Wise Democracy Victoria - Recently Updated Pages

Home

GeorgeRS — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:17:06 CDT

Wise Democracy Victoria

Exploring genuine democracy in Victoria, BC, Canada... and beyond

This site serves as a collaborative tool to help our group convene Wisdom Councils and to engage those interested in Wise Democracy in Victoria.
Group emails are archived on our Google group site.

NOTE: This site is growing, and there are lots of pages listed to the left under "Navigation" - just scroll up & down.

Wisdom Councils precipitate energy, enthusiasm and HOPE for the Future:
Past participants have indicated that the experience was transforming and energizing because they felt that their voices could actually make a difference!

Three Wisdom Councils have now been successfully convened in Victoria, including the first in Canada and one in the close-knit neighbourhood of Fernwood. In each case the Council members have prepared an amazing statement of community spirit!
Even though the council members did not know one another prior to meeting and came from a wide diversity of backgrounds and experiences, in each case they have prepared a powerful, unanimous statement.
#1 Statement of the First Canadian Wisdom Council
#2 Statement of the Second Victoria WC
#3 Statement of the Fernwood WC

RESOURCES AND VALUABLE LINKS:

Historical overview of Wisdom Councils in Victoria by Caspar Davis - Creative democracy: wisdom councils at work.
Detailed information on Wisdom Councils is available at the Center for Wise Democracy
Jim Rough has a series of videos available online to explore how we can facilitate whole-system change in very large systems.
Random Selection as a tool for democracy -- our group is becoming increasingly impressed with the value of random selection for genuine democracy.... key websites include: http://globalpublic.org/id1.html, Conall Doyle, and Ben Wilbrink

Draft Vision for Wise Democracy VictoriaOur vision is to help engender wise democracy locally and globally by:

continued experimentation with processes that enable high-quality dialogue, such as Wisdom Councils (empowering citizens),
working with communities to "grow" these processes from within (empowering communities)
communicating replicable models to communities everywhere (further empowering global civil society)

Any ideas on improving this vision??

PLEASE JOIN US ON OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS GENUINE DEMOCRACY by reading the statements and inviting others to take a look.
Do these statements resonate with you?

WC #1: First Victoria Wisdom Council --
Canadian History in the Making!

The First randomly selected Canadian Wisdom Council deliberated on March 30-31st, 2007 and reported to the public immediately afterward.View the Council's Statement Page.

The event created quite a stir in the Capital city of British Columbia. Our eldest member was 71 years and our youngest 17. Click here to read the following article from the Times Colonist newspaper. The youngest member is Simon Nattrass who took a run for Major of Victoria at age 19 in 2008!

In early March we mailed nearly 500 invitation letters to Victoria residents who were randomly selected from the phone book.

Out of those invited, 12 participants agreed to participate as members of the first Wisdom Council.

Jim Rough - Introductory Remarks, First Victoria Wisdom Council

Fernwood Wisdom Council Statement (Third for Victoria)

GeorgeRS — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:58:50 CDT

Statement of Fernwood Wisdom Council
March 28-29, 2008

We resolve to reduce our footprint and strengthen our handshake

As members of our community, we acknowledge the good work already being done and call for stronger connections within our community.

Thoughtfully United to Reweave, Nurture and Inspire People to Sustainability (TURNIPS)

Thoughtfully – mindfulness, free expression, comfort, acceptance, safety, respect for oneanother
United – committed to action, discovering common issues, universally applicable, inclusive
Reweave – community, connection, communication, liberating action, connecting existing resources (e.g., directory of what’s available in the community)
Nurture – education, compassion, ecology, boulevard/community gardens, health, taketime, feed your soul/spirit (e.g., peace, reflection, rest, time-out, holiday, quiet time)
Inspire – empowerment, courage, hand-up vs hand-out, celebration through art, music, dance and the spoken word
People – accountability, personal responsibility, inclusivity, reaching out
Sustainability – ecology, empowerment, education, preparation, protection, support, accountability, bridging the generations with knowledge-transfer, food security, lifelong engagement

Why the turnip? We used to eat fresh food grown close to home. Now we can eat food from across the world (starfruit in Inverness!).

But at what cost? Back to the future – turnips in winter!

We discussed the concept of preparedness and remembered the blizzard of ’96. What happened? People slowed down, began to interact… neighbours helped neighbours. We could hear the sounds of nature.

Strong communities help us to be prepared… for emergencies and for every day.
(In peaceful times we party, during emergencies we muster.)

Having shared our thoughts, concerns and insights – we asked ourselves “how do we proceed on a personal basis?” Some of us have committed to replacing our lawns with gardens, giving up our cars, restoring relationships, greeting people on the street, reaching out in other ways, etc.

We invite you to join us. How else do we work together to strengthen and enrich our community?

TEAM TURN-UP!

Second Victoria Wisdom Council Statement

GeorgeRS — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:56:46 CDT

June 23, 2007

The future is going to be more and more challenging if we don’t recognize the long-term implications of our actions today. We need to accept and embrace that society is rapidly changing because of developments in technology. We need to manage change so that we keep the positives of the past - our humanity, family and community connection – while recognizing and benefiting from the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls this change creates.

Things will change for the better if we can increase public participation in government decision-making, thus reversing the current trend of less participation and apathy. We aim to put our talk to action.

We want a government that is chosen by, accountable to, and representative of the people. A government that:

is elected by the people, accountable to its promises, and transparent;
enables all to have equal opportunity to benefit from our wealth and resources;
is easy for the individual to participate in, is accessible, where everyone has an equal voice and impact.

We can start to create this government locally, here in Victoria. Victoria can lead by example.

Locally: require city council to mandate more referenda to put important issues to the people;
Regionally: make the Capital Regional District (CRD) elected, transparent, and accountable;
Nationally: direct the Prime Minister to only appoint people to the Senate who have been elected by the people thereby creating a representative Senate.

A key issue for us is how to balance individual and collective rights and responsibilities.

Solutions need to be implemented on many levels, reflecting a holistic approach:

Enhancing opportunities for individuals to grow and develop into fulfilled members of our community. Increase public awareness of the opportunities so they are accessible to many.
The education system should awaken people to the opportunities that do exist and encourage them to define and achieve their goals, while reducing the barriers that keep people from doing that.
Recognizing that children learn by example from their parents, remove barriers and create support for parents to be the best role models they can be.
Ensure that government action does not weaken the family, instead it enhances and supports the family.
We agree in the principle that laws that limit individual freedom should be based on a transparent and demonstrable analysis of the cost/benefit to society. Costs and benefits need to include tangibles [dollars and scientific evidence] and intangibles [liberty, justice, and compassion].

What can YOU do to make this vision possible?

***

Continue the conversation! Please share this statement with family, friends and neighbours and discuss to see if it reflects your views. Please let us know if this statement reflects your views here.

Media Coverage

GeorgeRS — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:43:53 CST

A Wisdom Council Is ComingTo Fernwood

(This article appeared in the Fernwood News, February 2008)

After two successful Wisdom Councils in the City of Victoria, a
neighbourhood Wisdom Council is coming to Fernwood in March. On January 28, about thirty people participated in an information session and demonstration of the process at the Fernwood Inn. Participants were amazed at what they were able to accomplish in just half an hour.

A Wisdom Council is a powerful dialogue process involving a group of 10-
12 people who are randomly selected to represent a whole community. With the help of a specially trained Dynamic Facilitator, the Wisdom Council meets for an evening and a day to identify issues that are important to the community, discuss them in an open, respectful, and non-confrontational way, and present a statement to the community with a view to stimulating a wider dialogue.

The January 28 demonstration involved all of the 30 people who showed
up. After about 15 minutes of identifying issues, the group settled on the question, "What would make Fernwood a living example of a compassionate community?" They then spent another fifteen minutes generating ideas. As one participant put it, "Through the heartfelt thoughts and efforts of a growing group of people, the following ideas emerged as a way for this community to be a living example [of] what we hold dear."

The ideas included:

Increasing local economic justice
Creating better food security and having good, real food in the schools
Increasing dialogue in the community and encouraging
Addressing climate change
Encouraging affordable housing and creating housing co-ops
Using the website: http://fernwoodcommons.ca to capture ongoing dialogue

You can see the full list of ideas at http://fernwoodcommons.ca - follow
the links to "Fernwood Wisdom Council" and "Fernwood Demonstration Wisdom Council".

Participants were delighted at how much they had accomplished in just
over half an hour, with the help of Dynamic Facilitation. They had not only
produced a wealth of good ideas, they had also created a strong sense of
community and good will.

A full Wisdom Council will be held in Fernwood at the end of March 2008.
About 200 households will be sent letters offering a chance to be part of the Council.Watch your mail for an invitation to attend the selection meeting where 12 council members will be chosen by a further random draw.

We urge everyone to meet the Wisdom Council members and join the
discussion at the public meeting following the Council on Saturday, March 29 at the Fernwood Community Centre Gymnasium, 1240 Gladstone St.

For more information, seewww.wisedemocracyvictoria.com
- Caspar Davis, Dan Doherty and George Sranko

###

Articlein Fernwood Village Vibe, January 2008.

###

On July 5th, 2007, the Second Victoria Wisdom Council was featured in an Article in Peace, Earth and Justice (PEJ) News

Tapping Into Our Collective Wisdom

Victoria Wisdom Council - Can nine randomly chosen individuals agree on the issues we face today? Find out what the people of Victoria recently heard from the Second Wisdom Council…

Victoria, BC – Nine Victoria citizens were brought together recently to form Victoria’s second Wisdom Council. This is an innovative process whereby randomly selected individuals from the community are professionally facilitated to have frank, respectful, and heartfelt discussions on the issues that matter most to them. At the end of a day and a half, Council members presented their unanimous statement to the people of Victoria on June 23, 2007.

The Council’s statement and additional background reading is available online at www.WiseDemocracyVictoria.com.

A key issue for the Council was “…how to balance individual and collective rights and responsibilities.” According to the Wisdom Council, “The future is going to be more and more challenging if we don’t recognize the long-term implications of our actions today. We need to accept and embrace that society is rapidly changing because of developments in technology. We need to manage change so that we keep the positives of the past - our humanity, family and community connection – while recognizing and benefiting from the opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls this change creates.”

“Things will change for the better if we can increase public participation in government decision-making, thus reversing the current trend of less participation and apathy. We aim to put our talk to action.”

“We want a government that is chosen by, accountable to, and representative of the people.”

The statement provides several concrete solutions, including:

Locally: require city council to mandate more referenda to put important issues to the people;
Regionally: make the Capitol Regional District (CRD) elected, transparent, and accountable;
Nationally: direct the Prime Minister to only appoint people to the Senate who have been elected by the people thereby creating a representative Senate.

After Council members presented their statement at a community forum, members of the public were invited to sit with the Councillors to discuss the statement. The ensuing discussions were lively and animated! It became evident that engaging in democracy can be fun and energizing. We all realize that many of the issues we face as a society seem insurmountable. Many citizens live in dismay that our current democratic processes aren’t capable of creating sufficiently creative and effective solutions on a scale that the problems demand.

More than ever we urgently need to develop practical approaches to tapping into our collective wisdom in creating and implementing the solutions that we know are available to us. More and more people are now convinced that we cannot continue to hope for “chosen ones” who will lead us to the Promised Land.

Wisdom Councils are convened to provide a voice for the people – the ultimate authority in a democracy. We, the citizens of Victoria, of British Columbia, of Canada… and of the world are ultimately responsible for our own future, and for that of our children.

The strength of the process is reflected in the fact that nine people from diverse backgrounds can come together and achieve common ground on some of the really big issues that face our society today. Video clips showing the wisdom councillors making their presentation to fellow-Victorians and answering questions is available online at www.WiseDemocracyVictoria.wetpaint.com.

Innovative aspects of the process don’t end with the actual Council… the Wisdom Council’s statement and process is also creating a buzz on the Internet. Along with the statement being available online, and video clips of the Council members in action, the Forum Foundation has also prepared an Opinionnaire® or online survey to gather input from citizens everywhere on their views of the statement (see http://opn.forumfoundation.org/keylogin.php?key=iackaytech).

Wise Democracy Victoria, a volunteer, non-profit, and non-partisan group of local citizens, convenes the Victoria Wisdom Councils, with seed funding provided by the Victoria Branch of the World Federalists.

George Sranko
Wise Democracy Victoria

Dunc Malcolm/News staff

Wise Democracy Victoria members Anke van Leeuwen and George Sranko mail 350 invitations to randomly selected Victoria residents, seeking their participation in the wisdom council, a grassroots group aimed at improving democratic government.

Wise Democracy Victoria plans new
“wisdom council” event
By Thomas Winterhoff
News staff
May 18 2007

A Greater Victoria organization called Wise Democracy Victoria had such a positive experience when it hosted its first “wisdom council” back in March that it’s decided to do it again in June.
The group believes that more government policies should originate at the grassroots level with ordinary citizens, not just from politicians or special-interest groups.
Wise Democracy spokesperson George Sranko says it’s vital for voters to get more involved in the democratic process by taking their concerns directly to elected officials. Sranko said the region’s first wisdom council in March was an important step in advancing that goal.
“It was very exciting to have so many people, randomly selected, come together and reach a shared agreement on the really critical issues,” he said. “That was a very positive experience.”
The wisdom council concept was developed by Jim Rough in Port Townsend, Washington. Several hundred residents of a particular area are selected at random from the phone book and invited to comment on issues they feel are important to their communities. Of those who respond, 12 people are selected to discuss their concerns and compile a written summary of their deliberations. The members of the wisdom council will then host a public meeting to talk about those issues with their neighbours.
The goal isn’t to replace traditional political institutions, said Sranko, but to work alongside them. He noted that participants from the first wisdom council believed they were “making a difference” through that process.
About 350 invitations to Wise Democracy Victoria’s second wisdom council were mailed out on Tuesday afternoon to randomly selected residents of Greater Victoria. A dozen people will be chosen from that group at a June 8 information session to form the new council and will meet June 22-23. The public session – which anyone may attend – is scheduled for June 23 at the Fairfield Activity Centre (380 Cook St.), starting at 7 p.m.
For more information about Wise Democracy Victoria or to read its report on the first wisdom council, check the website at www.wisedemocracyvictoria.com.
twinterhoff@vicnews.com

© Copyright 2007 Oak Bay News

Times Colonist Published: Friday, May 18, 2007

Organizers of a grassroots democracy movement called Wise Democracy have mailed invitations to 350 people randomly invited to join the second wisdom council.
The council is modelled on the notion that randomly selected people, not politicians or bureaucrats or others with vested interests, would provide better governance.
Organizer George Sranko said people getting the invitation are invited to an information meeting on June 8 where the names of eight to 12 people in attendance will be drawn to sit on the council. Random selection is a key aspect of wisdom councils, starting with random selection of whom to invite.
The council will meet June 22-23 at the Fairfield Activity Centre, 380 Cook St.
On the web: wisedemocracyvictoria.com

Times Colonist ,

Thursday, April 05, 2007
By Carolyn Heiman

Grassroots democracy takes wing

When first hearing about the Wisdom Council project, it seemed naive, idealistic, even a bit loopy. Organizers picked names from the telephone book and had 12 of them decide what the most important issue is. Then everyone went home. Canada’s first Wisdom Council was done.

The question that comes to mind is: What’s the point of this?

But 12 who met for the first and last time last weekend didn’t ask that question at all. At the end of discussion around hundreds of local, national and international issues, it sounded as if they were changing the world.

They were nothing short of passionate about the process. It gave them a voice when they felt they had none. One member called the experience the “most powerful” he had ever had. Simon Nattrass was among the 12 who didn’t toss out his invitation to the council along with pizza brochures coming through his mailbox. He was initially pessimistic, but his interest in politics led the articulate 17year-old to agree to join. He was the youngest by far; and his piercings, army boots and high school dropout status made him stand out among the group mostly in the 45-plus demographic. Saying little at the start, by the end he joined with 71-year old Gillian Sanderson to read the council’s final statement to the public. “I’d like the councils to be more frequent,” said Nattrass, adding that if enough people talk about the issues “government has to listen.” That’s the real point of the Wisdom Council exercise that’s to be repeated twice more this year, using different randomly selected people each time.

Convener Diane Wallrich said councils aren’t intended to come up with a product or solution. “This is about a process about opinion-generating and consensus-making. After that, the usual political channels apply. …Politicians are just people looking for a parade to get in front of and this helps create the parade. … It’s not revolutionary. It’s evolutionary.”

Two politicians checking out the event were Victoria Coun. Chris Coleman and Victoria MP Denise Savoie. Coleman thought the process was interesting. For one thing, the ideas emerging out of the short-lived councils have nothing to do with agendas defined by lobbyists, corporations or social agencies each with their worthwhile but vested interest.

The council also got the attention of Paul Mohapel who is on faculty at Royal Roads University. Mohapel wants to research future councils and write about the process as it might apply to developing leadership.U.S. facilitator Jim Rough, who has a company that does corporate facilitation and also runs his non-profit Centre for Wise Democracy aimed at developing Wisdom Councils, says the process is key to solving society’s collective problems. “I don’t see how our system can work if we place ourselves in special-interest silos.”

One Wisdom Council member saw the process as applicable to federal politics. Imagine, said Brian Burchill, if the Senate included randomly selected Canadians. That would provide better second sober thought than an elected body, said Burchill, who is no stranger to party politics. Burchill thinks the election process is a bit of a sham: “Politicians don’t really represent us.” Looking at voter turnout it’s easy to see why he might think that. In 2004 Canada hit a dubious record with the lowest-ever turnout in a federal election - 61 per cent. Fewer than 30 per cent of eligible voters turn out for municipal elections. Seems we don’t even send politicians loud messages at the polling booths. Wisdom Councils offer an auxiliary way to do that.

Some of the people on the first council said they don’t vote in elections and aren’t involved in other civic activity. But the council gave them a voice, they said. Their big issues touched on societal isolation, disconnection from government and our unsustainable world. It encouraged citizens to become more civically and politically engaged through public life and making connections with people.All of the council members said they were going to talk up the process to their neighbours. “I’ve told a lot people about it already,” said Sanderson, adding, “The gravevine works very well.”

To view the full statement go to the website: WiseDemocracyVictoria.com

Group urges grassroots democracy

Sharon Tiffin/News Staff

George Sranko holds a copy of the invitation sent out to random people in Victoria with group members Lorena Mowers, Caspar Davis and Paul Mohapel: all members of the newly formed Wise Democracy Victoria which aims to give politicians a better idea of what average citizens want from their leaders.

By Thomas Winterhoff
News staff
twinterhoff@vicnews.com
Mar 02 2007 Power from the people praised

In many democratic societies, political leadership tends to come from the upper echelons of government and then gradually works its way down to the people most affected by subsequent decisions: ordinary citizens. However, a group called Wise Democracy Victoria wants to turn that tradition on its head.

WDV spokesperson George Sranko says his organization wants to see more government policies originate at the grassroots level – not just from politicians, lobbyists or special interest groups. “We think that (elected officials) aren’t really representing us to the degree that we would like them to,” says Sranko. He believes voters must get involved in forms of democratic expression beyond simply voting every few years.

The primary mechanism adopted by WDV (and similar organizations in the United States, Germany and Austria) is the “wisdom council.” The concept was developed by Jim Rough in Port Townsend, Washington, and will be used in Greater Victoria for the first time this month. Residents in a particular area are selected at random from the phone book and invited to comment on issues they feel are important to their communities. Of those who respond, 12 people are selected to discuss those concerns over the course of a day and a half and compile a written summary of their deliberations. The members of the wisdom council then lead a larger public meeting, where their findings are distributed to their neighbours for further discussion.

“These people read their statements and talk about their experience,” explains Sranko, adding that it’s such an “interesting and energizing” process that the council members’ enthusiasm soon rubs off on other residents. The process is similar to the Citizens’ Assembly convened by the provincial government in 2004 to examine provincial electoral reform. After several wisdom council sessions have been completed (with different participants each time), the outcome presents a fairly accurate and comprehensive survey of the specific concerns that resonate with residents of that community, Sranko says. The randomness of the selection process generally results in a group that reflects the prevailing demographics of that community, with representation from various backgrounds and age groups.

“It tends to work out amazingly well…” he says. “The goal is that we get a bigger ‘public conversation’ about issues that are important to ordinary people.” Members of Wise Democracy Victoria realize they won’t transform Canada’s political establishment overnight, but believe the wisdom council model is an important forum to debate public policy at the grassroots level and ultimately influence the decisions of elected officials.

“We’re very hopeful that (the two systems) would be complementary,” Sranko says. “As soon as the statements that these people issue become part of the public conversation, then we’re bringing the public agenda onto the floor to a larger degree – perhaps – than it had been.” WDV’s first wisdom council sessions are set for this month, with the public portion of the meetings scheduled for March 31. If it works here, says Sranko, the group hopes the idea will spread right across the country.

“The neat thing about this process is that it’s entirely citizen-led. We’re just an ordinary group of citizens who have taken the bull by the horns.”

Wise Democracy Victoria’s first “wisdom council” public meeting is scheduled for March 31 at the Fairfield New Horizons Centre (380 Cook St.), from 4-5:30 p.m. For more information about the organization, check the website wisedemocracyvictoria.com.

Dialing up random wisdom

Wisdom Council program aims to find common ground among people selected from phone book


Carolyn Heiman
Times Colonist

Monday, March 05, 2007

CREDIT: Ray Smith, Times Colonist

Jan and George Sranko scour the phone book to find people willing to take part in an exercise in grassroots democracy.

George and Jan Sranko are on a journey to build a better democracy. To get there, they are letting their fingers do the walking.

In a process they admit is laborious, the Victoria couple is aiming to bring together a group of “average” citizens to identify issues that matter most.
Over the last few weeks they and 12 other like-minded social activists have been plucking names out of the telephone book. Not just any names, but carefully selected random names derived from computer-generated sheets identifying page numbers, columns and lines. The name of the person corresponding to the designated line is then mailed an invitation to join the first Canadian Wisdom Council.

On March 9, the Srankos will randomly draw 12 names from people willing to pursue the idea.

Jan called 20 of the randomly selected names last week to check what the response might be to the 450 letters they have already sent.

“It’s a lot harder than I thought,” Jan said after experiencing the rebuff that telemarketers are well acquainted with.

“People ask: ‘How did you get my number?’ I tell them it wasn’t easy,” referring to the tedious line-counting demanded from their “random process.”

The process was made harder because the group first used an old telephone directory and about 25 per cent of the letters were returned because people had moved.

But George isn’t discouraged by the response to date. “If there was more known about the process, more people would be interested in serving on this.” He expects momentum will grow.

The new telephone directory will “hopefully will be better at hitting the target,” said George.So far, a couple of people have agreed to be on the first Wisdom Council which is scheduled to meet on March 30 and 31. The public is invited for a wider discussion on issues and ideas on the second day.

After that it’s all over, said George. “The Wisdom Council can go home,” emphasizing the beauty of the plan is that no one has to commit more than a day or two to the common good. “They haven’t had to become career politicians.”

The process will happen about three times a year with new councils formed each time. The intention is that over time this process will build community, says a news release on the subject.
The important thing is that individuals don’t represent anyone else, any interest group, any organization or any region — although in the latter instance the Srankos are just selecting Victoria residents’ names from the phone book and instead of setting an agenda, participants will decide what to discuss.

The Srankos learned about Wisdom Councils through facilitation training George did in Port Townsend, Wash. “[Council discussions] tend to start off with surface issues” but as conversation goes on, core and common issues emerge, said George. It may seem impossible to come to an agreement on common issues, he added, but “these groups can come together, and they do all the time. We probably agree on 90 per cent of things in general and maybe disagree with 10 per cent … Once we find common ground we can find an integrated solution.”

He gives as a simple example about two people in the same room wanting different things. One likes fresh air and opens a window. The second finds it drafty. “An integrated solution would be to open a window in another room,” said George. “It’s about creating choice where you think there are no choices.”

George said he thinks government representatives do the best job they can, “but today’s issues are so much more complex and it is hard to represent a wide body of constituents with diverse views.”
Nor do polls help solidify issues, because “you often write the question based on the answer you want … it is not based on a thoughtful collaborative process.”

To learn more, go to the group’s website: wisedemocracyvictoria.com
The first Wisdom Council will be held at the Fairfield New Horizons Centre, 380 Cook St. The public portion begins at 4 p.m. on March 31.

Word to the Wise
By Amanda Farrell
Monday Magazine
Nov 08 2006

Wise Democracy focusses on wisdom councils
With the exception of the majority of politicians occupying positions of power-and perhaps a few important people who have the ears of said politicians-it’s safe to say most Canadians are somewhat disaffected with our political process. The folks at Wise Democracy Victoria certainly count themselves in that group, only they’ve decided to go a step beyond complaining about it over a cup of coffee. The group will be hosting a weekend workshop on wisdom councils, an innovative form of political representation that uses random selection.

“We saw some real potential for changing the way we look at democracy and we all feel, within our group, a strong level of frustration and disempowerment with our current approach to democracy,” says George Sranko, a member of WDV.
Wisdom councils are composed of a dozen randomly selected citizens who have no set agenda; they spend a couple of days discussing an issue and coming to a consensus on it. The session is moderated by a dynamic facilitator, who is trained in methods of helping diverse groups talk about issues and reach consensus. The wisdom council then releases its statement to the public and dissolves. A few months later, the process starts all over again with new people.

“They’re sort of a fractal approach to society. They’re not representative; in fact it’s important that each of them come as an individual as opposed to being spokespeople for anybody other than themselves,” says Caspar Davis of WDV. “Since they’re ephemeral, they’re almost immune from pressure groups and lobbying and that sort of thing.”
The event this weekend starts with an introduction to wisdom councils presented by two of their leading advocates, Tom Atlee and Jim Rough, on Friday night. A day-long workshop will be held Saturday for people interested in learning more about wisdom councils and forming one in Victoria next year.

But even if Greater Victoria does end up with a wisdom council, who’s to say its message will be heeded or even heard?

“Obviously for it to work the way it’s intended to, it relies to a certain extent on the media to publicize what happens,” says Davis, who adds that NDP MP Denise Savoie and Esquimalt councillor Jane Sterk have indicated interest in setting up similar forums to hear from their constituents, which may help add fuel to the wisdom council fire.
Sranko, however, thinks the process itself will make people interested in the outcome of the wisdom councils.

“It’s quite an innovative process, and hopefully there would be enough interest around the fact that here’s a way of getting a democratic representation of what the people want to talk about,” he says.

The Wise Democracy Forum “Introducing Wisdom Councils” happens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 10, in room 159 of UVic’s Fraser Building. Admission is by donation. The forum will be followed by a 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. workshop on wisdom councils on Saturday, November 11. For more information call 598-0124 or visit www.wisedemocracyvictoria.com.

© Copyright 2006 Monday Magazine
Article’s URL: http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals/monday/

Return to Home Page

2007-Oct-30 Convenors explore next steps

GeorgeRS — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:21:04 CST

Notes from the key meeting dynamically facilitated by DeAnna on November 3, 2007

The last few days have been very rewarding given the various happenings involving DF and Wisdom Councils.

1. A number of Convenors participated in the three-day DF seminar with Jim and DeAnna (Caspar, Colin, Dan, and Brigitte) -- we now have five convenors with DF training.

2. On Wednesday we had a fun and free-wheeling discussion at Philip and Marya's house, talking about Wisdom Councils and lessons learned. This was a great evening to get the creative and conceptual juices flowing... with Marya's delicious pie appreciated by all.

3. On Saturday Nov 3rd, we had a rewarding session facilitated by DeAnna, with 16 enthusiastic people in the room, including Richard Moore. The energy danced and swirled as DeAnna captured our journey on the four flipcharts. We will be posting the flipchart notes on our wiki at www.wisedemocracyvictoria.wetpaint.com (see the notes below) (if you have volunteered to capture any ofthe notes could you please send them to me by email as soon as you have a chance).

The discussion led us in lots of directions in terms of what comes next for Wise Democracy. Here's the gist of our conclusions, loosely paraphrased from memory at this stage, to keep everyone in the picture. There are lots of details to fill in, of course.... and I hope others will jump in if I've misinterpreted anything. For the sake of conciseness and brevity in this email, I am of course, not reporting the full range of rich discussion that ensued on each point. The notes we post on the wiki will do a better job of capturing that.

Speaking personally, I feel re-energized with the sense of direction achieved:

Random selection - we confirmed that this is an essential aspect of what gives our process legitimacy, and will once again make it a key feature of the next WC or Insight Council. We will seek waysto make the process easier -- including involving the community to a much greater degree in preparation for the council (see Cultivating below).
Geographic area - it feels natural at this stage to refine our focus from the Victoria level to the Fernwood community level. There was a major shift in energy when the focus landed on Fernwood, with lots of potential for synergy-- e.g., Doug has been asked to come up with some ideas fora conversation cafe, Ian Dakers is working on conversation opportunities at the new Green Goddess restaurant, the Fernwood commuity group wants to facilitate a vision for the heart of Fernwood.... (see more about this below). DF facilitators will be in big demand!
Cultivating the community -- it is becoming apparent that it would be much easier to convene a WC if the entire community is on board and anticipating the event... aware of what's planned and looking forward to receiving our invitations and possibly phone calls. For example, the Village Vibe community newspaper is mailed each month to 4,000 households in Fernwood (see below for what's planned...)
Metaphors & Stories -- the metaphor of starting a fire with kindling proved very powerful. You can choose to spread your kindling around on the floor and try to start a fire, or you can pile the kindling in the fireplace and watch it quickly spark into flame. Another metaphor was that of the convenors forming the trunk of a tree with the WCs like leaves. I forget who proposed this metaphor but I really liked it. However I saw the WC's as fruit rather than leaves. If the tree grows in a quiet alley where no one sees it, the fruit will fall to the ground and rot. But if it grows in the public square, people can't help but see the fruit and digest it. CD We came to realize that the role of the convenors and the story we've created together is an important part of the overall Wise Democracy story in Victoria (and perhaps globally)... and provides a continuous thread for the stories of the individual WCs.This point bears emphasizing. The convenors are creating an important story that is nourishing orchardists around the world...CD.

Latest action:

This morning (Sun 4th) -- thanks to Ian -- Caspar, Ian andmyself met with Trish Richards who's on the board of Fernwood NRG (Neighbourhood Resource Group http://fernwoodneighbourhood.ca/) and also assistant editor of the Village Vibe (http://fernwoodneighbourhood.ca/vibe.html- you can download past issues). Her group is organizing a meeting to kick-start a visioning and revitalization process for Fernwood square and Fernwood/Gladstone intersection. Trish is excited about the possibility for a Wisdom Council or Insight Council to engage the community and to see where democracy can take everyone in Fernwood. Caspar andI have offered to write an article for Village Vibe on Wisdom Councils for the January issue, with the idea that a Council could be held next March/April.

Fernwood presents some amazing opportunities and feels like incredibly fertile ground to kindle a flame for democracy.

Cheers, George

PS: As part of the process of Fernwood Square revitalization, there will be a screening of Mark Lakeman's video on urban activism in Portland, Oregon: "The City Repair Project: Transforming Space Into Place." You are invited to the Cornerstone Cafe, Wed Nov 14th at 7:00 pm.

Flip chart notes from session kindly facilitated by DeAnna

16 participants

The Next Step?

Problem Statements

1. How to move forward with Wise Democracy Victoria?
2. How to get community sanction?
3. How to build awareness about WC's?
4. How do we sustain the relationships that form so the story builds?
5. How to define what’s working – what does "working" mean?
6. How do we create action from the dialogue?
7. How do we get the message to the whole community?
8. How do we cultivate and enrol the whole community?

SOLUTIONS

Get traction and interest so people say yes when asked to participate

Put description, date & invitation in paper(s) and ask people to show interest by email or call
Then random selection
All Fernwood or Fernwood High School
Get sponsor eg. Principal, Mayor, Churches who speak to our TRUST worthiness

Build awareness
Do WC in small closed group/community, so success becomes the story that can help spread the work
Concentrate the WC in an area where there is a feeling of community – James Bay, Fernwood
“WC is a democratic process that sparks a fire within a community”

Communicate … “WC’s bridge polarities to build community”
Find Leaders connected to community groups &
Leaders educate groups and members
Do WC with leaders, then groups then community

Get permission from leaders to present to groups, gather names in a hat of those who want to do WC, then randomly draw
Involve leaders in doing something new with their fractal groups
Include all those from the group except those who say no up front
Making a personal connection is essential; making a nurturing process to engage people in the new way
Use the initial statements from WC’s and their story into the community and feed their results into the next to build momentum
Behave ??? that participants can participate…call on phone, child care, food, transportation
Tell the story we’ve created so far…This becomes part of the new bigger story
Invite past participants to tell us where they’d like to go?
Stay with what you’ve created in Victoria

Get city council to sponsor, get voter roll, official acknowledgement, go to churches – how would you like to participate?
Tell the story, “Help us move it forward”

Said we’re going to try three cycles in Victoria, committed, then do cycle in Fernwood. Something is happening through each cycle of exposure
We need to adapt and learn. Do 3rd cycle in Fernwood
Use different selection process – those who are willing to participate
For the 2 recent Wisdom Council results to make a difference… form a Civic League.
Stick with a dialogue-based, participatory process.
Empower people to get more involved in the municipality… In lot’s of ways!
On a regular basis have a ‘dialogue on democracy’ perhaps with some people in a fishbowl as a focus, perhaps for 4 hours in an evening every 3 weeks or so. Get Bodies in the room…
Initially focus on people already out of the box or “moving out.”
Our convenors/nurturers support WC participants to find ways to take action in their lives based on their participation.
Create a strong body of WC experience as grist for creating new stories of democracy (perhaps through the Wiki).
Keep it simple… (direct, plain language and metaphors vs. elaborate concepts).
Keep the process going through our convenor meetings (where we express the “we the people” notion in our meeting behaviour)
Do things on a smaller scale… e.g. do Fernwood next!
Develop the “convenor story” as a way of attracting participants and others into action.
Awaken people to what can happen in dialogue… It doesn’t matter about randomness & perfection. Give yourself freedom to provide the WC experience in other ways: e.g. pick a topic, don’t have to be random
Goal is to be connected & to have relationship.
Look for opportunities for connection – to facilitate difficult conversations in the community.
Our work is to cultivate moments where we notice that we are cake… (i.e. are joyously acting and thinking from ‘we the people’)
Present ourselves to Fernwood, enrol them as convenors to cultivate the community to do a WC. In Fernwood there is potential to overcome some polarization (e.g. the 2 different community centres). We would remain as convenors who support the local convenors in the process…
Present this idea at the Nov. 14 community meeting to create the Fernwood Commons. Speak to the organizers about it.
Offer a different process for the conduct of the above meeting.
By doing it in Fernwood, it focuses our energy while still being in Victoria.
Do a WC play at the Belfry… draw the participants from the audience (add some drama(?), other layers of involvement)… be funny and poignant.
Talking about this to others and how we do it, really matters and is making a big difference in some of our lives… hence, there is no question about WCs not working… it is working in some or all of our lives.
This ripples out through each of us.
Get comfortable with the idea that it is still working and it will be in Fernwood for now.
We can always come back to our convenor meetings to experience it working!
Dropping in and out is okay.
Keep communicating about this process and offering connections for others to become involved.
Try doing a WC over 4 days with 4 sessions, maybe in 2 sequential weekends… Put the emphasis on “telling the story”, and less pressure to draft the statements… spend time on sharing the story, and let it be and/or become the statement.
Do something in the Belfry!

-- use the pub, the coffee house, etc. in support or as well, as a regular hangout
-- support in form of conversation cafes,
-- talk about WCs and how they could help to resolve polarized situations.

46. Hold a Democracy Café monthly in Fernwood.
47. The Green Goddess Café is looking for ideas – Ian can talk with owner on how to use their space for our efforts.
48. Hold regular Dynamic Facilitation (DF) sessions in Fernwood on hot community topics.
49. Conversation Café dialogues are also possible in the cafes as well.
50. Notice the distinction between dialogue and ‘choice creating’ activities. Consider how to fit them together, as well as the role of i) taking a whole system perspective, vs. ii) generating small group activities.
51. On-going dialogue processes, on-going DF processes, etc. create an appetite for Wisdom Councils.
52. Potential meeting space for these activities at new coffee place at Haultain and Belmont.

CONCERNS

Doing WC by groups would reinforce factionalization.
Encouraging diversity, encouraging leaders.
Those who become leaders aren't necessarily the best leaders.
Names of those interested = same old group...include those who'd say yes.
Just because you've got them, doesn't mean we can keep them.
Victoria feels too big...
Community perception might be damaged if we change course without completing program.
It didn't work.
It did work! I'm trusting the package!
Learning, protecting ourselves from burnout.
Implementing feels like going back into the box.
After WC happens, there's nothing there to stay out of the box.
People in the box can get outside of it & transform.
There's no living alternative to the box right now.
If people don't stay involved, that's okay.
Approaching organizations in Fernwood reinforces hierarchy...
Not following through feels like
Diversity not present at community meetings.
Doing Fernwood isn't a violation of original commitment.
I can't change society. Try to change me and society changes.
Duration - 1.5 days not enough.

DeAnna's Reflection of What We Had Done

1. Moving forward…

continue our convening
focus/engage our efforts in Fernwood
kindling/fire metaphor – what's the best way to assemble the kindling and ignite the fire?

2. Powerful learnings from the experience so far...

is it working or not? what's our purpose?
connection…
the story is key – keep the convener story
the conveners are being the change they seek to make, the holders of the story, the tree of which the WC's are the fruit…

3. Next step… Fernwood focus

draw from what pool?
random selection or working through groups or something else?
who to enrol?
get community sanction?
what design… WC's? DF meetings?

Outcomes

We will pursue opportunities for dialogue in 3 coffee shops as well as the Fernwood Inn – Ian, Dan, Caspar

We will pursue the possibility of having a participatory Wisdom Council (in which councillors are selected at random from the audience) in the Belfry – Dan

Next Steps

Ian will contact the convener of the November 11 Fernwood meeting re facilitating the meeting using DF or (more likely) giving a presentation on DF at the meeting. If we get a DF presentation on the agenda, the presenters will be Colin, Dan, George (?). In any case, as many conveners as possible will show up.

NEXT MEETINGS November 17 and November 24?

As George has reported things have shifted since Saturday. The Fernwood meeting is at the Cornerstone Café, on November 14 not November 11 as we thought. It is focused on a film and is therefore not appropriate for a DF presentation, but things look very good for coffee shop events

Wise Democracy Notes Autumn 2007

GeorgeRS — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:16:55 CST

<-- See the links to the left for further notes

At 10:29 AM -0700 10/14/07, George Sranko wrote:

Hello everyone

On Sat, Oct 13th five keen convenors met to discuss our next steps for Wise Democracy (Caspar Davis, Colin Dower, Jan Cadieux, Philip Symons, and George Sranko). Many others sent their regrets ahead of time for all sorts of very good reasons... so we know many more of you remain engaged in these discussions.

We had an open and free-wheeling discussion (as well as nutritional
goodies), including the following items (-- don't overlook #6 below -- The Big Ripple!) (also see Caspar's notes appended below):

1. Random-selection: Jan presented and clarified her idea of inviting
groups to take part in an experiment in wise democracy, and then making a random selection from the members of the groups that step forward. Most of us were in agreement that we didn't want to undertake the same random selection process applied in the first two Wisdom Councils (using the phone book and cold calling). After two runs we know the process works, we know how to implement it, and now we feel it's time to try a different approach to experiment with building a better base within the community and to involve new people. We don't think we would learn anything sufficiently new by repeating the entire process a third time. So there seems to be fairly wide acceptance of the idea of approaching groups directly and drawing our list of randomly-selected names from that pool.

2. Wisdom Council #3: Those of us at the meeting expressed reluctance to immediately launch into a third WC. In keeping with what emerged above, we feel it is time to evaluate and to integrate the lessons learned as we takeour next steps. This means actively working together over the coming weeks to make some decisions on where we want to go as a Wise Democracy group.

Some of us expressed an interest in trying a Wisdom Council in a school setting and we'd like to support Brigitte in taking this approach. We also entertained the idea of helping organizations and groups to undertake a WC of their own.

Philip the miracle fund-raiser has aquired funding for WC3 for this year, and he is fairly confident that some money will also be available next year. So we have a bit of wiggle room in terms of timing.

3. Creative Insight Council (like WC but focused on an issue): There was also quite a bit of discussion around the idea of hosting an Insight

Council, asking a randomly-selected group of people to address a particularissue or question. Philip has contacted Denise Savoie, requesting her input on an issue or question she would like feedback on -- with no response as yet. For many of us, this seems like an attractive next step in continuing to explore wise democracy in Victoria. Some of us feel that a real-life, hot issue would engage more people in the community and help create traction.

4. Richard Moore: Richard is keenly interested in the work we've been doing with Wisdom Councils, and will be in Victoria Oct 30-Nov 3. He would like to meet with our group and is interested in participating in public meetings, as well. (Richard, please feel free to add your thoughts)

5. Dynamic Facilitation workshop (Oct 31 - Nov 2): Jim Rough needs more people to sign up to make the Victoria event viable. He really wants to support our group with DF skills and is inviting people to contact him if you have any interest at all. For those within our group the cost is flexible and something can likely be worked out. Please contact Jim directly at (360) 385-7118 or (360) 531-0932 or jim "at" tobe.net or DeAnna Martin deanna "at" dynamicfacilitation.com. Dan is the local organizer 595-2290.

6. BIG RIPPLE TIME. November 3, Jim Rough and Richard Moore would like to participate in a facilitated session with us -- the Convenors. Jim and Richard are two of the leading thinkers in this field of Wise Democracy and we are some of the leading practitioners... and I'm talking on a global scale! It's time to talk about what we've learned and where we're headed.
Please mark your calendars and plan to participate in a rare opportunity to create some really big ripples (without fear of drowning). I'm working on a venue. I'll keep everyone posted.

My greatest hope is that each of you will stay engaged as we continue to explore wise democracy together. All sorts of possiblities are perking... for example, Doug has raised some interesting new ideas in his recent emails.

NEXT MEETING: Next Saturday, October 20th, 1831 Fern Street meeting house to continue discussions and to organize upcoming events.

Warm wishes to each of you!
George

PS: I'm going to continue archiving our discussions, including this note on our wiki site at www.wisedemocracyvictoria.wetpaint.com. My aim is to help provide long-term context to our decisions and help those who are away or out of the loop for a period to keep informed. If you would prefer not to have your input archived on a public site please let me know by flagging any specific pieces.

Email from Caspar (14-Oct-07):
Here are my thoughts from today:

The first two Wisdom Councils seem to suggest that Wisdom Councils
chosen randomly from the entire population of a place like Victoria
are unlikely, in the course of 8 or 10 hours, to come up with
anything much different from the positive but bland statements of the
first two Councils.. These statements have not stimulated the public
conversation that we hoped they would, and it seems unlikely that
these kinds of statements will ever stimulate much discussion.

Our greatest problem in organizing the first two councils has been
getting people to serve on them. Jan has suggested a novel way of
going about this, essentially by enlisting the aid of sympathetic
organizations to supply the names of some or all of their members to

the pool from which the random selection is made. This approach
offers several possible advantages. In the course of recruiting
groups, we would be educating a lot more people about Wisdom
Councils, and a much higher proportion of selectees would likely
agree to serve.

This method, like the method we've been using, would be a lot of work
but might be worth trying. However, there is no reason to think that
councils chosen by it would come up with any more provocative
statements than the first two councils.

Another possible approach would be to go ahead with Wisdom Councils in schools and other organizations as the opportunities present themselves. It seems likely that councils conducted in smaller groupswould share more common reality and would be more likely to come upwith issues that have traction in the groups.

We have also had inquiries from Denise Savoie and possibly others who are interested in having councils explore particular issues. These
would not be proper Wisdom Councils, but could use random selection
and dynamic facilitation; Jim Rough has called such councils Creative
Insight Councils, which seems like a good name.

Jim Rough and Richard will both be here at the end of this month, and
Jim is apparently interested in facilitating the Victoria convenors
in a discussion of where we go from here on Nov. 3.

I think that this discussion will be very useful and that we should
make no decisions until we have had it. At the moment, I am feeling
enthusiastic about Wisdom Councils in schools and other groups, and
about Creative Insight Councils, but I am not so sanguine about the
ability of Wisdom Councils to stimulate the kind of community
engagement that we have been hoping for.

Caspar

Email from Colin (14 Oct '07):
Yesterday at the meeting with Jan, Caspar, George, and Philip, in
addition to some fine food, we had a wide-ranging conversation about
possibilities for Wise Democracy. I'm still pondering some of the
ideas from the conversation, and the various e-mails to date, but I'd
like to pass along something about next steps.

My understanding is that Jim and Richard would like to meet with the
Wisdom Council conveners when they're in Victoria somewhere around
the first of November. It was suggested that we wait until after the
get together with Jim and Richard to decide how we proceed and I'm in
agreement with that suggestion.

Between now and then, including the scheduled meeting October 20, we
can continue to present and provide feedback on various ideas, as
well as clarify the details of the get together with Jim and Richard,
plus potentially plan a public event with them while they're in
Victoria.

Cheers,
Colin

Email from Philip (14-Oct-07)
Thanks, George (and Caspar, and also Colin in a separate e-mail) for pulling
these thoughts together. I was thinking about writing some notes myself, but
the sun was shining, my garden, what I could see of it above the grass, was
beckoning, so I put off writing, and am happy I did as the three of you have
expressed well what was said at the meeting, and what I have been feeling
for some time.

Despite Jan's wish NOT to go over the whole discussion again, I fear this is
what will happen on Oct. 20th., but perhaps that is inevitable, even if we
do some e-mailing beforehand. I can't be there, lucky me.

Less fortunately I will also be absent on Nov. 3rd, as I'll be tied up in a
regional Unitarian conference that weekend (which is also why we need to
find somewhere for Richard to go after he's spent a couple of nights with
us, as I believe Marya has agreed some time ago to billet Unitarians from
our of town here). I regret missing the Nov. 3rd discussions. I hope I will
have time to speak with both Jim and Richard before they depart in different
directions.

Philip

Email from Doug (14-Oct-07)
Hi Everyone, did not get back from Oregon in time to join your
meeting yesterday, sorry. Good discussions going on.

With respect to Random Selection, I agree with the ideal but the
practice is not very easy or very satisfying until the
Public-at-Large is MUCH more aware of the Wisdom Council's
presence. The pain of doing "cold" telephone calls to people in
their homes who are already inundated with harassing business calls,
is far too arduous, and the telephone book excludes so many people anyway.

Perhaps a return envelope in the original mailing, indicating
interest could alleviate that?

The ripple effect (ordinary citizens buying into grass roots
empowerment) for the Wisdom Councils as practiced so far, either may
have significant time delays, or is simply minimal in its impact,
from what I have seen so far. We do not have time to wait for
decades for the ripple effect to come into force. Should we
sacrifice having some real impact for an ideal in our minds? Let's
instead hold it as an intention and be satisfied with our imperfect
but practical attempts to work towards it?

With respect to the Council of Future Beings application of random
selection that Tree (facilitator from Eugene/Atlee) and myself are
advocating, I believe an alternative approach is required. It would
be possible to advertise for people to volunteer, in general, to be
selected for a session of the Council of Future Beings. Various
excluded groups could be contacted directly and invited in a more
personal way. The selection list would grow organically, and
although it would be somewhat imperfect as a random sample (at first)
it would have the great advantage of being a list of people who were
motivated. The random selection would simply apply to the list of
people who offered to be selected. Then the organization of
convenors and members of a specific Council meeting would present the
outcomes at any hearings, public forums, legal proceedings, City
council meetings in order to consistently and responsibly put the
case that short-term profits are trumping the interests of future
generations by not including so-called externalities, clean-up costs
and other costs that are rarely factored into current
decision-making. A turnaround in this amongst other things, is
crucial to halt the industrial growth wastelands that we are creating now.

I have seen recent evidence about global warming that I found
shocking... and the machinations of the great Empire to the South are
showing signs of getting out of control, and the prospect of a
Neo-con Prime Minister with a majority here is scary. The time is
VERY urgent...

Let's put practicality first, and move towards the ideals as we are able.

Best wishes, Doug

Email from Gillian (14-Oct-07)
Please keep me in the loop! As I said to Jan on the phone, I need a
rest and cannot commit myself to anything at the moment, but I'm very
interested in another approach, grass roots and local, and particularly
in Doug's last two paragraphs today. There really isn't time for all
the WC process now, we have to ACT. The best advertising is always word
of mouth, person to person. Best wishes, Gillian

Email from Jim Rough (14-Oct-07)

George,

I continue to be impressed at how you and your group "get" this experiment and get behind it. Next week I have the privilege of giving a keynote about the Wisdom Council ... along with a chance to experiment embedding one into the conference. The conference is called "The Great Turning" ... see http://lesley.edu/gsass/audubon/conference_great_turning.html ... Once again I'll be describing your work in Victoria as a cutting edge exploration of how to build "wise democracy" and spark "We the People."

A number of Wisdom Councils have generated specific suggestions in the past, like in Pleasantville NY, in the Dept. of Agriculture, and in the Port Townsend Food Coop. Although this hasn't been the case in the Victoria BC WC's or in the three Port Townsend WC's, I think it can be, especially if there is a pressing issue or something specific going in. In one demonstration project we asked the local City Council to suggest an issue for the group to address. They chose the encroachment of Box stores. With only two hours on live tv-- given a specific issue -- they generated a reasonable strategy.

Of course, the best way to generate specific results from the Wisdom Council would be for all the people in the larger community to be and feel involved. Then each successive Wisdom Council can build on the last ... i.e. that's when the process achieves "traction".

Jim

Email from Jim, Oct 18

Parents often say they will allow a certain degree of freedom to a child. The parent has agency. The child does not. Governments say they will allow the public certain rights. The government has agency, not the public.

A Citizens Deliberative Body is allowed the right to discuss a certain topic and given certain options. Some thing or some one is ultimately in charge of it providing it with limited opportunity to decide.

The Wisdom Council, on the other hand is a legitimate symbol of "We the People." it chooses the issues without constraint, frames the issue without constraint, and solves it creatively without constraint. There is no higher authority. It is structured to exercise that authority.

Jim

Email from Philip, Oct 18
Thanks, Jim.

You are quite right, of course, in that the deliberative councils as currently envisaged would be given a topic to discuss (and thus would not have agency). There are pros and cons to this—as always! The B.C. citizens’ assembly, a form of deliberative council, also did not have agency by this definition, yet was extremely successful in doing what it was supposed to do. I guess it depends on one’s objectives.

Philip

At 10:38 AM -0700 10/18/07, Caspar Davis wrote:

Actually, I think the Citizens' Assembly is a very good example. As I understand it, they were not given free rein to come up with the best way of choosing a legislature, but were told that it most have the same number of members as the present legislature. I'm not sure if there were other constraints or not.

Wisdom Councils have total freedom (although I have heard some say that in Victoria time constraints have spurred facilitators to pro them towards the broad statements that have emerged) but they will not have "agency" until or unless have enough prominence to be taken seriously by politicians, media, and society at large. That is why Jim started out with the idea of a constitutional amendment establishing wisdom councils.

As I understand it, the present hope is that holding multiple wisdom councils will generate enough buzz to give them prominence and respect. On the basis of our admittedly limited experience in Victoria, I do not see that happening directly in a community like a city, let alone a larger entity. I think it may well work in a smaller entity, like a school, a neighbourhood, a government department or a corporation, especially if there are some "hot" issues that will almost certainly engage the council's attention - and from one perspective that is a back-handed way of constituting a creative insight council.

I think that the widespread use of both local wisdom councils and creative insight councils might well generate a climate in which wisdom councils could function as Jim envisages. But I have serious doubts as to whether merely holding councils as we have been doing will create the change we need. "Civilized" people have several thousand years of being conditioned to Authority, and all but the most genuinely anarchic of us ask of any institution (consciously or subconsciously), "Where does its authority come from?"

Jim answers (quite properly) that the authority of a wisdom council comes from the inherent power of people to determine the conditions that affect them. That is the (alleged) theory behind democracy in general, although the truth may be somewhat different. But very few people (except for some aboriginals) have any experience with people actually governing themselves. For most of, authority comes from powerful people, whether they are empowered by wealth, by institutions, or by other powerful people.

The Citizens' Assembly was able to generate some gravitas because it was constituted and funded by the government. But even with those advantages, it had some trouble getting people to participate.

In sum, I am not convinced that our society can leap from where we are to sufficient acceptance of big community wisdom councils as a prominent institution. I think that both smaller community wisdom councils and creative insight councils facilitated according to the principles of dynamic facilitation may be parts of an effective gradient approach to the idea that wisdom councils can lead us to a better society. Let us not make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Caspar

Email from Jim, Oct 18
Hi Caspar,

I like what you've written here. It seems to lay out the situation as I understood it ... at least until a few days ago.

In the last few days I've had the opportunity to experiment with the Wisdom Council process in a new setting ... within a conference. Well, it wasn't really a Wisdom Council, I suppose, since there were lots of compromises. But it worked well for bringing deep conversation to the conference and we had some intense learnings that improve the "traction" issue.

The conference was "The Great Turning" with an audience of about 160 "environmental educators." On Thursday morning I had a 75min Keynote opportunity, followed by two cycles of a "Wisdom Council experiment". ("Wisdom Council experiment" is our term for projects that are intended to be like Wisdom Councils, which teach us about Wisdom Councils. but which don't technically adhere to the principals.)

The idea was to randomly select people from the conference on two different days, who would participate in all-day meetings on issues of their choice and present their results to the conference as a whole. In the end, because most people wanted to go to breakout sessions, we allowed people to self-select. There were 16 (lots!) on Thursday and 4 (few!) on Friday.

We did two things differently with the second Wisdom Council. At the beginning I shared the story of the progress of the first WC . They got to feel into where the group had gone. When it came time for them to pick an issue they naturally took off from where the last WC had stopped! ... Wow. That was terrific. Then when the second WC finished we made a point to have them share their story of progress, where they started and where they ended up. Again, this was new. The audience picked up on the story like never before.

I think this is a major development that will really help with the "traction" issue. We didn't do it earlier because the facilitator plays a more substantial role. But the benefits are immense and trust of this sort has never been an issue. I think our new direction is to suggest to each Wisdom Council that, when they present their results, they present 1) the story of their progress, 2) the final message, and 3) then to share personal experiences.

Jim

Email from Doug, Oct 18
Jim,
I am concerned by the way this discussion is going. I can only go on your e-mails since I have not met you in person. I wish this were not the case.

The meanings and implications that you are assigning to Citizen's Deliberative Bodies, Wisdom Councils and your notion of 'agency' come across like a closed book, as if you have got it all figured out and that we need to filter our own minds into the categories that you distinguish. This does not appeal to me as a very open basis with which to discuss what are deeply felt values and democratic concerns our group. Agency can be a very self-generated quality, that appears in many forms in my experience.

In my view, so far the Wisdom Councils have been successful in transmitting a sense of self-empowerment to many of the participants... this is great, rewarding to the convenors, and encouraging. However, the ripple effects so far have been minimal... there is no contagious groundswell of bottom-up (grassroots) democracy taking place as a result. Perhaps there would be if we persisted in them for a decade? A weakness that I perceive with the WC is that there is little context in which the resolved statement can have impact. There is little motivation to promote and act upon the statements. There is little traction.

But these are urgent times, and adherence to a proposed form (the Wisdom Council) without exploring a wide range of alternatives that could have greater impact seems to me like a sacrifice to an ideal, that even its originator has not been able to ignite in his own country. Let's find ways that can be effective now, while using means that are moving toward our shared democratic values.

The way you present the issues, it seems like there is only a choice between WCs and Deliberative Bodies that are sponsored by someone else (i.e. have no agency, or are not self-empowered). To me these choices appear to be bogus straw-dogs. They are a result of your way of distinguishing the choices before us. Communities of people can choose issues themselves with which to make statements using random selection and an effective facilitation approach. They can form action plans to promote and act upon the results. Surely there are many possibilities in front of us, some may turn out to be far more practical than others.

Why are you trying to get us to force fit our choices to explore deep and grass roots democracy into your own categories? What is the basis of this authority?

Doug

Email from Jim, Oct 18

Doug,

I think the conversation on "agency" triggered your remarks. One of the purposes of the Wisdom Council process is to empower people ... to spark "agency" in individuals and in "the People," creating a "We the People." Your comments to me are about your own "agency," whether or not you have it ... or whether someone (me) takes it away by exercising "authority".

The conveners are in charge of what happens in Victoria. I am not a part of the convener group nor do I participate in their decisions. I am someone who has put together an idea for building community and for transforming society, who wants to join with others in developing this idea. The only authority I exert is the extent to which I, in conjunction with others at the Center for Wise Democracy, label happens in Victoria and other places as a "Wisdom Council".

I claim "agency" over my time and work, however. I'm willing to devote my time and energy into facilitating the Wisdom Councils in Victoria, to conducting a seminar in Victoria so that you build the capability for Dynamic Facilitation there, and by contributing my experience to your conversation. You may not be particularly interested in the Wisdom Council process and be more primarily focused on seeking to involve citizens deeply in the governance of Victoria. You can do that. You can use some other process and I'll be interested in what you choose, but probably won't put much of my time or energy into supporting it.

See comments:

At 10:44 AM -0700 10/18/07, Doug Seeley wrote:

Jim,

I am concerned by the way this discussion is going. I can only go on your e-mails since I have not met you in person. I wish this were not the case.

The meanings and implications that you are assigning to Citizen's Deliberative Bodies, Wisdom Councils and your notion of 'agency' come across like a closed book, as if you have got it all figured out and that we need to filter our own minds into the categories that you distinguish. This does not appeal to me as a very open basis with which to discuss what are deeply felt values and democratic concerns our group. Agency can be a very self-generated quality, that appears in many forms in my experience.

You don't have to notice the distinctions I'm making or agree with them. I'm suggesting that if you test the deliberative approach you will discover these limitations ... as I have.

In my view, so far the Wisdom Councils have been successful in transmitting a sense of self-empowerment to many of the participants... this is great, rewarding to the convenors, and encouraging. However, the ripple effects so far have been minimal... there is no contagious groundswell of bottom-up (grassroots) democracy taking place as a result. Perhaps there would be if we persisted in them for a decade? A weakness that I perceive with the WC is that there is little context in which the resolved statement can have impact. There is little motivation to promote and act upon the statements. There is little traction.

Yes, "traction" is the stumbling block at the moment. I see it as one more issue that needs a breakthrough. We (all of us) are experimenting with this process and breakthroughs have been a regular part. Without the work of the conveners in Victoria we wouldn't have known as much about this problem as we do. This past week, however, at the Great Turning Conference in New Hampshire, I participated in an experiment with the Wisdom Council and a breakthrough in the area of traction did occur. I'll describe it elsewhere.

But these are urgent times, and adherence to a proposed form (the Wisdom Council) without exploring a wide range of alternatives that could have greater impact seems to me like a sacrifice to an ideal, that even its originator has not been able to ignite in his own country. Let's find ways that can be effective now, while using means that are moving toward our shared democratic values.

I do not discourage experimentation with the Wisdom Council. I set up a system of 12 principles for a Wisdom Council but encourage people to experiment with it. We've never even tried all twelve. But if you want to experiment in some way that doesn't include a Wisdom Council process ... that's different. I am closed in the sense that my allegience isn't as much to Victoria as it is to the Wisdom Council process.

Jim

Email from Doug, Oct 18

Thanks Jim,

I really appreciate your frank and measured reply, and the time taken to address some of the concerns that I was feeling.

I feel that I better understand where you are coming from now and admire its integrity, and that I actually know you better.

I am much more comfortable with your role and look forward to meeting you a week from Saturday.

Best wishes, Doug

Email from Dan Doherty Oct 21
I have been watching the discussion with interest, and feel the urge to jump
in...

WC3
At the moment, my wish is to host a 3rd Wisdom Councils in the City of
Victoria in order to complete our original plan.
(However I think it would be fine if a subset or offshoot of the conveners
group ran WCs in schools or hosted an insight council.)

There is something elegant and important about closing the circle with #3,
before changing course.
- the WC community is interested and watching
- there are people we do not know who are watchng for or who will respond to
the results of our experiment. - our debriefing will have more value and
integrity if we complete the plan.
- we have no way of knowing how far and deep our ripples are going or what
the tipping point is. In this game, intention is key. As Richard says "If
one community can do it, others can, and so on. All of the conclusions you
folks have come up with -- approaching groups, going for smaller scale,
using process variants -- all of these increase the probability that we can
create one of these tipping points."

I do strongly believe we need to manage the convening process so we do not
burn out,
and so personal value of convening is retained (even fun?)
- what is fixed and what is flexible?
- how can we learn from and adapt our process so we can sustain focus thru a
3rd round (simplify selection)
- how can we respond to the feedback we have received to improve the results
(e.g. multicultural representation)
- how can we facilitate outcomes that will touch, move and inspire people
(e.g. statements that include concrete action)

CREATIVE INSIGHT
I am all for the Creative Insight Councils
(or whatever we or the participants decide to call them).
I also agree refining Denise's questions with neutral open language may
result in richer dialogue with a wider audience.

DYNAMIC FACILITATION
In my experience we can talk all we like about facilitation techniques and
principles, but it is the living experience of a group of people in a room
(or in a virtual community) that matters. Our dialogue about facilitation is
an open, unfacilitated process. Interestingly the content seems to be about
control of the process. I believe the more a group defines and manages their
process the more they will own and live the results. Who writes what on the
flipcharts (head content vs heart content) is less important than ensuring
the energy of the group is acknowledged, honoured and facilitated. Rather
than defining tasks, I'd say notice what forwards the energy and what
hinders it, then do more of the former and less of the latter. My
experience of one person writing on a flip chart is that the energy only
flows as fast as the facilitator can write. If the facilitator needs to
write to integrate the info, I suggest that is the facilitator's need, not
the group's. Therefore, let the facilitator attend to the energy/flow and
let the group or assistants do the writing. Then of course there is
personal style...it has to work for the facilitator or he/she is not
facilitating, they are doing something else.

I look forward to exploring all this in our time with Jim and Deanna.
--- Dan (250) 595-2290

Email from Paul, Oct 22
I support what Dan is saying here.

Paul

Email from George, Oct 22

Thanks everyone for your emails and continuing good discussions...

I'm gathering that most people want to avoid the cold calls, some would like to consider an Insight council, while others would prefer to do a 3rd wisdom council. So we'll have to see how the preferred solution unfolds. I think everyone is in agreement withdeferring decisions until after the DF training and sessions with Jim and Richard.

It looks like we'll go ahead with the meeting with Jim, DeAnna, and convenors on Sat Nov 3rd (see Jim's note below). The FernwoodNRG meeting space will be available to us, I'm just waiting for final confirmation and then I'll let everyone know. I was thinking that 9-12 would be a good timeframe... any thoughts? For those interested, we could go to lunch at the Fernwood Inn afterwards.

Cheers, George

Email from Philip, Oct 22
Thanks for this, George.

I’m afraid I’ll miss the meeting with Jim and DeAnna on Saturday Nov. 3rd, as I’m not free that weekend—and Richard will have left, I gather, so he won’t be there either. I was hoping maybe we could get together Thurs. evening, but perhaps Jim and DeAnna won’t be here then?

I take it from what you say below that the Conveners’ meeting this past Saturday didn’t go any further than the meeting the Saturday before that. How many people did you have present?

When we get together again after Nov. 3rd, how will we make a decision on whether it’s a 3rd WC, or a Creative Insight Council? Before we can decide, we may need to look more closely at just what a CI Council would deliberate, how much information it might need, would 36 hours be time enough, and how much it would cost. Only then will we be in a position to decide between WCs (a known entity) and ICs (an unknown entity). Would it be a good idea for a few of use put our heads together beforehand to think this through, so we can come at least half-prepared?

I’m wondering how you are choosing to whom this e-mail was sent. We’re coming up against the old tension between democracy and leadership: we need a lead group for some early planning, but we don’t want to be exclusive if someone is keen to be included. Wendy is pretty keen, and she got Colin and me down to Swans Pub the other night, where we had a good little discussion. Should she be included, and what about Brigitte (or ???)?

Should we try for a lunchtime get-together at a pub again for this preparation planning? Some people may not be available at lunch, so a pre-dinner, or dinner meeting might work better.

Some thoughts from others receiving this would be helpful.

Philip

Email from George, Oct 22

Hi Philip

Good suggestions... I'm going to be on a conference call this afternoon, so this is just a quick response.

I sent this to the folks who were at the meeting last Saturday (6 of us including Diane)... (and you because you asked for an update) with the intention of sending a more comprehensive update to everyone once the Nov 3rd meeting place is confirmed.

I'd like to include the body of your note below at the same time, if that's ok with you... great prompt for our ensuing discussions and meetings. Any thoughts from anyone?

Cheers, George

9-Feb-08 Meeting Notes - Invitations Ready

GeorgeRS — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 02:02:20 CST

We had a great work party this morning and stuffed nearly 200 envelopes with invitations to randomly selected residents of Fernwood. We owe great thanks to Philip, Sonya, and Wendy -- our selection team -- for their fantastic work and effort in getting a list of 200 names, including hard-to-confirm apartment dwellers. Philip prepared all the materials -- the invitation letter, the response card, and copies of the Village Vibe articles.

This morning some folks hand addressed envelopes, others addressed and signed the invitation letters... and we generally had a fun time getting the envelopes stuffed.

A bunch of people -- including Sonya, Philip, Anke, and Colin -- have kindly offered to hand deliver invitations all over Fernwood.

Now our challenge is to get a buzz happening in Fernwood!! One ideas was to have a town crier going around town with the invitations... a bit daring perhaps, but I personally believe some creative ideas like this could really help get our message out there. So, please put on your thinking caps and action slippers. If you have the gumption, why not dress up as Captain democracy and walk the streets of Fernwood to gather some attention?!

All ideas welcome... please use this listserv and the Fernwood Commons site to involve everyone in the brainstorming... and let's take action.

Cheers, George

PS: John helped stuff envelopes! As many of us recall, John, was one of the councillors randomly selected for the first WC, and he was suspicious about our claims regarding random selection. Not only that, he won the doorprize at the first information meeting, so he really thought the process was rigged!! Well, now John is one of our most enthusiastic supporters and a great believer in the randomness of our selection process!

Article on Fernwood Wisdom Council Demonstration Jan 28

GeorgeRS — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:40:38 CST

A Wisdom Council Is Coming to Fernwood

After two successful Wisdom Councils in the City of Victoria, a neighbourhood Wisdom Council is coming to Fernwood in March. On January 28, about thirty people participated in an information session and demonstration of the process at the Fernwood Inn. Participants were amazed at what they were able to accomplish in just half an hour.

A Wisdom Council, is a powerful dialogue process involving a group of 10-12 people who are randomly selected to represent a whole community. With the help of a specially trained Dynamic Facilitator, the Wisdom Council meets for an evening and a day to identify issues that are important to the community, discuss them in an open, respectful, and non-confrontational way, and present a statement to the community with a view to stimulating a wider dialogue.

The January 28 demonstration involved all of the 30 people who showed up. After about 15 minutes of identifying issues, the group settled on the question, "What would make Fernwood a living example of a compassionate community?" They then spent another fifteen minutes generating ideas. As one participant put it, "Through the heartfelt thoughts and efforts of a growing group of people, the following ideas emerged as a way for this community to be a living example [of] what we hold dear…" The ideas included:

- Increasing local economic justice
- Creating better food security and having good, real food in the schools
- Increasing dialogue in the community and encouraging intergenerational conversations
- Addressing climate change
- Encouraging meditation instruction in the schools and in other secular settings
- Using the community website: http://fernwoodcommons.ca to capture ongoing dialogue

You can see the full list of ideas at http://fernwoodcommons.ca - follow the links to "Fernwood Wisdom Council" and "Fernwood Demonstration Wisdom Council".

Participants were delighted at how much they had accomplished in just over half an hour, with the help of Dynamic Facilitation. They had not only produced a wealth of good ideas, they had also created a strong sense of community and good will.

A full Wisdom Council will be held in Fernwood at the end of March 2008. About 200 households will be sent letters offering a chance to be part of the Council. Watch your mail for an invitation to attend the selection meeting where 12 council members will be chosen by a further random draw.

We urge everyone to meet the Wisdom Council members and join the discussion at the public meeting following the Council on Saturday, March 29 (time and place TBA).

For more information, see www.wisedemocracyvictoria.com and http://fernwoodcommons.ca

Info Session Agenda for Jan 28 (Fernwood)

GeorgeRS — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:31:24 CST

Agenda

Fernwood Wisdom Council Information Session - January 28, 2008

- Setup 6:30pm
- Seating arrangement - semicircle of chairs
- Put up banner
- Put up two (2) flip-charts (Philip bringing one, Dan bringing the other?)
- Set up Sign in table (to be attended by Wendy, Philip, Sonya…) with name tags (Wendy), pens (Philip), two clip-boards (Philip), sheets ruled and ready (Jan: one sheet for people who are willing to join conveners, 2nd sheet for attendees who may want further information).
- Set up Information table (to be attended by Wendy, Philip, Sonya…)
- one pager on Wisdom Councils, 20 copies (George)
- one pager on Dynamic Facilitation, 20 copies (Colin)
- January Village Vibe, 20 copies (Colin)
- One-page description of what Conveners do, 10 copies (George)
- Info. on Saanich Civic League (if avail.; not high priority)

Introduction - 5 Minutes (Dan, Brigitte or Anke, George)
- Why, What, How of Wisdom Council
- History and future
- Kindling, Match, Ripples
- Climate Setting
- Settling In

Wisdom Council Demonstration (Dan, Brigitte, Caspar, ...) - 45 Minutes
- Identify issues of interest
- Invite members to identify one issue that they feel is important and on which they could
take immediate action. This could potentially address the question of "where do we get the
energy to deal with the issues."
- Ask "What would you say about this issue to the public, politicians and business leaders if
given free access to the media?" and record list.

Continue with the session.
- Identify that in a proper Wisdom Council, the group would have been randomly selected
from the community, and they would have had at least a day and a half to select and explore their issues. Finally, they would collaboratively craft a unanimous statement to symbolically represent the collective voice of the community.

TBD - 70 Minutes
- Announce Wisdom Council - Either March 28-29 or April 4-5 at ?
- Invite attendees to become WC Convenors
- Explain what conveners do (Who?) & direct to information table
- Check-In & follow the energy:
- debrief
- Q&A
- take a break
- continue WC Demonstration (further explore issues)
- Emphasize tools and procedures of WC and DF
- Review streams of activity - Targeted DF, Periodic/Scheduled DF, Creative Insight, WC

Wisdom Council #3 Notes (Fernwood)

GeorgeRS — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:22:39 CST

<<<<<<<<< See the notes listed to the left by date

2007-Dec-15 Meeting Notes

GeorgeRS — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:35:30 CST

Meeting Notes - December 15, 2007

Attendees: George, Dan, Sonya, Colin, Anke, Diane, Jan, Philip, Wendy, Caspar

Facilitator: Philip; Notes: Colin

1. Attendees checked-in.

2. George provided an overview of the previous few meetings, and referred the group to the notes on the WDV wiki (http://wisedemocracyvictoria.wetpaint.com/page/2007-Dec-1+Meeting+Notes) showing the potential "streams" of activity (WC, targetted DF, drop-in DF, etc).

3. Points were raised regarding random selection for the Wisdom Council. Dan will check with the Village Vibe to see if the paper is distributed to all households in Fernwood.

4. Caspar and Philip provided a World Feds update. Sonya referred to George's comments on the WFMV-Exec./WC-Conveners meeting notes in her check-in, and comments are requested regarding general interest in developing a shared vision for WDV as we move forward, including any comments on the following statement as a potential starting point:

"Our vision for WDV is to help engender wise democracy locally and globally by:

- continued experimentation with processes that create high-quality conversations, such as WCs (empowering citizens),

- working with communities to "grow" these processes from within (empowering communities)

- communicating replicable models to communities everywhere (further empowering global civil society)"

5. Dan and George provided observations regarding meetings with Fernwood residents.

6. Dan distributed Gantt charts with a preliminary time line for the next Wisdom Council, plus task sheets for the info meetings and activities.

- It was generally suggested that the Wisdom Council be held no later than April 2008.

- Dan will send out an article regarding a previous presentation to the World Feds for potential inclusion in the Fernwood News, and send out the Gantt Charts electronically.

7. The info session on Wisdom Councils will be held January 28, 2008 in the Fernwood Inn, 7 – 9 pm. The session is to include a mock Wisdom Council using Dynamic Facilitation (about 30 minutes), with Q & A following.

- An invitation to the event is included in the article to be included in the January issue of the Village Vibe. It was suggested that an ad could be placed in the Village Vibe.

- Jan is to send information to Sonya for inclusion in the Victoria News.

- A suggestion was made for anyone to personally contact previous Wisdom Council members or any others they think would be interested in attending the session.

- Philip identified that $100 was available for food and refreshments, and it was suggested that the Fernwood Inn may be willing to contribute $100 as well.

- Dan and Colin are to meet to talk about facilitating the mock Wisdom Council and list/distribute potential tasks. Any others that would like to participate or provide suggestions including any to inspire people to attend the event please contact Colin or Dan.

8. Next meeting on January 12, 2008 will be a Poster Party for creating advertising for the info session.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007-Nov-16 Meeting Notes

GeorgeRS — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:32:54 CST

Wise Democracy Victoria - WC Conveners Meeting

Friday November 16, 2007, Friends Meeting Hall, 1830 Fern 7-9PM
Present: George, Jan, Philip, Caspar, Lorena, Sonya, Colin, Danielle, Doug, Dan (facil. & notes)

1. Check-in - round table personal updates
2. Next WC in Fernwood?
3. Update from last week’s notes - read them on the WC wiki
http://wisedemocracyvictoria.wetpaint.com
4. Synergy with NRG - Neighbourhood Resources Group (George)
5. Conversation Café - - there are two in Vancouver, check out their website http://www.conversationcafe.org/
6. WC open house
7. Spaces to Places community workshop and presentation (George)
8. Business directory (Dan)
- a list of all businesses in Fernwood, if compiled as a directory could serve as a WC PR and fundraiser vehicle. Perhaps a project for communication students (Camosun, RRU, etc. Draw upon Arifin’s graphic design skills.
9. What to do after next WC (tuck it in the back of our minds for future discussion
- community dialogues, regular cafes, use Dynamic Facilitation to tackle issues and ensure shared air time
- we are the leading edge…the spark of democracy - come in with open questions
- Creative Insight Councils to address strong polarization (facilitate healing). Use the fishbowl/observer format for larger groups
10. Danielle’s TV experience - for future discussion…PR!
11. Overall process
a. Run a a combo of WCs and Conversation Cafes…Cafes to warm up the neighbourhood for a WC, or as a follow-up to a WC to further the conversation.
b. Articles in comm.. newsletters - purpose - to build awareness, interest, trust, willingness to respond…create fertile ground for a WC selection process. Plan the timing of articles for maximum impact, e.g. Jan article, Feb WC, Feb article
c. Random selection considerations (Doug Philip, Wendy)

Invitations to community groups vs phonebook - how to include those who are not in the phone book
How to invite people: VillageVibe (4000 homes) - January article by George & Caspar
FernwoodNews - submit an article
What are the privacy issues of using people’s info?
How to randomize invitation via VillageVibe - inserted letter and coupon, pick people off the street (trust the energy) invite all and draw from those who show up….WC could be a fishbowl format with observers

12. How do we see ourselves proceeding?
a. Set up a meeting schedule - frequency of ½ weeks for now, 1/w when WC gets closer, or use work groups/committees/teams
b. Articles (Philip - distribution of the letter)
c. Decision process

Email discussion before and after (better to use Google groups for continuity)
How will decisions hold? If more than half decide…the decision should stand…not overturned by different people next week
Use gradient preferencing system rather than dualistic vote (-2, -1, 0 +1 +2)
Run dialogues (grounded conversation), e.g. philosophers café, which is a more open process, or Dynamic Facilitation which is for tackling issues in a creative way…or a conversation corner in a café. The following are interested: Danielle, Dan, Leona, Doug (Doug & Dan will talk to Ian), George is interested but busy
Run Creative insight council(s) Jan will initiate an email discussion, Sonya and Philip are interested,
Remember…the purpose of a WC is to foster dialogue

13. Next meeting: Dec 1, 2007, 10-12 Friends Meeting Place, 1830 FernSt (booked)

2007-Dec-1 Meeting Notes

GeorgeRS — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:32:33 CST

Wise Democracy Meeting Dec. 1 2007
Attending: Caspar, Colin, Dan, George, Jan, Lorena, Philip, Sonya (& Arifin dropped in - see photo below!) Lorena facilitated! Jan prepared the notes!

Calendar:

Tues. Dec 4, George’s radio interview with Jack Etkin on CFUV 101.9 FM 4:35 pm
Tues. Dec 4, 7:00pm - Meeting with World Feds at Philip’s house to thank them and see what synergies might lie ahead
Sat. Dec 15, Fern Street Meeting House: Meeting 10 am – 11, followed by Finger Food Pot Luck Christmas Social 11 – 12 noon
Sat Jan 12 and 19th from 10 – 12pm, Fern St Meeting House - To co-ordinate Info Meeting for Jan 28th - “How are we going to remind people?”
Jan. 15th – Wise Democracy article appearing in Village Vibe
Monday Jan 28th Fernwood Inn WC Information Session. Thanks to Mike Colwill of the Fernwood Inn for offering his room for the “Greater Good”

Fernwood Community – We want to let residents know what we have to offer and take direction from them as to how we could assist

George is keeping Trish of Neighbourhood Resource group (NRG) in the loop
Dan will contact someone from the Fernwood Community Assoc (FCA
Perhaps we could invite these folks to our next meeting & social?
George has offered to have someone from our group Dynamically Facilitate (DF) the next step for Fernwood’s “Spaces to Places” project

WC Info Session for Fernwood Community, Jan 28th

We’ve decided to hold a public two hour information session to raise awareness of DF and WC in the Fernwood community
Dan has offered to spearhead facilitation for the Info Session but not the organizing. Do we have any volunteers to coordinate logistics for Jan 28th?

Dan will facilitate with help from Colin, Caspar & George (any others?)
Dan is preparing a “Gantt Chart” timeline for the organization
Jan has organized for a room at the Fernwood Inn for Jan 28th, from 7 – 9 pm for 20 – 30 people

Still needed for WC Information Session

How do we make our Info Session more enticing for people than staying at home? See discussion on http://groups.google.ca/group/wise-dem-vic?hl=en
Promotion ideas? Another article for the 2nd Fernwood newsletter, Notice in Victoria news Fernwood Danielle?

Where do we put our energies?

Here are 5 potential “streams” of activity that appear to be emerging for our group of convenors to consider. We likely won’t have sufficient time and/ or energy for all of them, so we’ll see which ones you support through active participation.

WC Info Session Jan 28th	Wisdom Council	DF Session Targeted	DF Session Periodic/ Scheduled	Creative Insight Council
This is the public info session scheduled to take place at the Fernwood Inn. We are committed to this as the date and location will be appearing in the January issue of the Village Vibe	The plan appears to be that we would work towards a WC in March or April 2008. A random selection task-group will be looking at the best way to proceed with this aspect**	Our group would provide DF facilitation as a service to assist a community group in moving forward (e.g., Fernwood NRG group in their “spaces to places” initiative)	Members of our group would provide regular scheduled DF sessions on a drop-in basis, likely once or twice a month. The venue would likely be one of the cafés (e.g., Green Goddess, Cornerstone Café)	This would be like a WC but the group of randomly selected individuals would be given a topic to focus on.**

** Random Selection Task Group & Creative Insight Council exploration group – Philip will co-ordinate with Sonya assisting

Online Discussions

NOTE: for online discussions, it helps to keep the discussion organized in one place and easier to follow if emails are sent using the WDV Google email group (just send emails to wise-dem-vic@googlegroups.com). If you ever want to refer to past emails, they are archived online at:
http://groups.google.ca/group/wise-dem-vic?hl=en

Next Meeting:
Sat, December 15th, 10 am – 12 noon, 1831 Fern Street Meeting House.
Including Christmas Social – bring your finger food snackies and Santa hats!!

Archive - WC Planning Notes

GeorgeRS — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:22:18 CST

This section provides an archive of Victoria WC Convener (WCC) group meeting notes by date.

Click on the listings to the left under "Navigation."

Enthusiastic Endorsement from Swami Beyonananda

GeorgeRS — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:44:21 CST

Notes from the Trail by Swami Beyondananda (Steve Bhaerman)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Missing Ingredient
November 8, 2007 web: http://www.wakeuplaughing.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Steve Bhaerman
At a party years ago, I casually picked up a container of avocado dip.
I read the long, long list of ingredients and noticed there was one
thing significantly missing. There was no avocado. No avocado in the
avocado dip.
Folks, I think I've discovered the missing ingredient in government
of, by and for the people -- the people. More specifically, what has
been missing is the voice of the people. Now that may seem way too
obvious, but please read on. There may be a way to regain that voice,
and consequently recapture the moral authority that has been
appropriated by the inappropriate immoral authority currently in
power.
Two weeks ago, I attended an event at San Francisco State University.
I agreed to be on a panel and have the Swami make an appearance
without being sure exactly why. By the end of the day, I knew why. I
had been there to meet in person Jim Rough. I had seen his name and
work referred to in Tom Atlee's book The Tao of Democracy. When I
heard what Jim had to say, I eagerly got a copy of his book Society's
Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People.
That's how I discovered the missing ingredient in America's political
formula.
Rough Stuff Is No Flough
Jim is a corporate consultant and seminar leader who's developed a
technique called Dynamic Facilitation, a way to access the collective
wisdom of any group of people by making sure everyone is listened to
and making sure every word said becomes part of the collective
awareness. You can find out more about how this is done by clicking on
any one of the links above.
For our purposes here, I would like to focus on the "universal
conclusion" that every one of Jim Rough's groups have reached,
regardless of the issue they've been considering. Then, we'll consider
Jim's creative clarification of our current political dilemma and how
-- in the Swami's parlance -- we can turn the dilemma into dilemma-
nade.
First, a little background. For the past fifteen years or so, Jim has
been bringing together diverse groups of people -- sometimes randomly-
selected -- in an attempt to bring "collective wisdom" to areas of
collective stuckness. As an example of the kind of work Jim does, he
once had a half-hour to work with a group who had picked the very
contentious "abortion issue" to work on. At first, the usual pro-life
and pro-choice positions were expressed. These kinds of "binary"
positions -- either "this" or "that" -- are the ones we are all
familiar with. Usually the conversation starts and stops there.
Once all the either / or positions had been expressed and were up on
the board, Jim asked for some other possibilities. There was silence
for a period of time, as the group began looking at the unfamiliar
territory "outside the box." The group had to look beyond "abortion"
-- the symptom -- to get to something deeper. At the end of 30
minutes, despite coming in with different positions regarding
abortion, the group came to an agreement on how to define the problem:
"How can we achieve a society where all children are conceived and
born into families that want and love them?"
"This kind of consensus," Rough writes, "a pulling together of what
everyone thinks, can always be reached."
However, in order to really understand the power of this process and
how it can transform politics in America and everywhere else, let's
look at a few other distinctions. Let's begin with the universal
conclusion that every one of Jim's groups comes to. Ready? Every group
realizes that the system is the problem. This is not a sloughing off
of responsibility but rather acknowledging that in the absence of a
coherent "voice of we the people," a heartless, soulless, self-
perpetuating system persists.
As Donella Meadows wrote in an article entitled The Industrial System
Isn't Intended to Bring Out the Best in People, "Every day decent
people clear cut forests, fish the oceans bare, spray toxins, bribe
politicians, overcharge the government, take risks with the health of
their workers or neighbors or customers, cheapen their products, pay
people less than a living wage for a day's work and fire their
friends. 'If I don't do it, my competitor will,' they say regretfully,
and they're right."
From Republic to 'Mockracy
In order to understand how America has ended up here, we have to go
back to the intentions of America's founding fathers. In this area
too, Jim Rough offers us clarifying and edifying distinctions. America
was founded on the radical notion that a government serves the people,
not the other way around. In a revolutionary departure from even the
most enlightened regimes in Europe, the Declaration of Independence
declared us sovereign citizens, not the subjects of a king.
However, the new government that had to encompass the wishes of
conservatives like Alexander Hamilton and radical freethinkers like
Thomas Jefferson, stopped short of giving power to the people. Instead
of a "democracy," they gave us a "republic." The distinction can be
found in taking these words back to their Greek and Latin roots
respectively. Democracy comes from the Greek "demos" ("the people")
and "kratia" ("power"). Republic comes from the Latin "res" ("thing")
"publica" ("of the people"). The distinction is subtle yet profound.
In a democracy, the power of the people rules. In a republic, the
people empower a "thing" to rule them.
In designing a republic, America's founders took a huge step away from
arbitrary topdown rule. However, as we find ourselves at the effect of
a system everyone agrees is unworkable, it may be time to evolve the
conversation one step further. Again, Jim Rough offers some simple and
clarifying distinctions: the triangle, the box and the circle.
The Shape of Politics to Come
Rough claims that throughout evolving history, post-indigenous humans
have had three forms of governance. First there is the topdown rule of
kings and individual rulers, represented by the triangle (or pyramid,
if you look at it multi-dimensionally). This is the type of rule that
was overthrown by the American Revolution. In its place, our founders
gave us a "box." This box is the rule of laws and agreements put in
place to replace the arbitrary rule of a topdown hierarchy. This "box"
of rules, the Constitution and the rule of law, is the "thing of the
people" that we designed as our government.
But it is still a "thing." And while it offered vast improvement over
monarchy and allowed what Charles Walters calls "people's capitalism"
to thrive, it has no inherent moral authority. It is a machine, a
thing. Like any machine, it can be used in any way by anyone in the
driver's seat. Over two centuries of time, "we the people" have gotten
further and further away from the actual driver's seat. This "thing"
of the people is now ruled by "self-interested self-interests" but in
a more important way, the machine is being ruled by itself. That's why
things so feel out of control, why the intrinsic moral values of 95%
of Americans have been overridden by the values of the 5% who are
sociopaths. 220 years ago when our system was designed, the fear was
"mob rule." Today we must confront the reality of "mobster rule."
And that brings us to the third shape that might help America "shape
up" and once again stand as an inspiring role model to the world. That
shape is the circle. Interestingly, indigenous people understood the
circle. In the aforementioned book, The Tao of Democracy, Tom Atlee
quotes Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga
Iroquois. Describing their tribal council, where everyone sat in a
circle, Lyons says, "We meet and just keep talking until there's
nothing left but the obvious truth."
The next evolutionary form Jim Rough proposes is the circle of a
Citizen's Wisdom Council. It is a reprise of indigenous wisdom applied
in the most modern of ways, and it represents a step into political
"adulthood," and not a moment too soon. The triangle, says Rough,
represents a "dependent" form. In this form, we depend on a leader the
way that children depend on parents to provide for their needs and
impose order and discipline. The box represents "independence." In a
way similar to adolescents breaking loose to explore their own power
and resources, our Founding Fathers gave us the wherewithal to be
independent individuals achieving manifest destiny.
Now, in order for our species to survive (not to mention reestablish
decency and civil rule) we must emerge to a new emergent form that
will create "humanifest destiny" -- the circle of interdependence.
Please do not mistake interdependence for co-dependence.
Interdependence means coequal independent individuals recognizing that
self-interest and mutual interest must now be one and the same. From
political children, to political adolescents, to political adults,
that is the only way -- the only way -- things will change for the
better.
To implement this next level of functionality, Jim Rough has proposed
an Amendment to the Constitution, the Citizens Amendment that would
establish a Wisdom Council composed of two dozen randomly-chosen
citizens from the pool of registered voters. The group would be
random, not representative. Here is the distinction: Instead of trying
to represent a particular demographic, the random selection would be
-- random. The wisdom in that is that each individual represents only
their own opinion, not some class or group. Each year, he suggests,
some ten thousand individuals would be chosen at random as potential
participants. Those who reply and express a willingness to participate
will provide the pool the final twenty-four are chosen from.
This group would be convened just once -- for a weekend or a couple of
weeks -- and have no authority except as one-time representatives of
the voice of "we the people." At the end of the period of time, they
return to "civilian life." The next year, a new group would be
convened in the same way. The final selections would be made known
just a very short time before the council is to convene, to prevent
the media from turning participants into "special people." Each
council would decide which issue or issues it would address.
The council would have no coercive authority, only the resonant
authority of a "voice" of we the people. They can make
recommendations, but not legislation. Rough suggests a formal
presentation to Congress, to the President, and to the people of
America. He even suggests televising their ongoing conversations and
deliberations. The council would be run on the principles of Dynamic
Facilitation, which Rough calls Choice-Creation: "nonjudgmental, heart
felt, energy-driven creative thinking process in which people seek to
invent new options that work for everyone. Instead of negotiating
agreement on particular points or discussing ideas back and forth,
people seek breakthroughs everyone can support."
There are many more nuances and details to the Citizens Amendment.
This is just a rough idea of Rough's ideas. For now, let's stop for a
moment to consider the implications:
1. The reason why we have a runaway system that has run away with our
liberties and commonwealth in spite of our best intentions, is that
the voice of the people has been missing.
2. The Declaration of Independence -- the literal founding document of
the entire American experiment -- makes the people the ultimate
authority, and the government a servant of the people. In
acknowledging the missing voice, and instituting a public, official
means of cultivating and broadcasting this voice, we have the missing
moral authority to fill what is now a moral vacuum.
3. The current political system, which "lives" on partisan conflict
has disempowered the American people. Think of it this way. While well-
meaning people on either side of the red-blue divide have been arguing
whether it's "wronger" to kill the unborn or the born, the powers who
know how to manipulate the power have helped themselves to a heaping
helping of our commonwealth.
4. We would still have our "inside the box" government where laws are
made and enforced, and elections take place. However, the box -- the
thing of the people -- would exist inside the circle of "we the
people." Because this voice would necessarily rise above the
positional, it would give a new directive towards breakthrough not
blame. The voice would be the voice of collective intention, invested
in the solution and not the problem.
The Next Step
Like everything else, before anything can be built there must be the
contextual container. The container is this: We the people are now
initiating the evolutionary step that will grow our system of
government to the next level and stand as an example for the rest of
the world to "steal." It is a step to empower a coherent field of
dreams to overgrow the field of nightmares we seem to be playing in
now. It is a step to awaken the heart and soul of America, and to add
to that awakened heart and soul a resonant voice -- the voice of we
the people.
It's a voice that has been drowned out by the power of too much power,
and stifled by the very forces we have entrusted to care for our
"thing of the people." Our representatives -- thanks to a system where
the rule of gold has stepped into the vacuum where the Golden Rule
used to be -- have been bought off, and have sold us out. The "news
media" we pay our good money to watch, listen to and read tells us we
are stupid and sells us lies.
We must face the situation we face squarely in the face. Denial is a
luxury we can no longer afford. We have exactly the government we have
"earned" by everything we have done or not done. Our doings and our
non-doings have nearly been our undoing. But that is what this
awakening is all about. We must release blame, and accept
responsibility. The issue isn't so much about impeaching George Bush
and Dick Cheney as it is about impeaching the entire impeachable
system. Bush and Cheney are merely the symptoms of what has been
inevitably cooking since we the people elected to go along with the
ruling class's "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- we promise not to ask
what they are doing in our name, and they promise not to tell us.
Here is something that bears repeating again and again because it
holds the power to awaken us from our trance of disempowerment. The
Declaration of Independence tells us that the voice of we the people
is the final voice, and it speaks louder and is stronger than any
delegated authority whether President, Congress or Judge. This is not
the voice of "my interests vs. yours," but the higher voice that can
be accessed through a process like Dynamic Facilitation. We have lost
that voice, but we are beginning to find it. And if we lose it again,
all we have to do is go back to the Declaration to remind us:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
There it is. The government is established to insure our collective
safety and happiness, as an instrument of common will -- not to be
used against one another, but for the benefit of all. We the people
are given the final power over any government, just as you might fire
an incompetent servant -- not to mention one who's been stealing you
blind. And the most valuable and precious thing stolen from us? That
would be our voice.
How do we go about giving form to this collective voice? Well, we can
find out more about the Citizens Amendment and offer support and
feedback. I will also be contacting Jim about the prospects of
creating such a Wisdom Council before any amendment is passed. It
won't have the official authority of a council that is legally-
mandated, but we might not have the time to wait. Such an experimental
council, if instituted and successful, could speed the Amendment
along. In any case, this is the beginning of a new conversation that
can lead us out of the bewilderness.

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: i...@wakeuplaughing.com
web: http://www.wakeuplaughing.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wisdom Council #1 Notes

GeorgeRS — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:26:26 CST

<-- See the notes by clicking on the links to the left.

Richard Moore reports on his visit, Nov 2007

GeorgeRS — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:24:24 CST

Greetings,
>
> I was fortunate and honored to be invited to Victoria last week,
> where I participated in a very productive confluence of energies.
> First, there were the Conveners -- the wonderful group of folks in
> Victoria who have already convened two successful Wisdom Councils,
> and who want to make their next one even better. Second, there were
> Jim & DeAnna -- a dynamite team -- giving us all a powerful three-day
> seminar / training in DF. I was there more or less as an outside
> agitator, wanting to learn DF, and carrying a few ideas I wanted to
> seed into the conversation.
>
> The various events of the week -- the training, an informal meeting,
> a final DF-facilitated session -- blended into one long conversation,
> deepening our understanding of dialog & society, and each other, and
> leading up to a very effective (choice-creating) final session. In
> the forwarded message below, George describes the outcomes of that
> session, and already we can see the first action steps underway.
> Everyone had told me that DF leads to "unanimous outcomes that
> everyone is enthusiastic about", but seeing it happen in real life
> was for me an emotional high.
>
> George identifies four points that lead up to a 'sense of direction'.
> There's a resonance among these points, they reinforce one another.
> The choice of a neighborhood as 'population', for example, enables
> the other initiatives to operate effectively. I recommend that we all
> give some attention to these outcomes, as the Victoria people are
> acting out of real experience, and they are on the 'leading edge of
> practice' as regards Wisdom Councils.
>
> Their emphasis on relationship building, at all levels, is
> particularly intriguing -- isn't that what democracy is ultimately
> about? By the language George uses, one can 'feel' the sense of
> community and relationship that exists within the convener's group
> itself. 'Be the change' and 'Walk the talk' seem to be in evidence
> here.
>
> One of the key elements of this whole episode was the use of DF for
> our own internal planning process -- making use of our own tools to
> deal with our own real problems. It worked very well, as advertised.
> Why don't we use these tools more often? If at any level we are
> seeking to create a democratic society, then we are facing a daunting
> task, and we will need to tap into our collective wisdom and 'create
> choices' if we are to succeed. So far we only know what the beginning
> of the path looks like.
>
> best wishes,
> richard
> http://cyberjournal.org/
> --------------------------------------------------------
>Greetings everyone...
>
> The last few days have been very rewarding given the various
> happenings involving DF and Wisdom Councils.
>
> 1. A number of Convenors participated in the three-day DF seminar
> with Jim and DeAnna (Caspar, Colin, Dan, and Brigitte) -- we now have
> five convenors with DF training.
>
> 2. On Wednesday we had a fun and free-wheeling discussion at Philip
> and Marya's house, talking about Wisdom Councils and lessons learned.
> This was a great evening to get the creative and conceptual juices
> flowing... with Marya's delicious pie appreciated by all.
>
> 3. On Saturday Nov 3rd, we had a rewarding session facilitated by
> DeAnna, with 16 enthusiastic people in the room, including Richard
> Moore. The energy danced and swirled as DeAnna captured our journey
> on the four flipcharts. We will be posting the flipchart notes on
> our wiki at <http://www.wisedemocracyvictoria.wetpaint.com> (if you
> have volunteered to capture any of the notes could you please send
> them to me by email as soon as you have a chance).
>
> The discussion led us in lots of directions in terms of what comes
> next for Wise Democracy. Here's the gist of our conclusions, loosely
> paraphrased from memory at this stage, to keep everyone in the
> picture. There are lots of details to fill in, of course.... and I
> hope others will jump in if I've misinterpreted anything. For the
> sake of conciseness and brevity in this email, I am of course, not
> reporting the full range of rich discussion that ensued on each
> point. The notes we post on the wiki will do a better job of
> capturing that.
>
> Speaking personally, I feel re-energized with the sense of direction achieved:
>
> * Random selection - we confirmed that this is an essential
> aspect of what gives our process legitimacy, and will once
> again make it a key feature of the next WC or Insight
> Council. We will seek ways to make the process easier --
> including involving the community to a much greater degree
> in preparation for the council (see Cultivating below).
>
> * Geographic area - it feels natural at this stage to refine
> our focus from the Victoria level to the Fernwood community
> level. There was a major shift in energy when the focus
> landed on Fernwood, with lots of potential for synergy --
> e.g., Doug has been asked to come up with some ideas for a
> conversation cafe, Ian Dakers is working on conversation
> opportunities at the new Goddess restaurant, the Fernwood
> commuity group wants to facilitate a vision for the heart of
> Fernwood.... (see more about this below). DF facilitators
> will be in big demand!
>
> * Cultivating the community -- it is becoming apparent that it
> would be much easier to convene a WC if the entire community
> is on board and anticipating the event... aware of what's
> planned and looking forward to receiving our invitations and
> possibly phone calls. For example, the Village Vibe
> community newspaper is mailed each month to 4,000 households
> in Fernwood (see below for what's planned...)
>
> * Metaphors & Stories -- the metaphor of starting a fire with
> kindling proved very powerful. You can choose to spread
> your kindling around on the floor and try to start a fire,
> or you can pile the kindling in the fireplace and watch it
> quickly spark into flame. Another metaphor was that of the
> convenors forming the trunk of a tree with the WCs like
> leaves. We came to realize that the role of the convenors
> and the story we've created together is an important part of
> the overall Wise Democracy story in Victoria (and perhaps
> globally)... and provides a continuous thread for the
> stories of the individual WCs.
>
> Latest action:
> This morning (Sun 4th) -- thanks to Ian -- Caspar, Ian and myself met
> with Trish Richards who's on the board of Fernwood NRG (Neighbourhood
> Resource Group)and also assistant editor of the Village Vibe
> (you can download past issues). Her group is organizing a meeting to
> kick-start a visioning and revitalization process for Fernwood square
> and Fernwood/Gladstone intersection. Trish is excited about the
> possibility for a Wisdom Council or Insight Council to engage the
> community and to see where democracy can take everyone in Fernwood.
> Caspar and I have offered to write an article for Village Vibe on
> Wisdom Councils for the January issue, with the idea that a Council
> could be held next March/April.
>
> Fernwood presents some amazing opportunities and feels like
> incredibly fertile ground to kindle a flame for democracy.
>
> NEXT MEETING: Since next Saturday is on a long weekend, we should
> meet on the following Saturday, November 17th at 10:00 am. Trish has
> been invited to join in. I'll keep you posted on location.
>
> Cheers, George
>
> PS: As part of the process of Fernwood Square revitalization, there
> will be a screening of Mark Lakeman's video on urban activism in
> Portland, Oregon: "The City Repair Project: Transforming Space Into
> Place." You are invited to the Cornerstone Cafe, Wed Nov 14th at
> 7:00 pm.
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> >

--

Convenor Materials for WC

GeorgeRS — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:10:59 CST

This section provides various materials developed by the Victoria Conveners to facilitate the process.

Click on the links to the left for
- Helpful points to consider when calling invitees
- Pre-WC handouts

See below for attached documents:
- WC2 Planning Timeline (proposed 3 month timeframe)
- WC2 Planning Timeline (actual 2 month timeframe)
- WC1 Planning Timeline (actual 5 month timeframe)

First Victoria Wise Democracy Forum Nov 10-12, 2006

GeorgeRS — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:08:16 CST

Summary of WDV Forum

Wise Democracy Weekend, November 2006
Introduction by Tom Atlee and Jim Rough

Friday Evening, November 10, 2006
About 80 people attended.
Caspar Davis welcomed everyone to the Wise Democracy Forum, explained that the Victoria Branch of the World Federalist Movement had initiated the process leading to this weekend because of their belief that global democracy starts with local democracy, and provided some context for the planned events.

George Sranko introduced the evening with Elizabet Sahtouris’ story (relayed by David Korten) which tells of the emergence of the butterfly in the cocoon. First, the caterpillar actually dissolves, and the resulting soup is reshaped by organizer cells into the form of the butterfly – but not before the organizer cells are themselves harassed by the remnants of the caterpillar’s immune system.
George introduced Tom Atlee, who enthusiastically recounted the Brian Swimme/Thomas Berry vision of our evolution from the hydrogen created in the Big Bang and the complex elements forged in Supernovas. He also told of his friends, the erstwhile fundamentalist preacher and his scientist wife, who have written a book called “Thank God for Evolution” and who travel in a van displaying a Darwin fish kissing a Christian fish. Tom said that people acting together are capable of both co-stupidity and co-intelligence, and that the context determines which emerges. Co-intelligent processes temporarily lift people to a higher state, where they are able to make statements that can be used to carry social evolution forward. He said that Wisdom Councils are a very effective tool for this purpose.

Jim Rough then told some stories of how Wisdom Councils had been used successfully in different contexts to create a much higher quality of community conversation. The extensive Q&A session elaborated on these issues.

Wisdom Council Workshop
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Approximately 35 people attended

We started with a round of introductions answering the questions, “Who are you, and what brought you here?” This round lasted for some time, and revealed that the participants were a very diverse group with a wealth of experience under their belts. It also led rather abruptly into a dynamically facilitated (by Jim Rough) session on the question of whether the workshop would be recorded or not. Some people found the facilitated session exhilarating, while others were mystified and/or resentful of what they saw as an anarchic and possibly pointless process.

As lunchtime approached, Jim realized that some participants were desperate for more context, and he started in on his theory of social evolution:
“Civilized” political authority was originally organized on the pyramidal model. Power was person-based, with the king on top, and loyalty to the king the overriding virtue.
In the 18th century, a very imperfect but radically innovative “We the people” consisting of (only) propertied white males, established a contract – the US Constitution – as the new basis for political authority. This rules-based model, which Jim depicted as a box, is based on a competition of self-interested parties. When it doesn’t work, people rebel, but so long as they stay inside the box they may change elites but they do not change the system of competition among self-interested parties. There is no real space for the common interest.
Jim says that it is now time for a conversation based political regime, depicted as a circle, in which each participant is a co-founder of whatever emerges. He sees Wisdom Councils as the vehicle that can take us out of the box and into the circle. Box processes are self-limiting, and they can be managed by elites. But circle processes are self-organizing. They cannot be managed, and they are messy. There is no telling where they will go, but they always have the potential to go to “of courses” – a place where all the participants look at each other and say, “Of course. That is how it is” (or how it must be changed).

Square processes are “decision making” – they are designed to choose between a range of recognized options. Circle processes are “choice creating” – they are not constricted by the recognized options but can create new – and sometimes better – options that no one had thought of before, and that take account of each person’s concerns.

After lunch Jean Rough described the Wisdom Council process, which requires the holding of a series of Wisdom Councils:
1. The holding of a Wisdom Council – an open-ended, dynamically facilitated conversation among approximately 12 randomly selected people.
2. A community meeting immediately following the Wisdom Council at which the Wisdom Council reports to the full community at a well publicized public meeting. The members of the Wisdom Council also talk about their experiences in the Council. It has been found that the energy and enthusiasm of the participants about the process energizes the whole meeting, and kicks off
3. A larger conversation throughout a small community, or in the churches and community groups of a larger community.
4. Ongoing Wisdom Councils build on and contribute to the momentum until the whole community is engaged in a new way of relating to each other and to issues.

About 15 people said they would like to be involved in organizing a series of Wisdom Councils.

Planning Meeting
Sunday, November 14 eleven people met to begin the work of planning. Six others had said they wanted to be involved but were unable to attend the Sunday meeting.

First Victoria Wisdom Council Statement

GeorgeRS — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:31:04 CDT

March 31, 2007

The Victoria Wisdom Council is a randomly selected group of citizens – symbolically representing all the people of Victoria – speaking on issues that affect us all.

Participation in a Wisdom Council is free and voluntary. Because of the random selection of its members, the Wisdom Council is independent. It does not represent any voice other than its own.

The Council chooses issues based on what the members feel is important. These issues are discussed and at the end of the meeting a unanimous statement is reached and presented to the public, after which this Wisdom Council disbands. A new Wisdom Council will be convened in the near future.

Statement of the First Victoria Wisdom Council

The Victoria Wisdom Council recognizes that the fabric of our society is fraying in a variety of ways:

We are increasingly isolated from each other
We are losing connection with our environment and making choices that have grave impacts upon it
Our society is increasingly socially and environmentally unsustainable
There is a growing disconnection between our government and the people

We believe these issues are solvable by fostering a shift from “I” to “We” in our attitudes and actions, by taking a greater role in our democracy, and by recognizing our personal responsibility for these issues.

The Victoria Wisdom Council encourages citizens to become more civically engaged and politically active, by:

Empowering disenchanted people to reconnect with public life
Providing more people to people connections, and
Offering new ways of finding and using our voice

The Wisdom Council itself is one way of achieving this.

Wise Democracy Victoria - Recently Updated Pages

Home