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The Three Pillars

    The

  1. three pillars of radical inclusivity, active listening and trust are a way to provide a safe space and support empathetic interaction allowing all assembly attendees to share and to be listened to.

    Radical Inclusivity

    Effective assemblies achieve radical inclusivity, where the emphasis on all being heard and valued equally means no voices are dominating and the collective wisdom of the assembly can be reached. People can participate safely and openly, without fear of judgement or ridicule. Radical
    inclusivity is a practical step to widening a movement through providing agency to all who participate.

    Radical Inclusivity also means being aware of potential barriers to engagement and working with those affected to enable participation. Think about disabled access, sign language, whisper interpretation for those for whom English isn’t their first language and other possible means by which those barriers can be removed. Ask if there are any barriers to engagement that people need to identify and then request that the group works together to find ways to remove them.

    2. “Diversity
  2. in opinion will pay you back in the long run socially... if we don’t fix this problem to start with we are simply going to replicate existing power structures.”
    - Eleanor Saitta, hacker and designer

    3. Active Listening

    Active listening is focusing on hearing people before developing a response in your mind whilst someone is still talking. Active listening is vital as it enhances our capacity to empathise; when we fully listen to others, we gain more of an understanding of people, their views and their concerns. 

    Assemblies recognise that no one person or group holds all the answers. The collective wisdom of the crowd means we gain powerful intelligence about the issues we discuss.

    “It
  3. is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
     - Aristotle

    4. Trust

    Once the process for a people’s assembly has been agreed, it is essential that participants trust the process and trust the facilitators. The facilitators enable this trust by sticking to the agreed process and ensuring that everyone follows too.

    It is not meant to be a perfect system and can only be effective if people trust that those involved have come together in humility, to work towards decisions and actions that are best for all.

Diversity in opinion will pay you back in the long run socially… if we don’t fix this problem to start with we are simply going to replicate existing power structures.
Eleanor Saitta, hacker and designer

The three pillars of Community Assemblies which support empathetic interactions are radical inclusivity, active listening and trust.

A Community Assembly differs from a debate where one person is ‘right’ and the other is ‘wrong’, or from a typical discussion or conversation where people have a tendency to dominate with questions and interjections. Community Assemblies create an inclusive space in which each participant is respected and listened to without judgement, whilst sharing from the heart. Facilitated by a trained person, each participant listens to the ideas of others.

Radical Inclusivity

Effective assemblies achieve radical inclusivity; the emphasis is on all being heard and valued equally; no voices dominate; nobody has all the answers. The collective wisdom of the assembly is harnessed. People can participate safely and openly without fear of judgement or ridicule. Radical inclusivity, therefore, also means being aware of potential barriers to full participation and working with those affected to enable their participation.

“Diversity in opinion will pay you back in the long run socially... if we don’t fix this problem to start with we are simply going to replicate existing power structures.”
- Eleanor Saitta, hacker and designer

Active Listening

Active listening means we focus on hearing someone all the way through, listening empathically and overcoming the urge to start figuring out your response in your mind whilst someone is still talking. Assemblies recognise that no one person or group holds all the answers. The collective wisdom of the crowd means we gain powerful intelligence about the issues we discuss.

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
 - Aristotle

Trust

Once we agree the system and process for our assembly, we all need to trust the process, trust the facilitators and trust all people involved. Facilitators and the assembly organising team maximise this trust through sticking to the agreed process and ensuring that everyone follows the facilitators.

“I see the 15M assemblies and neighbourhood organising in retrospective and I’m amazed how it could work and most importantly all the trust that it meant.”
- Carolina, a founder of 15M and takethesquare.net
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