<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div>This is a message from Steve about the planning meeting for the forthcoming people's forum n March.</div><div><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-style: normal;">I am afraid that I don't feel that I can be part of this project. Although on leaving the meeting last night I was told that "it </span><span style="font-style: italic;">was </span>my idea", I disagree. I think that the general opinion of the planning group is to have a day almost exclusively devoted to open forum discussions about 'Debt' (mainly members of the public's personal experiences of being affected by the debt burdens in our society). However, I think that the <span style="font-size: 12pt;">proposed</span><span
style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">weighting and structuring of the day would make it a wasted opportunity. There are many groups and campaigns in the past and in the present that have sought to address the problem of debt, and many of them are unknown to the general public. Six things that immediately spring to mind are:</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">1. The Credit Union movement</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">2. Peer to peer lending (E.g. 'Zopa')</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">3. Positive Money
Campaign</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">4. The Debt Resistors Handbook</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">5. The Rolling Jubilee idea enacted in the USA</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">6. Local Economy Trading Schemes</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">These are all things that the public could, potentially get involved in straight away with tangible benefits for those who take them up. It makes sense to me to address the causes
of inequality, debt slavery, declining public services (and several other aspects of what essentially is the same problem) rather than focusing just on the effects. However, the opinion seemed to be to make a large bulk of the day a chance for people to share their grievances about this unjust society, and to relegate any sort of presentation of ideas to a short slot at the beginning, and I don't think this would do them the justice they deserve.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">Although such a plan for the day is perhaps coming from a place of compassion, I don't think it is very skillful. I wish you luck with facilitating what could be a very charged set of discussions on the day - especially as I don't think there is a high level of skill /experience in facilitation within the group (myself included). </div><div
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">I sincerely wish you best of luck with the day.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">Steve</div></div></body></html>