Restorative Circles

During our time in the Bay Area two days were devoted to introducing Restorative Circles. This was done within the context of conscious choices our communities can make in response to crime, broken agreements and painful conflict. This clip from that conversation focuses on some of the questions and dynamics that we've found it valuable to be aware of.

Please share your thoughts and join the conversation. 

San Francisco Bay Area

The first presentations of this work in the US (in June 07), initiated at the invitation of Ike Lasater, were sponsored by ADRNC and by BayNVC, the largest and most active local Nonviolent Communication community that I'm aware of in the country. The partnership with BayNVC - our hosts once again this year - is, directly and indirectly, the source of most of the development of Restorative Circles in the US to date, and one I hold very dear.

Over the Hallowe'en / All Saint's Day period we were back in Oakland, offering an Intro and Facilitator Practice (FP) module to the burgeoning local RC community. Five days of exploration brought folks from as far away as Australia, where word on the work is beginning to spread, and a visit from Annett and Sabine, who made possible the talks and Intro in Berlin in August and are organising the February 2010 Facilitator Practice module there.

I was also able to visit a local school interested in setting up a Restorative System for students and staff, talk with Christine King - who has been actively bringing restorative practices to schools in Santa Cruz, as well as meet with the BayNVC Safer Communities team, who are offering RC practice groups locally and connecting with the wider RJ community in Oakland.

I was delighted to meet up again with Marissa Wertheimer, accompanied by several colleagues from Marin Mediation. For several years Marissa has been bringing her learning of RC to their Restorative Justice programme, and integrating elements of the process into the services they offer. My admiration for their work and dedication only grew during the time we learnt together.

We were also warmly welcomed by a piece in the San Francisco Examiner, in which Teresa Rose concluded: "Even more than avoidance of punishment, the restorative paradigm is now proven as a consistent basis for strengthening the ability of people to live together and deal with conflict in peace."

There were many other precious moments for me. I loved watching an 11 year old participant choose to stay for both the Intro and the FP and facilitate with gusto in the exercises; I loved experiencing an almost wordless Pre-Circle while 50 people looked on; I loved having Pat Seibert - long time supporter and colleague in this work - help me illustrate a point by facilitating as I role played; I loved hearing RCs described as 'relational magic' by those to whom the word magic has very ancient and very modern meaning. I loved what I'll call the 'hungry curiosity' in the eyes of so many who spent those days with us.

I loved the moments of getting quite lost inside and having a room full of support available....

Folks learning with us spoke of their desire to bring this to neighbourhood groups, to climate action work, to universities, to policing, to their families, to their classrooms, to the violence of racial discrimination, to spiritual communities, to prisons and those coming back out of them, to those practicing new forms of intimate relationship....

I was very moved to hear those who spoke to me tell how our choice to give the work away had been a key consideration in them coming, and inspired the spirit in which they were present. This is a key choice for me. It relates to the ancient and ownerless roots of the work we are sharing, to the way native communities preserved - without hiding, without compromising - such roots for so long, to the unrushed urgency of providing practical tools for peace to all, to the coming together of all those in a community to decide the future of that community.

A particular joy for me was being a guest of the Creature House, a collective living and loving home which I experienced as an extension of those elements I most treasure in Circles - open expression, co-creation of meaning, deep connection to our commonality, improvisation and creation, mutual gifting. Their welcome, warmth, food, song, hugs and loving company provided a seamless accompaniment and balance to the learning days.

Of the many other significant aspects of this trip, one more stands out: on the fifth day I left for Peru, and the Facilitator Practice module was lead by Gail Claspell, Becky Sutton, Duke Duchscherer and Martina Cavicchioli. Though this year has seen several folks in North America begin to share RC with others, this is the first time that I experienced a handover during a training, and was able to participate in planning a learning day I wouldn't be at. Very cool.

Peru

Three weeks after I was in Maranhão the same international network for the well-being of children and youth hosted the First World Congress on Restorative Juvenile Justice in Lima, Peru. I was invited to present at the event, which featured over 1000 participants from 62 countries. Together with several colleagues from Brazil - including Judges Egberto Penido and Eduardo Melo, and Monica Mumme, who made keynote adresses - our projects were highlighted as examples of the vigorous spread of the restorative ethos.

It was nourishing and enlightening to meet up with folks such as Ted Wachtel, from the IIRP, and Lode Walgrave and Ivo Aertsen, from Leuven University. Their support, company and experience is increasingly valuable to me. 

It was also the first time in over 2 years that a large number of the fast growing Brazilian RJ community were together in one place - and despite the international nature of the event, I spoke more Portuguese than Spanish or English while there. (Though this maybe in part because I don't speak Spanish). 

The wealth of development in RJ during this decade is one of the most hopeful signs of a sea change in human society that I'm aware of. Projects of every size and from a vast array of cultural perspectives are in expansion, and creating concrete examples of an ancient / new view of conflict, crime and healing.

At the same time the presiding tendency within most in this movement is to seek to preserve many of the aspects of less restorative approaches, which can promote a view of those involved in conflict as fixed in static roles with predefined experiences and wants.

I find sharing the possibilities that Restorative Circles opens up in such a context both challenging and very meaningful. I'm aware of how little I know, and how few opportunities I've had to connect with those working in other countries. At the same time I am so excited by the innovations RC can offer in the field of restorative practices and to the development of needs-based (rather than label- or role-based) systemic change. 

I felt very satisfied at being a small voice for such an approach at such a large event. The feedback the organisers received was enough to initiate dialogue on how to bring RCs to Peru in the near future.

An interview I did for the University that hosted us is available, in Spanish, online. In the future I will think twice before doing whatever a photographer asks.

Rio

Bangu

Over the course of a few days back home, 3 meetings occured which have stayed with me.

Firstly, straight off the plane from the North, I presented RC to a group of about 60 inmates at the Bangu prison complex. This is an adult prison, and home to many of the drug gang leaders whose actions have so influenced the city in the last few decades. (For an excellent overview of this situation in English, click here)

The meeting was fast paced and serious. What was this idea? How could I imagine this would ever work? How can you suggest correctional officers and judges suffer in the current system? If I'm a drug dealer, who have I harmed?

The inmates had only a brief respite from life in a rat-infested cell with 55 others. Many chose to step outside and wait in the yard. As I spoke the group that stayed moved closer, and before we left there was consensus: we want this here.

I hope to begin Facilitator Practice modules for inmates, and offering support as they set up their system for internal prison conflicts, in the New Year.

OAB

Two days later, at the other extreme of the social divide, I presented the work to an audience of lawyers and others at the Lawyer's Association. The reception was intense and positive, in part as we all pondered the immense changes Rio will be going through with the Olympics coming in 7 years.

Presenting at the Lawyer's Association, one of the most powerful professional bodies in the country, has a particular resonance for me, as their interest in the RJ projects has frequently been marked by challenges to our practice. The institutionalization of restorative practices heralds big changes for them. Those who invited me already sense the profound change in values and a renewal of the basic tenets of advocacy that this work can support.

I was surprised and encouraged by the response. This week the group that invited me was re-elected for another two year term of office at the head of the organisation in Rio (as were those who initiated this relationship, in Rio Grande do Sul), and plans are already being made for ongoing partnership into 2010.

Schools

Following the conference I wrote about last month, a meeting was held at the Central Court building, with teachers and school administrators from Rio and surrounding municipalities, to explore the possibilities of developing RC projects in schools.

Educational change consultant Monica Mumme, who has partnered with us in many of the São Paulo state projects, was the host and much was said about the challenges teachers face from colleagues, parents and students.

Flavia Fassi had done much of the ground work to get me into Bangu, and it was she that came downstairs and empathically walked me off to buy a pair of trousers when I was declined admittance to the court building due to my shorts. More importantly, she gave me time and support to remember that I want to practice what I preach, before I entered the meeting and opened my mouth.

I'm hopeful that things will keep moving forward. A formal project in Rio would give me the chance to actually live in the same city as an RC project, something I haven't experienced for over 5 years now. I'll keep you all posted.

I am back home after several intense weeks on the road. Here are a series of brief updates on what's been happening over the last 5 weeks. The brevity of what's below, and the things left out for now, is not an indication of how significant this time has been. If anything, it shows how full life has been for Martina, Becky, Gail and I...    I feel such gratitude for all that's occurred.

Maranhão

In October the first Facilitator Practice modules took place in Maranhão, in the North of Brazil. One of the financially poorest states in the country Maranhão has a rich local culture and local and international groups are taking significant steps to create social networks of support where violence and vengeance have become the norm. Terre des Hommes are sponsoring the first RC projects, bringing together the criminal and youth justice systems, local community leaders and schools to create new possibilities for conscious peace making.

This was also the first RC Facilitator Practice in Portuguese to be professionally filmed, allowing us to start work on producing training materials that will later be accessible online or on video. The willingness of all those who partner with us by donating financially made this filming possible. Please email us at contact@restorativecircles.org if you'd like to co-create the conditions for editing and distributing this vital material.

My memories of Maranhão - together with the taste of Bacuri and Jussara, the bright blue church, huge tides and chameleons - are summed up by the persistent humanness of those community members and police with whom I connected, at ever deeper levels of shared values, as each day passed...

...by hearing how the relatives of victims wait outside the state's only youth prison, so they can exact revenge when teenage inmates are released...

...and by the words Cleide shared: "Where I live, the police and the priests don't come. When there's conflict, what can we do? This work will be really useful".

Dominic Barter is traveling to North America this fall to share Restorative Circles. The Restorative Circle process offers communities a way to compassionately handle conflicts, heal from these conflicts, and learn what conflicts have to teach us. Dominic’s work has been informed by his experience in the Restorative Justice movement and his exploration of Nonviolent Communication.

Yesterday I sat in a small house, within virgin Atlantic coastal forest - the last 100,000 hectares left on the Pernambuco coast - discussing the implementation of a Restorative system within the Federal Pernambuco University, considered by many one of the country's best places of advanced learning. Surrounded by cacau, dendê palms, boggy ponds punctured by prehistoric water trees, and the extraordinary chaotic order of sounds - frogs, birds, monkeys...., and endlessly shifting smells of sweet, bitter, pungent..... - the proximity of wild nature changed the conversation.

By osmosis I experienced my thinking changing and the conceptual framework necessary to sustain the logic of exclusion and imposed pain become increasingly fragile. From permaculture we (re)learn that nature wastes not. The uniqueness of each sound, each leaf, each life form does not presume disconnection from the whole. Rather separateness is unknown and everything co-exists. Responsibility - the ability to respond and the action of doing so - is a given, and is the manifestation of that interconnectedness. Nature is in a constant process of decay-growth, of falling-restoring. On the macro level we call this evolution. On the micro level we call this learning.

This afternoon I sat in a large prison on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Around 40 of the 1000 or so inmates - convicted of armed robbery, murder, drug smuggling or selling, non payment of alimony - sat with me in the prison church to discuss establishing a Restorative system within the prison. Most came from the communities in which police killed 22 39 (updated) more people this weekend, and drug-gang gunfire downed a police helicopter. They sleep in cells in groups of 75 or more. "I opened my eyes last night and watched the rats crawling over those asleep on the floor", I was told.

Each inmate is held not simply within the walls, gates, bars and locks of the physical compound but within a web of permissions. For every action they desire, the willingness of a guard is necessary. To go to the toilet, to wash their hands, to read. "They are trying to break our spirit. You have to be very strong. Our bodies break, but our values keep us going". Fights break out. "We have our own justice - between us", I heard, to smiles and nods, "but today I saw that it is the same as the one they use against us".

There is a labyrinthine process of permissions ahead. But come the New Year I intend to offer Restorative Circle Facilitator Practice modules to those inmates who wish.

Dominic Barter is traveling to North America to share Restorative Circles. The Restorative Circles process offers communities a way to compassionately handle conflicts, heal from these conflicts, and learn what conflicts have to teach us.  Dominic’s work has been informed by his experience in the Restorative Justice movement and his exploration of NVC.

You can learn more about Restorative Circles at the following events:

Oakland

Oct 30: Miki Kashtan and Dominic Barter in Conversation

Oct 31 – Nov 1: Building a Compassionate Justice System: An Introduction to Restorative Circles

Nov 2 – Nov 4: Restorative Circle Facilitator Practice

Albuquerque

Nov 9: An Overview of Restorative Circles: an effective, compassionate tool for community well-being. Email jivashanti@gmail.com for more info

Seattle

Nov 13: An Evening with Dominic Barter

Nov 14-15: Building a Compassionate Justice System: An Introduction to Restorative Circles

Read online about this work:

·         Experiences with the Brazilian RJ Pilot Projects (pdf)

·         Toward Peace and Justice in Brazil: Dominic Barter and Restorative Circles

·         Restorative circles open dialogue and healing between Brazilian institutions and gangs

www.restorativecircles.org

http://twitter.com/RestoraCircles

Please pass this information on to others that you think may be interested.

Yesterday was the first formal presentation of the São Paulo RJ project, 'Justiça e educação', to the justice and education communities in Rio de Janeiro. Most of those who have made these projects possible - in São Caetano do Sul, in Guarulhos, in Heliopolis, in Campinas and elsewhere - spoke, and even though the city was under the second day of torrential rain and it was the friday before a holiday weekend, there wasn't a free seat and many stood until the end.

Rio's new education secretary was present and after sharing that she'd never heard of RJ and hearing the descriptions of what we have done in SP said simply, "Where have you guys been all my life?!" The head of the Red Cross in Rio also spoke, sharing the sobering fact that the Red Cross works in areas of armed warfare and humanitarian disaster - neither of which Rio has, and yet here they are, a reflection of how integrated into daily life dynamics otherwise associated with war and disaster have become in the city.

However, what struck me most were the talks of two school teachers. The newspaper this morning reminds us that more than half of Brazilian families live on less than US$5 a day. Many have far less. The schools these two teachers work in serve such communities - one in São Paulo city's largest favela, one on the semi-rural outskirts of Guarulhos, the second largest city in SP state. As Edivaldo, the first to speak, said quite simply: "Restorative Circles have changed my school. We might think of giving up other projects we have, but never this one. We do a lot of Circles, and from this you might think 'Oh, they have a lot of fights at the school', but no - we do a lot of Circles because the school has learnt that this is the way to have conflicts. So we stop violence. We bring it the Circle and then it's done."

Angela, who spoke next, told her story with RC. 19 years a sports teacher, she described the amazement of her colleagues when she said she wanted to train as a facilitator. They thought of her as a 'take no prisoners' teacher and she agreed. What changed her round, she said, was a semi-simulated Circle she participated in, during an initial presentation at her school. She played the mother of a student, bullied by colleagues, and was relishing the verbal combat the real life scenario gave her. After listening to those who'd taunted 'her' child she was ready to charge in, when the facilitator asked her to reflect back the essence of what she'd heard them say. The experience, she said, stopped her completely in her tracks. "I was ready to let them have it, but when I heard those words a space opened up, and into it I could see a whole other way of us being together in that situation. It changed me. It changed me as a person - I was different at home, I was different at school. I applied to go back to university, to study Restorative Justice. And I began to facilitate Circles."

Angela's tears, as she shared the story of a Circle she had facilitated in her school, and sung the song composed by a participant as part of the Agreed Action Plan, invited all of us present to drop below the roles we play, the institutions we belong to, the beliefs we hold (and hold against others). The day had been challenging for me on several fronts. It was the first such event in 5 years at which I had not been invited to speak - and there were unspoken pains, for reasons I was not fully aware of, coming from others present. Each speaker referred to me and my contribution, and I was by turns gratified and pained by the ambiguity of my position. At that moment however, there was nothing but warmth, depth and connection in my heart. I looked round the room and there was the quality of meaningful silence I have seen in so many Circles.

The education secretary set up a meeting for next week. The chief judge asked me to call her. The information shared that day was key to such a desire to collaborate and learn. And I think whatever happens from now on, it's quality will be marked by Angela's living, breathing example of the doors RJ opens in us, and between us.