Microsolidarity

Reflecting on the experience of building microsolidarity crews while living on the road.

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Karl Steyaert is an IFS Practitioner, NVC Trainer, Therapist,  Transformational Facilitator, and general change agent. Together with  Jocelyn Ames, Catherin Tran, and Nadine Helm, he hosted three  back-to-back month-long “Embodying Collective Transformation  Residencies” at the Life Itself Hub in Bergerac France, in the fall of  2022.    In this conversation, we explore some of the lessons learned from  running this massive community experiment. It feels like we only  scratched the surface. Still, there are definitely some nuggets in  there, including topics like framing an event like this, being explicit  about the purpose of any gathering, the nuanced challenges around  leadership that come with shifting roles during an event, how living  together in a close container produces a lot of learning material for  personal growth and how inner and interpersonal work relate to the  “world work”.   To get informed when the ECT team puts up new offerings, you can sign up  for the newsletter of the Cultural Catalyst Network: https://culturalcatalystnetwork.org/contact/  For a deep dive into this project's philosophical and ideological  underpinning, you can check out this conversation with Karl and Theo on  the Life Itself Podcast: https://lifeitself.org/podcast/embodying-collective-transformation-with-karl-steyaert   Jonas also wrote a series of articles on his own learnings from  participating in the November residency. You can find them here: https://jonasgroener.com/learnings-from-the-embodying-collective-transformation-residency/   More about Microsolidarity: https://microsolidarity.cc

A conversation with Jonas Gröner reflecting on his recent gathering of climate justice activists from around Vienna, Austria.   You can catch up on our previous conversation here: https://anchor.fm/Microsolidarity/episodes/Weaving-Social-Fabric-With-Climate-Justice-Activists-e1jnoei More about Jonas: https://jonasgroener.com/   More about microsolidarity: http://microsolidarity.cc

video of our conversation is here: https://youtu.be/SGvr4r_hB28 find out more about Morgan's work at Morganic Movement - https://morganicmovement.my.canva.site/

Ioan, Josh & Rich talk about the joys & challenges of organising a new community centre in Portland OR   learn more about the Community Mastery Board here: https://drew.agilelearningcenters.org/alc-one-pagers/  and support Microsolidarity here: https://opencollective.com/microsolidarity

Rich Bartlett, Lisa-Marie Pierre, and Jordan Lyon reflect on our experiences and harvest our learnings from an Autumn 4-day Microsolidarity gathering in Denver, CO from October 26th-29th. Video here: https://youtu.be/p0y4qGz0pXQ More about Microsolidarity: http://microsolidarity.cc

I spoke with Seth Bush, who is organising his local neigbhorhood in Pennsylvania. It sounds like they’re having an awesome time at the hyper-local scale, creating more connections between neighbours and exchanging mutual aid.    We talked about legal structures for collective finances, how to scale from one neighbourhood to many. We also talked about how microsolidarity is coming from a slightly different set of priorities compared to the main currents of the contemporary social justice movement.   At the end of the convo, Seth gave me some great advice about how to be a better coach.    Seth & I are mutual friends of Jonas Gröner, who I spoke with in a previous episode:  https://anchor.fm/Microsolidarity/episodes/Weaving-Social-Fabric-With-Climate-Justice-Activists-e1jnoei Join us in Discord: https://discord.gg/Kp2xVuSFAX  And find out more about microsolidarity here: https://www.microsolidarity.cc/

Here's a recording from our monthly Microsolidarity Network Call, hosted by Jocelyn. Video is here. Presentations by: Drew & Caroline - Shared Ground, Denver - http://sharedground.co Diana - Blivande, Stockholm - http://blivande.com James - Intentional Society - https://intentionalsociety.org/ Nicole - Primal Gathering - https://primalgathering.co/ Lisa-Marie - Crewing in New York - http://limapea.com Rick - Medley, Berlin - https://medley.berlin/ Jonas - The Node, Vienna - https://derknoten.wien/   If you want to join us for the next monthly network call, see here: https://www.microsolidarity.cc/participate/events

Primal Gathering is an environmentally, socially and psychologically regenerative gathering used to restore people, forests and ecosystems all over the world. This year, they’re planting 1000 trees in Lagos, Portugal, in between yoga classes & live concerts & permaculture workshops. Nov 17-20. Info & tickets: https://primalgathering.co/reforestation-vale-da-lama-2022 They've just published a handbook explaining their approach to community building: https://primalgathering1.gitbook.io/community-as-a-practice/ More about microsolidarity: http://microsolidarity.cc

Ananta is @meansinfinity on Twitter. She recently organised a gathering of Twitter people at Medley, a new creative space in Berlin: http://medley.berlin Rich interviewed her to share any lessons learned. More about microsolidarity at http://microsolidarity.cc

Talking with @kaisoapbox about his experience organising a gathering for twitter friends, with his hosting team: @herrowna, @zrkrlc, @michhmatch, @aballrolling & @amirism_   Kai's thread of upcoming camps: https://twitter.com/kaisoapbox/status/1552288561638289408 Rival Voices' post-jesscamp thread: https://twitter.com/nosilverv/status/1501171643393191938  Notable mentions: @frideswyth @nosilverv @m_ashcroft @gptbrooke @tpotvibecamp @Aella_Girl @visakanv    Past interviews with organisers:   Silvia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu_jNf6Eqpk  Brooke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaQqVBGYPQA  More about microsolidarity: http://microsolidarity.cc

more at http://microsolidarity.cc

This conversation is about using Twitter to make meaningful community. Rich is in conversation with Silvia, who recently organised a 30-person gathering in Lisbon.  The fundraiser Silvia mentioned: https://www.gofundme.com/f/buddi-and-hap-relief-fund  Join us in the Microsolidarity Discord: https://discord.gg/Kp2xVuSFAX  More at: http://microsolidarity.cc

A conversation with Jonas Gröner about his plans to create more community among the climate justice activists in Vienna, Austria.  More about microsolidarity: http://microsolildarity.cc

Learn more about Microsolidarity here: http://microsolidarity.cc Learn more about Doomer Optimism here: https://anchor.fm/doomer-optimism and here: https://doomeroptimism.substack.com/

Polarity Management tweet is here: https://twitter.com/RichDecibels/status/1361705188285906945 Learn more about Microsolidarity here: http://microsolidarity.cc

1st Microsolidarity Gathering is happening in Belgium May 2022 (now sold out).  If you want to join the 2nd gathering, in USA in November, see http://microsolidarity.cc for more info.  More about Karl: http://www.karlsteyaert.com/about/

Vibecamp is https://vibecamp.xyz/ Brooke is @gptbrooke on twitter Here's how you can donate to the organising team. Video of this conversation: https://youtu.be/DaQqVBGYPQA See http://microsolidarity.cc for more

QC is @QiaochuYuan on Twitter.

Richard Bartlett speaks with Tasshin Fogleman about Enspiral, microsolidarity, collapse, cults, DAO's, and more. Originally published on the Reach Truth Podcast: https://tasshin.com/podcast/

James Baker, founder of Intentional Society, speaking with Richard D. Bartlett about their community building experience, especially focussed on questions of how to decentralise leadership.  Their website is here: https://intentionalsociety.org/

A conversation with Diana Monsberger, community organiser at Blivande house in Stockholm. They're having their first team retreat soon, so Diana talked with Rich about how to design the gathering.   Some questions:   - how to work with 35 people - how to include people who don't desire structured intimacy - how to make it fun and not too serious - how to include people who can't participate for the full duration of the retreat - how to encourage people to speak with people they wouldn't otherwise connect with - how to connect the newbies with people who have been around for longer - what kinds of rituals can work in this community   Links: - Blivande House: https://www.blivande.com/ - Troika Consulting: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/8-troika-consulting/ - Open Space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology - Authentic Relating: https://authenticrelating.co/what-is-ar/ - Jojojo question cards: https://www.jojojo.cards/

Silvia Bastos is one of the co-hosts of the recent Pico Island gathering: https://anchor.fm/Microsolidarity/episodes/Pico-Island-Congregation---1st-Summer-Gathering---June-2021-e136g6k She interviewed Richard Bartlett, one of the co-hosts of the recent Enspiral Europe gathering.  Video of this conversation is available here: https://youtu.be/W6T65zm2Jl4 Mentioned in this conversation:  https://visakanv.gumroad.com/l/friendlynerdbook https://LifeItself.us https://en.lacuisinedelabienveillance.org/les-messagers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology https://www.liberatingstructures.com/8-troika-consulting/ https://epiccollaboration.com/approaches/mg-taylor-practiced-anz-paz https://www.thehum.org/post/how-do-we-want-to-be-together https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1145867.Sitting_in_the_Fire https://www.moodcafe.co.uk/media/50868/1.1%20Trigger%20Logs.pdf http://microsolidarity.cc

Silvia Bastos, Michal Korzonek & Richard D. Bartlett have a "debrief" conversation after the first gathering of their microsolidarity community in Pico Island, off the coast of Portugal. Lavishly documented here: https://pico.microsolidarity.cc/projects/summer-gathering-2021 Join the next Microsolidarity practice program: http://thehum.org/microsolidarity  More about the Microsolidarity project: http://microsolidarity.cc Video of this conversation: https://youtu.be/4CmvciBqGTk

Joshua Vial is the founder of Enspiral: we talk about what it's like to be a community founder, how to decentralise power, creating adult-to-adult relationships, vision, experimentation, safety & harm, freedom & responsibility... and lots of other good stuff :) If you're not familiar with Enspiral, here's some introductory links: a 2 min video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY6eZIbgNrM a 30 min presentation from Alanna Irving: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ABqCgKi4X0 an interview with Jim Rutt and me https://www.jimruttshow.com/rich-bartlett/ More links: http://microsolidarity.cc/ https://joshuavial.com/ https://handbook.enspiral.com/ Video from this conversation available here: https://youtu.be/1_3OxvUkPPo

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwQeAbyWN4&list=PLOjcWjpjOqzbV9T3tSR6O7z_eic-Puqaa&index=8 Cultural Catalyst Network: http://culturalcatalystnetwork.org/

Previous episode is here: https://anchor.fm/Microsolidarity/episodes/Microsolidarity-in-Maastricht-pt-1-ebnh65 Bea + Josh are starting a new microsolidarity community in Maastricht in the Netherlands. This is their second conversation with Rich & Nati where they present their plans and seek feedback. We talk about crews, how to develop a sense of shared ownership & participatory culture, and meeting online vs in person. More info: http://microsolidarity.cc

Video of this conversation here: https://youtu.be/QL6ajLeaBA0 Karl shares his plans for a new community of practice he is about to launch; Rich gives feedback; then they get deeper into the personal questions of what it is like to be us doing this community weaving work at this time.   - digital connection with physical distance  - choosing which 1 thing to work on and which 9 things to put down (how to delegate)  - Internal Family Systems Therapy and how it applies to our roles  - going with the dao of life, moving from inspiration not obligation  - a 21st century ashram that is non dogmatic, a life giving structure that creates the routines and structures that bias towards healthy interior states  - practicing aikido, making music   Karl's recommended resources here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1muX7TuVo-XiJujrRevxJW1MGAE6FgBD1ymZS6Mh8ze0/edit# Cultural Catalyst Network: http://culturalcatalystnetwork.org/ More on microsolidarity here: http://microsolidarity.cc

Reproducing Ari's podcast, originally posted here: https://soundcloud.com/ariintheair/courage-cooperation-rich-bartlett More about microsolidarity here: http://microsolidarity.cc 

A little taste to show you what we mean by microsolidarity: Ronan speaks for 7 minutes, Rich reflects back for 2 minutes, then they switch roles. An extremely simple relational practice that can make a big difference in less than half an hour. http://microsolidarity.cc Ping me on Twitter

This is the first meeting between Markel Cormenzana and Rich. We get to know each other and talk about some of the design philosophy behind our work. More info at microsolidarity.cc

Bea + Josh are starting a new microsolidarity community in Maastricht in the Netherlands. This is their first conversation with Rich where they present their plans and seek his feedback. We talk about leadership, facilitation, boundaries, and the tension between abstraction and practice.  More info: microsolidarity.cc

More info at http://microsolidarity.cc/crewing and http://handbook.enspiral.com/guides/pods.html

Here's a conversation recorded at the big annual gathering of Enspiral, talking about the very practical side of starting and running Crews. This recording is annotated with lots of links, over here: https://www.microsolidarity.cc/discussing/enspiral-summer-retreat-feb-2019

Links & background here: https://www.microsolidarity.cc/discussing/research-questions