Page 2 - eurotopia - Communities and the pandemia

In fact, we only embrace each other within the groups in which we live closely together
anyway. The 1.5 m distance has already become a habit for me when I walk through the
village (which I have to sometimes, because we share pantry, washing machine, mail corner
and much more). At the moment I’m pondering back and forth whether I may meet a
girlfriend who is not part of my “reference group” – so you could say: We take the whole
thing quite seriously at Sieben Linden. We are also affected economically. Like many
communities, we offer a wide range of opportunities to get to know our community as well
as seminars, which usually keeps many people in paid employment; in addition, volunteers
are employed in the educational sector (Voluntary Ecological Year, Federal Voluntary
Service, European Voluntary Service). We hope that we will be able to make ends meet with
financial aid for which we are eligible (thank you, government!) – and the volunteers may
help on the construction site of our guesthouse instead of setting up breakfast for guests. In
any case, there will be enough to do for many more weeks.

Some reports from the communities are frustrated. Anton Marks from Kibbutz Mishol
writes:

I’ve spent half my life removing my front door, intentionally, hinge by hinge. Now I need to
put it back on, I haven’t got a clue where to find it, and even when I do, I don’t even know
which way up it goes.

Frits from Amsterdam Catholic Worker, where anyone with symptoms is immediately
isolated, feels trapped in his own community, worse than in prison. He bows to the
decisions of his community and misses the freedom to deal with a possible infection as he
sees fit. He feels that the ownership of a car or mobile phone ultimately kills people as well
(presumably due to the consequences of the production and mining of raw materials for
the mobile phone and the consequences of the operation of the car, MW), but that this