Bev, Susan, Woden, everyone else (even lurkers),

Thanks for an exciting couple hours. The cat just left. How did he know the party is over?

Oh, I remembered where I was heading before the cat blitzed me.
Gene Sharp with the Albert Einstein Institute has a 2-page list of 198 methods of nonviolent direct action. Pick something that resonates with you. We don’t all have to be getting pepper-sprayed or jailed — at least not all of us, all of the time!

I’ve yet to get a stamped dollar in change… but will celebrate when I do! Good on you.

I’m sure of it. I usually start researching with Yes! Magazine, which covers a wide variety of issues and offers practical solutions. It’s all online. http://www.yesmagazine.org

The amazing part (for me) was realizing that once you get past the shouting, people share a very core group of values that we share by virtue of being human. The national politics and media (controlled by corporations) would like us to be polarized (divide and conquer). But it’s really amazing how much we agree on, rather than disagree about. Like disagreeing is the visible tip of the iceberg but underneath is this mass of compassion that binds us together. Once we tap into this wellspring of compassion, anything is possible. We are the change we believe in.

Yes, MoveToAmend.org (which I co-founded) is a grassroots coalition basically doing “kitchen table democracy” — we’re about amending the U.S. Constitution: corporations are not persons, money is not speech. In two short years, MTA is active now in over 30 states. We can’t do democracy by proxy. It’s not about sending money to national beltway or other organizations. It’s about doing the work ourselves.

And the cat woke up and knocked me completely out of Book Salon! SOrry for delayed response…

Hah! You lurkers… we’re in the midst of a revolution (defined as fundamental systemic change). Check out George Lakey’s http://www.historyisaweapon.com (org?) Strategizing for a Living Revolution. There are five phases, overlapping, of change: cultural preparation (all the current crises), organization-building (hey, let’s use what works — deep/slow democracy), confrontation (nonviolent is more successful), massive political and economic noncooperation (happening as people take back local control), and building parallel or in this case new institutions (Slow democracy is NOT the fake democracy in name only espoused by federal leaders). Stop lurking. Join the revolution.

yes, the change at schools and in communities is rapid and mind-blowing. Let’s talk after this b/c I could put a word in for your book at places I’ve taught. Especially colleges/universities. As far as the skill-set, I mean even fifth graders are learning about conflict resolution (I don’t teach below that yet). Marshall Rosenberg has some competition from 11-and 12- year olds!

Add to reply to you but also to Susan and Woden who emphasize that it’s really all about PROCESS. If you get the diversity and good facilitators (who can come up from the school of hard knocks), magic happens. I’ve learned in racially polarized situations to engage group leaders who come from the oppressed side b/c they understand and have learned to listen. Slow Democracy uses examples of one right, one left, one neutral and that works too b/c it shows by example. The trick is to open people’s minds to LISTEN to each other. A very clever trick (I’ve employed) is to teach a class of high school students to facilitate, then have them lead a community event (for school credit) b/c guess what? Adults are better behaved in front of children…

The kids are doing hands-on democracy, too. When I was teaching Rethinking Democracy at the Santa Barbara high school this January, a Santa Barbara class of SIXTH graders made NPR for getting the SB CIty Council to pass an ordinance about eliminating plastic bags. The class was inspired to action after watching Bag It. For other very inspiring examples of youth kicking butt, check out: Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative and the Brower Youth Awards. I use these 4 minute clips to teach high school students about analyzing action plans and from there, we go to building their own action plan to make their school or community “healthier” as in more sustainable or more democratic. The youth today ROCK. Do you know that 17-year old Alec Loorz sued the U.S. government over its climate policies b/c they are not safe for his generation?

Actually, I liked what you and Susan wrote about democracy: all the people don’t have to do it all the time or even some of the time, but some people need to be doing it all of the time. Or something like that. The cat is now asleep on top of Slow Democracy so I can’t find that dog-eared page…

Actually, not to dash any egos, but the CAT kept messing with my hands and I misfired on keys.
C-:

I spoke with some child psychologists because I noticed today’s youth was different. I learned the millennium generation is about collaboration and peace-making… much different than my Boomer generation of in-your-face fisticuffs. The millennium youth are networkers and they’ve got the technology to do it. Each generation is different. I don’t know if the next one has been characterized yet. Millennium youth are ripe for slow democracy.

finally… Ordinary people engaging in community dialogue is inspiring others. We don’t need to look outside ourselves for leadership. It’s about finding the courage, patience, and trust to engage. I’ve been teaching this for 4 years and am about done with a manual, Organizing for Change, so people can guide themselves through the process. Also check out the Value-based community organizing guide at http://www.ultimatecivics.org. You’ll notice it’s mostly about pitfalls to avoid for one simple exercise. As Slow Democracy points out, it’s important to get the process right first and the outcome will take care of itself. You need to have meetings with people of diverse opinions because solutions that meet everyone’s needs will be reflected in and supported by the larger community. But certainly have a plan to FACILITATE the first few meetings until trust in the process builds enough to overcome the antagonism.

again…

whoops wrong reply. I was going for Dw.

Since fall 2008, I’ve literally been on the road over 300 days a year. When I started out, my audiences were about 2/3s academic and 1/3 community with most of the latter participants snowy-white hair Elders. That has completely reversed in four years. In addition, the community events are attended by three generations with more and more youth. VERY exciting. Everyone is hungry for tools to engage. I’ve found that by just teaching–basically what Susan and Woden write about–in practical interactive ways, people are able to design campaigns within the timeframe of the workshop (10 hours split into 1.5 days).

fracking… an opportunity for organizing. So are other issues such as health care, multiple wars over dwindling resources, crashed economies, bailing out the big guys instead of the small people, the school to prison pipeline, tar sands, the climate crisis. There’s no end of opportunity right now and the thing is: all these crises share the same root cause: we don’t have a functioning democracy at the national level and the states are loosing it, too. All this organizing around rights is actually ILLEGAL under federal laws, but federal laws that do not recognize human sovereignty over corporate power are illegitimate and need to be defied, which is what is happening across the country as local citizenry becomes empowered and communities pass rights-based laws.

The jury system is just one example. Engaging with other people in meaningful dialogue is very empowering. It’s really something you have to try to believe and believe in. Since fall 2008, I’ve mostly been traveling the country teaching people in communities, campuses, and more recently, Occupy camps, about what I called “deep democracy,” but what Susan and Woden call slow democracy. The results are heartening. It’s like putting sparks into dry tinder. People get it and take off organizing on local issues. I realized that if adults have forgotten how to do democracy, then it’s something we’re not teaching our children either. So I designed a course, Rethinking Democracy, posted on http://www.ultimatecivics.org. This is really about movement building and it’s easier to see progress when visiting many places around the country. Things are shifting towards recognition that our way of living must build and nurture all forms of wealth– social, environmental, and economic. Will the shift happen in time to pass some form of livable planet onto the next generation? I can only hope so.

I think our society is sort of like the Titanic, sinking. There are pockets of sanity — the band played on in the Titanic as the ship went down– but the cultural milieu has shifted to gross inequalities of finances (the 1 percent v. the rest of us). There’s another little book called The Spirit Level that clearly demonstrates that more equal societies are more healthy societies across a wide range of metrics. In a democracy there should be more equality.