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To add to these pages, just click on the "Edit this Page" link at the bottom and add information about these Open Space events. |
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ChrisCorrigan here, just adding thoughts I had during the week I was in Aotearoa on these Open Space events. |
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Re OST#1: I have done this type of open space a lot, inviting First Nations people and non-First Nations to sit together and imagine what their community should be like. It's about gathering together, figuring out the real issues and beginning to develop understanding together. IN these kinds of OST events, sometimes the conversations get heated, but at the end of the day, it's impossible to leave not knowing more about people than you started with. With the foreshore issues and the current political environment currently in play, there is a lot of passion around Pakeha-Maori relations at the moment, and this is an ideal opportunity to invite people to converse together about the future. |
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You can read about one such project I did at http://www.chriscorrigan.com/clients/index.html on the December 19 entry. |
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To add to these pages, just click on the "Edit this Page" link at the bottom and add information about these Open Space events. |
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Re OST#2: I was struck by the idea in the practice workshop that New Zealanders (Maori and Pakeha) need to not only honour the Treaty but also to embody it. The Treaty should offer up a template for relations between Maori and Pakeha. It doesn't matter how it has been interpreted in the past, what matters is how everyone chooses to embody it now. What would the Treaty look like if we lived it in our daily lives? In other words, what are the things we can do to create and solidify the relationship between Maori and Pakeha. That wildlife sanctuary in the old resevoir is a good example. Re OST#3: Along with all of the other events on Treaty day (including the protesting and mudslinging, inevitable as it may be) the gift of providing Maori and Pakeha a positive open space to strengthen relations is a beautiful gesture. Even if it isn't the only thing that happens that day, to have people committed to taking the time on treaty day to talk about what the treaty means from a personal perspective and find ways to live those principles, well that makes me buzz with excitement. I'll lay out some other ideas as they occur to me. |