Called to Account

It is a principle of Open Space Technology meetings that you invite the people you think can make a contribution, in an open and free way, and that “whoever comes is the right people”. Now in most countries, if you invite a VVIP, you’ve got to do it formally, and there’s an elaborate diary-checking pre-dance before you actually issue your formal invitation and get your formal acceptance.

In Iceland, the organisers of a series of citizens’ meetings on their national banking and economic crisis recently issued an open invitation to the entire Icelandic cabinet, something like this:

“Prior to the event, the organizers announced that they would reserve a labelled seat for every member of the cabinet. If they didn’t show up, the seat – with that person’s name in big white letters – would remain glaringly empty. Only one member of the cabinet – Minister for the Environment Þórunn Sveinbjörnsdóttir – confirmed that she would be there. In the end, the PM, the Minister for Foreign Affairs [who is also the leader of the coalition party], the Minister of Education, Science and Culture [who is deputy leader of the Independence Party], the Ministers of Finance, Industry, Communications, Fisheries and Environment were all there, as were several other MPs.” (Get the full report here).

This is clearly pushing the spirit of Open Space, and Iceland is a small country where everyone knows everyone, but it’s an interesting example of public accountability! For a more sanitised version of the event see here. Thanks to Liam for this.

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