N G O  A C T I O N

You've managed to hitchhike there somehow, to the tiny village of Wolimierz in southwest Poland. It's not marked on most maps, but you know you've arrived: dozens of tents lay scattered across the field and plenty of twenty-somethings are wandering around. Welcome to Ecotopia, the annual "summer university" organized by European Youth For(est) Action (EYFA).

To kick off each day, every ecotopian was supposed to meet under the big tree on the hill for Morning Circle, the daily gathering where the community decided what rules to make and which to break, always by consensus. Should the flush toilets be opened, or only the compost toilets? Who poured chlorine into the drinking water? Do we want amplified music after eleven o'clock? Should we allow cars in camp? The one-third of the camp that was awake enough, sober enough and concerned enough to attend the Circle experienced first hand the trials and tribulations of consensus democracy in action.

Ecotopia, the best-known alternative lifestyle event in Europe, is supposed to operate on an "everyone contributes equally" basis. The unfortunate reality is that a core group of dedicated and tireless volunteers empty and clean the toilets, bring supplies from town, direct discussion at Morning Circle, sort waste, collect the daily participation fee and lead the seemingly infinite number of workshops on everything from waste water treatment to deep ecology. The most obvious reminder of the lack of participation occurred every two days when the kitchen team would ask: "Who wants to be vegetable cutting coordinator for today and tomorrow?" This was always followed by a few minutes of silence until one of the organizers would raise their hand: "OK, if no one else will, I'll do it." Inevitably, the small group of organizers would rotate jobs among themselves, while the rest of the camp lazed around.

Not everyone was quite as pessimistic, however. In fact, one participant from Ukraine thought just the opposite: "To have one hundred people participating is a miracle. At such a camp in the Ukraine, that much involvement would be unheard of."

Ecotopian Routine

Of course, those ecotopians not in the mood for structured discussion could just wander in the woods or hang around the tents, debating the merits of local exchange trading systems, the faults of the alternative lifestyle movement or the consequences of free love. Rampenplan, the kitchen team, was most pleased when these chit-chats occurred in the kitchen, where people could chop carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower and other fresh local food for the all-vegetarian cuisine.

At Ecotopia, East meets West and novice meets veteran. Experienced campaigners, like "V" and "A," both from Krakow, led a "brainstorming" workshop on the anti-nuke direct action planned for Wroclaw. The action group would travel by bus to the nearby city and demonstrate against French President Chirac's invigorated nuclear weapons testing program. The 50 participants built signs and painted banners for a prominent display outside the French culture center.

Afternoons allowed for two workshops and ended with the pleasant screams of "Dinner!" around 7 o'clock. An hour later, after everyone had washed their tin plates and cups, the Eco Bar would open to sell beer, juice, chocolate and other munchies, all for the price of a few ecos. Ecos? An "eco" is a currency unit EYFA has developed to equalize the purchasing power of all ecotopians, an initiative that has boosted participation by Central and Eastern Europeans at EYFA-sponsored events.

During the evening, ecotopians either packed the Eco Bar to watch direct-action videos or discuss their favorite beer, or wandered to the hall next door to trance-dance to penetrating drum rhythms. Other ecotopians found it more soothing just to sit around the campfire where acoustic guitars accompanied human voices singing in several languages.

The Ecotopia Experiment

Locals came to the camp to drink rather than join the community experiment, and this added fuel to the discussion about Ecotopia and ecotopians, what they are and what they should be. Clearer were the benefits left to the community of artists and the surrounding village by the ecotopian experience: participants renovated the artists' station, installed a biological sewage bed, built the foundation for a windmill, and cleaned a stretch of the small river that passes through Wolimierz.

But many questions about Ecotopia remain unsettled, especially since the team responsible for organizing the next one in Croatia disintegrated in September. If you can help, contact:
EYFA,
P.O. Box 94115,
1090 GC Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
Tel: (31-20) 665-7743,
Fax: (31-20) 692-8757,
E-mail: eyfa@antenna.nl.