To start with the beginning, during the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2000 (R2K), Philadelphia's activist scene was rife with internal conflict and misery (as well as creativity and wonderfully productive energy which gave rise to such projects as Philly's first Independent Media Center giving round the clock coverage to the issues and the action).

Of the many "divides," one dividing line that gave particular trouble was the generational divide. Clearly class, race, culture, gender, sexual preference, nationality, ability/availability, and political philosophy are huge and chronic divides, all of which emerged along the way as the Dialogue Project explored the inter-generational conflict.

All year long, in fact, some of the facilitators and participants in the Dialogue Project questioned whether it was appropriate to channel resources into creating an "inter-generational" dialogue when the issues of racism and classism in the movement seemed to us to be even more urgent. Nonetheless, the project as conceived by Training for Change director George Lakey was tightly focused on inter-generational dialogue, addressing a very real and multi-faceted problem which is rarely acknowledged explicitly, let alone addressed consciously, intentionally and creatively, within social change movements.

Next is George Lakey's essay describing the underpinnings and assumptions behind the original concept of the Dialogue Project.