Practical tips for working with controversy

RantWoman is going to plunge in to the query at http://qqqqanda.blogspot.com/2010/02/help-we-are-target.html . RantWoman is a bit of a practical girl so what follows is a mix of nuts and bolts and more spiritual concepts.

RantWoman heartily applauds this Meeting's initiative and has greatly enjoyed the variety of comments offered by others. RantWoman also deeply appreciates the reminder that some questions are considerably more present in public discussion in other places than in liberal, supposedly tolerant Seattle.

RantWoman has a good deal of life experience helping organize controversial events. RantWoman is humble about the degree to which every event is different, every combination of people and groups in need of individual thought and preparation. RantWoman is glad the Meeting organizing the speaker series described wants to prepare in advance; RantWoman also suspects that the Meeting in question is its own best teacher. RantWoman nevertheless offers the following comments:

Things that might help
--Ask your moderator / facilitator what help he or she will need to stay grounded and centered and then pay attention to those requests. RantWoman has written before of an event at her Meeting connected with the Middle East. The event opened with prayers, but it took a whole hour for those leading prayers to come to formulations they could all live with just to pray. RantWoman was very humble about the scale of her relief not to be facilitating that discussion and had alss she could do to uphold the process in expectant silence.

--Some Quakers are so grounded and centered on that of God within everyone that they find it easy to pray equally for all sides. RantWoman always recommends deploying these Friends even if some of them are simply sitting in rocking chairs miles from the main events.

RantWoman only very, very, very occasionally manages to meet this Quakerly standard. A lot, lot, lot of the time RantWoman has to keep eyes and ears open and delegate this work to Friends who seem more able. RantWoman heartily recommends making connections with people like this and learning from the focus they offer as the events go forward.

In this vein, RantWoman remembers one summer during the time of NPYM annual session. That year Annual Session was in Spokane; Friends from north ID had been laboring all spring and summer about a proposal by the Aryan Nation to hold a march in one of the cities in Kootenai County ID; RantWoman suggests the search engine of your choice for actual citations.

The march actually occurred during the time of Annual Session and many Friends drove over to attend. Also attending were some more confrontational groups from Seattle as well as a huge network of human rights defenders from all over the county who had been energized in the leadup to the march. RantWoman herself had personal reasons not to want to add more psychic challenges to her spiritual landscape and, in contrast to her own past, was quite happy to remain in Spokane and pray. Those who attended reported that it was a wonderful event.

--Do not wait until the events to begin building connections with your neighbors. RantWoman heartily concurs with the thought that the proposed lecture series is creating mental space for conversations among the 90% of the population who are unclear about their positions or whose positions fall between those one can at first glance attribute to the different parties. RantWoman notes that the Aryan Nations march mentioned above had a long leadin time and that provided a lot of time for people with different views to mobilize, find each other and strengthen ties which supported each other's work for years afterward.

--Do not underestimate the relevance of the fire code, parking lot management, other mundane details. Someone will want to keep your aisles clear in the event of an emergency; you will also want to do your best to keep outside travel paths clear so people can come and go. Tending to these points can create physical gaps to help channel different groups in different directions. It also provides any peacekeepers or Friendly Presence some details to attend to even if everything seems to be going smoothly. Consider what meetings, nonviolence training, or other preparation those attending to these details will need and be sure to allow adequate time in advance for this work.

--Consider whether you also need to become familiar with applicable laws about disruption or impeding pedestrian traffic or trespassing. Public events are difficult realms for trespassing and in general. RantWoman advocates this only in an abundance of caution, "just in case." RantWoman attends frequently to thoughts of trying to expect the best of a situation, but sometimes it is easier to anticipate the best or at least better if one has mental concepts about much worse than desirable and then can cultivate a shared vision of success.