Page 11 - C.A.L.L. #31 - Spring 2009

European Communities Tour

In the Fall of 2008, my partner Sky and I spent over two months visiting communities in
western Europe. We had both lived at Twin Oaks Community in Virginia for many years (4 for
me, 8 for him). We were ready to transpose Twin Oaks' radical level of sharing to an urban
context in nearby Charlottesville; but before tackling the daunting project of starting a new
urban commune, we wanted to learn from other communities. After a mini-west coast
communities tour in the spring and summer, we flew to Europe and spent time at 6
communities; Casa Robino in Amsterdam, Christiania and Svanholm in Copenhagen, Torri
Superiori in Northern Italy, K77 in Berlin and Can Mas Deu in Barcelona.

Now that we are back, we have been sharing the stories of our journey with slide-show'n
tells and a website of our journey. Our goal is to show that the world is both larger and
smaller than we normally think. There are so many amazing projects happening all over the
world! And, there are lots of people just like us, struggling with the same challenge and
finding similar joys as we try to bring a little more beauty and a little more sanity into this
world.

So what did we learn in our journeys? The communities movement in Europe is strong and
enjoys a much more respected and prominent role in European society than in the US.
Squatting is an integral part of European culture, and under some circumstances is legal and
protected. It is also much more common to find old warehouses or industrial buildings that
have been abandoned. These can often be squatted or purchased for cheap, and tend to be
ideal for shared living with minor remodeling. The culture gap between communities and the
mainstream tends to be far smaller than in the US. Additionally, people across the political
and social spectrum still share a much stronger sense of cultural and national pride than in
the US (especially during international soccer tournaments).

We've learned a lot over this last year of travel, but one thing has become especially clear.
Namely that Communities, including social networks that incorporate some kind of economic
support system, are in a unique position to support a more comfortable and peaceful
transition to a post-carbon, environmentally-destabilized world. They are developing needed
skills, both technical and social: like how to grow a garden and how to work out conflict non-
violently. What these European communities have taught us is that we need stop doubting
ourselves, marginalizing ourselves, and isolating ourselves.

As we continue to settle into our new lives in Charlottesville, VA, the stories and images of
all these amazing places and people reverberate through us. We set out to help build
community in this area with an incredible source of inspiration from which to draw.

Kassia Arbabi, Virginia, USA
karmakas@gmail.com

To see the full story of our euro-commune adventures, go to www.sites.google.com/site/eurocommune/
Read about our evolving journey at www.urbanevolution.wordpress.com.

Sky and Kassia have been doing a series of slide shows of their European Communities Tour; 7 so far,
including one each at Shannon Farm, Twin Oaks, Acorn, CHUVA, and Chrysalis community near DC.
They've had additional requests and might do more if someone wants to host one.

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