Page 31 - C.A.L.L. #46 - Summer 2020
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Ideological Purposes, Practical Implications
Clearly, when dealing with an epidemic/pandemic situation, a veteran, cooperative
community with an ethos of mutual responsibility and which has experience and an
organizational infrastructure in place, has an advantage over a non-organized public, an
aggregate of individuals in a crowded urban setting.
Clearly, professional medical-epidemiological advice at a national level (if forthcoming in real
time) will have more immediate impact if mediated through an organized community than if it
depends on individuals for implementation.
The eurotopia document, “Communities and the Pandemic” has been particularly helpful in
detailing initial reactions to the pandemic. Many thanks to the editor, Michael Wuerfel, a
member of the Sieben Linden eco-village in Germany:
See https://eurotopia.directory/communities-and-the-pandemia/
There is a link of
further interest
within the
eurotopia
document
inserted by the
Darvell
Bruderhof in the
UK. The
Bruderhof is an
example of how a
religious-
ideological
federation can
react to the crisis.
“It is worth reading how the Bruderhof communities, which are spread all over the world, are
reacting to the pandemic – very calmly and cooperatively”:
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/life/editors-postscript-notes-from-the-lockdown
Finally, I would like to share my admiration for a particular intentional community in a unique
situation – Ganas. Ganas is not an intentional community in an isolated rural setting. Ganas
is located within one of the boroughs of Greater New York – the hard-hit epicentre of the
Coronavirus in the United States – a country where the macro environment lost control.
In an increasingly urbanized world, can Ganas serve as an example of a new frontier for
intentional community?
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