The Path We Forge Ahead: A Statement on Inclusion
/Given the recent attempted insurrection at the Capitol, we, the organizers of Mosaic Experiment, feel it is part of our Civic Responsibility to take a stance and speak out against the actions of those involved.
This was an attack not only upon the elected officials, staffers, interns, and government employees but also an attack upon the democratic process that forms the foundation of our society. This violence was both abhorrent and inexcusable.
It has come to our attention that an individual, photographed wearing a symbol from another Burning Man Regional Network event, was arrested on multiple weapons charges in Washington D.C. the day before the attack occurred. Whether they intended to use these weapons the following day is irrelevant. What is relevant is that this reflects poorly upon the burn community as a whole and undermines our principles at their very core.
Given these events, we reaffirm our stance on the very first principle, Radical Inclusion, which states: Anyone may be a part of Mosaic Experiment. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
Being a part of this community means that all of us welcome and respect one another. While no prerequisites exist for your participation, once you come Home it’s expected that you genuinely embrace the respect for others as it has been extended to you. When you pack out, we hope that your experience has impacted you in a way that allows you to carry this respect into your default world.
“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion”
Radical Inclusion does not mean we will accept actions, words, or beliefs that are rooted in violence, hatred, or discrimination of any kind.
If you will not welcome, respect and celebrate the diversity that brings us together as a community, then you are not embracing the principle of Radical Inclusion. If you are advocating for discrimination and violence, beliefs of superiority, or casting wanton judgement and exclusion against others, then you are not cultivating the environment that we are striving to provide for everyone. We as a community, as part of our Civic Responsibility, do not tolerate and will not welcome that.
In these times of social upheaval, we are given the opportunity to step outside our boxes. This allows us to examine who we are as human beings and who we strive to be. We have the choice to allow our fears to control us or to embrace compassion and grow as a society. We have seen the damage that fear and intolerance can do, and we choose not to let this define us.
Mosaic Experiment looks forward to welcoming anyone with the courage to practice this Radical Inclusion to burn with us.