What Happens after the Anarchy?
Here is the anarchistic art society called Burning Man. Every year they set up a clothing-optional city for a week, no comerce is allowed, trade is done with gifts that are brought in. But since the numbers have grown from 9000 at inception to 40,000, all kinds of planning has to be put into place now. Even light zoning and policing have been established. So now there are a few people with control over these things and so we are seeing an example of how anarchy leads back to government. It seems to be a natural outflow when people try to live together. Of course that’s getting off track from the event that is Burning Man. It is an art exhibit, a giant one - and as they continue their freedom-loving expression we will likely see more problems which will have to be resolved. It’s like they say in the article, they have finished their adolescence and now must become adults. That doesn’t sound fun at all. The only true freedom is that which is gained by the individual - freeing oneself from the ignorance that leads us to demand satisfaction from society, indeed to demand satisfaction from things outside of our control. True Freedom is not dependent on our situation. It is born of our basic sanity.
Harley Dubois, a member of the Burning Man organization’s board who runs many of the departments related to the cultural creation of the temporary society (the gate, the greeters, the information services and the camp-placement agency), said that now she sometimes encourages certain groups to camp near one another. She informs families about an area known as Kidsville and situates all camps that look as if they might have sexually explicit themes together and away from the family-friendly zone. In addition, one village known as Hushville, which has determined not to use generators or loud music, has gradually grown into a larger sector of the city, as Dubois has had attempted to find like-minded groups to situate near the Hushvillites.
Thanks, snackrabbit, for the Link to Article [sfgate]
snackrabbit said,
04.05.06 at 3:21 pm
It is not an anarchist art society and the changes strike me as more organic than the sortof before/after picture you’ve painted. There is a subtext about the philosophy of cities, of politics and civilization, but I’m afraid the article is pretty lightweight on delivery and intent, so I’ll ignore that kick for now.
There is much more to it all than art bikes and naked people. .
That entails thinking about your environment and your relationship to it in far greater ways than is common.
And why doesn’t growth sound fun at all? Clinging to perpetual adolescence in the face of actualities seems foolish and contrary to a spirit of discovery,
http://www.burningman.com/.
beesucker said,
04.05.06 at 3:49 pm
Sorry, I was going from the article which stated several times that the group is anarchist - so that’s where I was coming from. It isn’t growing that doesn’t sound fun, it is this idea of ‘adulthood’ that doesn’t sound fun. I am not a utopianist - i see the further organization of an open and free community not as maturation, but as a step towards their eventual unravel. Of course, burning man is not an attempt to form a true socitey, it is truely art. Like they say that they have proved that a society doesn’t necessarily need money - a gift society - but that was all brought in from outside. This society is totally dependent on an outside one to support it. As it grows more and more, responsibility, rules, and power will be established and because of that there will be problems. So I am pointing out that these things come up naturally and that if one looks to society for peace and freedom at some point it becomes beurocaratic at the best.
And this all sounds negative like I’m crapping on the whole concept. I’m not. Burning man sounds like an wonderful experience. I just find it interesting that these realities seep in. If someone dies because of a traffic accident, you must build roads. In order to have roads with so many people you might need traffic control, in order to have traffic control you need to stop those who break the rules. In order to keep ‘outsiders’ out, you must build a fence. People argue over inches close to the center of the town, etc. These are the realities that build up anytime we try to get together. That’s interesting.