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At 10 years old, Corrado, the youngest member of Utopista, a Venezuelan boy like any other boy or girl of our LAC region, looked up the meaning of utopia in the dictionary and concluded
it is something that appears to be unattainable, then a utopian world would be something fantastic that right now appears impossible, as if a good teacher arrived because all the others are idiots that treat us like babies and want us to behave like adults" (CM, 5.22.03).
Certainly we wish to start this dialogue putting into practice how much we are going to continue working, inclusion relationships, constructed from the bottom-up and in a horizontal position, as life generally is conceived. This image makes evident three fundamental central aspects of this collective dream: education as a central axis of the construction and maintenance of the new societies, the need to manage in a world of great contradictions in all spaces, even the apparently most homogeneous (as might be a elementary class), and to leave proof that this MISTICA VC is mature (5 years of survival in a context of cooperation each time more restricted in terms of financial resources) and that, in its mature condition, it systemizes, reveals and gives the process of the WSIS the essence of that which we would like to build and enjoy as societies in our LAC region.
Just like a ten year old boy or girl from this region that encloses so much magic realism, the people that make up the MISTICA VC have decided to dream collectively, in deep collective oneiric dynamics. Visualizing what we would like to live as citizens of some information society -whether it is feasible or not, at this moment is not our biggest worry- by seeing freely and enthusiastically what we deeply love and are looking for in life, work to find solutions that lead us to build that ideal society we have baptized "Wisdom Sharing Societies".
Why a collective dream is right now? There are many reasons, and perhaps the simplest is that dreaming is the only right against which no power can attempt, except oneself. However, this would be a very easy and comfortable answer in a rational human!! And, really, in these moments of widespread crisis (not only in the LAC) it has not been as easy to call on the utopias as the word dream invokes thinking...
| BEATING HEARTS: Procedure |
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/
Utopista is the oneiric space-time of "building a collective dream from the individuality of those who make up the virtual community MISTICA. A dream that does not need a visa to travel the Latin American and Caribbean space, or to get to other places and areas, like the WSIS. This is the rehearsal of a collective meditation that does not depend on what it should be or could be, but what we have, independently of the real availability, on the use and handling with sense, or of the ICT appropriation, we have sketched, as strokes, the societies that we dream of... Imbued in the magic of our marvelous realism, we approach our existential ideals of life and continue betting on the integrity of the human being, in social, economic, political, cultural, ecological and spiritual terms. It is not about adjusting to the changes that the times impose upon us, but about sifting the times so that the way of dealing with the changes does not continue destroying the basic principles upon which the existence of the planet earth lies, to put it another way, the respect for all forms of life and the need for a balanced coexistence between forms of energy, between species and, in particular, between human beings" (see Utopista Proposal).
The procedure used has been:
0. An initiation ritual
"In the LAC we are many cultures, all very rich and diverse, immersed in a great sea of rites, our own or from other cultures, that have made up our view of the world. Because of that we start with a cleansing and dispossession ritual to shake off the nets, chains, fears and remaining ties that sometimes obstruct the freedom of the spirit, shape our feelings and determine our way of existing and thinking... A Cleansing Ritual in order to visualize who we are (as individuals) by thinking about our ancestors;... about those original sources that constitute our past (indigenous, African or other), and, if possible, trying to give value to those that have been most devalued, whose mistreated footprints are found throughout history. Going from the most recent to the most remote, like a sweet journey, and from there returning slowly, trying to visualize the spaces and times; trying to exercise our ability to transmigrate for them. Remember that the dream we are going to begin is precisely to visualize, feel and travel to other spaces located in a future time, knowing that we feed on our present and past... so we INVOKE:
- "Yemaya, the mother of life, mother of all the gods, owner of all the waters it represents the sea, fundamental source of life.
- "Euzulie Fredda Dahomey, goddess of love. A spirit of the sea waters, it belongs to the Rada rite and her symbol is the heart.
- "Saint Martha the dominator, Martha the black, mystery or loa of the Dominican sanctuary, also related to love, to affairs of the heart. Her image is symbolized by a black woman with a serpent hanging from her neck.
- "All the energies concentrated on the symbolism that Latin-American and Caribbean "imaginary" recreates with the drums' joy. See http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/esp_doc_rito.html
1. The presentation of a proposal that defines and establishes a methodology
The reference document is available at:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/esp_doc_utopista.html (in Spanish)
And the diagram of the proposed direction is at:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/esquema.html
Instead of discussing the proposal at great length, this slid into the discussion and adapted itself to the dream, in the same way that the rhythm and rigor of the MISTICA VC operation did.
The subjects that had already been proposed, could have really come to life in contact with the expressed difficulties in dreaming.
2. Synthesis
Every two weeks a summary was made to reintroduce the nectar of every one of the interventions, giving importance, so, to the most minimal contribution, becoming an outline of the dream, in which we try to leave a record of all the shared voices and images. Three summaries were made, entitled "Outlining the dream", and are available a:
First summary of reflections, from April 1 to April 16:
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/esp_doc_sintesis.html
Second summary of reflections, from April 18 to May 2:
At: http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/esp_doc_sintv2.doc
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/esp_doc_sintv2/
Third summary of reflections, from May 3 to 31:
At: http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/sintesis-3-may.zip
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/sintesis3-mayo/
3. Systemization of the participation
Before completing the third summary, a synthesis and a review of the flight were made, showing the cloud of transmigrated birds between dreams. Available at:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/esp_doc_vuelo.doc
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/esp_doc_vuelo.html
4. Semilleros [Seed beds]
Between the last two summaries, the utopias began to flow. The dream semilleros of the members of the MISTICA VC were cultivated apart from those of the collaborators. The fertilizers applied to those dreams by the VC were manufactured. It is about organizing all of the contributions and debates generated by each dream. Available at:
VC Semillero members:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/SS.doc
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/SS/
Semillero collaborators:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/SSC.doc
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/ssc/
Applied fertilizers:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/Abonos_aplicado.doc
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/abonosaplicados/
5. Workgroups
Two workgroups were created: Girasoles and Dragones. A guide was prepared to guarantee that all the consumables, i.e., the documents mentioned in the two preceding points were used and taken advantage of to the fullest extent. Each workgroup made a summary. They are available at:
Girasoles Synthesis:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/Girasoliluminado.doc
Girasoles Semilleros:
Dragones' Synthesis:
At: http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/dragones.doc
http://www.funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/dragones/
Dragones' Semillero:
http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/sem_dragones.doc
Collaborators' Synthesis (Work presented by the students for Utopista),
see: http://funredes.org/mistica/castellano/ciberoteca/tematica/utopista/visionjov.html
6. Utopista Document, rough draft
Socialized in the VC during two weeks, from June 29th to July 11th. This is the result of the alchemy achieved among all of the elaborated documents at each step of the process. And it arrived nude at the VC because nude we started it...
�when we wake up next to a person,
still without having woven in colors the word love,
and we find her beautiful,
we feel drawn to her,
her scent dilutes us in lust,
drawing her figure in the air excites us
and when looking at her face after life returns from its great evasion
then
then we like that person
and we are in love and love her
what ecstasy... to wake up together every morning"
Like this the rough draft of the utopista .doc arrives,
naked
its content is the skeleton, the essence
...
it still needs to be clothed, to put on its robes,
give it what is formal and beautiful
(SJ, 6.28.03, mail sending the rough draft).
7. The final document
Here presented, it collects the dreams and exchanges of the members of the MISTICA VC and some collaborators made between April 1st and July 5th of 2003. This expresses one of the visualizations of the type of society that we dream of building and enjoying in our LAC from the organizations of civil society.
Messages to the soul were the methodological aspect that crosses and surmounts barriers. The process kneaded with entertainment dynamics, such as music and poetry, and an ointment called tenderness, and from time to time a little bit of eroticism and the harmonious strains of humor. Total openness to the conflict with respect, and under the premise that membership in MISTICA implies an already determined philosophical and existential position, not only with regard to technology, but to life itself.
This document presents itself as a companion guide for our developmental work from the point of view of culture, the environment, and social impact of the ITCs, also as a note of inspiration for the WSIS, as a gift from MISTICA VC. In both plans, what encourages us is the desire to serve as a warning in the development plans and proposals of development, understood as more that the simple solution to the physical and material needs of the people; an alert to visualize and take into account the emotional and spiritual needs.
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