Protecting and Learning in a Time of Hatred
A Nation, Divided, with Liberty and Justice for the Few
I am one of the few people who predicted (not in writing) that Donald Trump would be the 45th president of the US since early in 2016, at a time when everyone else said it was just plain impossible, providing a long list of facts and figures that proved, for …
The Challenge of Connecting Dots
Alice Walton and Jim Walton, children of the Wal-Mart founder, at the 2011 Wal-Mart shareholders meeting. Each has assets of over $30 billion.
by Miki Kashtan
I am often haunted by moral questions or conceptual puzzles, sometimes for years on end. In the last couple of months, I made some …
Social Justice and Theater at a Time of Crisis
Augusto Boal at Riverside Church, NY City, in 2008
All of last week I was at a Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) training. I was drawn to the intensely evocative and provocative forms first created by Augusto Boal in the 1960s, designed to support marginalized groups in creating social change. …
Instead of Being Silent
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
There is something about people dying that I cannot fully make sense of. When it’s a group of people, and even more so when it’s …
Forward, Up, and Sideways: A Conversation about Nonviolence and the Great Turning
Guest post by Anna Barnett, communications and outreach manager for The Fearless Heart
Last week, Miki and I sat down for dinner with Chris Moore-Backman and Rebecca Sutton, both recently back from a 10-day gathering in Missouri with a group of about 40 people who are dedicating their lives to …
Aim for Taste: Collaboration in the Restaurant Business
Gilboa Herb Farm – a collaboratively run restaurant
John and Jane (fictitious names), brother and sister, run a hotel in a small tourist town, featuring farm-to-table organic food and a commitment to environmental considerations entirely unfamiliar in their region. They’ve been aiming for some time to move away from top-down …
An Instruction Manual for and about Dissenters
A few weeks ago I posted an entry about how dissent strengthens collaboration. In that article I spoke some about how to respond to outliers – the people who express a divergent opinion, persist in not trusting, or in some other way stand apart from a group. While some may …
What Will We Do if Trump Is the Next President?
Dorothy Thompson in 1920
In late 1931, Dorothy Thompson, then one of the US’s most respected foreign correspondents, interviewed Adolf Hitler. She spoke of “the startling insignificance of this man.” Although she could foresee the possibility that he would create a coalition government with centrist politicians, she nonetheless said: “it …
Strengthening Collaboration through Encouraging Dissent
Crossposted at The Center for Efficient Collaboration.
Tom Atlee
The first time I heard that groups thrive on dissent, I didn’t like the idea. It came up in conversations with Tom Atlee of the Co-Intelligence Institute, back in the mid-1990s. Tom was clear, based on his experience in activist movements …