Sue Everatt, originally UK born, is presently living in Spain.
She is a Point of Contact for Spain
and one of the team admins for TVP activism,
as well as a coordinator for and admin, for the Linguistic Team International.
"Pffffft!! You guys really need to start doing something REAL
instead of just sitting around on Facebook all day!"
How many times does some similar comment show up, precisely on Facebook?
And, I don’t know if
people expect The Venus Project to have thousands of people
running round the streets throwing pamphlets about or waving
angry banners in protest marches,
but that’s not what we are about!
And as it happens,
there are a lot of people who are actually doing “real stuff" out there,
many who happily dedicate part of their free time to do “real stuff”,
to help get TVP better known. Totally voluntarily.
So if you don’t mind, I’d like to explain a bit about TVP Activism,
as well as, what we're doing, and what we're aiming for.
So my name is Sue Everatt; I'm part of the TVP Activism admin team
as well as the Point of Contact for Spain.
And, my partners in admin crime are
Saso Luznar (you've seen him walking around here dressed in black,
man in black there), POC for Slovenia,
[Applause]
Federico Lamberes, POC for Italy
(unfortunately he couldn't be with us here today)
Eemil Sulva, is the POC for Finland (he is here),
[Applause]
and another guy from Slovenia, co-POC with Saso,
Roberto Simonovich, all admins together with myself.
So this isn't just me, this is a team of us.
And we have a Vision and a Mission!
And our Vision is
to create a global network of Points of Contact
and activism teams that spread information relevant to The Venus Project
and a Resource Based Economy.
And our Mission
is to educate Points of Contact
and provide them the tools
and the skills necessary to promote
the Venus Project and a Resource Based Economy.
And, some of our values.
To create a positive environment of respect and collaboration.
To achieve and maintain a high standard of quality of the projects
and the integrity of the information.
To be responsible, contactable, and punctual.
And to continuously improve our knowledge.
And together, with the help
of all the wonderful Points of Contact we already have
around the world - some of which, many of which, are here today -
we are building the structure for a well organized and active
multinational, multicultural team of teams
comprised of people wanting to inform others about The Venus Project.
We are after all working towards a collaborative society
and although there are many things that we can't have
in today’s society, that we want in a resource based economy,
teams we most certainly can have!
So, whether it’s organizing a screening of one of the documentaries,
participating in local festivals with a booth,
giving a talk somewhere, like a university,
there's many things we do.
Some also help translate TVP material into other languages,
or make graphic images to share virally on social media;
the question is they are working together to get this information out.
And there is THE word... TOGETHER.
And another word... TEAMS!
Collaborating in teams means enjoying the benefits, among these other things,
enjoying the benefits of a supportive system
that amongst other things creates and shares information,
creates good quality material to share on social media and use in events,
provides access to educational material
and organizes study groups using Google Hangouts, like this one here.
If you know Google hangouts, they're great fun.
So really it’s a no-brainer
that collaborating is so much more efficient
than everybody off on their own island.
And of course we avoid the risk of duplication of work.
And you know, organizing volunteers from all over the globe,
from Australia to the UK, from Sri Lanka to Taiwan, it’s no easy task!
You've got all those different time zones to take into consideration for example,
when you're wanting to organize an audio conference.
So let me show you a few of the images of what some of the teams
have been getting up to over the last few years.
This is Emilio - this is our Point of Contact in Venezuela -
who actually took his tent outside and camped
on a grassy bank along one of the most
busy avenues in his city in Venezuela,
to call attention to The Venus Project.
This is (I can't see, hang on) ...
This is Aiden, and the team in the UK,
having a word with people who were interested after having done a screening.
This is two of the Points of Contact from Brazil
with a wonderful poster they made
to help decorate an event that they participated in.
And this is another one from Brazil, which is a pretty awesome
screen there, big projection there of one of the cities.
This is a wonderful thing that they did in Bulgaria.
All along one very long street they had all these
posters of Jacque's designs and pictures of the cities.
This is a screening that was held in Chile,
And this is some graffiti in Chile as well, so it's not just doing
you know, screenings and so on- that's pretty cool huh?
[Applause]
And this is...
this is a school in Armenia, where our Point of Contact - who's a young guy -
he's got his teachers and fellow students along
to watch 'Paradise or Oblivion' in those days it was.
And this is David - our Point of Contact in Mexico - giving a
lecture in a university there.
This is a wonderful guy, a very close friend of mine in Spain, Germán,
he is there giving a copy of Jacque's book 'The Best That Money Can't Buy'
translated into Spanish, to a very popular television journalist,
who is, not quite as well known as Abby,
but nevertheless very well known in Spanish-speaking circles.
He tends to put his finger into the...
the muck of corruption, a very popular guy.
So we got Jacque's book to him.
This is an activity that they did in Serbia,
they have some wonderful photographs from lots of events that they did.
I had to pick just a few.
And these are activities done with children.
They're actually coloring in some of Jacque's pictures.
They were given to them in black & white,
and they colored them in and they loved it.
[Applause]
(Yay! for Serbia)
And this was Serbia again, and a very nice screening that they did.
This is our Point of Contact Irina, in Taiwan,
doing a screening as well.
We find that screenings are some of the most effective ways to
get the message out, obviously.
And this is the table that we had in Italy last year,
We were invited to participate in an event that they were doing there
on various interesting topics,
and we had a table with material from The Venus Project.
This is the audience that was there;
they weren't all there just for TVP but they were very interested in it.
(which is good)
And, this is a photograph of all of us that were there that day.
and I'm going to leave that one there for awhile, because just like you here,
as showing how international we are,
we also have there representation from the United States,
from Italy, from Slovenia, from Russia,
and myself from the UK and Spain (a little bit of Spanglish).
So that was a really nice event that we had there, where we could show
the globality, or the beginning of the globality, of all of this.
(Is globality a word? Anyway ...)
If I don't know it, I invent it.
OK so, how do we get to do these events?
Well certainly NOT by sitting on Facebook all day!
These events come together from collaborating,
getting together online and offline, planning and preparing,
and teamwork.
And how do we get to have teams?
First of all we have a Point of Contact or a POC,
who can build a team, get the word out that they are
out there and looking for like-minded people to get shit done!
And how do we get to have POCs?
By interviewing people who are interested in taking on the responsibility
of the role, and then introducing them into an orientation process
to prepare them as much as possible for what they will be doing.
Once they become a POC and begin getting the word...
the word out that they are there and wanting to build a team,
the education doesn’t stop there.
We continue holding study groups with the goal of making sure
we are all on the same page when talking about the aims and the proposals
of the organization we volunteer for.
And we've come a long way in the 5 or so years since
TVP Activism started up.
From being POCs all over the world with no real method to what we were doing,
knowing that there were other POCs out there but not knowing
what they were doing or even who they were in some cases,
we have evolved into a much more solid and supportive structure,
with more fluid communication, collaboration and sharing of information.
Is it perfect? Nope.
But, to borrow the words of someone we all know,
“It’s a darn sight better than what we had before!”
Can we improve it? Absolutely,
and every edition of the Orientation Process for example is “autopsied”,
discussed, and finally adapted according to the results we achieve
and the comments and experiences from the candidates who have participated.
And with the POCs we hold online monthly update sessions
for everyone to share their news.
We also use these meetings to run ideas past the teams
for feedback and suggestions.
And, in the past couple of years,
we have prepared almost 40 new Points of Contact,
and currently have 48 in the Orientation Process,
as well as a growing list of people waiting to join the Process.
So we're going places!
[Applause]
One of the things that kind of differentiates us as TVP supporters and volunteers
from other organizations, is the interest in learning a new way of thinking.
Now, what do I mean by that?
And don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to bash any other organizations.
But if you support 'Save the Whales' or 'Feed the Children',
you will tend to focus on the issues pertaining to those organizations.
Which is great because then you understand what you're talking about
for that particular issue.
But The Venus Project takes it much further than that.
As we've spoken about already, one of the basic understandings we have is
that there is no such thing as human nature.
That if we want to change society,
we have to understand and change human behavior.
And how do we do that?
Well you can’t do it if you don’t understand the values we hold today
and how they have been inculcated into us.
If we don't understand
WHY we do these things and see things differently-...
If we don't understand these things as well for example,
as how the monetary system is no longer functional,
we won't be able to design a system that works for everyone.
And it’s not something we can fully learn and understand
from watching a couple of documentaries. It’s an ongoing process,
absorbing the information and holding it
against our own current beliefs and values.
So, this is a very important part of what we're doing as activists for TVP,
learning more so as to be able to transmit the information correctly,
so that our time is spent efficiently
and not sharing misconceptions that only confuse the message.
And you know, we all like to think of ourselves as “normal”,
that it’s everyone else that needs to change.
But what happens when you start listening to Jacque and Roxanne talk
is that it hits you just how fucked up we ALL are, without exception!
Well Rox is a little more polite, she says "damaged";
it's Jacque that says fucked up!
And it takes a lot longer than a weekend course
to learn about how the future could be,
and how to unfuck the world.
So, how can you join us?
How can you become a part of what we're doing?
We are currently preparing a new website
specifically for The Venus Project Activism,
and we're going to announce its launch through the newsletter.
So if you haven't already signed up for the newsletter,
what are you waiting for? Do it, today or tomorrow, OK?
And then you'll be in the know as soon as we've got the activism website ready.
There will be - once the website is up there -
we will have a link to it through the Venus Project website itself.
For more immediate contact at this time,
instead of waiting for the website,
at this time of Jacque's Centennial event,
you can visit our Global Facebook Page
where in the 'About' section,
you can find a list of the Facebook groups and pages that collaborate with us.
If you ever come across a page or a group that isn’t on the list,
it means they aren’t a part of TVP Activism,
but simply doing things off on their own island.
And, in the About section you will also find a list
of the current POCs around the world.
If there is one for your country or state,
contact them to offer what help you can with whatever they're trying to do,
usually to start building a team.
But be aware that until there is a certain amount of people
who can gather together on a local level,
any activism done will most likely be online.
Be patient and constant, and understand that
this isn’t something we're going to get finished this coming week!
What The Venus Project needs from us now
is to spread awareness about this direction.
And we need people with “stickability”,
who keep on, even when things are difficult.
We don’t need what I call the “fireworks”, people who zoom in
with bright sparkly energy, and they last for a brief time
before they fizzle out, and they leave nothing
but a faint smell of gunpowder!
Take the time to find out what is going on, and what is needed,
and then you’ll see better where you can help.
It’s very important that we work together on this.
If we don’t do this in an organized fashion, we’ll have total chaos,
and all the well-structured work we've achieved so far,
and that we are aiming to build still, will be lost.
So...
I am extending an invitation to those supporters who haven’t yet done so,
to join with us as pioneers
building an even stronger online and offline team structure
to work from, to change the world.
Thank you.
[Applause]