By Liam Doherty-Nicholson
The Occupy movement has been and continues to be a diverse array of beneficial experiences for me and for so many others. At first the movement was something of an angry, fearless yet vulnerable cry out against oppressive forces. The hope was that those who were suffering from similar oppression would flock in solidarity and take to the streets, which they did. This rallying cry served to create a physical headquarters for humanitarian aid, experiments in egalitarian group governance, and a bit of soap box activism. The movement also served as an inspired conversation starter even for people that were absorbing it passively.
Paradigms and consciousness had begun to shift rapidly and in much larger numbers than ever before in my experience on Earth. After seeing what can be done when you throw together a motley group of people with varying skill sets and ideas paired with open communication and resource sharing, unbelievable change can be accomplished. Thousands of great ideas start to flow and creativity is unbridled by self doubt and isolation. The best ideas gain traction and float to the top and through horizontal group governance and intentional decision-making and process, committees and working groups are formed and action is taken.
Photo by Paul
We spent the majority of the fall and winter resisting, marching, camping out, sitting in, getting arrested, learning the differences between nonviolent and violent strategy and tactics, exposing the faces and names of our oppressors and waking people up. We heard the sound of our own voices and we saw what we could do if we support each other in our cause for a more reasonable future.
All winter long we have been preparing the fertile soil of our minds and unearthing all the nutrients that were so hard to access before as well as sowing the seeds of revolution in every direction. Now that spring and summer are upon us, it is time to nurture the beautiful plants that will begin to expose themselves and help our ideas grow with the support of our communities. This is where the idea for a new working group, Community Supported Everything, was born. We create spaces for neighbors and community members to share their ideas, passions, skills, resources and needs, find support and offer their talents to help incubate projects that resonate with each other. Part of our mission is to help people experience the ease, comfort and fulfillment that embracing a gift and resource based economy can bring. To give something for free with joy and pleasure while holding no expectation for payment or direct trade is a liberating experience and it is a very basic but sometimes forgotten step in building the free world we have been dreaming of.
On June 20th, the Summer Solstice and longest day of the year, Community Supported Everything is declaring Interdependence Day. We believe we can all benefit from celebrating the potential of our collaboration in between resisting and protesting.
At 11:45am we will gather at the northeast corner of Pioneer Square in preparation for our Global Collaboration Flash Mob. Immediately following we will begin preparations for the Community Supported Everything Dinner and Dance Party at Colonel Summers Park at 6 pm. The Dinner is going to be featuring the free and vegan cuisine of Food Not Bombs and the Occupy Portland Kitchen followed by a decentralized dance party.
We are calling on our Community to come share your stories, ideas, cooking, art, music, passion and intention to work together to build a more enjoyable world. Sometimes we just need to make time to celebrate what’s possible.
Find us on the web at www.thesymbiosisproject.org
Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CommunitySupportedEverything
