Rhizome started small. We always had plans to involve new people but times are hard and we wanted to offer them a living. Well, we changed the offer and instead offered a place in an interesting co-op doing interesting work with interesting groups and organisations (and a very modest contribution towards a living). Emily Hodgkinson, […]
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas Groups die. Networks die. Movements die. It’s meant to happen. It’s part of a natural cycle and we should embrace it rather than rage against it. Why? […]
Here at Rhizome we’ve recently completed a piece of consultancy work for the Fairtrade Foundation. We used the Crowd Wise consensus process as a central plank of the work – running five regional Crowd Wise conversations with grassroots fair trade campaigners to develop options around grassroots membership of the Foundation, prioritise the options and then […]
Thanks to the folk at the Interaction Institute for their post The Art of Listening. They quote extensively from an essay on the power of listening by Brenda Ueland. In facilitation and group work circles listening is more than a core skill, it’s a core state of mind, but one that’s often undervalued and under-practiced. […]
The latest Transition newsletter has some interesting looking links to conversations on all kinds of Occupy related topics. You’ll find them on the Transition US website under the heading of resources for creating lasting change. Sounds good to me. As with all these things there are links to pages with links and so the journey […]
Until recently in the UK Climate Camp could, with some justification, have been called the most dynamic force in activism. Now that baton has passed to the anti-cuts movement, and specifically the Occupy movement. There are lots of similarities between Climate Camp and Occupy. Both have strong anti-capitalist leanings (it’s not true to say that […]
Ivan Boothe has written an excellent post on the Fellowship of Reconciliation website. He talks about the cornerstones of the process used by the growing occupy movement in the States such as the people’s mic, consensus decision-making, and general assemblies – useful stuff about the purpose and problems associated with them, including some insights for […]
In another recent post Chris Corrigan (see our previous post) has also collated a few links to support Occupy protests in facilitation. Plan to Win have done the same in their #Occupy 101 post, with some specific tools for general assemblies of the kind being used at Occupy Wall Street. The resources include a fantastic […]
I’ve been feeling a little guilty about recent posts on the Occupy movement. Not because I’ve said anything that on reflection I disagree with, but because I know that I’ve been offering a negative critique of both choice of tactics and the robustness of the actions so far without balancing it with a positive critique. […]
Here’s some info about the latest event from Stop GM Gathering More Momentum: Sunday 13th November 10am – 5pm A day to refine plans against the return of genetically engineered crops at the beautiful Hawkwood Nursery in Walthamstow, one of London’s most spectacular community growing projects. For directions see here: http://www.organiclea.org.uk/contact-us/ The agenda will include: […]
