Workshops
The facilitator proposes that today the group should be as concrete as
possible. The term; work group might be better than workshop.
The Italian delegate presents the hypothesis of maintaining a unitary
dimension. Many movements throughout the world today have the
responsibility of
linking up the various groups and networks. It would be a good idea to unify
all the individuals who take part in Alliances, and / or movements in which
everyone present is, or is not, involved. If he had a list, he could find
people that he would be able to work with. This would help very much, and the
delegate feels this kind of information is lacking.
The delegate answers that a directory will be produced furnishing this kind of
information. The Alliance was conceived as a network, but first one must
become
a member to have the right to receive the directory. Marcos Arruda, a
representative of PACS, says he has much of this information. We can try to
get
more networks in touch with each other. A central articulator would be helpful
in this sense.
Regarding learning, one delegate says that all workgroups are specific and
different, and so the process is more important than the meaning or the
content
of the group. This does not appear to be clear to everyone. All experiences
will reconciliate in the end. We first must maintain personal and physical
contact. All workgroups require a basic text from which other papers and
documents will emerge.
The delegate tries to transmit how the workshop in Sao Paulo was built. We
still do not have the capacity to express ourselves: this requires strategies.
We must also try to overcome our fragility. We must join with others, which is
one of the reasons for this event. This is something that the government has
not done. The delegate agrees with the other delegate's opinion that form is
more important right now than content.
The delegate thinks that the he hopes to see the Alliance more as a library on
the Internet where everybody can go for information. At a meeting in Canada it
was agreed that a continuous feeding of information into the computer would
take place.
One delegate hopes not to turn the Alliance into an elitist society, and feels
that it should go more towards the grassroots population. It is necessary to
work in this direction, and make this one of the workshops job.
One delegate suggests making a human chain through Europe with all the
unemployed.
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Barcelona sent a message that states that they question how to form new
alliances. They also believe that the Alliance should transmit trust. There
should be exchange to find new forms of actions, new means to find outlets
for
human development. The Alliance should justify the need for change, search for
new tools. There should be a new visualization of the future. The aim
should be
diffusion, the transmission of ideas, taking advantage of the new means of
communication. There is a need to analyze resolution processes.
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Content, process and form. This delegate feels a little left out as he comes
from a university sphere. He explains that a fequent problem is that the
outside world does not seem to know what is going on inside the university.
Many people seem interested in scientific work and discoveries. Are they
really
interested in knowing? He wishes to link these different factions.
One delegate, a soil engineer, continues speaking about science. What makes
scientific research so powerful is that this knowledge is spread throughout
the
world, not by the scientist but by magazines and such. When we think in terms
of work groups we wander a little from our specialty, and only later we
approach what we know more about. This is a process of dialogue. We must first
identify the needs of each group, then later we can become more specific, the
exchange of information is very important. These are reflections that I have
received while listening to this group. We must generate themes.
One delegate talks about a meeting she had with grassroot populations. These
types of meetings is where we can find themes, or even only one theme, to take
away from this Alliance meeting. The idea is to come up with one, two, or
three
centralized ideas.
The Indian delegate says that his friends were very active in Nepal in many
movements, but not any more. He would like to know what is going on there. The
concept of working in groups has given him ideas for when he goes back.
When we
talk about movements we should be more concerned with what is going on at the
grqss-roots level. It was extremely difficult for me to travel here. My people
asked many questions. It is important for me to have arguments and answers for
the grassroots people I work with. To be able to really take part, we must go
to the roots.
The delegate would like to be able to leave today thinking she has
accomplished
something concrete. For example, the human chain is something concrete that
can
be mentioned. How can we use science in a more efficient way? Maybe it is
through these possibilities that something can be found to do at a local
level.
We could develop a caravan of workgroups. I would like to rethink life and
culture. We must encourage dialogues between grassroot levels and the
universities. How can we place all this information? We cannot talk in a
vacuum. There is no connection between dialogue and action. I don't know how
this can be solved, but this to me is very important.
Movements for economic democracy are important for one delegate. We need to
acquire more knowledge on the market economy. We must avoid extremism. We
first
have to know what we are talking about. Many people live through selling life
insurance. There are many types of logics. What he is proposes is to minimize
losses. For example armament in different countries. In the Soviet Union, they
had to make an option for ceasing to produce for the military and starting to
produce for the market economy. Companies will not invest money in farfetched
solutions. We have reached the point where we need to find market solutions
We are building upon an exchange through intellectuals and the grassroots
population, both having a common view of life. What kind of view are we going
to have while the world is being massacred? The delegate would like to put
something a little more concrete into the workgroups. Another delegate agrees,
and wants to know what instruments we have at hand to carry out the work that
has to be done. Conclusions are needed. A unified idea.
A new workgroup called Protection of the Forest has been formed. This group is
to interact with all other groups. The importance of the forest cannot be
overstated. Most of the values are still unknown.
One delegate feels that it is important to remain connected. A year from now,
what are we going to do? I continue to be more or less dissatisfied. The
necessity to change what surrounds everyone is the beginning of
transformation.
The Alliance has begun to identify local and world priorities.
One delegate suggests an "action network".
It is a question of divulging knowledge. Each one can be their own work group.
Instead of articulation, it should be a sharing of experiences.
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