Key note address at an annual conference in Stuttgart, Germany, followed by a daylong seminar to delve deeper into the topic
I recently returned from a conference held in Stuttgart, Germany and I’m celebrating a keynote address for 110 people at the beginning of the conference with theme of “NVC and Power” followed by a day long seminar to go deeper into the topic.
It gives me hope to see the level of engagement and desire to learn through the challenges and triggers that inevitably come when we have the courage to face the ways the domination system separates, isolates and targets specific people/groups while it gives immunity to and benefits some people/groups.
The courage and willingness to face the world as it is (rather than to deny, dismiss or defend) and the eagerness to participate in transforming things to make it work for all people is truly inspiring to witness and to contribute to. As one of the organizers told me enthusiastically, “I believe this is at the root of NVC and I am so glad we are doing this”
The key note was followed by parallal sessions on different applications/contexts of NVC and Power (family, partnerships, work teams, etc) given by 10 different local trainers from Germany.
Read what one of the organizers (and participant) said about the keynote & rest of the day here:
http://netzwerk-gewaltfrei-stuttgart.de/index.php/nachricht/items/die-8-stuttgarter-gfk-tage-ein-voller-erfolg.html
[For non German speakers, I have attached a google translated version below)
The one day seminar was on the day after the keynote. Here I was able give bit more in depth sessions on topics such as:
Learning to see through systemic lens; recognizing structural violence (beyond the personal and interpersonal variety of violence that is usually highlighted); recognizing implicit bias; how to be an effective ally to those being targeted; the concept learning was integrated with NVC skill building and role plays as much as possible.
Read what one of the organizers who also participated in the session says about the seminar:
http://netzwerk-gewaltfrei-stuttgart.de/index.php/nachricht/items/die-8-stuttgarter-gfk-tage-sonntag.html
[For non German speakers, I have attached a google translated version below)
There were 40 participants for the day seminar and I was told by the organizers that there were 30-40 more who wanted to register but were turned away due to lack of space. So now we are talking about offering another 2 or 3 day seminar to be organized in the coming months.
At future seminars, I will be covering the above mentioned topics as well as touching on topics such as: historical roots of group based hierarchies (e.g., history of colonization) and how the position/status of the group (and the individuals who identify with the group) shapes their psychology and influences their perception and approach in conflict. Also, I will be covering internalized oppression and how to stop supporting oppressive systems to continue.
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Google Translated (from German to English) version of the celebrations from the organizers who also participated in the two events:
The 8th Stuttgart GFK Days – a complete success
Jeyanthy Siva, international non-violent communication trainer, mediator and coach, started the two-day event with her opening workshop “Recognizing, understanding and overcoming power and dominance over others”. When I saw her sitting on the chair in stumps, I was moved by the authenticity and thankful for the cultural expansion that I was able to experience.
In the following two hours we were invited to focus on privileges. Siva understood privileges in this context as favor without doing anything. Where do we experience preference solely from circumstances for which we ourselves have not done anything, such as social class or belief in which we were born, skin color or the name we carry. “Make the invisible visible.” I kept hearing this sentence. “Make the invisible visible.” Where do we, each and every individual, experience preference in our lives? When we recognize them, do we feel shame and guilt that inhibit us? Siva encourages us to turn to the energy we have through privileges. We can perceive and use this power to take the paradigm shift to power with people with others. The vision of social change.
Thank you Jeyanthy for this deep look at power and privileges and how we can share them. “Make the invisible visible.”
After this kick-off and a refreshment at the pretzel buffet, the participants divided themselves into the four different workshops, which took up the content of the motto for the world of work and private life. After the lunch break there were a total of 10 offers in two other timeslots. a. focused on school and society.
Filled with impressions and impulses, we ended the first day at 6:30 p.m.
Many thanks to all of the participants for their interest in non-violent communication. In mutual exchange and deepening, ideas develop how power can be lived with people. At the same time, practice fields open up for us to continue growing in nonviolent communication. It is always a challenge to become aware of our attitude in sensitive, demanding, stressful situations. We want to face it and keep an eye on us and others.
Best regards
Brigitte Wagner
Orga-Team GFK-Tag Stuttgart
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Sunday started with becoming aware of our diversity in terms of ethnicity, skin color, gender, age, education, wealth, sexual orientation and physical resources. In one exercise, we were invited to take the following mental experiment: We go to sleep in the evening as who we are, and wake up the next day with a different gender and a different trait (see above). We investigated the question: What changes in our lifestyle and everyday life? In the exchange with each other, we became aware that this goes hand in hand with a significantly different experience, even though we had remained the same from being human. And exactly at this point we tracked down the mechanisms of structural power and followed it with many other exercises during the workshop. In the end there were role-playing games in which we practiced to break through precisely these power mechanisms beyond the dominance behavior patterns. An exciting workshop that really sensitized me to the topic.
Uta Hohenberge
Orga-Team GFK-Tag Stuttgart
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Those of you interested in this topic, I am happy to announce that there will be another opportunity to join me and 3 of my colleagues for an intensive residential training in New York in July 2020. More details on this soon.
Signing off, With gratitude to be able to do this meaningful work in the world, Jeyanthy Siva