Awakening to the American Spirit in Light & Shadow The Annual Meeting of Global Network for (GN3)

GN3, the Global Network for Social Threefolding, will host its annual series of meetings in the United States this year. The series will include an annual meeting, two public lectures and a capacity-building workshop. The annual meeting portion will be held in Greenfield, NH at the Barbara Harris Center beginning with dinner on August 31st and ending the evening of September 3rd.

The three-day annual meeting is designed for GN3 members and friends to discuss, celebrate and critique their work and global events while engaging with the American Spirit and its impact on the political, economic, cultural and spiritual issues of our time.

The American Spirit is complex – drawing on the natural magnificence of the North American continent and the deep spirituality of those who lived here before Europeans arrived. It has fostered: a of freedom, rights, and the rule of law that inspired the world; a challenging but steady growth in human rights; and a spirit of self-reliance and a commitment to opportunity for all persons.

At the same time America has cast a long shadow of greed and lust for power: the usurpation of land from Native Americans; the tragedy of slavery; a smothering of commercialism; and the worship of the dollar. In our time, the American Spirit’s darker aspect has become increasingly obvious. For that reason it is important to deepen our understanding of both America’s light and the ominous shadow it casts.

Awakening to the American Spirit will include:

¾ Talks and discussions on cultural, business and political life

¾ Visits to local cultural and economic initiatives that exemplify our theme

¾ Presentations by members and friends on their projects and activities

¾ Time for informal interaction, sharing experiences and private reflection

¾ Moments of hearing historical “American Voices” speak during the meeting

¾ Social-artistic activities that involve everyone

1 Schedule of Talk, Field Trips & Activities, August 31 – September 3

Wednesday, August 31 Evening ¾ Orland Bishop, youth mentor, human rights activist and community builder in Los Angeles, gives the keynote talk on our theme.

Thursday, September 1 Morning ¾ Luigi Morelli speaks on the native American Iroquois legend of The Peacemaker and its relevance to the challenges of our times. ¾ Nancy Jewel Poer will examine the awakening of an American spirit in terms of biographies of representative Americans. Afternoon ¾ A choice of Field Trips to local organizations addressing land preservation, sustainable , town preservation & revitalization, and “green building.” Evening ¾ Evening Contra Dance – a lively and social New England experience for all!

Friday, September 2 Morning ¾ Sylvia Blanchet, co-founder and manager of ForesTrade, a socially-responsible business with operations in New England and in tropical countries, will discuss cultural renewal in her company and the corporate responsibility movement in the United States. ¾ Members and friends present their initiatives, including a local permaculture project, a multi-stakeholder anti-poverty strategy initiative in Guatemala, a county-wide political referendum on GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) in local agriculture. Afternoon ¾ Continuation of presentations of initiatives by members and friends. ¾ Talks and panel on the state of in the US and global trends; with Ruth McCambridge of Third Sector New England, editor-in-chief of The Nonprofit Quarterly; Orland Bishop of Shade Tree Mentoring; Yeshayahu Ben Aharon of

2 Activists for Israeli Civil Society; Steve Waddell of Global Action Network Net; Barbara Glaser of The Saratoga Institute and Saratoga Open Space Project.

Evening ¾ Exploration of GN3 initiatives and concerns – first of three evenings of small group and plenary discussions.

Saturday, Sept. 3 Morning ¾ Chris Schaefer, author of the forthcoming Will to Power: Reflections on American Foreign Policy and the Future of , speaks and leads discussion on the positive and shadow elements in American political and corporate life.

Afternoon ¾ A choice of Afternoon Activities including: o Local meditative experience of an emerging earth-connected spirituality o Offerings by members from GN3 nodes o Free time for those desiring to reflect privately or meet in small groups

Evening ¾ Exploration of GN3 initiatives and concerns – second of three evenings of small group and plenary discussions ¾ Close of annual meeting and transition to next day’s workshop, Shifting Societal Events from our Inner Intentions, Sunday-Tuesday, Sept. 4-6.

Presenters

Yeshayahu Ben Aharon Yeshayahu teaches, writes and lectures on the evolution of human consciousness in the sciences, humanities, and spirituality. His main goal is to combine spiritual research with social activism in Israel and in the world. He is the author of the book, America's Global Responsibility. In 1980 he co-founded the community, a center for diverse social, educational and curative activities in Israel. He has also co-founded two civil society networks: Activists for Israeli Civil Society (ICS), and Global Network for Social Threefolding (GN3).

Orland Bishop Orland, a member of GN3’s US-West Coast node, combines an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology and indigenous cosmologies with a deep dedication

3 to human rights advocacy and cultural renewal. He was a research fellow at the Center for the Study of Violence at Drew University. As director of Shade Tree Mentoring, he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that combine new and traditional ways of knowledge.

Sylvia Blanchet Sylvia, with her husband Thomas Fricke, co-founded ForesTrade, a business based in Vermont, Central America and Sumatra, which imports spices and organic coffee and works to change society through partnerships and with government and local people. ForesTrade imports adhere to fair-trade standards that aim to ensure workers' rights in the developing world. The company is devoted to "forest conservation and cultural preservation," and has been honored by the UN for its work on . Sylvia and Thomas are former staff members of the United Farm Workers Union.

Barbara L. Glaser Barbara is an educator, community advocate, preservationist and businesswoman. Over the years she has worked extensively in the fields of open space and historic preservation, hospice care, and not-for-profit management. She has helped to found a variety of organizations committed to these causes – Great Camp Sagamore National Historic Site and Conference Center; The Saratoga Open Space Project; The Community Hospice; Saratoga Institute and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her company, Linell Lands, in engaged in alternative development projects designed both to protect key community lands and to model alternative development options.

Ruth McCambridge Ruth is a well-known US civil society activist, a program director of Third Sector New England and editor-in-chief of its unique national magazine The Nonprofit Quarterly. Third Sector New England is dedicated to the promotion of active democracy, supporting the work of non-profit organizations, community groups and individuals and offering information and services that build knowledge, power and effectiveness and help to promote understanding about the non-profit sector’s impact in communities and its relationship to business and government. TSE sponsors an annual conference for third sector leaders and managers, provides management assistance and consulting services in organization development, strategic planning, financial and human resource management, program evaluation, and other areas.

Luigi Morelli Luigi has been working for the last twelve years with the developmentally disabled, mostly in therapeutic community settings. He has combined his interest in social matters with his studies in spiritual science through writing a spiritual history of North America, a first chapter of which has been published. Luigi was born in Washington, DC of mixed European and South American backgrounds and has lived in Europe,

4 South America and Africa. He was trained in Environmental Sciences at the Free University of Brussels and has worked in farming, gardening and landscaping, and with developmentally disabled adults.

Nancy Jewel Poer Nancy, a member of GN3’s US-West Coast node, is a founder and faculty member of College in California teaching Child Development and a course on The Spiritual America. She also works nationally with death and dying and is the author of Living Into Dying, Spiritual and Practical Deathcare for Family and Community. She recently served as an editor for a special issue of Lilipoh magazine on America.

Christopher Schaefer Chris is a faculty member and program director at Sunbridge College in Spring Valley, NY. He has taught American Foreign Policy and International at Tufts and MIT. He is an international speaker and organization development advisor to companies and not-for-profit organizations. An extract in Lilipoh magazine from his forthcoming book, Will to Power: Reflections on American Foreign Policy is available on the web at http://lilipoh.com/article_america.html.

Steve Waddell Steve is a researcher, educator, consultant and activist. He has worked on business- government-civil society collaborations for about 20 years. He is co-founder and director of the Global Action Network Net (www.gan-net.net), a global network of Intersectoral global networks; co-director of a project and community that focuses upon deep change and dialogic processes globally (www.generativedialogue.org); and co- founder of an executive management program at Boston College on Intersectoral processes. His new book is Societal Learning and Change: How , Business and Civil Society are Creating Solutions to Complex Multi-Stakeholder Problems

Workshop Leaders

Christian Heath Christian, a US-West Coast member of GN3, is an activist for peace, justice and fair trade in the San Francisco Bay area. He recently served as a campaign coordinator for a political battle in which voters decided to protect their farms, food and future by prohibiting the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) in Marin County. He has also developed a new project, "The Social Landscape Project for Civil Society."

Leslie Luchonok Leslie has been exploring inner connections to Gaia and the myriad expressions of her mystery and beauty in the landscape for three decades. While living in the Findhorn

5 community in Scotland in the 1970's, he became a close friend of Marko Pogacnik, a noted geomancer and earth healer. The friendship with Marko has deepened Leslie's understanding of our spiritual and energetic relationship to the forms of life and nature, and to how we can open and develop sensibilities to co-create a new relationship with nature in a time of planetary change. Leslie works professionally as an environmental planner.

Rebekah Rice Rebekah, a member of GN3’s US-East Coast node, was trained as an architect but primarily works as a teacher. She works with the Association for the Advancement of Science Education developing and testing integrated science, math and technology performance assessment tasks for secondary students. When she is not working with teachers and students, she farms, makes ceramic sculpture, and designs an occasional green building. She received her permaculture training from Starhawk after learning of it while sharing a jail cell in Washington, D.C.

Jim Ritchie-Dunham Jim is a strategy consultant, academic researcher, executive coach, entrepreneur, and board member. He co-founded the Institute for Strategic Clarity and the consulting firm, Strategic Clarity. In all of these pursuits, he seeks to help leaders connect their desire to effectively address complex social questions with a rigorous understanding of social systems - to create new understandings and transformed relationships. Jim will discuss an anti-poverty strategy initiative with 10 major stakeholder groups in Guatemala.

For further information on Awakening to the American Spirit Contact Cynthia Schroer, Coordinator [email protected] 603-759-0856

About GN3 (For more information, see website at www.globenet3.org) GN3 promotes practical approaches to peaceful individual and societal transformation leading to sustainable development. It seeks to educate individuals and organizations in civil society, business and government to the role of cultural power in addressing and transforming pressing societal challenges. GN3 supports individuals in institutions to find one another and act as creative agents and sustainers of meaningful, sustainable change.

GN3 began in 2000 when a group of 25 individuals from 9 countries gathered in New York to work with of the and Yeshayahu Ben Aharon of Israel and to better understand globalization. Their goal was to build relationships with

6 participants in the debates and deliberations at the State of the World Forum 2000 and the UN Millennium Summit, which took place concurrently in New York. In 2002 GN3 formally became a free association of eleven geographic groups on four continents.

Solving the difficult social challenges of our time requires individuals and organizations willing and able to develop new social forms, new partnerships among civil society, business and government, as well as new spaces and practices in which each individual can experience his or her own creative force. GN3 is committed to grass-roots threefolding initiatives and to research, dialogue and support for its members and friends.

7