Town Hall Notes: Possibility of starting a nonviolent, non-confrontive revolution

[These are notes from one of the break out groups at the January 9th, 2012 Occupy Sonoma County Town Hall meeting in Sebastopol. You are welcome to reply publicly or contact a group representative by emailing the contact listing below rather than Reply Privately. Thanks! -Barry]

Topic: Possibility of starting a nonviolent, non-confrontive revolution

We used the "Open Space" small groups process, and I was one of about 25 "conveners" who offered a group theme or question. For me, it was a somewhat magical - almost phenomenal - experience, starting with the randomly selected meeting spot for our group being almost exactly where I'd been sitting. The theme announcement I made started with Buckminster Fuller's quote, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. . ." I finished by saying I wanted to explore the possibility of starting a nonviolent, non-confrontive revolution.

There ended up being 6 of us, and I took to heart the principle that "the people who show up are the right people." Yet I was amazed to find that it was true!

I began by reading a few paragraphs I'd written shortly before going to the meeting:
________________________________________

For many years - ever since there was any kind of democracy - people have been trying to fix the system. Some advances have been made, but we still have an economic and political system that is extremely unjust, dysfunctional, violent, destructive and not sustainable. Most attempts at revolution have failed when they tried to meet force with force. Where they have succeeded for a time (e.g., Russia), they ended up being about as bad as the regime they replaced. This is because as long as power is concentrated, it will be abused or unwisely used. It's also because those with the most power don't want change; the system is working well for them as it is (or so they believe).

I want to join with others who are done with trying to fix the existing system and who want to focus their energy on building a completely new one: one that doesn't concentrate power but is based on sharing resources, responsibility and power. Initially, this will happen only on a small scale. Indeed, it is already happening in various ways in many parts of the world in the form of egalitarian communities, barter and mutual support networks. My interest is in moving towards a cooperative, power sharing way of life as the primary way we meet all our needs and manage our affairs.

So this is a revolution that doesn't directly challenge or try to overthrow the existing power structure. Instead, it provides an alternative that enables us to live well without depending on or supporting the dominant systems. It is creating – and offering the world – a way to live that is nonviolent, just, humane and ecologically sustainable.
___________________________________

Then I listened as other people shared their responses. Robin said that examples of cooperative groups or communities are well established in places like Sweden, so we can learn from them. Marilyn wondered if men and women can work together and share power, or if single-gender communities are more likely to work well. (I said a similar question might apply to adults and children, as in my experience children are often treated badly by adults.) Hank said that these are male and female archetypes that need to find harmonious ways of working together, by which I guess he meant we each have both male and female aspects within us.

Michael's thought was that we need to be sure all voices are heard, even the quietest - even the silent ones. Nancy added that we need to find the authentic voices within us. She works in Restorative Justice groups, that seek to create an environment of safety and respect as they bring together victims with perpetrators.

I said that we have a lot of groundwork to do - that we need to "heal the wounds of our ancestors," which we carry within us. Those wounds go back thousands of years, so it is no small task to deal with them. But we have the tools, one of which I mentioned is the Community Building process developed by M. Scott Peck and others. Nonviolent (or Compassionate) Communication is another valuable tool. My sense is that we have a lot of healing and growing to do in order to become people who can share resources, responsibility and power and live in caring, mutually supportive relationships with each other.

Marilyn said, "Yes, we need to deal with all the stuff from our families of origin. We need to build new families!" I was moved and astonished - almost teared up - hearing someone else say words I had thought many times.

And Robin exclaimed, "We really do have a lot of groundwork to do! I come from a problem-solving orientation and figured we should be able to just make certain changes and the new society would be happening. Now I see it's not quite that simple!"

Yes, exactly! I was amazed; indeed, the people who showed up were the right people!

Where we go from here I'm not sure. I'm beginning to suspect that most of us are so enthralled by the existing system - so caught up in the lives we live within this system - that it's really difficult to imagine a radically different way of living. And yet sharing and cooperation is a way of life that is not that unknown. It was a lot more common among some of the early European settlers of this country, and most of us have read about indigenous peoples whose tribal lives are very communal.

I'm not advocating a return to a primitive way of life; I'm a great believer in appropriate technologies. I do believe though that a non-authoritarian, non-hierarchical society and way of life is possible, and now is the time to begin building that if we want to have any chance of living in - and leaving our children - a peaceful, humane, just and sustainable world. Consider this an invitation to anyone who wants to explore what that society is like and how we can start the journey from here to there.

Clint Summer
[email protected]