovely lunch with very (!) fresh vegs and fruits in Kathryn's allotment across the street. In the afternoon session we discussed what we have liked or what has worked well over the past seven sessions.

The following are paraphrased chunks of comments recorded from participants from these conversations.

Conversation 1: Evaluation of the course thus far

Comment 1-1

I've learned a lot about NV, but I've been missing a lot of information about facilitation, or I've misunderstood what I'm suppose to be 'picking up' about facilitation just by watching. I don't feel at all ready to design or plan a workshop, let alone facilitate one.

Comment 1-2

I guess for me I went in curious, thinking I didn't know all that much about the subject matter (NV), but I've been surprised to learn that I know much more than I expected. What has been missing for me is well-modelled facilitation and discussion about facilitation choices – why did we did it that way? Or what else could we have done? I would say that I've been received training in the topic NV but not facilitation.

Comment 1-3

I don't feel that the facilitation has been that inspiring and that the facilitators have been constrained by their agendas. I think an agenda works best when you use it as a proposed route or a general plan minus the details, and you allow yourself to play with the group's outcomes and follow the way the group wants to go. Use the group to develop the agenda. We're a very interesting group with a wide range of experiences and skills, and that hasn't been tapped.

Looking over the facilitators' shoulders I've seen the agendas and they are planned down to the minute. And I don't know what that means. Does that level of planning come from a culture that says it's necessary, or is it uncertainty on the facilitators' part? What I would like are facilitators that respond to us – Fair enough, you say you want to do this, we can, but it means we won't do that. Is that what you want?

And I recognise there are conceptual differences. For me, feeding back on the homework is not facilitation, but I've talked to TTT about that, and in their way of thinking it is.

And one last thing, circumstances have been extraordinary, yes, but the course has suffered greatly because of the lack of continuity in facilitators. Continuity is important in a developmental course.

Comment 1-4

One thing I thought about the course was that I would be learning about different ways to protest, how to deal with the cops, relevant legal issues, that stuff.

Comment 1-5

I expected or hoped to find a community of like-minded people, and that has been fulfilled. The training for trainers aspect not so much. I expected engaging, inspiring, fresh, old material about NV and safe spaces to try out new ways of working with that material. The space has been safe (for me), yes, but overall I would say I've felt about 40% engaged with the material, I get more (grow) from other things I do (I think, maybe it's all just too close right now to tell), then from the Saturday trainings. Although watching the group has been very interesting and full of lessons, so I've no regrets. One thing that I also wondered about before the course was whether we would be applying what we were learning to organise an action or event or whatever the group came up with. No, we haven't, which seems like a sorely missed learning opportunity. We still of course can, but it might be an element to consider for future year-long courses.

Summary comments 1 (1-5)

I think what we're saying is that there is not great clarity about the programme on the part of the participants. We all have different expectations. One thing is – why is that? how come we are all found different messages about what the course would be?

Another thing is – what do we do about it? Or what could have been done from the beginning?

We could have talked about, what are your expectations? What are TTT's? Let's map them. Where do we overlap, where are the gaps, can we fill them, or what should be done?

Comment 1-6

The homework has been another greatly under-utilised resource of the course. Some of the readings have been interesting, one or two have grabbed me, but overall, not really. And I know there is good, inspiring stuff out there about NV, I read it. So the content is one thing, and then the attention or the way the homework has been treated as an after thought or a side dish seems unfair – here, do this reading to give context to the workshop, 5 minutes here, 5 there and let's move on to the agenda.

It elevates the agenda above the homework, where it all could be integrated, all of our contributions valued. It is especially a pity that the homework has not been used as a training tool to give people a chance to facilitate mini-exercises using the homework as a springboard. I agree with the previous comment that reflecting on homework is not facilitation, it's presentation.

Comment 1-7

Part of the discomfort that occurs is because the facilitators resist working with the conflict or the discomfort that arises. What can be done is to say – OK, what's going on right now is interesting, but I'm feeling uncertain about what to do. But what I think I'm hearing is ... So what do you want to do about it? ..... .... .... .... Done. OK, now, how do we all feel? Let's reflect on what we just did. What happened there?

The way conflict and discomfort has been generally dealt with is like going to do an action and when you get there, the police are already there, and you say to them 'Go away, you're not suppose to be here yet'.

Comment 1-8

In general I feel there is a hierarchy between the facilitators and us. And should it be that way if it's a training for trainers?

Comment 1-9

Facilitation is a bit like improvised music. You can only improvise if you know your scales. Facilitation requires adaptation and response to the environment. The facilitator is only there because the group has gathered and wants to accomplish something. The facilitator may have his/her own plan, but if that's not what the group wants to do, then the facilitator needs to adapt to the group.

The way it's been working is interesting – inside that room, we are a mini-representation of the outside world. The group is an issue and the facilitators have been playing the part of 'the system' (wanting to lead) and the group is saying, we don't want to be lead, let's work together.

Summary comments 1 (6-9)

So far what have we been saying? We've been talking about the art of facilitation and the theories and concepts behind NV. And what we're missing is

-- theory and concepts behind facilitation

-- opportunities to practice facilitation in small groups

-- reflection on the process of facilitation (which activities were chosen and why, how they went, what could have been done differently)

-- design, how to design workshops

-- common understanding of what training for trainers is

And then the group dynamics are interesting. People sometimes feel agitated and uncomfortable and there is a push-pull – I want to talk about this, and you don't.

And this system we're in. We're the core of a year-long group that gets together each month. We've changed, the system is changing, but perhaps more slowly, and certainly not willing or with ease.

And the language and the words we use to work through these issues. How do you do that so people don't feel alientated?

Comment 1-10

There needs to be a good deal of thought put into the next course, how it might be re-designed or completely re-done. Everyone's feedback should be included about the design and delivery of the course. How do I feel, you feel, TTT? What will service the needs of the organisation while still meeting the needs/expectations of participants, and how to maintain check-ins on that on-going process.

Comment 1-11

Yes, it seems like constant evaluation of a new (and if possible this one too) course like this should have been integrated into the design. Pen and paper evaluations at the end of each session, and time made for participants to fill them out. Or some kind of evaluation that is more thorough than just smiles and frowns. What we tend to do (not always, but generally) for evaluation is really more of a closing tool than a real evaluation tool.

Summary comments 1 (10-11)

One of the expectations of today was that we'd talk about how we'd like to facilitate the remaining sessions. But we have some gaps or doubts:

Is it realistic to think we have time to get it together to run September?

We need more information about the expected outputs of the remaining sessions.

Carl is not particularly interested in doing much facilitation as it's what he does professionally, and believes the practice opportunity could be better utilised by someone else. He's happy to playing a supporting role and be involved, but does not want to be a main facilitator.

Others present (with the exception of Luke) were indifferent in their responses – could do, but don't have to

Luke would be happy to try things out but would want support


Conversation 2: What we have liked, or what has worked well in the last 7 sessions

Comment 2-1

The films have been good, you have a fuzzy idea about history and events (like Leach was 'the man') but you're not really clear about how it all worked. And discussing the films is good because other people notice or know things that I don't.

Comment 2-2

I appreciate a lot of the sessions, but I want more on how to do NVDA and less on the context. That's just passive reception; I can find that out on my own. I want more on how, and less about why. More workshops like Matt and Alison's.

Comment 2-3

One of the points that interested me the most was when we talked about the wider ways social change happens – not just through NVDA – but how it all comes together and what sort of action is appropriate when. And why certain actions just will fail because the conditions are not yet ripe. That was very enlightening.


Comment 2-4

New words. I've learned words, like affinity group, non-cooperation, gathering 'I'd like to invite you to ..’

Comment 2-5

I've mostly valued the people. I missed one month and even though the next topic was not for me, I was very happy to go just to see people. And what is also interesting is hearing what other people say, I realise that I can take community for granted as I've got lots of little communities here and there.

Comment 2-6

Reflecting on the past conversation we just had and thinking about the bits and pieces that have been interesting, we've learned a bit about history of NV, power structures, campaign planning and all very good, fair enough, but I'm still unclear about what the outcomes of the programme will be. What will I be able to do once it's done?

Comment 2-7

I was the G8 in Scotland and I watched the protests, the police and I was bemused, annoyed, scared, energised. It was all very dramatic, but I didn't understand it. So in joining the course I thought I might better be able to and sometimes I think 'yes! I do' and then I think 'hold on, no I don't' ... 'or do I?' So working through all that has been interesting.

Comment 2-8

I've had this interest in NV for a while, but I've felt very alone with it. I've found the community and culture we're creating in the course very comforting. And have only felt that two times before, both in rather unique environments, one a monastery and the other in Israel.

I also have liked the videos; the videos have helped me to see the many varied creative ways of NV. NV is a very broad topic and the specific cases have helped me to know better that I need to focus myself. The images or stories told in the videos are so rare, people just don't know about that. They are very good; they take an abstract concept like NV and make it very real.

I can see now that I need to link NV to something that I already care about. I guess I need to volunteer or find opportunities to see or do myself the application of these tools.

Comment 2-9

We've had good lunches and proven chaos theory correct – even without a plan, not everyone will bring hummus!

Comment 2-10

The blog has been good thing, but it's been kept alive by a core group of us. We should think about ways to broaden the circle of users in the future.

Comment 2-11

I like the group represents such a diverse range of interests but we're all connected by valuing NV.

Comment 2-12

I like the re-confirmation that I've got about the notion of everything you do accumulates towards the ends. You may not see the immediate outcome of X action, but it does all build up and contribute towards something larger.

Action suggstion from a follow-up email, Carl suggests this:

Denise

Thanks for the notes. I've read them and thought it might be good to agree a summary.

My understanding is that we have appreciated the range of topics, butbelieve that the programme should more explicitly cover the 'how to' of facilitation, using the various perspectives we came up with.
As to actions - I'm happy to provide support to whoever delivers the programme later in the year, but if no one is willing than I'm also happy to deliver the group process and facilitation sessions (Oct and Dec), as long as I understand what Steve and Mathew will cover in Nov.

Carl
Question from DD:

How does the wider group – all of you, not just the handful of us who were there, feel about Carl’s suggested summary and action points?

Chalk 4 Peace

Hey hey hey hey,

Chalk chalk chalk chalk

4

peace peace peace peace

Are we going to let August go by without a post? Chalk 4 Peace is something that has caught my eye. What do you think?

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.

guerrilla lighting

I came across this today, a bit bizarre but made me think of us nonetheless! Did anyone see it?

Guerrilla Lighting Comes to London
Demonstrating the power of good lighting



One dictionary definition of guerrilla is an unofficial independent army of partisan soldiers, and, following the success of Guerrilla Lighting Manchester it will be a 100+ strong army that descend on London on the 15th February. The concept of Guerrilla Lighting was created by Martin Lupton, director of BDP Lighting, for the purpose of raising awareness of the power of lighting. Under the guidance of a team leader, each member will take part in creating transient lighting designs by using high powered torches, battery powered LED projectors, luminous dot lights and an array of gels and filters. Instructed to be in a specific position and at a given distance from their target, the teams will simultaneously light up various aspects of the Pool of London's architecture on cue at the sound of an air horn, creating a dramatic spectacle. The installation will be photographed, the lighting turned off and then the team move on to the next site. The teams will be made up of local lighting designers, architects, interior designers and manufacturers, all of whom are keen to draw attention to the possibilities, and importance of, lighting in the urban environment. The event will take place as part of 'Switched ON London', London's first festival of light. www.guerrillalighting.net

www.switchedonlondon.com

Inspiring Book

Something that inspired me this month, and an action I have taken which I hope will inspire others.
*Having offered to prepare something for the July session, I have decided to play my Joker on this item. Since this piece is too long to be read in the session, I'd like if I may to publish the whole text here, as a context for a short and hopefully useful activity in the session.

Helen Dymond

There was a book in the good old 1960's or was it the 70's, a hip guide to American students swanning around in their gap year, called 'Europe on Five Dollars a Day'. Five dollars a day? WOW! How could such thrift be attained? It was clever, inflation-busting, quaintly alternative. A new book, '50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade' by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley (Pluto Press, www.plutobooks.com) tells me that half a century later in 2007, "throughout the developing world people are working in poor countries for less than a dollar a day to make goods such as clothes and toys for the Western world."

They are forced into it by the rock bottom prices agreed by the world agriculture markets for the kind of crops their climates and soils will allow them to grow. With the international coffee agreement's collapse in 1989, for many farmers prices fellow below the cost of production. The impact on societies has been and continues to be disastrous: "social unrest, robberies, suicides, debt, children withdrawn from school by their parents; in Colombia and Haiti growers turning in desperation to illegal drugs cultivation. In Nicaragua, thousands of coffee workers held a 'March of the Hungry' to the capital in mid-2003, during which fourteen of the marchers are said to have died, during the march, of starvation. " Equally devestating in its effects, the world banana market worth £5 billion is dominated by a cartel consisting of a mere five companies.

But '50 Reasons' does't set out to scold; it invites us to celebrate the burgeoning of the Fair Trade movement, to join a damn good party that is going on and is here to stay It's this positive energy that makes the book inspiring; and incidentally it cleared up my puzzlement as to why I had not enjoyed Starhawk's 'Webs of Power' as much I had expected to: Starhawk seemed so much preoccupied with Our Action, Our Vision, Our struggle - whereas this book is all about Them. It is meticulously researched and packed full of useful information about what Fair Trade is, how it helps producers to a fair and stable income, where to find FT products; but perhaps its greatest achievement is that it gives a small cast of farmers a published voice, lets them speak for themselves.

It provides just the global context we need to make sense of what is happening in our own locality, and has prompted me to conduct a small, totally unscientific survey of my two local superstores; Sainsbury's at Ladbroke Grove and at Willesden, to explore Sainbsury's claim that it supports Fair Trade. I also wanted to answer some more uncomfortable questions closer to home: why don't I, the barely-reconstructed housewife, buy more than a few FT products? Is it because of my ignorance of the range on offer? A suspicion that they will be more expensive than non-FT? Or it is due to lack of visibility, a failed opportunity to highlight the products like the sweets which are always in your face at the checkout counter? (I am told Sainsbury's recently had a 'Fair Trade Fortnight' , but none of my neighbours seem to have noticed it).

Not that I am advocating supermarket shopping, given the environmental impact of import air-miles, excess packaging and general swamping of small producers. But the plain fact is that the vast majority of shoppers patronise supermarkets, so there should be some attempt to understand what is going on there. Paradoxically a much wider range of FT can be found there than in the average small retailer, and those who already patronise FT- specialist shops/farmers'markets need no conversion. Having obtained printouts of what FT goods are offered in these two stores, I made some comparisons between them, checked prices against the Online Shopping list and came up with some suirprising findings, of which I give just a sample here.

'50 Reasons' tells me that there are now over 2,000 FT certified products on the market, but Sainsbury's Online Shopping lists only 68 - so the first question is, why so few? And apart from cleaning cloths at Willesden, none of the non-food items are listed. There seems no consistent Buying policy either: Willesden carries only 27 items, of which 13 are not listed at Ladbroke Grove, while Ladborke Grove carries 30, of which 18 are not available at Willesden. This seems fairly chaotic, but the most glaring omission is that, having been assured by the Customer Care Service that "all Sainsbury's bananas are Fair Trade", FT bananas are not listed at all at Ladbroke Grove! I have informed Head Office of this fact and the person I spoke to sounded genuinely shocked.

The majority of products are beverages, coffees, teas and wines. At Ladbroke Grove fresh fruit FT products are grapes, pineapples and mangoes, whereas Willesden, a store with a significantly smaller clientele, manages to sell all those plus oranges and bananas. Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's, a significant shopping mecca in this part of London boasting a bus terminus, and the Congestion Charge Extension Zone was shifted, after huge local protests, a few metres south of the Harrow Road so as to exclude the store, has a Coffee Shop which sells FT chocolate muffins and chocolate brownies - so why aren't these available on the shelves?

Thebiggest surprise are the prices. There is a perception that FT goods are likely to be more expensive, as organic products are, although the big stores can afford to and sometimes do subsidise them. Many FT items turn out to be the same, or cheaper than, non-FT. Fairtrade Teabags 250g cost £1.19, whereas Sainbsury's Green Blend Teabags 250g cost £1.95; Billington's Golden Granulated Sugar 500g sell for 89p, Tate & Lyle Granulated for a whopping £3.85; a pack of 5 Sainbsury's FT oranges are £1.59, while a pack of 5 non-FT oranges are £1.75.

What to do with these admittedly random statistics? I plan to send a report to Sainsbury's outlining my findings and suggesting that the Buying Policy is reviewed and hopefully improved. The range of goods offered could be greatly extended, and promoted as not only socially responsible but better value. And I have a plan to do a small promotion of my own: namely, I am thinking of a pre-Christmas social gathering of our Neighbourhood Watch Group to which everyone will be invited to bring only FT consumables - a sort of Pudding Party with bevvies, chocolate mousse and exotic fruit salad, nuts for those that can eat them, freshly baked biscuits etc. and some small inexpensive Ft gifts for Santa's Sack and prizes for games. It's a small step, as social movements go, but a first, I am resonably sure, in this neck of the woods.