This is an annual report to members, friends
and contacts as to what has been happening with INNATE over
the last year. As you probably know, INNATE is a loose network
and, as with every network, there is the problem
of how to build up creative interaction. The main way this
is done for INNATE is by the production of Nonviolent News
on a monthly basis; yes, this is pretty basic and non-exciting
but people do not know what other people are doing much of
the time. It is up to you, the reader of Nonviolent News,
to build on that information and those contacts. Thanks to
'a little help from a friend', Nonviolent News is now on the
web. This website is also very handy for placing additional
documentation (reports, training materials, etc) which are
not worth mailing out to all members and recipients. Please
note though that the co-ordinator is not (yet!) directly e-mailable
though hopes to be so during '99.
INNATE does organise occasional seminars and
meetings. It organised one small training event at the start
of last summer - Learning to ride a nonviolent cycle - and
while this was worthwhile the small numbers attending emphasised
the rule of thumb that it's much easier to do a training for
an existing group than get a new group together for such an
event.
That said, there certainly is a role for INNATE
to try to pull relevant people and threads together. One such
event comes up on 6th March 1999, a Belfast seminar looking
at peace, nonviolence and civil society groups over the period
of the Troubles, their contribution, and what the future should
hold for them.
Another area where INNATE will be trying to
pull threads together concerns the UN declared Decade for
a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the
World, 2001 - 2010. This is a golden opportunity to try to
build things up over the period of a decade. INNATE hopes
to organise (or persuade others to organise!) networking consultations
in several different venues regarding this, perhaps around
the early summer and autumn period.
INNATE is an entirely voluntary body, there
is nothing involuntary about it, no, I mean we have no paid
staff. Good and bad. Bad for me as a volunteer co-ordinator
when too many things land on my lap. But it is also sometimes
good because what is to be done has to be chosen carefully,
there isn't time and energy to waste. As co-ordinator it is
also difficult to disentangle that role from my role as a
more general nonviolence/group dynamics trainer and facilitator
- but things in life as always a bit confused! That said it
has been good this last year to undertake training and facilitation
in Wales (for the Welsh-speaking FOR there), Croatia (at the
WRI Triennial) and Chile (for World Scout Jamboree and for
SERPAJ-Chile, on behalf of IFOR). It has been a pleasure and
a great networking opportunity on a wider scale.
INNATE has considerable resources (mainly written)
on many different aspects and facets of nonviolence and organising.
Please ask if there's something you're after. And if you don't
receive an answer straight away, please ask again! As indicated
above, it is difficult impossible as a voluntary co-ordinator
to attend to everything but persistence yields results. In
the longer term there remain questions about how INNATE is
serviced but I won't start on that again.
For those accessible to Belfast, I would urge
participation in networking meetings (no, tasks will not be
thrust upon you when you walk through the door) as a way to
broaden INNATE's base and get INNATE doing something of what
you want. Thanks to those who have been involved. Ideas and
suggestions are always welcome, wherever you are. And, if
you've read this far, thanks for listening!
Rob Fairmichael, Coordinator, INNATE,
February 1999
