LF Report to edit

Submitted by thewritingroom on Thu, 2018-06-21 17:42

Draft Report
Left Forum Report
The LF project included a literature table, outreach work, and a presentation on Tools for Listening when we disagree by a panel of 3 RCers from the Southwest Brooklyn region. The WS on June 2 was at 10 AM and before it cc fanned out and distributed flyers among the Left Forum participants. The previous afternoon and early evening three co counselors set up a literature table and distributed 200 flyers. The cc distributed the flyers in a friendly engaged and engaging way. Several of the WS participants, during an opening go-round, answered the question, why did you come to this WS? by saying, because of the contact they’d had with the cc who invited them.
The LF is a large yearly gathering of movement activists and scholars comprised of several hundred panels, workshops, and plenaries. This is the third year that RC participated. The first two were as United to End Racism (UER) and this year was as Sustaining all Life (SAL). Left Forum was founded in the 1960s as the Socialist Scholars Conference (SSC) and by the late 80s had grown to an average of 1,500–2,000 attendees a year, approximately 300 to 400 speakers, 200 panels and about 50 exhibitors including book publishers, university presses, journals, and organizations and had become the largest annual gathering of the left in the US. In 2004 the conference changed its name to Left Forum.
RCers from the NY regions have been participating in the Left Forum as RC for the last three years. In 2016 when the theme of the Conference was Rage, Rebellion, Revolution: Organizing Our Power, we did a UER panel/workshop entitled Breaking Patterns, Changing Systems with three RC panelists (Irene Shen, Karim Lopez, and Maritza Arrastia). It was held in the last session of the last day and was small. Two RCers who were at the Left Forum through their wide world change work, were excited to find an RC panel on the program and participated as walk-ins, in addition, a young adult woman joined the group. We learned a lot about how to communicate RC theory and practice in a left context and got an opportunity to discharge on-site about taking RC actively into the world. Both RCers who stumbled onto our WS joined the team for LF 2017. That year the LF Theme was The Resistance and we presented a UER panel on: Reclaiming Human Potential: a Revolutionary Tool. We had the same three panelists and were joined by Kathy Martino. This time we also had a table, a larger team of counselors that was able to do outreach, and a much better time slot on Saturday, the biggest day of the conference. Between RCers and participants we had a group of some 20 people, and held a follow up intro with three attendees. LF 2018's theme was Toward a New Strategy for the Left. Karim Lopez, Kathy Martino and I (Maritza Arrastia) presented a SAL panel/workshop entitled Tools for Listening When You Disagree. A group of 11 cocounselors and 14 LF attendees participated.

The LF was held at John Jay College and we set up the classroom type room in a circle. The structure of the panel was: Welcome, Opening circle (Questions: why you came to this particular workshop, your connection to activism). Panelists talks, Mini, Q&A, mini, closing. Each panelist spoke for 5 minutes, One panelist explained a mini-session, we had enough cc that almost every new participant could partner with a cc, on feelings, and thoughts about what had been said, Feelings/thoughts when we disagree and/or a memory of a disagreement. Following the mini we welcomed responses and questions. We had optional activities planned: a possible second panel go-round, a demo or demos, small discharge groups, but we ended up responding to excellent questions posed by the participants, doing a second mini, and having a one word closing. We had a few minutes left after the closing, offered a third mini, and all the participants welcomed the opportunity to mini again. Several participants expressed interest in learning more about RC and gave us contact information. However none participated in a follow-up intro we offered the following Saturday. One participant responded to the cc he had mini-ed with and expressed criticisms of the panel. He stated that he felt the theme of climate change had not been addressed enough and it had felt manipulative to state that as the context when in reality we were doing an intro to RC. He did not think healing early hurts was necessary or useful for movement work. He found our theory "simplistic". He also googled RC and was upset by the alleged connection to Dianetics. While some of his criticisms were sessions and some provide useful feedback on areas where we can be more clear and transparent, and key pieces of theory to emphasize around liberation theory, the relationship between oppressions and early hurts, and the ways movements often end up replicating oppressive patterns, and our understanding that not healing early hurts contributes to that. We did state these points but, we can learn better how to communicate these concepts and perhaps structure minis on each.

Some of the questions/responses from participants were:
I can see how I might listen in a structured way like this where we have made an agreement to listen to each other, but how would you do this when there is no agreement?
What about when the disagreeing person is a “bad actor" (police agent of some kind)?
Why should I bother to listen to people who are never going to change and are never going to join a movement? Wouldn’t I want to cut my losses?
How might I apply this when I go facilitate a panel later today with many contentious points of view being expressed?
In our meetings of the project leading up the Left Forum (one in person, three opportunites for participating in a conference call), one of the things we focused on, was that our re-emergence is key, the source of all we do, and the goal of all we do, including taking RC actively into the world.
My re-emergence
Leading up to the Left Forum, as I discharged on the content and focus of the panel, I discharged a lot of early terror as I worked on memories of being a Protestant in Cuba, daughter of an evangelist, and later a member of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in the US as a young adult. In the context of taking RC actively into the world early feelings of shame came up. As a young person I felt shame that my family somehow knew something that was supposed to be better than what other people knew (being protestant was supposed to be a better way to be Christian, than being catholic). Because for protestants in Cuba many of the things most Cubans enjoyed such as dancing, were sins, I internalized a sense that my family and I were weird. I discharged a lot on places where the “weird “ material had attached to RC. The weird material was compounded by the experience of being an immigrant, the pressures of assmilation, and internalized colonization and genocide patterns. I discharged a lot on these feelings leading up to the LF panel and by the morning of June 2 I could tell that our tools are eminently human, the opposite of weird. On the panel I came from a place of understanding and pride of the body of work of RC over many decades. I had a picture of how by applying the theory and practice to itself as an organization RC had attained one of the greatest longevities among liberation organizations in the US. My “weird” material tends to have me move through the world feeling as though I have “no standing”, to speak with authority on anything. This time I could really tell that I, and we in RC have standing and authority to be able to say:
Listening across disagreements is necessary and doable. It will lead to better, stronger consensus and concerted action. This listening tool is one progressive movements need to build the unity this moment needs.
Doing so brings up many feelings. We have long chains of feelings around disagreements, beginning in our early childhoods, rooted in our histories. And disagreement is made more complex as they enmesh into the gears of the oppressive society, are linked to access to power, privilege, wealth, military might. Opinions, views, policies, are linked to the core “disagreement” between oppression and liberation, and some of the positions have armies. Disagreement is further complicated by its manipulation to disrupt and destroy movements sometimes by expressions from confused but honest individuals or groups and many times by what our questioned called “bad actors” on the payroll of branches of the state whose job is to undermine liberation movements.
Our message was: by listening well to each other on our life story on disagreements, by discharging feelings that emerge, we are in better shape to listen in the course of our activist work and lives, we have more of our hearts and minds available to make good judgment calls as to why, when, to whom and how we listen.
Our context for listening was climate justice. We chose this frame because there is general agreement within the progressive movement that this is a crisis that must be taken on. And because in order to build the movement needed to do so it will be necessary to craft policies and design actions across many views and uniting many constituencies and it will be necessary to listen to and communicate well with many who have been confused.

Reports by project members:
Laura's
Laura’s report

On Friday, Maybel and I passed out flyers to people at the LF for the next morning’s panel. We had a couple of minis in between to discharge on our getting out there and putting RC in the public. We enjoyed doing this together.

On Sat morn, during the RC panel, it was a familiar setting to have everyone sitting in a circle, unlike other panels which were classroom-style setup (as far as I could tell). It was immediately welcoming and presented a feeling of openness from the outset. Someone made a comment about that too.

I loved hearing our 3 panelists speak and to see how flexible they were in their response to the questions. And to hear them talk about RC in a non-RC group as well as in a non-RC context. Everybody seemed engaged.

In one of the minis, the other person had some discharge (though they weren’t quite aware of it) which I think was refreshing for them.

Lessons learned and going forward: what other kinds of venues can we continue doing this kind of work? And how do we follow up with people who gave us their emails at the panel? How do we keep the momentum going?

Maibel's report
Esta es la versión en inglés, la traduje en google, espero que esté bien:

I had to distribute flyers on the first day of the event, inviting people to the RC conference, Sustaining All Life
"Tools for Listening When we Disagree".

My highlights and lessons are:

I felt confident doing my tasks of the day, taking mini sessions to discharge about being active in the world, inviting people to our panel, giving a message, talking with people I did not know, distributing pamphlets, and interacting with a sometimes generous and other times elusive reality. It seemed to me that all the activities became much easier with the company of other counselors, because we had the opportunity to discharge all the feelings of discouragement and then go back to work.

When taking action, the value of our practice takes on another dimension: the effect of how we do what we do, and how we think, can be seen. Indeed, the tools we have and the closeness between us are key to the change of our society. I foresee good results from our efforts, because putting our attention away from our distresses and working together thinking well about each other is a powerful way to take action in the world today, where there are so many challenges.

Taking action in the world may sound overwhelming, but it is not, it is something reachable and it is something that can be done together. That Friday, I saw myself perform a small but significant task. I do not doubt it. How many people will I have impacted? I can not know, but it was worth it. That day, with my RC partners, I discovered that we are activists, because we are present at the precise moment to take the best and necessary action. We have prepared ourselves very well to be able to participate in the action with our reason and not with our distress, to participate in the action thoughtfully and with clarity.

This day was one of the most memorable days of my life within RC, because I was able to put into practice the process of reevaluation in the present time, in relation to a specific action. Making a decision is one of the best ways to work with our material, because it brings the material to the surface.

It is very inspiring to be part of a wide world action for a better society, and to bring our systematic listening and reevaluation process to the revolutionary movements and actions that take place today.
I believe that one way to expand RC in the wide world is to participate with our tools supporting the current change processes. We can offer support with our thinking and tools, for the good of our interests and those of all.

Remembering that Kathy and Laura were with me throughout all the process that day, and that I could have moments of rest in which I shared with them how I was doing or how I really felt, was a great example of how RC is a tool that can be used in the present time, when we are deciding.

This day, I also had the opportunity to work on my patterns of urgency; I have been told this great contradiction, "you have to be able to convey the seriousness and urgency of something without being urgent". With this thought I spent the afternoon feeling that what I was doing was enough, and that in no way should my "doing" be more important than my well being. I could also take breaks without feeling small or guilty when I stopped doing my task; my perspective of that day's work was linked to feelings of satisfaction, of being significant, and of teamwork.

I could also see how my partners re-emerged. One of them did not want to return to the Left Forum the following day. She was motivated to return for the panel on Saturday by the process of communicating, being interested and participating, relating to other human beings and celebrating reality, noting the space, the information, who was there and what was happening, engaging and also taking time to discharge. I have the theory that many of the "de-motivations" that we live day to day could be transformed by our decision making and action. The experience of living generates enthusiasm, commitment. There is nothing more captivating than reality and deciding to participate in it is what activates vitality.

Something good about being part of the RC community is that we can take action in company, together with each other, and that we have a theory enriched by decades and by many minds, which supports the healing of the human mind. These are good times to take action. Today we can say that we have each other's backs.

About socialization, I realized that because we are cultivating a counselor relationship, when being together in a context that is not exclusive to RC, our perception is clear about who we are for each other and how we are going to show up. Even when I was not explicitly doing something related to the process of discharge and re-evaluation, I knew that I could trust each one of my companions and that we were there to think well of one another, taking the time to do sessions when it was necessary and enabling each other to act outside of our distress.

In RC theory, we say that the only class that has a future is the working class. Taking action as an RC group is an opportunity to work effectively outside the oppressions of race, class, sex, age, religion, and to build within today's reality the future we would like.

> On Jun 4, 2018, at 2:00 PM, M. M. wrote:
>
>
> Me vi a mí misma con fé al realizar mis tareas del día, tomando mini sesiones para desahogar respecto de estar activa en el mundo, invitando, dando un mensaje, hablando con gente que no conozco, repartiendo panfletos e interactuando con la realidad, a veces generosa y otras esquiva. Me pareció que al hacerlo con la compañía de otros coescuchas toda la actividad se volvía mucho más fácil, pues desahogábamos todos los sentimientos de desánimo y luego regresábamos al trabajo.
>
> Al tomar acción, el valor de nuestra práctica cobra otra dimensión, pues puede verse el efecto de cómo hacemos lo que hacemos, y de cómo pensamos.
> Efectivamente, las herramientas de trabajo que tenemos y la cercanía entre nosotros son una llave para el cambio de nuestra sociedad, nos auguro beneficiosos esfuerzos: poner atención fuera de la angustia y estar juntos pensando bien del otro es poderoso para poder tomar acción en el mundo de hoy día, donde hay tantos desafíos.
>
> Tomar acción en el mundo puede sonar algo abrumador, pero no lo es, es algo accesible y es algo que es posible realizar entre todos. Durante ese viernes, me vi a mi misma realizar una tarea pequeña pero significativa, no lo dudo. ¿A cuantas personas habré impactado? No puedo saberlo, pero ha valido la pena. Ese día, con mis compañeras, descubrí que somos activistas, y lo somos porque estamos presentes en el momento preciso para tomar la mejor y necesaria acción. Nos hemos preparado muy bien para poder participar de la acción con nuestra razón y no con nuestras angustias, para participar de la acción con nuestro pensamiento y con nuestra claridad.
>
> Este día, fue uno de los más memorables días de mi vida dentro de RC, porque pude poner en práctica el proceso de desahogo en tiempo presente, en relación a una acción específica. Tomar una decisión es una de las mejores formas de trabajar con nuestro material, porque este sale a la superficie.
> Es muy inspirador ser parte de la acción y acompañar con nuestra sistemática escucha y proceso de revaluación a los otros movimientos y acciones revolucionarias que tienen lugar hoy día. Recordar que Kathy y Laura estaban conmigo durante todo el proceso y que podía tener momentos de descanso en los cuales compartía con ellas cómo me iba o cómo me sentía realmente, fue un gran ejemplo de cómo RC es una herramienta que puede ser usada en tiempo presente, cuando estamos decidiendo.
>
> Creo que una forma de expandir RC en el ancho mundo es participar con nuestras herramientas soportando los procesos de cambio actual. Nosotros podemos ofrecer respaldo con nuestro pensamiento y herramientas, por la sanidad de nuestros intereses y los de todos.
>
> Este día, igualmente tuve la oportunidad de desahogar mis patrones de urgencia; se me ha dicho esta gran contradicción “hay que ser capaz de transmitir la seriedad y la urgencia de algo sin ser urgente”. Con este pensamiento pude pasar la tarde sintiendo que lo que hacía era suficiente, y que de ninguna forma mi hacer debería estar primero que mi propio “estar bien”. También pude tomar descansos sin sentirme pequeña o culpable al dejar de hacer y mi perspectiva del trabajo de aquel día estuvo ligada a sentimientos de satisfacción, de ser significante y de trabajo en equipo.
>
> También puede ver cómo mis compañeras re-emergieron. Una de mis compañeras no quería volver al día siguiente al Left Forum y en el proceso de participar y desahogar, de comunicarse, estar activa, interesada y participando, relacionándose con otros seres humanos y celebrando la realidad, notando el espacio, la información, a quienes estaban allí y lo que allí ocurría, se sintió motivada para regresar. Tengo la teoría de que muchas de las desmotivaciones que vivimos día a día podrían ser transformadas con nuestra toma de decisión y la acción. La experiencia de vivir genera entusiasmo, compromiso. No hay nada más cautivador que la realidad y decidir participar de ella es lo que activa la vitalidad.
>
> Algo bueno de ser parte de la comunidad de RC es que podemos tomar acción en compañía, los unos junto de los otros, y que tenemos una teoría enriquecida por décadas y por muchas mentes, la cual respalda la sanidad de la mente humana. Son buenos momentos para tomar acción, hoy podemos decir que nos cubrimos las espaldas, los unos con los otros.
>
> Sobre la socialización, me he dado cuenta de que al cultivar una relación de escuchas, al estar juntos en un contexto que no es exclusivo de RC, nuestra percepción está clara sobre quienes somos el uno para el otro. Aun al estar en grupo haciendo un trabajo no explícitamente relacionado con el proceso de desahogo y re-evaluación, supe que podía confiar en cada una de mis compañeras y que estábamos allí para pensar bien la una de la otra, tomar tiempo para hacer sesiones cuando fuera necesario y habilitarnos mutuamente para actuar fuera de la angustia.
>
> En nuestra teoría, decimos que la única clase que tiene futuro es la clase trabajadora. Tomar acción desde el baluarte de RC es una oportunidad para acceder al trabajo fuera de las opresiones de raza, clase, sexo, edad, religión, y construir en la realidad de hoy el futuro que nos gustaría.

Myrna
I thought the panel discussion, “Tools for Listening When We Disagree,” led by three articulate and well informed RC counselors, held at the Left Forum on June 2, was brilliant. The large number of participants is testimony to the need for this type of information and they were not disappointed!

The explanations of why listening is an important skill necessary to build trusted and lasting connections was beautifully explained using popular language that was totally understandable and meaningful. Panelist explained the difference between feelings and thinking and how feelings seem to pop up when there is disagreement; those feelings usually cause an end to a discussion or a discussion that degenerates into a brawl. That these feelings are not useful was noted and ways to address these feelings were suggested and practiced. “Minis” were explained and practiced. Fortunately there were enough experienced counselors present who could be paired with newcomers.

The idea that finding ways to have rational discussions with people with whom we disagree was offered as the way to connect to others and forge important relationships. Noticing “patterns” that get in the way of rationality was explained as were the ways these patterns impede the development of a large and successful movement that could change society. (The emphasis was on creating an environmental movement but other important changes were noted as well.) The panelists repeated that healing from “patterns of hurt” would facilitate our success when interacting with others.

The panel not only presented the reasons why listening tools were useful, and the means of honing these tools (minis were perfectly timed) but offered the notion that these tools are available to anyone who wants them. (No “overnight cure” was offered of course.) The fact that we can heal from our patterns and adopt these tools was hopeful; hope was an apparent commodity at the panel and was reflected in the light and friendly atmosphere.

Proof of the panel’s success was demonstrated by one person who said he would present these techniques in the session he was facilitating in the afternoon; he was receptive to suggestions that he present a group of “rules” to which all would agree before his session started, for example “do not interrupt, no one speaks twice before another has spoken,” etc.)

In summary, I was delighted to see RC presenting its beautiful and intelligent face to the world.

Suggestions:

1. Many newcomers at the Panel were interested in RC but several said they would “Google” it before committing. This is not unusual; I have heard this several times after offering introductory sessions in Florida. Therefore, knowing that there are internet sites that discredit RC, it might be a good idea that before concluding any public discussion, some explanation of internet sites be advanced and explained. We all know that outside forces try to sabotage any movement dedicated to finding ways to connect natural allies and transform society. I think it might be useful to warn new people in advance so that when they go on-line, they will not be surprised by some of the vile things that are written.

2. As at this panel, make certain that enough experienced counselors are there so that they can be paired with newcomers.

Critical Feedback from participant Dave
I never did hear back from Dave giving his permission, so here's the paraphrased version. I did copy some quotes.

Dave thought the LF session was "manipulative and dishonest" and was more an intro to RC rather than about climate change.

He looked up RC and read about a "historical connection to Dianetics". It reminded him of AA, which is helpful to many people but "extremely rigid in foundational thinking". He thought the idea of "past hurts" as the reason ppl are " stuck in irrational thinking" is "way too reductionist".

He doesn't believe ppl need to "buy into anything like RC to be empathetic listeners with whom they disagree, which is how LF session was marketed". He agrees that people need to listen to each other and he acknowledges painful pasts. But he doesn't think it accounts for people's wasteful consumer habits.

He says that if he were to be reductionist, he would "lay blame squarely on Capitalism", but requires "new political and economic policies". "This is way bigger than each individual's past hurts. We are all in this together. We do not have to resolve all those personal issues to wake up, question the system, and then make positive, political change. "

==============

I was thinking, next time, can we provide a form for them to fill out after the session, to get feedback?

For those interested in doing similar projects, below are some of the materials we used:
Blurb for the LF program, and panelist bios:

Tools for Listening When We Disagree

Disagreement is common in movement work as in all aspects of life. It has the potential to dig us in and cement disunity. But it can also help us to arrive at our best thinking and move us forward to stronger consensus and more effective strategy and action.

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. It can make us lose our human connection with those we disagree with.

In this hands-on workshop we will consider and try out tools for listening more effectively when we disagree. By practicing these tools with fellow organizers we can listen better to those we want to organize. These include:
1) Decisions and agreements we can make about how we listen to each other, such as taking equal turns to speak.
2) Agreements we can make about our inherent goodness and humanity that will help us listen.
3) Listening practices we can use to support each other to recognize the tense emotional feelings attached to our early experiences around disagreement and heal from them.

In this workshop we will practice these tools in the context of care of the environment. We are part of Sustaining All Life (SAL), 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 is a member of Sustaining All Life. She 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 and why progressive movements have often stalled and their gains reversed. After learning the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling, she believes they can be key in achieving the goals of this Left Forum in building unity and developing a winning strategy on the left, and are the key to making permanent gains in society.

Text of the flier:
Join us for a panel presented by Sustaining All Life
"Tools for Listening When we Disagree”
Saturday June 2nd at 10:00 a.m., Room 1.82

We all want to build and sustain a strong environmental movement. To do this we must have a place to share and heal from feelings about climate change and any discouragement we feel about taking needed action. We need to build unity and develop ways to overcome obstacles to our work, such as disagreements that may happen in the course of our work.

Disagreement is common in movement work as in all aspects of life. It can cement disunity or move us forward to effective strategy and action. It can make us lose our human connection with those we disagree with. In this hands-on workshop we will try out tools for listening more effectively when we disagree. By practicing these tools with fellow organizers we can work on eliminating difficulties that get in our way of being effective which will help us listen better to those we want to organize. We will practice these tools in the context of care of the environment.

Panelists are:
Maritza Arrastia, a writer, activist, and popular educator and a member of Sustaining All Life, committed to sharing effective tools for listening learned over many years of practicing peer counseling.

Karim Lopez, 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 ending human caused destruction
of the environment.

Kathy Martino is a member of Sustaining All Life, has been an anti-war activist, working class organizer, and past participant in leftist organizations. After learning the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling, she believes they can be helpful in the movement to achieve permanent gains in the struggle for equitable human societies.

Sustaining All Life is an international grassroots organization working to end climate change within the context of ending all divisions among people. We use the tools of Re-evaluation Counseling to provide ongoing mutual support that people use to free themselves from the discouragement, isolation, and other internal struggles caused by the oppressions and other experiences in our societies that separate us from one another and from the world around us. Our goals include: 1) Increasing awareness of the existence of and damage caused by climate change. 2) Freeing people from oppression and hurts that turn them against one another and in competition for resources. 3) Supporting one another to organize effectively to preserve and restore the environment.
Please visit us at the Sustaining All Life table located in the Commons
On Saturday, June 9th at 1:30 pm we will have a meeting to further discuss these tools. Contact us at uer.rcnyc@gmail.com for more information.

Notes from post LF conf call KM
Betsy - We panelists didn’t dominate. Good to have mini, good title. Ask to the fundraiser? Hopeful, loves telling people about it, having a team makes it go well.
Laura – People felt reassured by the circle, was welcoming, liked out talks and made personal general and specific at the same time, showed how RC is flexible. Liked the 3 panelist, people could engage and understand. Everyone was. When she did a mini with someone, they discharged and were delighted by it, was satisfying. What other venues can we do this? Next steps, how to follow up with people who were there. How encourage them to join RC. How to keep the momentum going. It was encouraging.
Stephanie – liked what went well, having such a strong leadership team and strong support, modeled something great, including diversity. Race, religion, class, experience etc. Having scripted questions was helpful, a place to start. Useful for people to tell personal stories on how the tools have worked, whether in activism or other aspects of your life, a concrete way to make connections. Questions were great, wide responses. How to run meetings was useful, we were able to get a lot of information in a short amount of time. Moving forward- this is how you can – title, create opportunities to get the information out.
Michele – Loved how welcoming Maritza was in the beginning, unusual was proud. Each had own perspective when talked on the topic, Kathy talked about being a parent, people could relate to it and get something out of it, her own story. Liked the minis, getting to do it with different people after the talking. Next steps going out in communities, using street fairs etc, a great opportunity to push ourselves there and be ourselves, would like to do more of that.
Bruni – highlight, what people said, it went well. Was exciting to have the panel talk about ideas in public, getting to share what we know, Karim about restimulation, all talked about discharge, in her mind are “taboo” but it made a lot of sense, were interested and eager. Would love to find other places to share these ideas. Next steps listening table at a street fair? Love to think more about how to bring the ideas out. Lessons – people are eager for the information. For me not to be shy about it, people not find weird, be as honest as can and give people the experience.
Maritza – Agrees, how many people mentioned people they had spoken to which was why they came, shows something about connecting, would be good to prepare more, but were ready to take this on, we were welcoming , how much we could take on and have a teaching moment. Lessons, she noticed that something had shifter for her, realized we have authority and standing to think on these issues. People are ready to hear about discharge, next steps, interested as a region an ongoing support group on taking RC into the world, COE, sharing the tools for social change, group in Sunset Park has internal issues, her and Helene may do something there on the topic of disagreeing.
Post LF Conf Call bruni notes
Betsey –
Highlight – did mini with Myrna right where people were coming in, and offered counselors 3 min. as they came in
Workshop was SO good. All sounded relaxed and in charge
Articulate, in charge, but not dominating
People had a lot of space
Was concerned if people could do 5 min. mini so soon, but they did great.
The title really attracted people.
Excellent questions
Young man next to her wants to join RC
Having a team together is one thing that made it go really well

Laura
Highlights – loved that people sat in a circle, and that was immediately welcoming to everybody.
Loved hearing everybody on the panel speak, and how flexible your responses to the questions were. Loved hearing how you talk about RC in a non-RC group, and how engaged everybody was. In one of the minis the other person had some discharge.
Lessons: what other kinds of venues could we continue doing this kind of work?
How do we follow up with people who gave us their emails? How do we keep the momentum going?

Stephanie
What went really well was having such a strong leadership team, and also such strong support. Also the diversity of the entire team, and all the ways diversity matters – race, class, age – we had a wide representation.
Having scripted questions for the minis was really great – having a place for people to engage with this process. Was useful when people tell personal stories of how the tools have worked for them, related to activism, or other aspects of you life. They were really great ways for people to make connections. Great how different members of the team answered questions differently.
You were able to get a lot of information in, and the questions they asked were also helpful.

Michele
I loved how welcoming you were, Maritza, in your introduction. The way that you welcomed people was unusual, actually, and I was proud, that that’s what we do.
Each one of you really had your own perspective; I loved how you each way of talking about things. People could really get these ideas because of how you each talked about them, and related them to your experience.
I loved that we got to do a bunch of minis, with different people. It was great for people to get to experience that.
Next steps – going out to our communities to talk to people at street fairs, and other occasions. I love that we get to be ourselves, and be in the world with these ideas.

Bruni

Kathy
I thought it was great, on many levels. It was great for people in RC, to challenge ourselves to put out this information, and everybody rose to that occasion. I do believe people were very interested in what we have to offer.
Talking to people was great, at the table and in the forum itself. I think we did a good job as a panel. We did a good job listening to each other. We were trying to give a full enough picture – there was not competition to speak, so we modeled something really good there.

I would like to start earlier, getting it on the calendar, do more discharging before going into it. When we answered the question about how to run a meeting, we didn’t say, have a mini – that was something I’d do differently. But you live and you learn!
I loved going out there and hope to find more opportunities in our area/ region to do this. I think we will do that.

We have to put a lot of attention on the follow-up when we do that

Maritza
I agree with everything that was said
One thing that struck me is that many people who said why they came, they mentioned someone by name who they spoke to who got them there.
We are very ready to take this on. I was very pleased how we all looked, and how welcoming we all were. How we were able to seize the teaching moment.

I was really aware that we have a lot of standing and authority about this. I was very pleased with that. People are ready to hear this information, to hear about discharge.
Can we develop some kind of support group or active group thinking about taking RC out into the world, maybe combining it with COE.
Possibly teaming up with another neighborhood group.

Laura's
Laura’s report

In one of the minis, the other person had some discharge (though they weren’t quite aware of it) which I think was refreshing for them.

Maibel's report
Esta es la versión en inglés, la traduje en google, espero que esté bien:

I had to distribute flyers on the first day of the event, inviting people to the RC conference, Sustaining All Life
"Tools for Listening When we Disagree".

My highlights and learnings are:

I found myself with faith when doing my tasks of the day, taking mini sessions to discharge about being active in the world, inviting, giving a message, talking with people I do not know, distributing pamphlets and interacting with a sometimes generous and others elusive reality. It seemed to me that all the activity became much easier with the company of other counselors, because we had the opportunity to relieve all the feelings of discouragement and then went back to work.

I predict beneficial efforts, because pay attention away from distresses and be together thinking well one of the other is a powerful set to be able to take action in the world today, where there are so many challenges.

Taking action in the world may sound overwhelming, but it is not, it is something reachable and it is something that can be done together. During that Friday, I saw myself perform a small but significant task, I do not doubt it. How many people will I have impacted? I can not know, but it's been worth it. That day, with my RC partners, I discovered that we are activists, because we are present at the precise moment to take the best and necessary action. We have prepared ourselves very well to be able to participate in the action with our reason and not with our anguish, to participate in the action thoughfully and with our clarity.

It is very inspiring to be part of the wide world action towards a better society, and to accompany with our systematic listening and revaluation process the revolutionary movements and actions that take place today.
I believe that one way to expand RC in the wide world is to participate with our tools supporting the current change processes. We can offer support with our thinking and tools, for the good of our interests and those of all.

This day, I also had the opportunity to work on my patterns of urgency; I have been told this great contradiction "you have to be able to convey the seriousness and urgency of something without being urgent". With this thought I spent the afternoon feeling that what I was doing was enough, and that in no way should my doing be first than my well being. I could also take breaks without feeling small or guilty when I stopped doing my task; my perspective of that day's work was linked to feelings of satisfaction, of being significant and of teamwork.

I could also see how my partners re-emerged. One of them did not want to return to the Left Forum the following day, and in the process of communicating, being interested and participating, relating to other human beings and celebrating reality, noting the space, the information, who were there and what was happening, engaging and also taking time to discharge, motivated her to return. I have the theory that many of the demotivations that we live day to day could be transformed with our decision making and action. The experience of living generates enthusiasm, commitment. There is nothing more captivating than reality and deciding to participate in it is what activates vitality.

Something good about being part of the RC community is that we can take action in company, together with each other, and that we have a theory enriched by decades and by many minds, which supports the healing of the human mind. They are good times to take action, today we can say that we cover each other's backs, one with the other.

In RC theory, we say that the only class that has a future is the working class. Take action as an RC group is an opportunity to work effectively outside the oppressions of race, class, sex, age, religion, and build in today's reality the future we would like.