Hosting Conversations about Questions that Matter

March/April Conversation

The question for our first month’s Inquiry Circle is:

”What crucial conversations should we as a global community be having in light of what recently happened in Haiti, Chile and now Turkey? What are the critical questions we should be engaging in relation to these?"

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Replies to This Conversation

Permalink Reply by John Inman on March 18, 2010 at 12:35pm

Ryan, very good question. Each is a bit different to me. Haiti I would be asking what is the responsiblity of the western world in allowing the structural inequiltiy that drives the result that we saw in Haiti? Are we supporting and promoting multinational corporations and exploitation at the expense of those who are living in poverty? Then for Chile and Turkey, the countries have resources and money so how can we support these countries in developing responsive actions in the face of disaster?

Just thoughts Ryan. I wish you the best.

Permalink Reply by Ria Baeck on March 20, 2010 at 2:02pm

Thinking along the same lines as John, I wonder if the question could be something like:
How do we learn to see the systemic causes of what happened in these countries, and how can we support that systemic view through our practices?

Permalink Reply by Sabine Soeder on March 22, 2010 at 8:24am

Thinking around this question...
I found very interesting the fact, that the newspapers in Germany have given a lot of attention to Haiti, much less to Chile and only a few articles around the earthquakes in Turkey. I would like to hear your experiences with the media around the world?

Permalink Reply by Mark Wilding on March 31, 2010 at 3:08pm

I resonate with much of what has been said. My questions come out of our sense of denial about events like these. We seem to be in 'serial shock' about these kinds of events -- perhaps out of our desire for things to stay the same. So ... What would resilience look like? How might we develop architectures - both physical, communal, and organizational structures that would be more prepared to survive severe disturbances and respond more effectively to these inevitable destructive forces?

Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on April 13, 2010 at 3:51pm

I love this framing for a question, Mark...

My tweak on it would be "What would resilience in a conscious and caring collective psyche look like?"

Permalink Reply by Mark Wilding on April 20, 2010 at 7:31am

Amy - Yes -- good suggestion -- also individual psyche too? I am struck personally by how I can experience some things as trauma and at other times -- as challenges and part of the natural cycle of life. ie death of loved ones - illness etc...

Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on April 19, 2010 at 3:04pm

Here's another direction to consider... I'm always struck by the contrast between the amount of global popular attention that major disasters like these generate compared to far more damaging and deadly ongoing crises related to disease, malnutrition, poverty, environmental devastation, human rights, women's rights, etc. The UN Millennium Goals produced a commitment from developed countries to raise a fairly modest amount of money to do an enormous amount of good work on these issues and we wound up well short of those targets. Meanwhile, high profile disasters attract "easy" billions.

Obviously I don't mean to diminish the need for such immediate relief or the tremendous suffering that these events have caused. But how can we tap into the same spirit of compassion and generosity that such disasters generate to address the far deeper and larger challenges affecting humanity?

Permalink Reply by Sabine Soeder on April 22, 2010 at 4:54am

Like I was stuck in London last week for 4 days - it was very interesting, to see how different people reacted on such a situation: I would say, it was not a catastrophy for us - nobody was hurt or died - it was more a "time out" for thinking, how we are going on with our time, our daily things & doings.
And in that sense it was a great experience to see, how this situation of "now, you can not control the situation of your travelling" has worked on myself. I was at the same moment very calm (gelassen in German - there is no equivalent word..) and all senses were very open and awake to see which decision is to take for the next step - and than I found myself happy and happier after each mile/kilometer coming closer to my home - just travelling by train - hour after hour through Europe!

Does somebody else have some experience to share with us? Maybe some situation where the nature is clearly giving the direction of where to go?

Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on April 22, 2010 at 3:03pm

This conversation is in the perfect place for our online Community World Cafe coming up this weekend... I hope everyone here will be able to attend and bring forward these and other thoughts to share and cross-pollinate with others. I especially hope that those who are new to the World Cafe or this community of practice will have the wonderful experience of a generative and spacious World Cafe - expanding our thinking and deepening our human connections, wherever we are.

See you there!

Amy

Permalink Reply by Sabine Soeder on April 27, 2010 at 9:08am

Yeah! We have had a wonderful first online World Café last saturday with participants from different parts of the US, Canada and Europe (Denmark, the UK, Germany)! I feel a deep gratitude for meeting you all around the world in this great atmosphere, builded up from every participant! Thank you all for that!

AND we have some great graphic recordings from John Herge - thank you, John, for your great clear view and way of making our dialoges and insights visible!

Looking forward to continue our conversations...
all the best,
Sabine

Permalink Reply by Ben Roberts on April 27, 2010 at 9:48am

Sorry I missed this. But I was there in spirit, working with kids to create and run an "environmental maze" for our local Earth Day celebration instead. Looking forward to the May WC.