turkish-greek civic dialogue - AEGEE Europe

AEGEE — TURKISH-GREEK CIVIC DIALOGUE PROJECT
CLOSING DOCUMENT PRODUCTION
ROAD MAP
PROPOSAL FOR A COLLECTIVE WRITING PERFORMANCE
BY DR. HALIL NALÇAOĞLU
DEFINITIONS
1. “Collective” is different from collection. A collection is a haphazard or
somewhat principled bringing together of objects or people. A
collectivity also bears “bring together” function BUT with a twist: those
who get together know what they are doing.
2. Collective is an organic entity. It lacks a rigid order (as collection does)
and a beginning and end point.
3. Collectivities are not form by accident. There must be some initiative,
force, binding idea or goal to bring people together. Therefore for a
“collective writing performance” a group of people must first be turned
into a collectivity (see Collectivity Forming Activities below)
4. “Writing” is traditionally known to be a personal activity. In this kind of
writing the “author dies” and the writing remains. In “collective writing”
the author does not die for he/she does not exist. The product would
be an “open text,” incomplete ever by definition. (It can be opened up
later in another gathering to be reviewed, expanded, changed, or
trashed to be recreated all over again.)
5. The aim of collective writing performance is to create items that
young people of Turkey and Greece would want to appear in the final
declaration.
PROCEDURE
1. The set of activities are thought of to take place in the last day of
the three-days closing conference. If the weather permits, there are
Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de L’Europe
many advantages of holding the last-day workshop in open air.
2. The gathering should be informal except the speaker’s desk; mobile
microphones would be effective in facilitating the discussion.
3. The gathering space should contain two large boards for items to be
pinned on.
4. At least ten moderators (or facilitators) should join the organisation and
help out with the smooth functioning of the exercises.
5. In the background music could go on (not too high in volume).
6. After the exercises, the declaration is formed on the basis of the
discussed items. The final draft is read to the public and opened to
discussion. The important thing at this point is not to bureaucratize the
proceeding. The moderator(s) should insist that the wording is not fatally
important.
1. WISH LIST EXERCISE
Materials: Pen, index cards
Number of moderators: 6 (for 150 participants)
Total duration of exercise: 55 minutes (writing: 5 minutes; collection and
grouping: 15 minutes; open reading: 5 minutes; discussion: 20 minutes;
forming the declaration version: 10 minutes)
Total duration of activity: 65 minutes.
i) Everyone in the group is given an index card and asked to write down a
“wish” in the context of Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue.
ii) Then the cards are collected by moderators. Moderators group cards
according to their contents and try to figure out the most common wish.
iii) The most common wish is read aloud to be made a part of the final
document.
iv) Discussion follows. If majority agrees, the most common wish is
reformulated to fit in an official document.
v) All wish items are pinned to a wall for public view.
vi) For more “wish items” to enter the declaration, the process can be
repeated from (iii) on beginning with the second most common wish.
Final Conference
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