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I'm Optimistic Again! How and where did it happen? Read on to find out | Rachel Ben Shitrit
We all know that the security and economic situation here is on the ropes; the "leaders" in the government have their order of priorities backwards. Under the false banner of economic growth," we are admonished again and again to cut back and be satisfied with less.
Meager support once provided for the disabled, the elderly, single parents, and others among the needy is cut back and given instead to those drowning in wealth, so that they will have even more. Enormous amounts are spent on infrastructure and security for "settlements" in the occupied territories consisting of no more than one or two people, while at the same time an entire population of about 3.5 million persons is confined, their way to a source of income, to studies, adequate medical care is blocked; and they are not allowed to exist under conditions of at least a minimum of self-respect. Sometimes, to make matters worse, their homes are demolished or their olive trees, the source of their livelihood, are uprooted (and this is without mentioning the blatantly immoral "exceptional acts" of theft, looting, and physical attacks on passersby, sometimes even ending in death). The claim is that all this is being done for security reasons, but in fact it only gives rise to the hatred that creates more and more martyrs for the suicide bombings yet to come.
And we sit and observe all this helplessly; we are slaves to the 'need' to consume that has been implanted in us by giant corporations and brand-name producers, living always with the feeling that we lack something, with the need to purchase ever more - a more modern car, a larger home, a more sophisticated toy, or a more fashionable item of clothing. Giant companies convince us day in and day out that we cannot go on living if we don't buy the cool and exciting product that carries their logo. With the money we pay them, instead of buying other products from us and thereby returning the money to the community and contributing to our economic prosperity, they finance more magnificent skyscrapers and state of the art facilities in far-off places, in other countries, in order to make even more money at our expense when we buy their newer product, one no better than its predecessor, only a bit different in external appearance or in some detail or other, and it is of course cool and exciting, and without it, our lives aren't complete,
and on and on.
When we want to relax a bit and breathe some fresh air outdoors (after finally making it through all the traffic jams en route), we find all the trash that previous visitors have left. What can we do about it? Only complain to ourselves in the evening when we see the news reports on the tube and, on election day, decide whether to cast our vote for Tweedledum or Tweedledee. So why the joy; where can hope be found among all this?
That's what I thought too until last month (June 5-7, 2003). But on this Shavuot holiday I gave myself a treat, the first in a long time, and I set out for a special kind of a campsite that was set up and put into operation on the slopes of the Carmel Mountain Range by various voluntary organizations active in Israel and working towards different objectives - from preservation of our environment, changing national and economic priorities and redressing social inequities, making peace with our neighbors, to anarchists and an organization of gay individuals.
They all came together there. The name - Festival of Activism. What can I tell you? Was I ever surprised! The camp was a total contrast to the rat race that I described above, and it showed us that things could be done differently. Those who have heard of the Rainbow Gatherings in various locations throughout the world will find much to compare, and it may be that our local Festival was actually more inspiring.
Everything was done through the cooperation of all the participants in the Festival, financial expenditures limited to the bare minimum, employing the principles of permaculture (see explanation below), and devoting much attention and love to the surroundings. All the alienation, cynicism, the terror attacks, the materialism, and the hate were left outside the boundaries of the campsite. Friendship, understanding and love, give and take reigned inside.
To begin with: participation in the Festival was not dependent upon any payment whatsoever. The campsite was set up and functioned entirely through voluntary work, using material and remnants that were gathered from the vicinity, and even the electricity used in the camp was produced on the spot, in a way that was friendly to the environment.
And the minimal expenses that did exist were covered by contributions. A "magic hat" was passed around among the participants at mealtimes (of tasty vegetarian food distributed to all at no charge) with each person giving according to his or her own understanding and ability, and no one ever checked who had paid or how much and who hadn't. Participants also helped operate the kitchen and the other services, not because anyone was giving orders, but again, rather each taking personal responsibility. And wonder of wonders, not only was there no shortage of volunteers, all the meals were served on time, the food was varied and plentiful, and everything was done in good spirits, with smiles and enjoyment! This is from my personal experience after helping prepare breakfast (at sunrise) and washing bowls and pots from supper on Friday. There was no one in charge, only members of the crew and volunteers, and the system worked!
It's a little difficult to explain to someone who wasn't there and didn't see how everything was organized. Garbage and rubbish, old cartons and disposable dishes and silverware that had been scattered around the spot by previous visitors were collected and made into
decorations (!) and imaginative and humorous signs. Using the means and materials from the surrounding area, a simple but efficient purification system was set up for water after it had been used in the faucets and the showers and this was then directed to irrigation of the natural forest. The remains of food were used to make compost to nourish the soil. The ashes from last night's campfire were used to disinfect (very efficiently!) the field latrines that consisted of a hole dug in the earth across which were placed wooden pallets like many that are discarded daily in every market or industrial zone. And it proved to be much more aesthetic and hygienic than many public restrooms that I've seen in other places. Of the many fliers and explanatory leaflets that were distributed by the various organizations at the campsite, not one piece of paper did I see left on the ground there, and that's not because there were battalions of sanitation workers cleaning non-stop but simply because everything was done out of consideration for the surroundings and with a minimum investment of common sense and caring.
It's hard to believe that such a thing was happening here and now. For me, it was a unique experience and a memory that I'll take back with me to the concrete desert in which I live during the rest of the year.
There were, it's true, an abundance of lectures, workshops, and activities on a wide variety of subjects: care of the environment, political activity, human relations, yoga, and more, but many of us so enjoyed the informal activity such as friendly personal meetings, sitting together in the shade of the trees, singing and playing instruments, conversing, exploring the stands and exhibits of the various organizations, and simply experiencing and absorbing the wonderful atmosphere all around that we almost forgot to go to the lectures, and some of them were cancelled for lack of participants.
Those workshops that did take place were very interesting and enriching. In the evening hours a central stage hosted a wide gamut of fringe and protest artists, ethnic art from different corners of the world, and other not so ordinary combos.
This was the second year that the festival took place. Those in the know estimated it to be somewhat bigger than last year's event. Although there is no way of telling the exact number of participants, since there was no formal registration, organizers believe some 1000 people slept on the site, and many others, probably a thousand more, dropped by during the day and took part in some of the activities. Participants were of different nationalities; ages ranged from about seven months to over 70 years, and even a few four-legged observers took quite an active part.
The idea of permaculture is simple. In a nutshell it is about living in harmony with your surroundings instead of being in conflict with them.
In this way, we let the forces of nature help us instead of fighting them all the time, thereby enabling a self-sustaining culture (from which the name PERMAnent CULTURE) instead of wasting a tremendous amount of energy on drastic changes in the environment (huge buildings, cranes and bulldozers, and giant deserts of concrete and asphalt) and then needing to keep up constant maintenance of what we've built (air conditioning for shopping malls, elevators for skyscrapers, plants for producing all the consumer goods that we don't really need so much, and cleaning the waste created by them that leaves nothing unpolluted, removing monstrous quantities of garbage and sewage, all with a tremendous amount of wasted material and effort.) In permaculture great expenditures of energy in maintenance are unnecessary (except for small repairs and adjustments), and there is no waste. One person's waste is another's treasure. Does it sound impossible? But the fact is that it really works that way! In nature, of course. We have simply forgotten it; we've become used to being disciplined players in the rat race of modern culture, as we've been taught all our lives. We've become convinced that its more comfortable for us to drive in our car through the traffic jams, to search for a parking place, to go into the supermarket and buy its readymade and frozen foods in disposable wrappings that need to be thrown away afterwards into the large and smelly garbage container alongside the house, that will be emptied (or not) at 3am by a noisy truck. But is this indeed more enjoyable than to pick tomatoes that we've grown ourselves in our small private gardens (or even on our window sills) without poison sprays and to use them to make a tasty, nourishing, and healthy fresh salad?
No, to bring permaculture into our lives, we don't need to overturn our entire way of living all at once or invest a lot of money in big changes. That's not the way it works. Quite the opposite. It's possible (and even necessary) to start by making small changes in our daily life. For example, we can walk where we need to go rather than driving. We might be surprised to find out that we actually like it better. It's also possible to recycle and reuse some of the refuse that we or others throw out. Thus, we can gradually reduce consumption and waste as well as pollution, and instead, we supply our basic needs out of a feeling of well being rather than of a constant lack. And then we discover that we need much less and can enjoy much more than we had thought we could. We also discover another wonderful thing: that it's fun for us to share with our neighbors those things in excess of our needs. I have an unneeded sofa, and I want to get it out of my way.
Let my neighbor, who actually needs a sofa very much, come and take it from me, and even thank me for it. The neighbor gains and I lose nothing. I grew a nice bush of mint from which I only use a few leaves at a time, so I happily invite my neighbors to pluck leaves for their own use. There's no need for us to compete; we all benefit from living near each other. Many of us already do such things as something natural and to be expected.
Slowly, as more people begin to live according to these principles and to free themselves from enslavement to the culture of consumerism, we will find that we don't need large areas in order to live well. The same is true on a national level: there is room for all; no need to banish someone else in order for me to have a piece of land to live on.
And then, there will no longer be need for wars! Our true enemies are precisely the commercial bodies that want to instill in us the constant feeling of something lacking, of competition, of distress. From this, there is a clear connection with the organizations acting for understanding and peace between Jews and Arabs or for more tolerance and acceptance of those who are different from us (for example lesbians, etc.). I don't want to be too poetic, but at the next step, after we have internalized all this, we can move on to realize the vision of the end of days (and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, etc.)
And if that is so, then there's still hope!!
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