This message is being cross posted in the URI Bay Area group on Mobilize: http://uri-north-america.mobilize.io.
Thanks to Jaya and all who participated in the San Francisco Bay Area Interfaith Zoom meeting yesterday. I was having problems with my connection but was able to hear most of what was said and much appreciated the conversation.
What struck me was how the Bay Area has the same unity-and-diversity difficulty that we have at the national and global level. On the one hand we see the need to get together to build cooperation and the empowerment that comes with that togetherness. On the other we are already spending our time at the local level working on particular projects, and it feels like an either-or choice rather than both-and. We even have the “across the silos” problem here in the Bay Area, the same problem that is proving a very difficult hurdle at the global level when it comes to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How can we unite and cooperate as an interfaith movement, and also as a social justice movement and a climate change movement and a peace movement and a gender equality movement?
This is where the Voices of Humanity (VoH) Cooperation Circle would like to offer our fledgling Voices of Humanity social media as a communication tool that can connect us in a flexible way, so we can participate at whatever intersection of movements and identities that interest us personally. Voices of Humanity has the potential to build a sense of solidarity based on sharing of goals and action at every level and intersection. Gender and generation equality are built in, and beginning this month, so is concerted bottom up nonviolent action. It is worth a look at https://voh.intermix.org/vohcc. We are seeking members to get together in Toronto in the Fall. Perhaps, not that far down the road, we might convince URI that the Bay Area would be a great place to test Voices of Humanity.
Thanks again,
-- Roger Eaton
#vohcc, #interfaith
