People have limited time and limited emotional energy. As a result, they don’t want to get wrapped up in discussions about something that they think has no positive future. Even those who are involved are sceptical of what can be achieved.

“This hurts recruitment prospects. It makes it hard to get people to listen to personal appeals, or to read public exchanges. It is not impossible, but it is much harder than it ought to be. Indeed, in times like these everyone who cares about a better future should be starving for news of new organizational efforts, and therefore very very eager to hear about IOPS in hopes that it will prove worthy in their eyes. But, alas, the situation is virtually the opposite. People feel so skeptical about anything good emerging from any organization, they fear having their time and emotions drained for no good reason. The are loathe to hear about organizational efforts.” Michael Albert on International Organization for a Participatory Society

How do we engage people in the road to change, is about how we relate to their realities. How adaptable we can make ourselves and relevant our activities, to things that are meaningful to them. This is much more difficult than relating to problems, and solutions. It is more about listening, understanding and building structure around what we are hearing, that will foster participation.