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BeLocal 1.: What is Community?

Tags: BW Citizen || BeLocal

pietshah
Profile

posted 2008/03/26 04:42    Visibility: World

Do not miss reading first: BeLocal: building BW community - INTRODUCTION, read first)


What we want Community for?
What should promote BeLocal?

First, a little abstract discussion, to get the general feeling.
Here we'll definitely not define a unique view, but bringing together the points of view will help!

For each of us, Community means a different thing. Some of us even think that a community feeling is not necessary. But we are here, together, and full of wishes to do more things.
What means for you the BeWelcome? community? What do you expect from it? How do you see it, concretely? What is your personal mission as a Local Volunteer in your community?

This debate will probably allow the other - more concrete - discussions to be focussed on the right expectations.



1. Be Respectful. Read the others and learn from them
2. Be Creative. We're brainstorming - you are actor, you are the new input!
3. Be Constructive! We need to build the real.
isafakir
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posted 2008/03/27 10:01    Visibility: World

my personal mission as a local volunteer is to reject first and foremost any established corporate carved in concrete titles of local volunteer: a local volunteer is ANYBODY  who wants to contribute.

 

but this is all cart before the horse: how can there be any local community volunteer when there is no access to the local community as a community

 

where is this community: how can anyone discuss LOCAL VOLUNTERR as title before there is a local?

 

That is incomprehensible to me

 

a year after I volunteered somebody somewhere says I have to have some sort of title to qualify as a local volunteer?

 

that is not community that is business. Corporate structure not community

 

WHOEVER whatever their contribution big or small is is a local volnteer willy nilly: a local volunteer is someone who does something whatever it is in the local community and so far their hain't no such coimmunity so the discussion is meaningless.

 

 FIRST go and see what kind of community tyhere is: make access and and consensus and participation the agenda and then let that community decide its agenda

 

coming on with your agenda is corporate big business and has no one single thing to do with volunteer based community based welcoming 

isafakir
Profile

posted 2008/04/12 14:20    Visibility: World

it's amazing: I guess I was completely wrong. The rush to volunteer and the overwhelming degree of participation in these forums on the future of BW shows me just how mistaken I was. I better just shut up and listen to others next time.
oublieuse
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posted 2008/04/15 08:41    Visibility: World

Hello, I know it's a bit late to answer all these questions, but I see that few people is participating.

I don't feel anything about "BWcommunity". As I don't feel I'm part of "CS community, or HC community".

For me BW is only a tool, and there are many chances that it will stay like this in my mind. I'm part of Breton community (Brittany in France), and of French community. But not at all of BW or HC or CS...

Community is for me: a group of people that decided to be together, because they share ideas, or/and culture, and/or language, etc.

People who should be part of BW are... all people, I mean, there is no limit of language, of politicall thinking, of skin color. The only thing we should have in common, is the wish to host/meet/visit people from other cultures. I don't think it's enough to make a community. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, but that's how I see things for now. 

brndanleo
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posted 2008/05/22 14:35    Visibility: World

Community has to do with mutual recognition. A community is an identity that a group of people can share. In the world today there's lots of confussion about identities, they're often used to segragate people in the global "divide and conquor" strategy. (or is that "divide and sell" ? , whatever) So there's a big difference between exlusive identities and inclusive identities : they make for open and closed communities.

BeWelcome seems to be about openness, so a community identity should be a sub-section of "humanity" or "life". Global community raises a few imedeate questions :

_Why do we accept inequalitys and inhumanitys ?

_What can we constructivly and non-violentlty do to render the humane community visible, recognized and accessible to all (as in actually receiving help from other humans when in need and not just people far away "having a though" for you) 

Now, I know this is far beyond hospitality sharing. But hospitality sharing is a part of it. Hospitality exchange is fighting borders, making it easyer for people to travel and have contact with people where they go. Of course most of the world can't even get a visa, but it's something.  Open community is about global consciousness.

Communities often state common values. Can we say : "we're trying to set up open social systems and fight alienation" ? If we can we all agree on that we have an understanding that is foundational. If some can argue that this feeling is part of personal implication while others say they're just here to get a bed, then there isn't much community between them.

 

I'll go read around a bit more...