from inhuman schedules. With no physical division into grades, the kids learn much from working and playing with older and younger students. Everyone gets lots of attention: one helpful adult for every five children. Activities break through the standard barriers between learning, home, and work, that mysterious world of adults. The school is completely woven into the life of the village. UFA Fabrik manages to bring all these pieces together in a beautiful way. It's a mix that satisfies members, and attracts hundreds of thousands of others to see and experience this revolutionary yet sensible activity. Visitors go to hang out in the cafe, to dance.and play music, or even just to walk on the village lanes and paths, well fra~ed with plants and pleasantly overgrown with bushes and trees. While the UFA sits in the center of a great metropolis, and has a high concentration of people and activity, it's organized on a small, more human scale. Autos aren't seen or heard. The dominant sounds come from people on foot and riding bikes, with lots of playing kids, barking dogs .and chirping birds. This utopian microcosm encourages peopl~'s involvement, inspiring many to take chances in their lives. The UFA successfully blends cult~re with politics, and gives everyone a good time in the process. Not long ago, I stopped by to meet with Juppi, a central community figure, circus performer and original Fabrik personality. We had arranged to meet in the Cafe, and getting there a littl~ early I sat at a comer table to think up some good questions. Juppi came in shortly with his three · "circus dogs" and joined me after saying hello to a few others in the Cafe. While we talked, other UFA Fabrik folks could be seen coming and going, dropping in to chat, to get a cup of coffee, or to see who else was there. Suddenly a group of kids came running in from the school across the way, dressed up in bizarre <;ostumes as part of the German Fasching holiday. They went around the Cafe asking everyone questions for some school survey project. Our conversation drifted into the areas of ecology and community history. Juppi turned and pointed to others who knew more about these things, Woerner and Sigi, who happened to be s~ated at another table. He suggested I find them after we were finished. As Juppi explained it to me, the community has monthly-assembly meeti.ngs to formally make decisions, but the real political and cultural change .happens every day. UFA Fabrik membe~s see each other aii the time, and so can carry out their business informally. What they do for work is not much separated from what they do in their free time, or what they do for fun, or even from what their kids do. Juppi emphasized that the UFA is just one example of what people c'an dp together, and not an answer for everyone. Even after accomplishing much, the Fabrik members are sti11 learning.·They·remind us that we all need to find our own way, and provide ourselves opportunities to work creatively for what we believe in. Anyone can visit UFA, or contact Sigifor information, at UFAFabrik, Viktoriastrasse 10-18, 1000 Berlin 42, Germany. RAIN Summer 1994 Volume XIV, Number 4 Page 13
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