The author and Joe Truss, Team Syntegrity 2017 facilitator.
In Team Syntegrity 2017 which took place
in Barcelona this June, participants addressed the opening question –
by choosing twelve topics to discuss over a period of three and a half days.
Here are some
of the results so far. This is a protocol of overlapping sessions, designed
to take a comprehensive, fresh look at a complex topic in a space highly
organised for self-organisation to occur, by exploring multiple perspectives
and integrating ideas together. Our next page will be on The Process in the
participants own words, participants like Aya…
Hi Rosemary,
It so good to hear from you
and please accept my radio silence since the trip. I have been following the
exchanges but too busy to put word to paper (or screen….)
I have 3 international
exhibitions coming up and all have a basis around what was discussed during the
forum.
The time spent in Barcelona
was quite eye opening for me. Yes, the topics discussed were interesting and i
learnt new things along the way, some i will remember and some i may forget,
but what really stuck with me, however, is the true power of such a network of
individuals. Of STRANGERS more specifically.
Before then, i was very
skeptical about the power of 'the people' per say. I felt a very strong social
disengagement in my day to day which i feel has led to the inevitable failing
we see around us. Nevertheless, the experience that we had, showed me how the
mere grouping of 30 individuals leading the program themselves and carving
out their own issues and points of discussion can actually lead to a
movement.
Nowhere would you ever spend 5
consecutive, intensive days (and nights) with 30 strangers and speak about such
personal issues that affect each and every one of us, have to listen, question,
challenge, respect, understand and resolve together.
Aya defending her topic.For the first time, i see such
a model being a solution for the trouble across the Middle East which is so
divided in itself. Not only between Israeli and Palestinians but also within a
place like Lebanon too, which is incredibly divided.
We harbour a lot of grievances
and many people are raised to discriminate without ever having met or LISTENED
to the other side. Supposed solutions are created on one side without
discussion or transparency. This forum, amidst all the structured and factual
elements, introduced a very important HUMAN element which is missing with
division. The first thing two opposing groups do is segregate and dehumanise
the other side and far too many rely on what the media says about the
other.
In this exercise, we were
forced to sit side by side and face to face and discuss diverse issues
reasonably, coherently, and cohesively. It was smart and it was intimate.
I would be keen to be involved
or witness a program like this within an exclusively Middle Eastern context
because i believe the journey is far far more valuable than the outcome. The
way the world is today i think it is irreparable as it is. Yet, the world is
developing and new generations are coming and if we can instill this form of
constructive dialogue then i think for the first time in a long time, we may
just be ok.
Those are my initial
reflections.
Thanks again for involving me.
I look forward to hearing from you soon and carrying on the conversation!
Warmly yours,
X AYA X
Aya ( right) looks on at the all-male Politics of Feeling discussion under way.
