Participation
To participate, people will be asked to accept these principles. They are designed to protect civil, constructive disagreement.
Acceptance means agreeing to the standard of conduct for the session, not agreeing with any particular political view or policy position.
Critique ideas, assumptions, evidence, and reasoning. Do not make the discussion about someone’s character, intelligence, or motives. Disagreement is welcome. Dehumanisation is not. We don’t require anyone to argue for their dignity or right to exist.
Bring lived experience and narrative views, but be prepared to explain how you got there. Label what you know, what you infer, and what you value. Assertions without analysis can be limiting. Where possible, give the context or reasons that allow others to understand your perspective.
Aim to restate another person’s point fairly before disagreeing. The goal is comprehension first, rebuttal second.
This is not a stage. Avoid scoring points, grandstanding, or speaking to an imagined audience outside the room.
Hard public issues rarely collapse into a single clean answer. Hold tension where needed instead of forcing over-simplification or certainty.
No recording. Don’t quote names outside the room. Share ideas, not identities. Do not interrupt repeatedly, dominate airtime, or dismiss people. Help maintain a room where others can think aloud safely. Everyone is responsible for self-managing stress responses.
You do not need to abandon your position, but you should be willing to sharpen it, qualify it, or rethink parts of it. We use structure to surface power, incentives, and tradeoffs, not just opinions.
It means listening to others with an open mind, appreciating their perspectives, and honouring their boundaries – even when we don’t agree. No coercive questioning, no personal probing, and no pressure to disclose.
Some people lead with logic. Others are brimming with imagination. We are not here to demand consensus or conformity. We are here to test thoughts and ideas, surface tradeoffs, and learn from each other.
Conduct unbecoming a good-faith participant ends participation.