THE LACEWEB -
FUTURE POSSIBILITIES
Posted
1997. Last Updated April 2014.
The
material in the Laceweb Pages on the Internet may be suggestive of the rich implications
of the Laceweb movement. Laceweb Internet viewers have a 'privileged point of
penetration' in being privy to a mass of 'inside' information about the
Laceweb. While much of the literature and other references as well as events,
festivals and gatherings quoted in these Laceweb pages are in the public
domain, never before has the inter-relatedness and connectedness of this
material been revealed so that some of the patterns and processes may become
visible, along with their links to practical action. This partial big picture
would be news to almost anyone in the Laceweb as well. Even so, the Laceweb
on the Internet is only a tiny glimpse. Most of what happens in the Laceweb
will never appear on the Internet. The
Laceweb is in many respects atypical as a social movement when compared
with other movements. There is no process of 'becoming a member'. People may
be part of it without knowing. You never really 'know' whether you are in the
Laceweb and yet you may well be certain that you are. Other's may not be sure
about you at all. Information about the Laceweb may be withheld. Up to the
posting of these pages, very few would have a sense of the full richness of
possibilities of the Laceweb. Few know the richness of the Laceweb's past
(for example, some of this richness shows up in the content of the Laceweb Timeline in
Communal Ways for Healing the World and in Inma Project. The
time-frames of thinking of some within the Laceweb are 300 to 500 years. For
some the major challenge is surviving till tomorrow. Some Laceweb people
contemplate Global Reform. Others are concerned with surviving the day. Refer
On Global Reform. The
Laceweb differs from Utopian movements that typically hold up a preplanned
unified abstract ideal. The Laceweb is very 'short' on 'grand theory'. The
Laceweb way is - 'use local wisdoms and knowings - act and check outcomes -
repeat what works - go for what's missing in our local wellbeing'. Each
'local' may be different. The
meta-outcome in each 'local' may be a tentative, or even a sustained move to
a world where our particular local wellbeing needs are fully met - a utopia.
So there may be many possible utopias in the making - not preplanned, not as
'pious hopes' and 'grand illusions' - rather, as experienced wellbeing
grounded in practical action. An
example of this focus on possible local action is the Laceweb document Self-Help Action Supporting
Survivors Of Torture And Trauma in SE Asia, Oceania and Australasia . A
more micro example of possible local action is the energy evolving around a
safe haven in Cairns Northern Australia - refer Evolving a SE Asia Pacific Self Help
Trauma Support Intercultural Network - A Small Micro-Proposal. This
'action' frame applies at the micro-level as well. For example, during the
Bondi Junction Dispersed Therapeutic Community 'sharing' days, anyone
enabling a group session had 90 seconds to have people 'doing', and learning
by doing. 'Show ponies' who wanted to show off their grand theories got a
wind-up at 60 seconds, and told to give up at ninety seconds if they were
still talking. 'Watch how others do it and have another go next time!' Also
Refer Radio TC International, 2009c. Beyond the Therapeutic Community - Healing
Sunday and Nurturing Community Action for Global Wellbeing. Internet Source Sighted 20 Oct 2012. Most Laceweb people only know a
minute part of the Laceweb. Some have a sense that it may be extensive but
have no knowledge of who or where people are, and it may be difficult or
impossible to find out. The Laceweb Internet pages do not help. People may
accept that information may be on a 'need to know' and that there may be good
reason for this and that this is okay. There is no central or even
decentralised organisation that anyone can 'join' or 'represent'. It is more
that one person or a small subgroup of locals enter into aspects of the
Laceweb milieu - a milieu fundamentally different in many respects to the
local one. Initially, others within the local community may have no knowledge
of this Laceweb milieu. It just seems that, for example, 'a few women in our
community have stopped children sniffing petrol and that's a good thing'. In contrast to this micro action,
the processes suggested in some Laceweb Projects and Plans hold forth the
possibilities that whole villages and groups of villages may become involved
in joint healing action. Far beyond this are hints of massive
application of Laceweb processes – for rapid response to disasters in
firstly, assessing local psychosocial resources and resilience, and secondly,
evolving capacity and competence in doing things that dominant system service
delivery fails to do because ‘service delivery resources are stretched
beyond capacity. Beyond
this again are macro processes for the re-constituting
societies after some regional or global catastrophe or disaster. Laceweb way draws upon indigenous and
small oppressed minority wisdoms about nurturing love care and respect
enriching wellness of folk and Earth cooperating well together in jointly
evolving wise local regional and global societal frameworks. The
Laceweb, while being the stuff of deep subjectivity, has been, and continues
to be, subject to rigorous empirical research. Some of the key enablers are
currently engaged in Laceweb related research at the Masters and Ph.D. level.
For example - refer Wounded
Healer - Wounded Group and Flexibility
and Habit. A
Bougainville Laceweb person is another Ph.D. Student. That research topic is
Self-Help Therapeutic Community Wellness Models within Indigenous
Communities. The Laceweb Self-Help Model is a central part of that research. Many
books and research papers have been published on the Laceweb - refer the Bibliography in
Communal ways for Healing the World. The
Laceweb may be little known in part because Laceweb folk have found
'progress' could best be made in remote places with little or no fanfare.
While the Laceweb had its origins in part in Keyline (water harvesting), it
is understood that virtually no one using Keyline concepts around the World
would know of the Laceweb. The
Laceweb is now moving into its fifth generation people. P. A. Yeomans was a
catalyst. Dr. Neville Yeomans, P. A.'s son, has been at the forefront of the
second generation. Many others are the third generation. And now, two younger
cohorts are active. Four generations are there to tap into. This next phase
of the movement may present different and more challenging pressures. Indigenous
people as 'hindrance to development' and 'embarrassment to governments' are
increasingly on the agenda in Australia and around the world. Global
governance bodies and some governments are starting to legislate that
transnationals have to comply abroad with the same environmental standards as
in their home countries. Extensive
Laceweb links have been happening supporting the evolving Laceweb healing
networks on Bougainville. Amelia
Renouf has written of 'therapeutic' or 'relational' mediating as been the
uneasy 'sixth step' in mediating (Renouf A. 1992). An extensive set of
processes and micro-experiences relating to Mediation Therapy and
counselling therapy has been evolving within the Laceweb. A overview of some
of these micro-experiences is contained in the following Pages: An Overview
of the Healing Ways Encyclopaedia The
Laceweb movement may be well placed to be a source of mediation therapy
within cross culture conflict
contexts as well as supporting contexts balancing indigenous and small
minorities relating with governments and transnationals. The
existence of a small, strange and interesting social movement out of the
remote parts of Northern Australia foster nurturing of community self help
healing ways, Intercultural Normative Model Areas (INMAs) and humane local governance processes
is known to various Governments,
to many UN bodies, to some in the World Council of Churches, the
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO), and other global bodies as well as academics. Certain ones within
the Laceweb are now of the opinion that it may be high tide in the ebb and
flow of things that aspects of the Laceweb Movement be holistically recorded
- hence this internet material is one such attempt. Processes
for raising consciousness are passing along networks in the East Asia Oceania
Australasia Region and further field. Refer the paper Realising Human Potential. Wounded Healers - Wounded Group Informal Networks and New Social
Movements |