Alt. community - Rainbow Family

[jaqeboy]

FYI, the regional Rainbow council will be meeting after Thanksgiving day all weekend and a couple of us plan to attend. I was told "all are welcome who are not violent and who are respectful."

PM, email or call me if you want to go and I'll send details.

Rainbow has evolved a set of community rules and standards that seem to work for their annual gathering. Should be interesting - possibly some people to learn from in creating new communities.

[dalebert]

We have an FSPer who's family was Rainbow Family.

[jaqeboy]

If you want to go, let me know. I'm logging off for a day or so to travel right now, so call me if interested.

They are pretty darn anachic and have experimented by trial and error with the process of living together by self-governance. I'll be really interested to observe their council process. Plus there'll be a lot of campfiring, etc. and maybe outdoor hot-tubbing for the hearty.

[KBCraig]

I've never personally known any Rainbowers, but they seem to have a cloud following them. When they met in Arkansas this year, there were lots of complaints of shoplifting, stealing gasoline, leaving the forest trashed, etc.

[dalebert]

Our FSPer with experience of the Rainbow family has mostly very negative things to convey, with just a few small exceptions.

[KBCraig]

Thanks, Dale. Good point of reference, versus assumptions we might make either pro or con.

[Insurgent]

I've been to one Rainbow Gathering, in Missouri several years ago. I'd be curious to attend this meeting.

[jaqeboy]

I've never personally known any Rainbowers, but they seem to have a cloud following them. When they met in Arkansas this year, there were lots of complaints of shoplifting, stealing gasoline, leaving the forest trashed, etc.

I know that one of their stated missions for a gathering is to "respect the land" and they state some guidelines, suggestions, etc. in the "mini-manual", ref: http://rainbowguide.info/MiniManual/MMeng.php?id=6 , so I'm surprised if they left the forest trashed (though I've never been to a gathering, so don't know what percentage of misbehavers there are.) They do refer to some as "drainbows", ref: Wikipedia article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_gathering

Difficulties and criticisms
Difficulties include:

The often unacknowledged class and power structures of the Rainbow community and its events.[14]
The phenomenon of "Drainbows"—individuals who are perceived to not give sufficiently of their labor or other resources for the common good, but rather are only consuming the social benefits a Rainbow gathering offers (a classic cooperation problem).[15]
Relationships with both the Forest Service as well as local communities and other stakeholders in National Forest lands (both commercial interests as well as local environmentalists, who are often concerned about Gathering impacts).[16]
Criticism by local communities and news media for the culture of drug use at Gatherings.

It'll be interesting to see how their self-governance process works.