philosophy
and principles
The
World Youth Jam embraces a holistic view of social change, believing with Gandhi
that: “We must be the change we wish to create.” We look for participants who
are growing and building positive change on three simultaneous levels: The internal
(they are growing spiritually and personally); the interpersonal (they are seeking
to bring love, integrity and honesty to their relationships); and the societal
(they are building a world of justice , liberation, peace and sustainability).
We believe that the personal and the public are connected, and as such this
event synthesizes the exploration of our personal lives and journeys with our
collective work for a better world. It provides a space for participants to
examine not only their work and commitments, but their beliefs, values, emotions,
and modes of analysis — all in a community of trust that allows important insights
and perspective to be gained.
The core of our work at the Jams is to create a space where diverse and inspiring
young change makers can realize and experience how much they have in common,
building bridges of solidarity and partnership towards the creation of a thriving,
just and sustainable world for all. To us, friendship is the very root system
of the rapidly emerging youth movement for positive change.
core jam philosophy and principles:
1) ALL ISSUES ARE CONNECTED AND CENTRAL: The Jams are not there to
push any particular issue or position, but to hold space for and honor the intermingling
and contrast of a diversity of progressive issues. We believe that the more
aware we are of other people’s work and how it connects to ours, the more effective
we are.
2) CONNECTING THE DOTS: When some of us were children we used to
love to play the connect the dots game. Probably because it was so simple. The
full and complete picture was already there. A series of dots that, when connected,
formed the outline of a picture. When we first saw one, we may have been very
confused. It looked like chaos. There was no order to it. But then someone showed
us how the dots connected. The global movement for social change is too big
for any one of us to imagine taking on. Each one of us is a moving dot on this
page. Every new idea for the healing of this planet is a dot. Every new network,
group or business that is committed to a better world is another dot. The Jams
work to connect those dots.
3) SUFFICIENCY: As mass marketing and advertising sweeps the globe
with its endless message that “you aren’t enough unless you buy our product”
we believe that it is a radical stance to believe that there is enough and that
we are enough. We don’t have to wait for anything or anyone to feel powerful
and to take massive action. We believe that every person on earth is whole and
complete. We believe that our work is stronger when we build out of what we
do have instead of what we don’t have. The Jams are rooted in honoring the sufficiency
in each person. We believe that it is possible to create a world that works
for everybody; a world where everyone wins.. We do our best to create the Jams
as a space where everyone can win, where everyone feels honored for who they
are and what they bring.
4)
INNER WISDOM: In a world vying for our energy and attention, it can
be supremely difficult to stay centered. It is so easy to give in to the flow
of events around us and the expense of the flow of our spirit within us. The
Jams work to create a space where people can reconnect to their own inner authority;
to what matters most to them. We believe that people, if they take the time
to listen to themselves, know what is best for them and always do the best they
can, given the resources they have. We affirm people's intuition as well as
their reason. We believe that decisions made from a place of inspiration will
universally be more healing than choices made from a sense of obligation. It
is often the sense that we should do something that we don't want to that ends
up distracting us from that still small voice of our inspiration and conscience.
So many conflicts in the world are fought over “the truth” as decided by outer
authority. We hold that people can speak their personal truth and share their
honest feelings without imposing them on others. At the Jams we honor this inner
wisdom by asking that we each speak only for ourselves and from our own experience.
5) COMMUNITY IS BUILT ON SAFE SPACE AND TRUST: We believe that the
global movement for a better world is first and foremost a web of people, not
a book of concepts. And the stronger each strand of trust in this web is, the
more resilient the web becomes. We are much stronger and smarter together as
a community than we are as individuals. We understand that no one group, person
or network holds the whole truth. Truth is, by its nature, collective. But to
work together collectively we need to remember that, the movement is made up
of people with relationships, and relationships require trust. Trust is the
bedrock of effective collaboration. It precedes it. We believe that the basis
of creating trust is to create a safe space. We believe that the roots of true
community and safe space are uncompromising truth and unconditional love.
6) THE FINE ART OF HANGING OUT: We believe that building community
requires human to human contact on a human scale. We've found that a group of
no more than thirty works ideally for our purposes. We believe that you can't
build a sustainable activist community with a list-serve. It takes some serious
hanging out together and the Jams are seven days of intensive 'hanging out'.
The most highly rated sessions at many conferences are the coffee breaks. We
have found, again and again, that there is a power in coming together to do
nothing but hang out and build relationships. It's covert activism. It's building
deep foundations. It's pausing to let the roots of our activism sink into the
deeper waters that will sustain us. We are human beings, not human doings.
7) SOLIDARITY: The Jams are based in the knowing that the grassroots
civil society needs to come together across the lines that have divided us in
the past. Those lines have divided those who have privilege (economic, racial,
gender etc) from those who do not. As these two groups come together, we believe
that there is a vital distinction to be made. This is the distinction between
charity and solidarity. Charity was once defined as love in action. Sadly, at
its worst, modern charity says, "Let's go help those people, over there, with
their problems.” This can be incredibly condescending. This is not to downplay
the important role charitable acts and giving play in the world. Charity is
vital, but it is not enough. Charity, by itself, can disown our own connection
with and responsibility for the problem. It may justify the privileges that
come at the expense of others. Charity is made complete when it is grounded
in solidarity. Solidarity is not an action you can take, it is a stand you can
embody. It is grounded in partnership. While charity may help those on trial
by the system, solidarity may put the system on trial. It not only gives resources,
but it actively works to change the very systems that put resources into the
hands of some at the expense of others. Solidarity is borne of knowing that
we are all connected and so the choice of 'us' versus 'them' is a false one.
We choose to serve one another because we know that to serve others is to serve
ourselves. What harms anyone harms everyone. No one is truly free until everyone
is free. Solidarity says, "I refuse to benefit unfairly from a system that is
harming others." It knows that the quality of life gained by privilege over
others is a pale shadow of the quality of life gained by a world shaped by,
for and of the highest dreams of us all.
8) NONVIOLENCE: We honor a diversity of tactics and strategies in
the struggle for a world of peace, justice and sustainability. In our work,
we advocate for the principle and active implementation of nonviolent resistance
to systems of exploitation and injustice. We believe, with Cesar Chavez, Mahatma
Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and many other successful social change activists, that
non-violence is a powerful strategic method for addressing the roots of the
fear, greed and violence that plague our times. When properly applied, we believe
that nonviolence has a unique capacity to awaken the conscience of adversaries
and turn enemies into friends, and that it is a potent and even revolutionary
commitment. We envision a world that works for everyone; even those who would,
in the current context, oppress others for their own perceived gain. We believe
that no one is free until everyone is free, and that material gain at the expense
of others leads to a poverty of the spirit. While a world where everyone wins
may be far off, we affirm that it is possible, and in fact, necessary.
"The
Jam was one of the first times in my life as an activist that I felt in a safe
place. For me the Jams are the magical place that brings beautiful, wondrous
beings together to take the magnifying glass of our collective vision, passion,
and strength, and with loving open acceptance turn towards the sun where we
ignite into our highest potential."
Julia Butterfly Hill, Author
of The Legacy of Luna