Forming an Intentional Community/split

[MotorVation]

You hit the nail on the head. Give a nomad community a little time and everyone will have to have the same color bucket to poop in and there will be inspections!

Knock, knock. "This is inspector Brownie, open zee door!"

 

[Morgana]

Gonna go out on a limb and guess that the philosophy behind The Vlllages and the philosophy behind anything this gang would come up with would be pretty different.

 

[rruff]

So what philosophy do you think "this gang" would come up with? I'm curious what sort of organizational facilities and rules low-budget nomads would find attractive in a home base...?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I'm confused by what you mean by 'international community'. Every definition I look up is in vague geo-political terms.

Towns and cities are not usually communities but they contain communities. The small city I am in (pop. 8000) has Vietnamese, Hmong, Korean, Slovak, and Honduran communities. Common culture is the binder.

 

[CoyoteG]

I fantasized a bit around 15 years ago when a ranch north of Silver City NM was for sale. 1,000 acres for $1,000,000. Beautiful wooded land and meadows, Bear Creek ran through it, year round climate as good as you can get outside the southern CA coast, < 1/2 hour from town, easy highway access, etc. Plenty of room for a big community! I never checked to see if that would have been legal due to zoning, though...

That’s right where I grew up.

 

[Gypsyjoe#1]

I'm confused by what you mean by 'international community'. Every definition I look up is in vague geo-political terms.

Towns and cities are not usually communities but they contain communities. The small city I am in (pop. 8000) has Vietnamese, Hmong, Korean, Slovak, and Honduran communities. Common culture is the binder.

They are talking intentional communities not international communities

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I've been part of a few intentional communities. When I was a kid we would go stay at a commune up in Connecticut in the summer. It was not only vegan, but raw food. Lots of sprouts and mushrooms. They even sold them in farmers markets and at a few markets.
Hated it, but I was a kid. These days it wouldn't be so bad.
Not sure where they got the land from. But they welcomed just about anybody if they worked the farm.

Later I was part of a performance space called 924 Gilman, Alternative Music Foundation and a couple other things.
We were all volunteer run, all ages, and had a long list of things not allowed. Most of it stuff like no racism/sexism/homophobia. But also no drugs or alcohol (all ages means we had under 18 people there).
We ran the place through monthly meetings where anyone could show up and vote.
Technically we had no hierarchy. But in practice one guy was mostly in charge of the sound equipment, I was mostly in charge of our concessions, some girl was in charge of the booking etc. It worked fine until some controversy happened. There was a huge brawl with nazi skinheads once. Another time there was a sexual assault that happened on our property. Both times we had long long meetings where people had to show up and say things to feel included. Then hours later we could vote on whatever we were going to do.
Mostly the meetings were for deciding budgets and whether certain repeat troublemakers would be banned.

Years after that I was part of a group of people who did very large campout/concert things on BLM land.
It would last 2 weeks at the longest, and like Burning Man we discouraged buying and selling at the event, encouraging barter.
My friend and I started it, but we kept everything democratic. Though I ended up footing the bill for a lot myself.

There are a lot more I could go into.
But the main point is that intentional communities, collectives etc work great for getting stuff done.
They all have a problem when a crisis occurs. There is no perfect decision making mechanism to solve this. Roberts Rules of order, direct democracy, unanimous consent, or modified unanimous consent all have flaws and come with their own problems.

 

[RonDean]

For those of you on another tangent, I THINK this thread is something about Communities for Nomads. Having been guilty of following tangents myself, I'm trying hard to be careful before answering or replying to off-topics.

On the Community thread, I wonder exactly how such a group could avoid zoning issues. How far afield does county control go? Does land ever become free to use as we see fit?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

They are talking intentional communities not international communities

Sorry,Dislexia strikes again.

 

[rruff]

On the Community thread, I wonder exactly how such a group could avoid zoning issues. How far afield does county control go? Does land ever become free to use as we see fit?

County control extends to all of the county... and then there are the state and feds! But there must be a legal way to do it on "rural" or remote land in most places at least, since so many communities exist.

What do you think would be attractive qualities in a nomad camp/home base?

 

[Ripper238]

Some states have very few zoning laws. Especially the more remote you are.

If I buy 100 acres in WV I can build anything I want. I can invite all nomads to stay and live and they can build teeny homes or live right out of there van.

 

[JDub]

Sorry,Dislexia strikes again.

I'm the same way. I lie awake at nights wondering: "Is there a Dog"???

Cheers!

 

[bullfrog]

Not to start an argument but I grew up across the river in Kentucky and saw the way people were treated by their neighbors even with 1,300 acre properties in some remote areas. There is a history of people burning out neighbors that they don’t approve of not to mention people like my grandmother that was one of the McCoy cousins who would probably not even bother the county government with such a trivial complaint she could take care of herself.

 

[JDub]

Not to start an argument but I grew up across the river in Kentucky and saw the way people were treated by their neighbors even with 1,300 acre properties in some remote areas. There is a history of people burning out neighbors that they don’t approve of not to mention people like my grandmother that was one of the McCoy cousins who would probably not even bother the county government with such a trivial complaint she could take care of herself.

Lots of missing folks around here "sleepin with the fishes and gators in the swamps"..

 

[thebarefootbadger]

All too often, today's "American Individuality" seems to result in a lack of concern for other people.

How about this. The real enemy we're fighting is "Big". Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Real Estate and so on. Capitalism at its worst, that sees profit as the real point of everything, and the survival and flourishing of human beings (or the planet, or any other living thing) as not particularly necessary, rather than the other way around. I think it's poisoned our government as well as our way of thinking about each other.

I do not believe "if you can't beat em, join em." But I'm also not sure Revolution is very likely or even possible at this point. What I believe is that the whole Big structure is so clumsy and impersonal that it might be possible to use it, to game it, quietly. If ten of us band together and own a house, no matter how unattractive it is, we can all park vehicles on the land. The laws are there to be loopholed. If you and I share an insurance policy, it means you have to trust me and vice versa, but it also means we save 30%. Will we always get our own way? Might I wind up paying $5 for roadside assistance I don't want because you do? Cooperation is not always delightful. But cooperation without competition, cooperation with a genuine belief that net benefit to Us together is better than you and I separately, even if we make concessions, might just be the way to ... lol. To Stick It To The Man.

 

[thebarefootbadger]

In other words, cooperation is apparently not the watchword for our species, but for everything we can manage to do cooperatively, the expense drops a little.

 

[thebarefootbadger]

Nothing against the "farming" groups, but I gave up weeding and such when I gave up owning land.

However... I would love to belong to a group of Nomads with an affordable home base somewhere. I would even do my share of the weeding and bill paying.

I think we forget just how much our ancestors needed to work together to overcome challenges and support one another. All too often, today's "American Individuality" seems to result in a lack of concern for other people.

Or maybe instead of weeding you could be the person who scans craigslist for useful items and goes on the buying run to build a new chicken coop - at a serious discount - that will eventually provide the protein for ten people - at a serious discount. Core members are probably necessary, but I don't know that the commitment to cooperative living as a group has to be as permanent as Joining A Community to be beneficial to everyone. "Hi, I need a place to park for the week, would you like to use my Costco membership?"

 

[Sky]

So what philosophy do you think "this gang" would come up with? I'm curious what sort of organizational facilities and rules low-budget nomads would find attractive in a home base...?

I suspect first and foremost something rural off the beaten path since it seems many nomads want to be in nature but I may be wrong ? Let's see if others add in.

 

[Sky]

Or maybe instead of weeding you could be the person who scans craigslist for useful items and goes on the buying run to build a new chicken coop - at a serious discount - that will eventually provide the protein for ten people - at a serious discount. Core members are probably necessary, but I don't know that the commitment to cooperative living as a group has to be as permanent as Joining A Community to be beneficial to everyone. "Hi, I need a place to park for the week, would you like to use my Costco membership?"

It seems having a land base always has things to do or to pitch in on. I spent enough years in work for people that had control issues with wanting things the way they were not naturally as a Gardner, prior the Permaculture trend. I still believe with good honest communication people can create community however they agree too. I have seen communities that welcome part time or full time participants with many options as to how to barter or contribute.

 

[Sky]

In other words, cooperation is apparently not the watchword for our species, but for everything we can manage to do cooperatively, the expense drops a little.

Barefootbadger I always appreciate your input but I think as a species we just got to far from our origin, don't you? I mean had we been so incapable of cooperating we would be not be a species, we would have all ended up in some predators belly, a lion.