Global Community
The Last Meeting of the Brighton Chapter in Caspars Yurt in Lewes
First of all my apologies - until Jocelyn just texted me from Nigeria I had forgotten to upload this account (minutes if you like committees - but have you noticed committees have two many m's t's and e's?) anyway enough of this jive, here is the stuff:
Minutes of meeting of WFB at Caspar’s Yurt, Southease, East Sussex on 2.6.08
The documentary
Louis: ran through the mind map of the documentary process (see at end of forum item Making the most of the planned filming trip to Nigeria)
Caspar: who is the documentary for?
Can Jocelyn bring footage back so they can make the Road Show more relevant and ensure it relates to Youth Summit agenda and perspectives? For our use only – not to be put out to public unless so desired by summit.
How is the food crisis affecting small farmers in Nigeria? How great is the variation between regions/states?
What do the small and medium farmers grow? What has happened to prices at the farm gate, to prices of food produce at market, to oil prices, fertilizer etc, to prices of food needing to be bought by farmers?
What has been the impact on urban people? How much are the urban and rural people related?
How is Africa to be able to feed itself? What is needed to make this a reality? How recently was this a reality in Nigeria? What has happened?
Nadia: the farmers here are having a hard time too. How do we communicate this without implying that it is as bad in UK as in Nigeria?
Small farmers in Europe are going out of business at a massive rate. UK is exceptional in that most UK farmers are large.
Tom: What food means in UK: the vast majority of farmers are large industrial farmers and it is they who dominate the NFU; the mass movement in UK is Transition Towns, the value of local food from the perspective of quality, lack of pesticides, fertilizers, climate change amelioration, farmers markets, urban allotments where people are able to grow their own vegetables, fruit, flowers and get out of the pavement world of town.
Small farmers are a minority but they are becoming more vocal and in some areas being supported, eg crofters in Scotland (source Patrick Mulvaney of UK Food Group).
Interesting to look at probable and possible futures if we carry on down this path.
The Roadshow
To go to all the Transition Towns in UK and see what is happening
Focus on Food: music, cooking, teaching kids about food
Connecting with Seedy Sunday people
Soil association: MS to speak to
Urban issues: Starbucks flouting local planning laws and getting away with trading illegally and making localities more homogeneous and dominated by chains of shops/restaurants, so pushing out the small and local.
Need to make a list of interviewees
Eliza knows a Raw food chef
Where to pitch it? What age? Louis thought over 10; Caspar thought more likely 15+; at that age they were really up for looking at food from different points of view.
The Transition Towns Conference was mostly attended by people over 40.
Discussion about relevance of people of different ages; the older tend to be more settled and interested in doing something for their area, networking about issues of local interest. Younger people can have more energy and drive to challenge the major issues of climate change and new ways of living and it is they who have the biggest vested interest in the future.
Louis suggested that RadioReverb might offer a weekly show for Transition Towns to talk about issues and publicise what is happening locally. (Eventually, but might take a few months as Reverb is going through changes)
Juliet: the Gambia: despondent young people; people desperate from food crisis; the local rice farmers were put out of business by cheap imported rice and no longer grow rice. Juliet has interested local man about prosperity training and awareness; they need a centre for teaching/learning appropriate skills; money to set up small businesses: for instance welding. tailoring, as market women.
Nadia: are women involved?
Juliet: Yes. There is a particular interest among women in becoming economically independent and so being able to avoid issues of forced marriages and circumcisions; empowerment of women is important; lots of skills are available; the main lack is money; the BCEP are registered as an organisation in Banjul and intend to become an NGO.
They want to create a sustainable project; think they can do that with the help of Frank Jay and having a group of 9 people in Brighton of 9 to raise the funds. Looking for the nine, but realize that we may be already very busy with WF. Need help.
Someone explained that WF is not an aid agency but that we may be able to share contacts, ideas and other non-financial resources.
BCEP is involved in the Wave event in Preston Park on July 5-6.
Fundraising
Road show: joint funding of everyone or core funding vehicle, equipment etc
APE: Caspar to get back to them; they were not able to fund the trip to Nigeria earlier but were very interested in what we are doing and wanted him to get back in contact.
Who to interview?
Emma: Positive News would be a good magazine to write an article in and raise profile of the Road Show.
Claire Milne of Food Hub
Tim Lang: Professor of Food Policy in London University
Sustain
Patrick Mulvaney
Michel Pimbert
Rob Hopkins: initiator of Transition Towns
Forum theatre with people from the villages around Ife coming up with questions
Positive Television (related to Positive News)
Abigail has run Healthy Eating workshops in London with kids (primary school age), composting, farmers’ markets.
Abigail: (London) willing to distribute documentary
Caspar talked about interviewing elders/young people
www.circlecommunity.org great for networking – they set up squats
Space hijackers
Date of next meeting: tba as Jocelyn is now going to Nigeria
Minutes of meeting of WFB at Caspar’s Yurt, Southease, East Sussex on 2.6.08
The documentary
Louis: ran through the mind map of the documentary process (see at end of forum item Making the most of the planned filming trip to Nigeria)
Caspar: who is the documentary for?
Can Jocelyn bring footage back so they can make the Road Show more relevant and ensure it relates to Youth Summit agenda and perspectives? For our use only – not to be put out to public unless so desired by summit.
How is the food crisis affecting small farmers in Nigeria? How great is the variation between regions/states?
What do the small and medium farmers grow? What has happened to prices at the farm gate, to prices of food produce at market, to oil prices, fertilizer etc, to prices of food needing to be bought by farmers?
What has been the impact on urban people? How much are the urban and rural people related?
How is Africa to be able to feed itself? What is needed to make this a reality? How recently was this a reality in Nigeria? What has happened?
Nadia: the farmers here are having a hard time too. How do we communicate this without implying that it is as bad in UK as in Nigeria?
Small farmers in Europe are going out of business at a massive rate. UK is exceptional in that most UK farmers are large.
Tom: What food means in UK: the vast majority of farmers are large industrial farmers and it is they who dominate the NFU; the mass movement in UK is Transition Towns, the value of local food from the perspective of quality, lack of pesticides, fertilizers, climate change amelioration, farmers markets, urban allotments where people are able to grow their own vegetables, fruit, flowers and get out of the pavement world of town.
Small farmers are a minority but they are becoming more vocal and in some areas being supported, eg crofters in Scotland (source Patrick Mulvaney of UK Food Group).
Interesting to look at probable and possible futures if we carry on down this path.
The Roadshow
To go to all the Transition Towns in UK and see what is happening
Focus on Food: music, cooking, teaching kids about food
Connecting with Seedy Sunday people
Soil association: MS to speak to
Urban issues: Starbucks flouting local planning laws and getting away with trading illegally and making localities more homogeneous and dominated by chains of shops/restaurants, so pushing out the small and local.
Need to make a list of interviewees
Eliza knows a Raw food chef
Where to pitch it? What age? Louis thought over 10; Caspar thought more likely 15+; at that age they were really up for looking at food from different points of view.
The Transition Towns Conference was mostly attended by people over 40.
Discussion about relevance of people of different ages; the older tend to be more settled and interested in doing something for their area, networking about issues of local interest. Younger people can have more energy and drive to challenge the major issues of climate change and new ways of living and it is they who have the biggest vested interest in the future.
Louis suggested that RadioReverb might offer a weekly show for Transition Towns to talk about issues and publicise what is happening locally. (Eventually, but might take a few months as Reverb is going through changes)
Juliet: the Gambia: despondent young people; people desperate from food crisis; the local rice farmers were put out of business by cheap imported rice and no longer grow rice. Juliet has interested local man about prosperity training and awareness; they need a centre for teaching/learning appropriate skills; money to set up small businesses: for instance welding. tailoring, as market women.
Nadia: are women involved?
Juliet: Yes. There is a particular interest among women in becoming economically independent and so being able to avoid issues of forced marriages and circumcisions; empowerment of women is important; lots of skills are available; the main lack is money; the BCEP are registered as an organisation in Banjul and intend to become an NGO.
They want to create a sustainable project; think they can do that with the help of Frank Jay and having a group of 9 people in Brighton of 9 to raise the funds. Looking for the nine, but realize that we may be already very busy with WF. Need help.
Someone explained that WF is not an aid agency but that we may be able to share contacts, ideas and other non-financial resources.
BCEP is involved in the Wave event in Preston Park on July 5-6.
Fundraising
Road show: joint funding of everyone or core funding vehicle, equipment etc
APE: Caspar to get back to them; they were not able to fund the trip to Nigeria earlier but were very interested in what we are doing and wanted him to get back in contact.
Who to interview?
Emma: Positive News would be a good magazine to write an article in and raise profile of the Road Show.
Claire Milne of Food Hub
Tim Lang: Professor of Food Policy in London University
Sustain
Patrick Mulvaney
Michel Pimbert
Rob Hopkins: initiator of Transition Towns
Forum theatre with people from the villages around Ife coming up with questions
Positive Television (related to Positive News)
Abigail has run Healthy Eating workshops in London with kids (primary school age), composting, farmers’ markets.
Abigail: (London) willing to distribute documentary
Caspar talked about interviewing elders/young people
www.circlecommunity.org great for networking – they set up squats
Space hijackers
Date of next meeting: tba as Jocelyn is now going to Nigeria
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Louis Loizou on
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Hi Jocelyn. If you are reading this after my text to you, I wanted to invite you and Tom specifically if not next Monday after you get back on BrightonPhlux the 1-2pm show on Reverb I am hosting while Sean is away in Glastonbury then maybe as part of my "Story so far" Vision Shack on the following Thursday 3rd with you and Tom and possibly Chris who is also going to appear on BrightonPhlux with me on Friday with one of his Phd students who are running the Brighton University-Shristi University Bangalore collaboration (1-2pm BST).
I think that would be a great trio of guests.
Then I want to continue the process 1st Thursday August (7th) with others, maybe with you, Caspar and Chris can't make it (Chris is going back to RISD to be Dean of Postgraduate Studies for a year) and Tom may be away - I am hoping to involve Patrick Mulvaney but he has not replied and maybe others like the Seedy Sunday lady.
xxx Blessings, Louis.
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To all £Wolrd family Brighton & Lewes.
I am attending Formal Consensus facilitation on July 26th by Nathaniel White. There is room for 1 or 2 more anyone interested, especially as Nadia was concerned about this.
Details:
Join Nathaniel White for a workshop on Formal Consensus facilitation on July 26th!
Formal Consensus is a clear formal decision-making structure, simpler than the parliamentary procedure of Robert's Rules of Order, and better for bringing together the group's best creative thinking. (Do adversarial politics and a majority-rule vote capture our best thinking? I don't think so). Want to combine clear agreements and decision-making processes with deep democracy and participatory governance? Want to bring out the best in your team mates and your self? Learn Formal Consensus!
Formal Consensus emerged from the US anti-nuclear movement as a way of quickly making good decisions among a group of hundreds of loosely affiliated individuals, some of whom might be government agents provocateurs (An organizational nightmare...). It has been successfully adopted by businesses, intentional communities, and the global activist group Food Not Bombs. Nathaniel White trained with the author of the Formal Consensus manual, C.T. Butler, in 1997. Nathaniel uses the method in his paid and voluntary work, and contributed to the most recent version of the manual.
The training will go from 11am to 4pm, and focus on the structure of a Formal Consensus meeting and on the facilitation skills useful for generating high-quality collaborative decisions. The training will be downstairs at The Werks, 45 Church Road, Hove BN3 2BE.
The fee is sliding scale (£5 to £40, so extremely affordable).
This training is targeted to serve three groups: Transition Town Brighton and Hove, the Source Village ecovillage development group, and the Pioneers of Change (London) hosting team. First priority will be reserved for members of those groups, but other members of the public are welcome. To reserve a place, contact Nathaniel White (white@magicatechne.com) and put Formal Consensus in the Subject line.
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