Left Forum 2018

Dear Brooklyn SouthWest Cocounselors,
You are warmly invited to be part of a project by our region to take RC actively into the world at this year's Left Forum, June 2-4, 2018. Whether you identify as a wide world change activist or are exploring that work, your participation is welcome. The Left Forum is one of the largest gatherings of progressives. Last year our panel was one of some 400 panels and workshops, some 15 people participated in our panel and we later did an intro with two of them, dozens of people stopped by our table, and we connected with dozens more as we walked around the event inviting people to our panel and table. Altogether some 5000 people take part in the Left Forum. We learned a lot about sharing RC tools with the activist community and decided to participate again.
This year our panel topic is, "Tools for Listening When we Disagree. We plan to do this in the context of care of the environment, under the banner of Sustaining All Life, specifically on how RC listening tools can be useful to listen to those we disagree with about care of the environment in order to be better organizers. Disagreement is common in movement work as in all aspects of life, and has the potential to dig us in and cement disunity, or to free our best thinking and move us forward to stronger consensus, more aligned to reality. Yet, our personal, cultural, and historical experiences set us up to have intense feelings when we disagree that make it very difficult to sift through what is emotion and what is thinking and to not lose our human connection. By making agreements on how to listen to each other such as taking turns and exchanging time, agreements about our inherent goodness and humanity, and by discharging our early memories around disagreement , it can be possible to listen more effectively when we disagree.
You can be part of this project in a variety of ways: as a panel member sharing experiences of using RC tools to listen when we disagree; as a co-counselor present during the panel in the audience available to mini with participants; as a staffer at our table, talking with those who stop by about our panel, the literature, whatever questions they have; as an outreach person walking through the crowded hallways distributing fliers for our panel and table and talking with people. You can fit what you do to your time.
This is the same weekend as our regional Artist's Liberation for All Workshop which is a priority that weekend, and we are trying to get our panel to happen on Saturday which will make it possible, if it makes sense for your life, to participate in both events.
Leading up to the Forum those of us who decide, with ARPS permission, to participate, will be meeting together to discharge on our own early memories of disagreements, and think about best ways to share RC tools for the purpose of listening when we disagree.
This is an exciting opportunity to learn a lot about taking RC actively into the world which is key in the current period of great opportunity for system change. I encourage you to discharge on participating and to check-in with your teacher and ARP to see if being part of this makes sense for your life at present and will be reemergent for you. I very much look forward to doing this work together!
Much love,

Maritza

"Tools for Listening When we Disagree.
Disagreement is common in movement work as in all aspects of life, and has the potential to dig us in and cement disunity, or to free our best thinking and move us forward to stronger consensus and more effective strategy and action. Yet, our personal, cultural, and historical experiences set us up to have intense feelings when we disagree that make it very difficult to sift through what is emotion and what is thinking and make us lose our human connection with those we are listening to. In this hands-on workshop we will consider and try out tools for listening more effectively when we disagree including: Decisions and agreements we can make about how we listen to each other, such as taking turns and exchanging time; agreements about our inherent goodness and humanity; and listening practices to support each other to release and heal from emotional tensions attached to our early memories around disagreement. By practicing these tools with fellow organizers we can listen better to those we want to organize. In this workshop we will practice these tools in the context of care of the environment. We are part of Sustaining All Life, an international grass-roots organization dedicated to ending human caused destruction of the environment and the exploitation and oppression of people that cause these destructive processes. SAL does this work in the context of ending all divisions between people. SAL uses the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling to provide sustained mutual support that people use to free themselves from the discouragement, isolation, and other internal struggles resulting from oppression. When we free ourselves from the effects of oppression we can listen better to arrive at more effective and united strategies.

Maritza Arrastia is a writer, activist, and popular educator. She is a member of Sustaining all Life and is committed to supporting unity and effective action in the Climate Justice movement in many ways, including sharing effective tools for listening when we disagree that she has learned over many years of practicing peer counseling. She teaches classes and workshops for people of color, immigrants, and others to listen better to each other in order to reclaim more of our flexible thinking. She is a member of the May First/People-Link leadership committee and is committed to contributing to the revolutionary use of technology. She is a New York Writers Coalition Workshop leader and is committed to contributing to every one having a voice.

Karim Lopez is a film-maker, writer, and co-founder of Truth to Power Films. He is an activist for media justice through his film-making and his political work with May First-People/Link. He is a member of Sustaining all Life and is committed to building unity toward the end of ending human caused destruction of the environment.

Kathy Martino BIO FROM LAST YEAR has been an anti-war activist, working class organizer, and past participant in leftist organizations. She has since been interested in determining why the great socialist revolutions failed in the long run; why progressive movements have often stalled; and why many seemingly progressive and well-intentioned people remain classist, racist, and sexist in their everyday interactions. After learning the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling, she believes they can be key in achieving a radical, human new world.