Story by Paxus Calta Photos by Joke van Vliet Ecotopia, the novel, tells the story of an ecologically- inspired secession from the US by much of the west coast. Over the last four years, in the real world, ecotopia has been an annual gathering of young ecologists within, but somehow separate from, continental Europe. With our energy and ideas we bridge the gap between east and west Europe, last year in Estonia and this year in Bulgaria. For three weeks, 500 ecotopians from 25 countries attempt to build an ideal community. A typical day in this community begins with breakfast from the Dutch mobile organic kitchen, Rampenplan. The name means “crisis plan”, referring to the creative response when, for instance, they’ve been told 700 will be eating but they have io feed 2500. This counter-institution provides excellent organic vegetarian food at demonstrations, encampments and protests of every left/green kind. Living on the liberal social security provided by the Netherlands, this dynamic and hard-working group of otherwise unpaid volunteers has several mobile kitchens that have simultaneously criss-crossed Europe for over a decade. Waiting in line for my muesli (granola) I wonder if the folks in front of me are speaking Czech or Slovak. I gingerly withdraw the honey for my bread from ajar surrounded by wasps, trying to peacefully co-exist with the insects. I sit down with some new acquaintances, waiting for the coffee, and chat. Did you like last night’s Lithuanian circus? Which of today’s workshops are you going to? There’s always a conflict — the ozone workshop is at the same time as the one on intentional communities: how do you decide? My new friend from Zagreb brings me a cup of coffee, when I hear someone shout: “Chuck, should we have the morning circle today?” “I don’t know Martin, will it be long and boring again?” The actors are standing three meters apart and speaking loudly for the benefit of the crowd. “No Chuck, today we are going to talk about smoking in the ecobar.” “Sounds like a fight to me — I’d rather go swimming.” Chuck starts to walk toward the waterfall. “No wait, there will also be a discussion about this year’s big action at the nuclear power plant.” “Really?!” Chuck turns around dramatically. “Yes, plus there will be info on the radical sexuality workshop, and the workshop you are giving. Chuck, on wild style hair care.” “Well, then I better go. When and where is it?” “How about right now, in this shady area beside the trees?” “Sounds good” and our two actor/organizers walk off arm in arm. There is brief applause from the breakfast eaters, who begin to migrate to the meeting. The morning circle is a combination information service and self-governing body. It is where ecotopia makes decisions about itself We use consensus, so we keep modifying our proposals until everyone agrees. With an average of 100 people attending the circle, this is a bit tricky — especially since English and Russian (our most frequently used second language is frequently not used) are not the native tongues of the majority. But we manage well enough, at least with the daily “policy” issues. We decide, for example, to ban plastic- wrapped snacks at the ecobar, our cafe/night club. Then we agree to carry more things from the front gate by hand, to reduce the presence of cars at the camp. At the circle we announce workshops and excursions, describe how to suck out venom from wasp stings, and call for volunteers to clean toilets or sort waste (which still gets mixed- up even with labeled containers). Self-organizing at ecotopia functions reasonably well. The toilet cleaning group will work for a couple of days and then beg to be replaced. There’s usually a difficult silence when new volunteers are requested, but every essential task is eventually taken. Volunteers appear when needed, for example to help Rampenplan cut vegetables or wash dishes. The entire camp was built this way: a few dozen non-Bulgarians joined with a few dozen locals to huild and set up tents, the ecobar, the clean energy system, the sorted trash containers with multi-lingual signs, and the toilets. Frequently, when people saw that something was needed, or wanted something done, they just did it. A soccer / football tournament emerged with 20 half-hour games, including the thrilling Bulgaria / Scotland final match. The DaUy Ecotopian was not quite daily, but survived several sets of editors and reporters while struggling to reflect reality. Over 200 workshops came about mostly on their own. The most explosive one this year could have been called Sex, lies and videotape. We needed to answer a basic question: how much are we. Page 44 RAIN Spring 1993 Volume XIV, Number 3
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