Event : Sustainable Hospitality Exchange , Amsterdam , 27-29 June

http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/wiki/SHE

last weekend of June in Amsterdam (27-29 June)

” SHE also wishes to connect the praxis of
hospitality exchange to a wider framework of cultural exchange,
gift-economy, trust-metrics, sustainable traveling and living a joyful
life ”

more below …

also see the bewelcome collective , same place , same time ,

but on a longer period  :

http://www.bevolunteer.org/wiki/Amsterdam_BeWelcome_Collective

https://www.bewelcome.org/forums/s374-Amsterdam%20BeWelcome%20Collective

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kasper Souren
Date: Sat, Apr 26, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: SHE wants you as a facilitator!

You heard about the SHE-conference? SHE stands for Sustainable
Hospitality Exchange and is a conference that organised during the
last weekend of June in Amsterdam (27-29 June). It is based in a local
former squat that can host a hundred people and more. The goals of SHE
is to increase exchange of knowledge on the different hospex-networks
around the world & foster debate and change.

SHE wants to be an open-space conference on topics related to
hospitality exchange. SHE wishes to enable face-to-face debates and
workshops on how these networks are run, on best-practices, on
volunteer-work, on empowerment, on community building and all other
related topics. In addition, SHE also wishes to connect the praxis of
hospitality exchange to a wider framework of cultural exchange,
gift-economy, trust-metrics, sustainable traveling and living a joyful
life because above everything SHE wishes to create the debate: what do
we mean with sustainable hospitality exchange?

In the end though, SHE is how you envision her. Look her in the eyes
and think what you could do with SHE! Imagine a space with
enthousiastic people who are very eager to hear about the history of
Hospitality Club, Couchsurfing & Bewelcome, as well as Servas and
other networks of hosp-exchange. Imagine an open podium, space for
art-installations & great food, a self-managed bar and lots of nice
people that want to live & learn by sharing.

SHE is curious to know if you are interested. SHE is really looking
forward to hear from people such as you to start thinking what you
would like to do with her. Would you for example like to facilitate a
workshop on any of the topics related to SHE? Or do you have any other
groovy ideas that SHE might benefit from? Of course you do!

Workshops that SHE is already envisioning are for example: experiences
on volunteer work, how to build up a local hospitality exchange
community, sustainable traveling and hitchhiking, trust, hospitality
exchange and money system, free software and coding, salsa, cultural
western-centrism, history of any given network, et cetera.

The space for SHE is already organised. It has lots of room for
plenary sessions & workshops. There are tables, chairs, a bar, a
dj-set and a podium as well. But SHE also already exists in
wiki-space. So why don’t you start getting into SHE? You can check her
out for more information. You can also edit the pages and give your
input straight away: http://turl.ca/sheconf

For now SHE is being facilitated by a small but committed group of
people who would love to hear from you. Please write SHE-assistants
Kasper (kasper.souren – at – gmail.com) or Robin (robokow – at – gmail.com) with
your ideas and forward this e-mail to good people.

Hope to hear from you soon!

SHE

Re: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

sometimes things can be stirred up a bit 😉

but yes , i know that it goes through project development – defining a project ( that can be understood ) ,

gathering people around it.

and then working projects can be inter connected between each other.

we can choose what project and field to focus on according to what feels more of a priority and/or passion

in my case for the moment one of the fields of learning and development is : reflexivity systems and design

but i can also invest myself in other fields of focus , such as washing dishes – when it has meaning / when it is part of a symbiosis and synnergy

although i feel that today what we need is not more projects , what we need is a lifestyle and a intention that follows a greater vision

———————————

I ve been in this situation in the last 10 years at least
( got elected on the school board 10 years ago 😉 )
and in between ended up involved in youth politics , local , regional , national , and european representative politics ,

although always with a grassroots approach , or more exactly , especially the last 6 years , a mesh ( net ) roots approach
but then the problem is that , when there s no net , there is no action , there is no politics 😉

 

for the moment i relate most to nomadic artist ecologist and programmer hacker networks … that i m contributing to connect between each other
i prefer a non confrontational , creative alternative development approach , through festivalist lifestyles and paradigm building

but i guess i also need to think about a place to sleep – hmm , and living online is no fun – furthermore , my body does not accomodate that well on a server space rack

yet it is accessible – all the resources are there in over abundance ( at least here in western europe ) , and in a society where wealth is based on solution development , such approach could even be considered by venture capitalists …
but do we really need venture capitalists … i mean , we dont want anyone to take control over it , it would be paradoxical … as it is about people waking up and empowering each other – when we have enough individuals , we create a alternative system – a bit like a cooperative

and some of us ( sam , michel , … ) are bringing together opportunities for alternative economic models ( and measurment systems )

and in many ways , a lot of ” religious ” communities have already built various infrastructures , such as the anthroposophic movement : schools ( waldorf schools ) , bio farming , healthcare , etc

and there are also other networks that may not have done it in an as broad field , but that exist ; such as ecovillages –

http://gen.ecovillage.org/

and then offcourse there are networks such as hospitality networks :

http://oikoumene.coforum.net/HospiTality

my challenge is to bring all this together , within the realm and new possibilities offered by alternative communication channels offered by information technologies

and tend to share such views on

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hc_ecology/

Michel Bauwens and co , Sam , Steve , Synnove , Sebastian , Kelly , Sara , Thomas etc all in their ways are bringing together or furthering some of the pieces of the puzzle.

So its about furthering existing resources with new opportunities , and empowering each other in specific projects , with a broad interconnected scope , eventually also using alternative currencies.

🙂

some fields – just to cite a few :

reflexivity practices , tools , and environments , face to face , online , and between the two

alternative learning for all ages ,

alternative lifestyles – interconnected between each other

alternative parallel currencies and financial systems

farming

building

health care

elder care

child care

spirituality

traveling

transportation

communication networks

production design

etc etc etc etc

and to start with its i,portant for us to connect , perhaps for some of us to have a space to live together , and work on these ,
without having constraints

and not only in isolated eco villages
but also in cities ,

USING EXISTING RESOURCES , with new solutions

and we can do it , but not each on our own

yet somehow it seems that we still need to find some strategies and have access to the existing networks and flows of information as to be better involved in PARTICIPATING WHILE SURVIVING

I have been participating to some extent ( much by learning how to reduce my needs on certain levels of Maslow s hierarchy of needs , learning a lot about myself on the path ) , and contributing often more input then some paid counter parts ( but that evolve in a power driven coercion structure , and not a peer to peer self organized festivalist paradigm )

The challenge includes developping the transparency and access we need to develop our approach ,
and eventually also develop the alternative measuring tools that are best suited to our approaches – as to be RECOGNIZED

and through recognition have access to more opportunities , etc etc etc

thats what I have been trying to do – but often ending up without any support because its simply TOO COMPLEX for many people to understand ,

or TOO DISTURBING for those that understand it but are too pre-occupied by securing their position within the ” society of the spectacle “

so only with people that are concious that they can still continue their activities in the spectacle while empowering the festivalist approach does it work.

but then again , ego s get in the way , and sometimes even aggressivity as many people active in the society of the spectacle feel frustrated not to live a festivalist life ,
or of having lived a life in the society of the spectacle that they are not ready to requestion as it brings up too many crystallizations ,

and in effect only few are really ready to surrender by LETTING CAN FLOW , AND EMPOWER IT TOGETHER , FOR ALL

… same story anyway :-p
… i guess its a few thousand years old :-p

On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 11:32 AM, Kadri wrote:
Hmm, looks like you have lot of energy, but nowhere to but it…..

Hope you will find a place and persons, other that virtual, before you end up in drama…..:-)

Keep strong !

On 29/02/2008, Dante-Gabryell Monson wrote: I know I m writing too much ,

and instead of writing I should be doing ( although writing is a form of doing too )

and to do it is best to do with others

so to get together with others

instead of spamming them and keeping them from doing

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

where are you brothers and sisters ?

ah , there you are , next to me , ok :-p

Permanent Collective Spaces for Project Development

my post can also be found on

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hc_ecology/message/268

I am eager to get to know about anyone that has ideas regarding spaces where we could live or hold events in a self organized way.

1) CouchSurfing and Travelling School of Life – Common Interests ? + Gathering Contacts for Collective Spaces
2) Legal Platforms for Collectively Purchasing Land ???
3) Decision Making Practices and Tools


1 ) CouchSurfing and Travelling School of Life – Common Interests ? + Gathering Contacts for Collective Spaces

Maybe an example of where Travelling School of Life objectives ( http://www.tsolife.org )
and CouchSurfing Objectives ( http://www.couchsurfing.org )
could potentially meet – such as in having our own Spaces :

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Permanent_CSC

( also see pasted below – on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hc_ecology/message/268 )

and also other tools planned for development in CS :

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Future_Features_%26_Functions

one extract : ” From the CouchSurfing <!– D(["mb","University,nwe thought it would be good to be able to search people by interests.nLike I want to learn the guitar, who can actually host me out there andnprovide some lessons.. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;
n
nhttp://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
n
nall pages: http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Allpages
n

2) List of Spaces + Legal Platforms for Collectively Purchasing Land ???


Talking about Nomadic Social Centers in Urban and Rural areas during my travels these last months, n
made me realise that there is alot of enthousiasm on this topic , and alot of people thinking and working on such topics.

I also met farm owners in different european countries that would be happy to host and let nomads self organize on their land. n

and I remember talking about this topic with Tsolife friends – a list of spaces was started and it will soon be on the www.tsolife.org wiki

nWhich kind of Legal Platforms for (Purchasing?/Borrowing?) Land?

Borrowingn : I remember Casey mentionned an idea that would offer interested owners of land to borrowing us their land / living spaces , under the agreement that their “property” would be returned in an equal or improved state n“,1] ); //–>University, we thought it would be good to be able to search people by interests. Like I want to learn the guitar, who can actually host me out there and provide some lessons.. ”

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

all pages: http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Allpages

2) List of Spaces + Legal Platforms for Collectively Purchasing Land ???
Talking about Nomadic Social Centers in Urban and Rural areas during my travels these last months,
made me realise that there is alot of enthousiasm on this topic , and alot of people thinking and working on such topics.

I also met farm owners in different european countries that would be happy to host and let nomads self organize on their land.

and I remember talking about this topic with Tsolife friends – a list of spaces was started and it will soon be on the www.tsolife.org wiki

Which kind of Legal Platforms for (Purchasing?/Borrowing?) Land?

Borrowing : I remember Casey mentionned an idea that would offer interested owners of land to borrowing us their land / living spaces , under the agreement that their “property” would be returned in an equal or improved state <!– D(["mb","

Purchasing : It might eventually also be interesting to understand how to develop legal platforms to reclaim land by opening up a subscription and collectively buy land – , that could be used for all kinds of projects , and would be self-organized / and where objectives would not be focused on maximisation of profit , but on maximising opportunities and empowering individuals and communities – such a platform would ask for donations to buy land , and although I imagine cooperatives could develop on such land , the land in itself could not be sold or speculated on , and would not be dominated by any individual or selected group of individuals – it would become land managed by the collective of individuals living on the land – through decision making processes with wich we could experiment – … hmm … such as Concensus ( ? ) n

3) Decision Making Practices and Tools

… I propose to gather Decision Making Practices and Tools links and knowledge – my current list of links on this topic:n

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/decision

feel free to contact me on any of these issues – would also be nice to have some discussions on these topics on the lists and eventually complement existing articles on our wikis such asn

http://dominik.valledismeraldo.com/new/index.php/Tsolife/Openorg

nhttp://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Organizational_Structure ( ? )

——————————“,1] ); //–>

Purchasing : It might eventually also be interesting to understand how to develop legal platforms to reclaim land by opening up a subscription and collectively buy land – , that could be used for all kinds of projects , and would be self-organized / and where objectives would not be focused on maximisation of profit , but on maximising opportunities and empowering individuals and communities – such a platform would ask for donations to buy land , and although I imagine cooperatives could develop on such land , the land in itself could not be sold or speculated on , and would not be dominated by any individual or selected group of individuals – it would become land managed by the collective of individuals living on the land – through decision making processes with wich we could experiment – … hmm … such as Concensus ( ? )

3) Decision Making Practices and Tools

… I propose to gather Decision Making Practices and Tools links and knowledge – my current list of links on this topic:

http://del.icio.us/deliciousdante/decision

feel free to contact me on any of these issues – would also be nice to have some discussions on these topics on the lists and eventually complement existing articles on our wikis such as

http://dominik.valledismeraldo.com/new/index.php/Tsolife/Openorg

http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/wiki/index.php/Organizational_Structure ( ? )

hubs , rhizomes , and self-managed shared constructivist approach to learning

I would like to share the following project:

I am developping tools and networks with friends

for facilitating learning and discovery, living , and creative solution development ,

accross our increasing (un)conciousness of the environment of the oikoumene of thought and life, and off all the individuals , references, and questions that can be found , asked, and developped,

through a self-managed shared constructivist approach to learning

i believe that ECLA could benefit from such a project , by cooperating with active minds that could connect to ongoing activities, questions, and individuals that relate to the school, and trough such openness connecting itself and becoming a node , or a hub , for real world meetings , knowledge , and project development.

Other Hubs are online as well as offline , everywhere where individuals connected to the networks interact and share with one or more individuals ( and eventually has the option of sharing and multiplying outcomes with the rest of the network )

Open courses online could be shared and built together – such as through the Wiki University project

http://www.google.com/search?q=wikiversity

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikiversity

Its seems that , originally, UNIVERSITIES DEVELOPPED AND BUILT THEMSELVES AROUND COLLECTIONS AND SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE ( such as LIBRARIES , other thinkers and practicionners , … )

and around such spaces, THINKERS AND PUPILS WOULD GATHER TO SHARE AND QUESTION TOGETHER

With time, such spaces institutionalised and power structures and systems gradually increased control and dictated on the university the needs for their own development and maintanence ( sometimes by opening up such new spaces )

TODAY , KNOWLEDGE IS AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE through interconnected information and communication technologies such as THE INTERNET

I am EXPERIMENTING , by opening up further OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH INTERACTION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FACILITATING TOOLS AND HUBS

FOR RHIZOMIC EXTENSIBILITY

using not only new information technology tools , but also through practices for learning and interaction ,

and through POST-NOMADIC INDIVIDUALS that – full time or part time – HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE AND MEET REFERENCES – spaces and environments, individuals , questions , issues , … – AND CONNECT THEM as to LEARN FOR THEMSELVES , and SHARE WITH OTHERS – EXTENDING THE PARADIGMS OF POSSIBILITIES

and complementing existing and past initiatives for exchanges IN A VERY EFFICIENT – LOW COST WAY

( for example, I travelled for the last years, and usually spend more or less 200 euros a month for all my expenses, while roaming europe – and maybe this cost can be reduced as networks , tools , and practices are being developped and enhanced )

This brainstorming is available on http://www.oikoumene.be/RhiZomes and on http://dante.ecobytes.net AND IS OPEN TO BE FURTHER EDITED