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The 9th Open Space Dialogue to build an Irish Social Forum - Thurs 15th May

category national | public consultation / irish social forum | news report author Wednesday May 14, 2003 20:47author by 4wolfatad Report this post to the editors

Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre, Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8, from 7.30 to 9.30 pm.

Brief Summary: We will be having a one day ISF planing event on Sat. May 24th 2003, we will officially launch the ISF on Sat. June 21st 2003, we will be having an ISF around the time of the World Economic Forum competitiveness summit in October and another ISF sometime during the Irish presidency of the EU in 2004. Please see the invite letter and minutes of previous dialogues on our website www.IrishSocialForum.org Please see the end of these minutes for weblinks to more World, European and Irish Social Forum info.

next dialogue: The 9th Open Space Dialogue Meeting For Irish Civil Society
To Build Irish Social Forum will take place on : Thursday 15th May 2003
(sorry for short notice) at The Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre, Essex
Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8, from 7.30 to 9.30 pm. [ After crossing the
Capel Street bridge from north to south, Essex St. West is the first right
off Parliament St., walk along there and its on your right hand side, with
big plate glass windows opposite a bakery and the shop Does Not Compute.

Below are the minutes of the last dialogue meeting and the date, time and
place for next. Since the last email was sent out yet more groups from different
sectors of civil society on the island of Ireland are expressing interest
in building the Irish Social Forum and coming along on the 24th. Please
find the ISF invite and planing letter on the website: www.IrishSocialForum.org

Brief Summary:
We will be having a one day ISF planing event on Sat. May 24th 2003, we
will officially launch the ISF on Sat. June 21st 2003, we will be having
an ISF around the time of the World Economic Forum competitiveness summit
in October and another ISF sometime during the Irish presidency of the EU
in 2004. Please see the invite letter and minutes of previous dialogues
on our website www.IrishSocialForum.org
Please see the end of these minutes for weblinks to more World, European
and Irish Social Forum info.

Latest news:
someone is organising a dialogue to look at setting up a Northwest Social
Forum, ( no more news than this) see:
contact: Gary Mc Clean at feiced@hotmail.com
Suggestions and comments are welcome at nwsocialforum@yahoo.co.uk
website: http://www.geocities.com/nwsocialforum/

all the best,
in solidarity,
Barry Finnegan
- interim convenor for the dialogue process for Irish civil society to build
an Irish Social Forum.
phone: 01-8741223 email: john.finnegan3@mail.dcu.ie
=========================


The following are the minutes of the 8th Open Space Dialogue Meeting for
Irish Civil Society to Build an Irish Social Forum which took place on May
8th 2003 at The Cultivate Sustainable Living Centre, Essex Street, Temple
Bar, Dublin 8. Written by Barry Finnegan (first part) and Laurence Cox
(second part). contact: www.IrishSocialForum.org; 01-8741223;
john.finnegan3@mail.dcu.ie

In attendance:
Jean Somers - Debt and Development Coalition
Mary Kinane - Comhlámh Trade Group; and Globalise Resistance
Paul Butler - Nexus Research
John Meehan - personal capacity
Geoff Corcoran - personal capacity
Christian Volkmann - Friends of the Earth Ireland
Déirdre deBúrca - Green Party; and Feasta
Laurence Cox - Grassroots Gathering
Dirk Hûttermann - personal capacity
Rory Hearne - Socialist Workers Party; and Globalise Resistance
Donal MacFhearraigh - Socialist Workers Party
Barry Finnegan - Attac

As usual we went around in a circle and said who we were and what groups,
if any, we were part of. We had Martin Giannini in, who has been trained
in the use of a dialogue technique know as Open Space Technique and has
facilitated meetings and trained different types NGO?s here in Ireland in
its use. (note: it is a coincidence that we have been calling our meetings
- Open Space Dialogues!).

So a very brief explanation of Open Space Technique: this method involves
participants writing down what they feel needs to be talked about and sticking
it on the wall and then whoever proposes the topic acts as convenor, or
facilitator of the dialogue on that topic. The group than gathers around
that topic while the other topics are being talked about in different parts
of the room, and talks the issue through, reaches a consensus, or not. The
groups then return to the wider group and reports on what they said and
or decided. Participants are free to move from discussion to discussion
and listen in and/or add to the discussion, so that you do not have to sit
through an issue that you may find boring or not as vital or interesting
as another topic. It also means that the agenda is set by the events
participants.


So Martin then filled us in with a bit more on how the process works. After
some moving items around on the wall and putting topics together we narrowed
it down to two basic topics. 1: getting in touch with more groups for the
May 24th ISF planning and information day; checking who has got in touch
so far; ideas on who will be the three or four speakers to kick the May
24th event off by giving their impressions of the World and European Social
Forums. 2: What is the Irish Social Forum? and how do we want to relate
to the World Social Forum Charter of Principles. [ please read these principles
available at:
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=4&cd_language=2
so as to get a greater understanding of what was being talked about and
particularly if you wish to talk about it at the May 24th event.]

Topic 1:
As a result of the speed with which people were saying who they had got
in touch with and whether they had got back to them, as well as ideas for
new groups to contact, I did not get precise categorisations. So the following
list has either being contacted and/or has said they will come to the 24th
and/or people at the meeting have taken responsibility for contacting them.
[for a more complete list please see the minutes of the last few dialogues
available at: www.IrishSocialForum.org ]
The Community Forums in each county
The Community Platform
Community Workers Co-Op
Dublin Trades Council
Culture (section ?) of SIPTU
Sisters of Mercy
The Jesuits
Action form Ireland (Afri)
NGO Peace Alliance
Peace and Neutrality Alliance
The Free University of Ireland
Community Arts For All (CAFE)
People With Disabilities
Anti-War Movement
Irish Nurses organisation
Dublin Bus workers
National Bus and Rail Union
Womens Environmental Network

We also said we would contact people from the following groups to see if
they would give a five minute presentation of their experiences at the World
and European Social Forum: William Thompson Weekend, Amnesty International,
Troicre, Comhlámh, Globalise Resistance, Socialist Workers Party. [To protect
the innocent (!) and in case they can not make it for one reason or another
I will not print their names.] If anyone out there would like to volunteer
- particularly if you were at the World Social Forum - please get in touch
at the contact above, and we can discuss it at the next two dialogues before
May 24th.]

Topic 2: Joint session on: What is the Irish Social Forum? and Charter of
Principles (minutes by Laurence Cox.)

Joint session on: What is the Irish Social Forum? and Charter of Principles

(about 8 participants - sorry, don't know everyone's name!) (I've got notes
from the brainstorming and from some of the points about the charter, and
am filling in the rest from memory - Laurence)

We decided to start by talking about the idea of a charter of principles
as a way of exploring what the ISF is.

The World Social Forum charter [please see:
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=4&cd_language=2
] includes points like the fact that it's a non-party-political organisation,
it's a space to create discussion, it doesn't have spokespeople (someone
else pointed out that the situation is currently changing), that it's open
to anyone (more exactly to delegates from groups), and (it was mentioned
later) various statements of values, some of which are very powerful.

The consensus within the ISF process has developed a bit differently so
far: it does include people from parties, it is open to individuals, and
members of groups are not representing those groups when they come to the
ISF.

We had a bit of discussion about what the ISF's values are / should be,
and decided to try to find out by brainstorming to see what we could all
agree on. Here are the answers (sorted a bit by theme to make it less
confusing!)

- We're a diverse movement; we respect each other's diversity
- We've a lot in common, but we also disagree with each other

- Co-operation not competition
- No to privatisation
- Worker's rights: fair wages, job security, the right to organise

- Support equal relations between North and South
- Social equality
- The right to get what you need to live
- The right to a decent standard of living

- We're against discrimination on the basis of gender, race, disability
etc.

- Protection of the environment
- No incineration
- Producers responsible for waste
- Food self-sufficiency

- Public services should be properly funded
- Right to adequate housing: fair rent, fixity of tenure, fair compensation
for improvements
- Free education
- Free healthcare

- Opposition to militarism

- Democracy: people having control over the decisions that matter to them
- Civil liberties: the right to protest, the right to privacy, the right
to discussion
- No compromise on basic human rights

- The right to party!
- The right to peace and quiet

We discussed what kind of thing should go in a charter:
should it be very general things, or very specific and radical things? One
view was that we should start from where people are at (eg the above process)
and be open to that changing as people think more about each other's issues
and get more politically involved. This might be one kind of thing that
could be explored on the open day, and / or on June 21st.

After this we turned to talk again about the aims of the Irish Social Forum.

A key theme which there was general agreement on was that it's about networking
between movements; it's about building the capacity of civil society; it
has links to outside / global forums.

There was more disagreement about a range of other issues which have been
discussed at previous meetings:

- should the Irish Social Forum get involved in national / local campaigns
and protests (eg during the WEF in October?) or should it leave this to
existing groups rather than adding another layer on top of everything that
activists are already doing?

- should it focus on providing information to newcomers about -the issues-
(website, speeches, literature etc.) or on building links between the campaigns
that already exist on the ground?

- should it be basically for existing activist organisations or should it
be open to people who don't want to be in any organisation / movement /
party?

We started discussing the two different orientations that come out in these
themes. One sees the ISF as a network of existing movements, groups, NGOs
etc. - it recognises that activists are already overburdened and doesn't
want to create yet another version of the same thing that they're already
doing, instead it wants to express their ideas and goals as part of building
a Movement of Movements like the anti-globalisation movement elsewhere.
This is more the WSF model.

The other sees the ISF as basically oriented to giving new people basic
information, simple activities to carry out (like marching), and sees it
mostly as a means of recruiting people to the anti-globalisation movement.
This is more the European Social Forum model.

We talked about how these two different orientations may have made sense
in the past, during -hard times- for activists in Ireland where on the one
hand whatever coalitions / networks / open spaces we set up we used to meet
the same people all the time, and on the other hand we did have to do a
lot of very basic informing and organising. (Someone mentioned how hard
it was to get
involved if you weren't already active under these circumstances.)

Right now we're moving away from the -usual suspects- to a situation where
lots of people are coming to meetings and events, not just the -old hands-.
At the same time a lot of those people are very well-informed and are already
capable of taking part in action on their own part.

There was a general sense that the way to go has to do with developing a
conversation between these different groups - the new activists and the
old ones - rather than setting up a situation where the -old hands- sit
on the platform and tell the -new ones- what to think and what to do.

And this will probably mean a mix of building networks between existing
organisations, movements, groups etc. *and* activities geared at informing
and mobilising people. The situation will also probably change over time.

We agreed that local Social Forums in the country were probably more likely
to be organising campaigns on their own bat than the Irish Social Forum
(because there's already so much going on at a national level).

And then time was up!
-Laurence


Report Back to the Wider Group:

It was agreed that we would (with a number of qualifications) use Open Space
Technique on May 24th because we like it and it seems to be fair and it
works. Qualifications:

1. It is not actually that new of an idea at all and lots of community and
non-hierarchical groups on the island currently use versions of the Technique
already.
2: We must make sure that that when we explain to people on the 24th how
it works, that we do this in a very down to earth practical way.
3. We will deviate from the precise technique on the 24th in that we will
have a traditional (brief) welcome at the start setting out what we have
done so far, why we all are here etc, probably from the interim convenor;
then follow this with three or four, five minute impressions of the World
and European Social Forums from people who were at them; and then go in
to open space technique mode.

4. Usually the technique does not involve report backs from the difference
discussion groups but we want to have report backs to the plenary because
people will be travelling back to the four corners of the island and need
to go away knowing they have accomplished something and because, well, we
think it is important to do this.

minutes end.
============

MINUTES, INVITE AND BEGINNING OF ISF:

Would you like to get involved in the process of building an Irish Social
Forum?
Invitation to join the open space process:
http://www.irishsocialforum.org/INVITATION.html
=============================
Minutes of the 5th Open Space dialogue meeting for Irish civil society to
build an Irish Social Forum which took place on the 21st March 2003:
http://www.irishsocialforum.org/minits/MINITS5.html
=============================
Minutes 3rd Open Space dialogue for Irish civil society to build Irish Social
Forum Sun, Feb 23 2003:
http://www.irishsocialforum.org/minits/MINITS3.html
=============================
Minutes 2nd Open Space meeting to discuss the idea of an Irish Social Forum,
Sat. Feb. 1st 2003:
http://www.irishsocialforum.org/minits/MINITS2.html
=============================
Minutes of 1st Open Space dialogue for Irish civil society to build Irish
Social Forum Sat. Dec. 21, 2002:
http://www.irishsocialforum.org/MINITS1.html
=============================
Call to First Open Space Dialogue for Irish civil society to build Irish
Social Forum for Sat. 21st December, 2002:
http://www.irishsocialforum.org/Call1.html
=============================


WORLD SOCIAL FORUM ORGANISING, PRINCIPLES AND CRITIQUES:

What the World Social Forum is
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=19&cd_language=2
=============================
World Social Forum Charter of Principles:
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.asp?id_menu=4&cd_language=2
=============================
Some evaluations (both positive and negative and both) of the World Social
Forum January 2003 and an overview of the whole programme:
http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/noticias_01.asp?cd_news=471
=============================

WEBSITE OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM:
http://www.2002.fse-esf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=1

=============================

Related Link: http://www.IrishSocialForum.org
author by curiouspublication date Fri May 16, 2003 16:27author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I know I may sound stupid and this is why I didn't write my name. But I don't understand what the social forum is or what it does. Could someone fill me in please, not too long an answer though.

 
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