[Oe List ...] FW: "The Singing Revolution"

[frank bremner]

Thanks, Pat, for the phrase "how this revolution played out over the years".
 
I've pursuing the screening of this film in Australia, where we have a considerable number of people from the Baltic states.  I'm reminded of some images:
 
1)
Behind the big bold "Cutting Edge of History" are the small wedgeblades doing the consolidation, chipping away bit by bit, putting the small bricks in place of a larger edifice of a paradigm/ practice change.
 
2)In about 1993 I facilitated a live-in conference with the executive committee of the State Council of Students (SCofS), an organisation representing secondary students across South Australia.  They were pretty despairing about the state of their organisation, feeling that previous support from education authorities was being withdrawn (they were correct!).
 
I outlined my personal acquaintance with state-level school student organisations.  (a) The Union for Secondary Students (USS) in the early '70s - the days of The Little Red Schoolbook (mild by today's standards of student participation).  (b) The Secondary Students Association of SA (SSASA) in the middle '70s - concerned mainly with getting concession prices for members at record shops, clothes shops etc.  (c) The State Council of Students, which came out of conferences in IYY (the UN International Year of Youth), in the middle '90s, and which coincided with the federally funded Participation and Equity Program (PEP).
 
I suggested that every generation of student participation enthusiasts and practitioners builds a few "more bricks in the wall" towards this work being commonplace.  (We may have made a comment about The Wall by Pink Floyd.)  They appreciated the historical perspective - none of them knew that they were part of a long tradition.  
 
Five years earlier I was pleased when two members of a previous executive committee had seen themselves as part of tradition going back at least to Woody Guthrie and the Weavers.
 
3)
I also quoted (or misquoted) some graffiti recently seen on a wall in eastern Europe: something like "Ten years for Poland, ten months for Czechoslovakia, ten weeks for Hungary, ten days for East Germany".  
I told them how one-week HDP consultations led to one-day consultations plus circuiting, and so on.
 
Best wishes
 
Frank Bremner


From: ptuecke at charter.netTo: oe at wedgeblade.netDate: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 16:44:51 -0700Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] FW: "The Singing Revolution" - In over 60 cities and more to come!








Dan and I saw this film last month at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. This wonderful institution, in our neighborhood, has four good films every month.  After reading the comments from people on this list serve, I decided we had to see this film. It was amazing to see how this revolution played out over the years. Victory didn’t come right away - something it is helpful to remember. Enjoy this story!
 
Pat
 
Patricia R. Tuecke, Sierra Circle Consulting
Facilitating Amazing Results!
775-333-6998   ptuecke at charter.net
 
 
 
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