Yo Cuckoos. So remember all that money we raised through our collective shenanigans in the Clouds in 2011? Well, our friends at Brake the Cycle have found somewhere rather special to start creating some positive change with those hard earned pennies.
Via our brand spanking new Koyaanisqatsi Trust, we’re delighted to announce the funding of a 24ft yurt (on stilts!), which will become a fulcrum of Free and Real’s community building as they pioneer the creation of a new economic model for Greece.
Anoraks among you will know that our mythical Utopia, ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land,’ is inspired by an Ancient Greek playwright, Aristophanes. Here’s how we’re repaying the favour….
The following is reposted from Mark Boyle’s Freeconomy blog, which has a ton of readers and helped connect our continent-straddling projects in the first place. Penned by the fair hand of our very own Brake the Cyclists, who’ve pitched up in Greece more by luck than judgement, we hope you enjoy it, share it, love it.
The European Union coordinates one of history’s most powerful economic and political alliances. But today, like national balance sheets across the continent, this union is disintegrating. A sober critique of our 21st century Greek tragedy may observe systematic corruption and wag the finger at the illegal lending of predatory global financial institutions, but one conclusion is inescapable. Greece’s current turmoil is symptomatic of a global economy shuddering ever closer to it’s inevitable collapse.
Complex analysis of financial systems and macro economies is an unfortunate necessity of our globalised modern world. Fortunately, it is of little relevance here. More significant to the future of Greek and European communities is an awareness that, amidst the confusion and hopelessness, a movement is stirring. Increasingly, young people are responding by thinking and doing. Rejecting the role of passive consumer assigned to them by faceless corporations, they are choosing instead to experiment in new ways of living. Every day in Athens, diverse groups are emerging to channel this growing energy, through protests, actions, debates and assemblies which demonstrate a conviction that individuals working collectively can define their own realities.
High in the mountains of Evia, an island around 170km north of the Greek capital, Free and Real’s eco community grows daily. In the last week alone, volunteers helped erect an extension of their workshop – complete with workbench and salvaged palm roofing – as well as the foundations for a two storey yurt, to be constructed on stilts, not to mention path building, tree planting and seed bombing. The project, which grew organically from an internet forum and built momentum by organising in Athens, has pioneered in Greece a model for self sufficiency and resilience which is thriving across the continent.
As one paradigm ends, another begins in the open spaces left behind. Reflecting a natural cycle of creation, preservation and decay, this transition is also reminiscent of an ancient prophecy. Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian word meaning “world out of balance,” which describes a state of living which calls for another way. Recognising our existence within such a world, the Koyaanisqatsi Trust is a peer to peer, grass roots fundraising initiative helping to resource a growing consciousness by building networks, connecting communities and providing the funds required to empower visions and inspire positive action. Established in the UK in the summer of 2011, coordinated by volunteers and dedicated to raising awareness as well as money, the Trust is committed to investing in the wider movement through small and easily accessible grant making. In 2011, funds were gathered through a community focused performing arts festival, food waste banquets, live music events and a 21 person, 1,000 mile cycle challenge.
After connecting via a combination of Mark Boyle’s Freeconomy and sheer chance, these projects have recognised an opportunity for collaboration. Free and Real have built the foundations of a successful eco community and are ready to experiment further, while the Koyaanisqatsi Trust have developed a funding model capable of empowering such ambition. From the ashes of economic centralisation, could a union of people and projects be rising which shares a common vision, though recognises the essential diversity of its radically local manifestations? Can we imagine a framework of communities adapting to specific climates and cultures with shared resources and expertise, as well as natural exuberance and boundless creativity? Despite European populations beginning to grow hungry, a surge of optimism is rising. Working beyond existing, outdated frameworks, young Greeks, Brits and Europeans generally are rediscovering their power. Working together, they’re making a shared dream come true and building solidarity across a continent; solidarity which never defined the political and economic straitjacket of the EU, despite a steady flow of rhetoric to the contrary.
As our recumbent paradigm decays, a resourceful international community with a radically localised perspective is being created in a process which replicates nature’s evolutionary succession. While unelected politicians become increasingly irrelevant, a participatory network of diverse people aware of their shared humanity is growing wider and deeper, reflecting a culture of cooperation and humility; an opening of minds and tolerance of disparate experiences, diverse eco systems and degrees of emphasis.
In early 2012, these initiatives remain the exception rather than the rule. But such endeavours are invaluable, developing models which are largely transferable and, by cultivating networks of information and funding, easily replicable. An ecologically conscious performing arts festival building a temporary community in Somerset’s Mendip hills can come together with young Athenians emerging from inherited patterns of living which have left many hungry and hopeless. The incontrovertible truth is that another world is possible; that we have everything we need, right now, if only we recognise our individual responsibility and begin to work collectively. It really is that simple.
Cycling through the streets of Athens just over four weeks ago, a city which contains half the Greek population, there seemed little cause for immediate concern. Perhaps the revolution was enjoying it’s Christmas holidays. Or perhaps, despite its immanent bankruptcy and looming climate chaos, a global civilisation built on the edifice of oil remains deeply entrenched in our daily lives and, almost everywhere, continues to dominate our collective imagination. Whatever the prevailing mood on the streets of Europe’s capitals, the cracks are beginning to show. Across the continent, people and projects have forgotten their despondency and begun the process of re-imagining their lives and rediscovering their self sufficiency.
Like any Greek tragedy worth the name, the major players in our consumer capitalist story have long assured their mutual destruction, becoming deeply enmeshed in intricate and irrational webs of deceit and denial. But waiting in the wings, and clambering up from the stalls, the people are ready to take centre stage. Accept this time there is no script, and there’ll be no acting.
Ladies and gentlemen, please abandon your seats. The next scene will be free and real.
With funds raised by Cloud Cuckoo Land Festival in 2011, the Koyaanisqatsi Trust is delighted to collaborate with Free and Real in funding, and helping to build, a 24ft yurt which will be a model for future constructions, as their vision to build a community of ecologically conscious and radically free individuals is gradually realised.
http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org.uk/
Free and Real are currently campaigning to raise additional funds for the construction of a dome structure which will become the fulcrum of their new community, enabling an extended programme of seminars and workshops, as well as the main arena of a fundraising eco festival scheduled for late 2012. If you’re able to make a contribution, please share in our vision by supporting their campaign, by following the link below.
