[Consensus] A Consensus Weekend Retreat
Gregory Murphy
gsjmurphy at gmail.com
Sun Feb 19 12:55:27 EST 2012
Consensus, Spokes and Facilitation,
I am resending this email about a Consensus Workshop, next weekend on Long
Island. In response to my request for a payment plan, C. T. agreed to
accept 3 monthly payments of $83.33, and also informed me that this offer
is available to anyone else from Boston, who may want to attend. Allison
and I both want to participate, and I encourage our friends and colleagues
who are interested in consensus to join us, for this weekend outing. We do
not have a car, so most probably will avail ourselves of MegaBus. We just
need to figure out childcare for our daughter.
I also share two comments from recent emails, from C. T.. He has recently
bought an old RV, and he and colleagues are planning to embark on a
national tour of Occupations, in response to many invitations from around
the country. They are in the midst of some initial fundraising to get
themselves on the road, after which they feel they can sustain the tour
through workshops and book sales.
*
"Long Island is called long because it is. My friend (and patron, he
subsidized the writing of **Consensus for Cities and it is dedicated to
him) lives in Manorville which is one and a half hours from NYC, almost to
the eastern end, just short of the Hamptons. This workshop is being
subsidized by my friend. He is providing the housing at no cost to me and
the food at cost. (His wife is a graduate of a vegetarian culinary
institute in NYC I do not remember the name of and she will be doing all
the cooking.) The idea was to raise money for the tour. *"
*
"Also, the folks we listed as references in the email really do want to
hear from interested folks. They had a powerful experience and they would
enjoy sharing it. They didn't just say "yes, I'll be a reference" they
enthusiastically encouraged me to have people to call them. Frankly, I was
quite surprised and pleased, after two weeks had passed and those
post-workshop feelings had dissipated (I would have thought).*
*
*
I do realize that some of us have quite strong feelings about Mr. Butler,
and to some he is a controversial figure, and that there are other
proponents and models of consensus. I have certainly begun to expand my
reading list. That said, I find myself drawn to his work, and want to learn
more to test my strong belief that consensus would be a good model for
Boston to embrace. Please know I am doing some fundraising to sponsor C.T.
for another trip to Boston, but am unsure of the timing, and if it will
even happen.
C. T. is also offering a discount to any one of us attends, and who
recruits someone else to attend. Call me for more info. Please forward
this email to anyone you think may be interested. I think the timing is
perfect, as we experiment internally with using consensus at Spokescouncil
meetings, and as Facilitation is encouraging a broad conversation about
process.
Best,
Greg
617.413.6472
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: C.T. Butler <ctbutler at together.net>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 3:53 PM
Subject: Weariness in Occupyland
To: Gregory Murphy <gsjmurphy at gmail.com>
[Greg, be sure to check out my answers to Sati's questions attached below.
I strongly encourage you to consider attending this workshop so you know
firsthand what I am teaching. C.T.]
There's a lot of weariness out there in Occupyland this winter. Are you
bunkered in, wondering how such diverse people will ever practice direct
democracy? Are you discouraged, or already taking a break? Has your GA
shrunk down to the loud cowboy voices and the peacekeepers trying to
placate them? How did we know, you ask?
Wren and I have been experiencing the same stew of elation, hope,
consternation and frustration that many of you have shared with us in
person, by phone and in emails. Occupy is our baby, too, and we are as
deeply invested in its success as you.
This is why I'm urgently inviting you to Fiopa Consensus Collective's
*Consensus:
Body & Soul* workshop, February 24-26, on Long Island, NY. The reason I
want you to attend is that I believe, with all my heart, that value-based
consensus process is a revolutionary decisionmaking process unlike the
consensus process you have seen so far.
The following questions are typical of what we've been asked. These came
from Sati, of OWS:
*What do you do when you suspect there are plants in a group that would
like the group not to reach consensus – it would like the group to fail to
make any decisions?*
*What do you do when a group of people who are just too emotional, they
start shouting at each other?*
*Consensus appears to fail even in a small group of people, how can we
expect it to work in a large group of people like cities? They can’t even
gather together in one place. It seems to me that representative governance
just cannot be avoided. Once the group of representatives is down to around
10 or so, we could possibly think of consensus. But even in that situation,
the interest of the super-rich is diagonally opposite to that of poor. How
are they going to reconcile with each other?*
[My responses are attached at the bottom of this email.]
>From our experience with groups that do ongoing deep work with this model
for years, we know that consensus can address and resolve the serious
problems the Occupy movement encountered with direct democracy. However,
you do not have to take our word for this. Fiopa Collective recently taught
this workshop to activists from Occupy Baltimore. Please feel free to
contact the attendees below and hear directly from them what they
experienced:
Zak Wear • zakwear at gmail.com • 410.570.9322 *(graduate of Gilford College,
a Quaker college)*
Jenny Graf • jennygrafsheppard at gmail.com • 240.893.2239
Ed Boicourt • eboicourt at gmail.com • 443.677.9308
Lane Berck • 410.727.1880 *(leave message loudly and twice)*
The 2-day workshop on consensus will be held on Long Island (Manorville,
NY) Feb 24-26 (Friday evening to Sunday). It is accessible by the LIRR from
Penn Station to Mastic/Shirley or Patchogue (~$34 round-trip). We will
provide transportation from the train station to the venue. The host is an
experienced vegetarian chef. She will be providing light fare on Friday and
three meals Saturday & Sunday. We encourage folks to arrive Friday evening
whenever they can. Sessions will be 9am till 5pm both Saturday & Sunday.
All sessions will be held in a huge private home complete with hot tub. The
entire package is only $250/person, including tuition, room & board
(gourmet vegetarian food & indoor camping)! If you or anyone you know wants
a deep immersion in value-based consensus in an excellent environment, this
would be the one to attend. It promises to be an amazing experience! Please
print the brochure attached below and fill out and mail the registration
form or call Wren @ 410.458.2310 for questions or to register.
Again, I believe this work is an essential part of the change we all want
to see in our country. We need to learn how to make direct democracy work
for real. This is imperative. We cannot fail. To fail is to perish. Please
spread the word.
C.T. Butler
301.586.2560
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