Peer2Politics

We think that the Enspiral Network is pretty great, and that we can learn a whole lot from their P2P governance and property protocols. The following story -penned by Alanna Krause and originally published in managementexchange,com, will give you a good idea of how they keep things fresh and vibrant in the face of change.

The Burning Man festival held every year on the desolate salt flats of Nevada is usually associated with the culturally avant tech crowd of the Bay Area – an image that is accurate as far as it goes. But the event is really much richer in implication than that. Burning Man is a rare space in modern industrial culture that actually invites people to give expression to some of their deepest artistic impulses and cultural fantasies while requiring them to show significant self-responsibility, cooperation and social concern. It is an immersive enactment of a different spirit of living that actually carries over into “real life” after the event itself.

Extraordinary vitality, clarity of vision, efficiency and determination have been distinct characteristics of the Elpidohori experiment which was formed in 2009. The initiative begun as a relatively simple idea to provide alternative education and holidays for children and has gradually developed into a full-fledged center of experimental and alternative practices and approaches to communal living aiming to become an eco-community for interested individuals,with a small footprint in mind, being implemented with integrity and consistency. Providing education and opportunity for a retreat remains the fundamental intention. Despite its statedgoals and record having been identified by a communal ethos and lifestyle, the current form of governance and management at Elpidohori remains attached to one person’s will, the power and vision of its founder, a woman of extraordinary capabilities, intentions and intuition. Ithasn’t become a full-time residence for any number of people, but rather, functions as a gradual build up of momentum, dependent on open calls for a variety of educational events.