[Dialogue] 2020 summit in Canberra

Tue Apr 22 03:29:38 EDT 2008

Dear Janice , 
I really think that this event is one of those that all of the global
movement have been 
working toward creating for a long time.  What if events such as this could
happen in country
after country around the globe- where more and more people have the
opportunity to help build
the future with government and corporations rather than spend lots of energy
fighting them. And
facilitators were playing their role .

It is fascinating and revealing however to watch the media and the
opposition party here deal with this
summit.  Most of the media just didn¹t get what was really going on in the
midst of very active
working groups just going at it from morning into the midnight hours.  Even
the fact that men weren¹t wearing ties was somehow offensive.  Especially in
the halls of parliament where summit was held.
You got the sense that some of the opposition party had never seen
brainstorming on sheets of paper.

Now the hard work goes on to decide what ideas to implement and when.  Of
course there is always
cynicism about but excitement too. There is a sense that Australia has the
beginnings of a long term plan for the nation¹s future.

Cheers
Jeanette

Janice Ulangca

> Thanks much for this good news, Jeanette.  Exciting indeed!  We could dream
> about something on this scale in the U.S. after a new president is elected.  A
> pioneer working model is so helpful.  ICA could have designed this!  Are you
> sure you didn't whisper in some ears?  Or maybe it was Brian.
>  
> Love,
> Janice
>>  
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>  
>> From:  Jeanette Stanfield <mailto:rbstanfi at bigpond.net.au>
>>  
>> To: Colleague Dialogue <mailto:dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
>>  
>> Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 1:36  AM
>>  
>> Subject: [Dialogue] 2020 summit in  Canberra
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> I am most fascinated with the  event happening in Canberra this weekend.
>> It is the culmination of several  months of community forums if you like all
>> around Australia.
>> Shortly  after the new Rudd government was elected, they announced a major
>> ideas summit  
>> on 10  key policy arenas including climate change, health, rural  industries,
>> economic growth, education , indigenous Communities, families,  democratic
>> reforms etc. toward 2020.
>> 
>> A youth summit was  held last weekend in Canberra.  100 youth from very
>> diverse backgrounds  were chosen to attend.  Before that 500 schools across
>> the country had  submitted their ideas.  10 big ideas
>> from that summit are now being  taken by 10 youth delegates to this weekend.
>> Young people also went away  from event excited about what they could begin
>> acting on in their own  communities and networks.
>> 
>> Now this week a 1000 volunteers chosen from  across Australian society are
>> meeting in the 10 major
>> arenas to come up  with key ideas and directions for the future.  The
>> co-chairs for each  group include
>> a respected person in that field plus a cabinet minister  charged with
>> responsibility in the policy arena.
>> 
>> The opening was  on tv this morning.  It began with a welcome to country by
>> an Aboriginal  elder.
>> She reminded those who haven¹t always had a voice- that their ideas  were
>> just what were needed at
>> this time- including women.  The second  person who spoke was a young woman
>> who is from a 
>> Multi-racial family- one  indigenous parent , the other a European Aussie.
>> Her word was that the  story of being Australian has to become larger.  It
>> has to include all  the peoples of this great place if a new perspective and
>> future can be  created.
>> 
>> A young man whose family originally came from India to live  in Australia
>> spoke of the trends that
>> we are facing. ³We are now in  a time of globalization- a state of mind where
>> we are fascinated by creating  communities of debate and dialogue across the
>> planet.  His most  addressing point was that the west no longer dominates the
>> world.  Its  model of society in not sustainable for all the peoples of this
>> planet.   India and China are coming into their own.  It is a time when we
>> need to seek new answers.  All certainties are gone.  What is needed  is
>> ingenuity and creativity as we face the future.   We can have  poisonous
>> debates which are just quarrels about the past and present and  endanger the
>> future or we can focus on the challenges for the future.²
>> 
>> Tomorrow we will begin to hear about some of the big ideas that are
>> beginning to emerge.  Whatever happens, you sense that people in  Australia
>> are waking up from a time of cynicism and helplessness
>> to a  sense that yes we just might be able to meet the major challenges of
>> our time  and be a part of the
>> democratic process for change.  As Hawkins says  in Blessed Unrest, we are in
>> a time of moving from a world created by  privilege to a world created by
>> community (across time and space).   Perhaps the 2020 summit is participating
>> in creating that new world.
>> 
>> Cheers from down under.  It is an exciting time to be living  here.
>> 
>> Jeanette Stanfield
>> 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
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