Maria Arpa
Domination Culture is a term used to describe the top down systems of society which motivate people to act through fear, force and coercion. It is like a pyramid. The base is controlled from a smaller point at the top and the base continues the support the top. Most of our mainstream systems of people organisation are based on these principles starting in schools and seeping out into workplaces, communities and public services.
Many people believe there is no other way and that these systems are a result of ‘human nature’ even though these systems do not serve us well and result in learned helplessness. Increases in crime, fear of crime, poverty and depression are important indicators.
In light of the challenges and opportunities we face today, surely we should be questioning the very core of how we organise and the systems we use and ask if we can transform our most fundamental approaches to organisation to bring about new levels well being, social capital and safety?
Pioneers are highlighting the limits of our conventional views of leadership and offering a glimpse of new possibilities available to us in consent driven models.
At the Centre for Peaceful Solutions we are harnessing these ideas and embedding them into our practice. When Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see in the world” he meant that we should model the values that are important to us.
A transformative structure and process integrates the collective wisdom of all the members of a community whether that community is a family, a school, a neighbourhood or a workplace. Even the people who contribute the least have something to offer.
- Who better to tell you how to run a school than the students who constantly fall foul of the system?
- Who better to tell you how to reduce crime than the people who repeatedly offend?
- Who better to tell you how to run a Social Welfare system than the people who cheat it?
But how do you give those people a voice without condoning their behaviour? How do you integrate everyone’s needs into a consent model? How do you transform conflict to contribution?
If this topic is of interest to you, why not join in the discussion. If this topic affects you, talk to us. You could be a person with a family, workplace or community issue. Or you could be in a leadership position looking for a new way forward.
We’re interested in talking to people who want to be inspired to into trying something new. If enough people are interested we’ll put on a workshop that distils the principles, ideas and partnership models that we have seen work and blends them into a strategic and practical approach to a change process into your situation. The workshop will work dynamically
with whatever live examples you bring. Expect a mixture of facilitated dialogue, presentations, role play, brainstorming and planning. The aim is to inspire you to take ideas and action points back to your communities, organisations and workplaces.
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