Ignite 001
A CAMPFIRE CONVENTION MAGAZINE
Connecting : Listening : Learning : Exploring : Inspiring
Blogs : Wellbeing : Yoga : Social Change : Politics : Food : Music : Art : Solutions
Ignite 001
Connecting : Listening : Learning : Exploring : Inspiring
SPARKING IN THIS ISSUE Daniel Pinchbeck The Tree Conference A Love Letter to Athens Summer Campout 2019 George Monbiot Frome Beacon Peoples’ Vote March Vegan Recipes Frome v Skyros Paros Campfire Retreat Old Tree Apple Festival
Ry Cooder Yoga with Kimm Yoga and Politics Campout Revelations 2018 Visions of the Future Members photos Campfire info and resources
PETE LAWRENCE
SPARKS
Welcome to the first edition of Ignite and I hope you enjoy its contents and design. We are aiming to reflect the breadth and diversity of the posts that are available on the Campfire social network. Campfire aims to inspire, to bring people together, to build resources and to campaign for social change. You will find a plethora of links embedded in the articles here which take you to the Campfire site. There is a wealth of creative talent sparking in the community - please join in and I hope also to see you at one of our upcoming events - August UK Campout and a Greek island September gathering in Paros which we have just announced. If you fancy hosting your own Campfire Conversation anywhere in the UK or abroad, get in touch.
August 28-September 1
Campfire is a platform that is developing its own editorial voice and multimedia content. If you’d like to publish on Campfire, it’s an open access platform and your voice is very welcome. You can find more info in our About Campfire section, at the footer of every page. Here’s to sparking something… Enjoy autumn and keep it lit! Pete x pete.lawrence@campfireconvention.com
September 21-27
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Campout 2019 A DIY COMMUNITY festival from campfire CONVENTION
FROME
Wednesday August 28th - Sunday September 1st
SUMMER EVENT
Be The Difference
Campout 2019 will celebrate connection, spontaneity and celebration. Join us for this coming-together to round off high summer by seeking positive solutions. Part of our programme utilises the open space format to allow radical participation enabling all members to convene their own sessions. We intend to build a truly democratic festival to explore ways we can imagine a better world, and then empower ourselves to actually make it happen.
A five day gathering in the glorious Somerset countryside celebrating life. Join us for talks, panels, ‘how to’ sessions, games, cookery, alternative therapies, music, performance art, archery, foraging, yoga and more. The vibe is hay bales, campfires, night skies, cinema, hot tubs, street food, picnics, glamping…
Bring what you expect to find!
EARLY FIRESTARTER TICKETS NOW ON SALE Listen to our Firecasts 011 and 012 from the 2018 event
In this age of disconnection, fear, and alienation, how do we set intention? How do we achieve balance, strength and focus on the positive? How do we start building resources to make a difference? How do we gain the inner strength to maximise our potential as human beings and as community? Field 725 is just one mile from the Somerset market town of Frome and is fully equipped with compost loos and showers, food and drink will be available or BYO. Together we can create the change we all know is possible.
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The Frome site for August Campout
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Glamping with an aviator’s twist
SUMMER EVENT
Ignite The Campfire Blogs DANIEL PINCHBECK
Writer, activist, psychedelic visionary,
Daniel’s latest book ‘How Soon Is Now?’ looks at the ecological crisis as a rite of passage or initiation for humanity and proposes a "blueprint for the future" - how we must redesign our technical and social systems to avert the worst consequences of ecological collapse.
According to author John Perkins, "Daniel Pinchbeck’s life is the hero’s journey. Like Homer’s Odyssey, ‘How Soon Is Now’ is a song of redemption for a world torn apart by the monsters of our own creation. We’ve dreamed a world that is consuming itself into extinction. Pinchbeck offers us a new dream and in doing so takes us on a powerful, magical voyage into balance and sanity."
VOICES
I HATE CAPITALISM I hate capitalism. Capitalism makes people incredibly stupid. Karl Marx understood that. He noted we end up confusing “the sense of having” with something real, like our other senses or our authentic relationships. People are now so stupid that they continue to pursue shortterm goals oriented around money-making while the entire planet is burning...
THE WORLD IS A DREAM WE ARE DREAMING AS IT DREAMS US Since reading the IPCC report, I have been unable to shake off a feeling of sorrow and personal responsibility. It is only by remembering what many shamanic journeys unerringly revealed - the world is a dream we are dreaming as it dreams us - that I can come back to the peaceful center to let go of grief and failure. At the same time, I renew my commitment to find the way through the labyrinth. BLACK MIRROR IN CHINA I wonder how this growing capacity for social behavior control orchestrated via surveillance and ratings systems will mesh with the ecological emergency? What is humanity's eventual destiny? To unite as a "harmonised collective," a noosphere or to be subsumed by technocratic totalitarianism?
Ignite Are the Europeans trying to steal all our Smarties? JEREMY PEARCE
A frontline report from the People’s March “England's not well, Europe's not well, the world is not well. Would the vote have been different if the controllers of mass consumption news media and information in this country used their privileged position to supply fact rather than the blanket of hypothetical fantasy cooked up by faceless people in a hidden room in a ministerial building?”
Ignite The vote was very close. It was like watching a very close horse race. Whether one of the runners was fed on something spiked leading to a re-run is another matter and someone somewhere, by loading the odds, will end up quids in no matter whether the outcome turns out to bankrupt and destroy the vast proportion of both the middle and working classes who have aspired to the economic model that is modern day consumer capitalism, where debt creates money.
The vote was very close. It was like watching a very close horse race. Whether one of the runners was fed on something spiked leading to a re-run is another matter and someone somewhere, by loading the odds, will end up quids in no matter whether the outcome turns out to bankrupt and destroy the vast proportion of both the middle and working classes who have aspired to the economic model that is modern day consumer capitalism, where debt creates money.
VOICES
This was a Saturday morning. I had been playing the game of 'guess who's heading to the march', over the hours worth of stops from where I started. There was a young family who were definitely going - the teenage boys scoffing sandwiches out of a clear plastic Tupperware, there were people with branded shopping bags and boxes coming out of Westfield who definitely weren't. There was a grandad with his grand daughter, there were a group of Balkan building workers who weren't. There were tourists who were unaware and there were a couple of people who had fallen victim to the inequality, working the carriages for small change - they were definitely not going.
No, the people who are stealing our Smarties are in office now. The power will remain exactly where it has always been until this government collapses and what do people like Rees-Mogg and Boris really think of us? I would say the same as ever - cannon fodder and fair game for extracting taxes from. Dream on.
Jeremy’s full report
Ignite Tree Conference PETE LAWRENCE
The message was clear now "It is down to us!"
HAPPENING Inspirational, educational and motivating. This year’s Tree Conference in Frome was a timely gathering to celebrate the beauty of this planet, its nature and making those resonant connections. Its aims were to:
• Support global citizen-led reforestation
• Highlight the emerging new sciences around trees and their ecosystems
• Halt deforestation of ancient growth forest
For me, the impact and implications of the conference will be considerably wider than trees and forests - the weekend was also about how a love of and respect for nature in all its myriad forms has to be fundamentally at the centre of the social and political movement that we know is gathering force.
The second Tree Conference, an all-day Sunday session sold out of tickets and delivered a range of speakers, networking time, focused groups and a delicious salad lunch served next to the outdoor ampitheatre and stone circle. There was a sense that something is really happening here…
Here is my Firecast interview with the founder and director Suzi Martineau, recorded the day after the event in Frome and a link to an audio recording of Isabella Tree’s remarkable story about the rewilding of a Sussex estate.
Full report of The Tree Conference
Ignite Old Tree Apple Festival PETE LAWRENCE
I was unprepared for the sub zero temperatures at night - though almost everyone there seemed equipped with Arcticstyle headgear and gloves. In a week where the UK weather seemed to skip a season and go from summer to winter, it was fantastic to be out in nature even though it was so cold at times and enjoying the bright moon, the cloudless starry skies and the glorious panoply of vivid autumn hues in the bright sunshine. Held on Three Pools permaculture farm on the Welsh borders near Abergavenny, this minifestival is a model of what festivals of the future should be - held on the last weekend of October, the gathering was spontaneous, participatory, self-sufficient, eco-friendly, small and compact.
VOICES
Life affirming It was all about great conversations, tasty apple juice and cider, mulled cider, vegan feasts, yoga, tai chi, music, fire and straw bale games in stone barns and meadow land, a Saturday night ceilidh rave and featured showers and compost loos with a view, cider and cider vinegar making demonstrations, carbon neutral teas and coffees all weekend, and celebrating being in glorious nature and countryside. "In the age where climate breakdown is happening, we desperately need more people on the land and more people building soil.” In the film I made, we hear co-founder of the Old Tree Brewery Tom Daniell talking about his vision for establishing a brewery that is leading the way in terms of regenerating the land and healing the earth through encouraging communities to ferment and forage from local resources , Emily Rose talks about her fermentation workshops and we eavesdrop on the architect behind the ceilidh raves, Harry Abel.
Ignite
I've put together a short film after returning from an amazing weekend out in the wild. The Old Tree Apple Festival was staged in glorious, natural farmland in the foothills of Wales, hanging out and working on a cider farm which is gearing up for its vision as a permaculture demonstration farm. It was an inspirational, life-affirming weekend and I hope I have captured some of the magic here..
HAPPENING
The film is, as ever, all done as a very DIY-style Firecast on an iPhone and edited in an evening using iMovie. Some of the interviews had to be cut due to loud wind rustling and we were out in close to sub-zero temperatures but I've pulled together what I reckon is the best footage remaining and I hope you enjoy watching the unravelling events of a wonderful weekend…
A film made by Pete Lawrence
Ignite Monbiot : Housing revolution THE BUGLE
SPOTLIGHT At his talk in Bristol in October, columnist and eco activist George Monbiot served warning of a major new initiative he is involved in which will make housing much more affordable. He said that the report he is currently working on details "how we can make housing much, much cheaper, how we curb the power of the landlords, how we can actually make even buying houses much more affordable, bring it down to 30% of current costs. We have some exciting proposals coming� "Watch this space.. in a couple of months time we will be able to publish .. it has revolutionary potential" Hear what he had to say at the Anson Rooms >>
Ignite Monbiot : Campfire blogs THE BUGLE Campfire is now offering a syndication of the best of George Monbiot’s blogs. Find the first in this Project that we created into which we will add George’s articles as they appear. We are aiming to invite some other writers to host blogs on Campfire too. Watch this space…
SPOTLIGHT
An Electrifying Idea What if we abandoned photosynthesis as the means of producing food, and released most of the world’s surface from agriculture?
GEORGE MONBIOT
It’s not about “them”, it’s about us. The horrific rate of biological annihilation reported this week– 60% of the Earth’s vertebrate wildlife gone since 1970 – is driven primarily by the food industry. Farming and fishing are the major causes of the collapse of both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Meat – consumed in greater quantities by the rich than by the poor – is the strongest cause of all. We might shake our heads in horror at the clearance of forests, the drainage of wetlands, the slaughter of predators and the massacre of sharks and turtles by fishing fleets, but it is done at our behest. Could we go beyond even a plant-based diet? Could we go beyond agriculture itself? What if, instead of producing food from soil, we were to produce it from air? What if, instead of basing our nutrition on photosynthesis, we were to use electricity, to fuel a process whose conversion of sunlight into food is ten times more efficient?
Read the blog here
Ignite Frome v Skyros : common ground CRYSSE MORRISON
Frome is famous for its independent council: visitors arrive literally from across the planet to interrogate the IiF (Independents for Frome) about how the town became engaged with the concept of local autonomy. Founding father Peter Macfadyen wrote a book about it - Flatpack Democracy - and I've realised there's a huge connection between Frome and Skyros Holistic Holidays on the Greek island of Skyros. There too, they do things differently. Crysse’s Blog>>
BEACONS
CAMPFIRE CONVERSATION
FROME
Connecting : Listening : Learning : Exploring : Inspiring
The Frome Beacon will host a People’s Meeting on the last Sunday of every month We will talk about how we can make a difference individually and collectively We propose a guest speaker and open space format on alternate months First meeting 25.11.18
CAMPFIRE FROME
Sparking social change…
Now is our time In this age of disconnection, fear, and alienation, how do we find purpose, togetherness, and belonging? Join us at our monthly people’s meetings, gatherings that aim to offer solutions through the power of community. Let’s use this time for connection celebration and spontaneity and to widen our perspective, to gather ideas and invite proposals, to meet and chat with others who we may not encounter in our day-to-day lives.
Examples of open space sessions from previous Campfire events have included:
In the quest to learn how to live a better life and to create a better world, how do we find balance, strength, and drive?
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Campfire Conversations can strike up our own civic group which has potential to work alongside the Council and feed into it as a think-tank.
• • • • •
Knowing we are not alone is half the battle. It’s together that we can create the change we all know is possible as we move towards a post-capitalist world. Simple in its setup to allow for spontaneous cocreation, our event is likely to feature guest speakers and discussions around the important issues that affect us all. Every other month, we are utilising the Open Space format which offers the opportunity to convene our own sessions to bring into being whatever you feel will benefit the community of Frome.
• • • • •
Co-counselling. Listening skills and a tool for social activism How can we live differently? Free your inner performance artist Self Esteem - real or pseudo? What do people want from Campfire? What can they give? Building a bow top caravan The Value of Silence - write down and jettison(into the fire) any unwanted stuff Circle Singing The power of purpose Starting an Air BnB Yin Yoga Head and shoulder massage
CAMPFIRE FROME
Sparking social change…
2018 Campfire Conversations : Last Sunday of the month at 3pm starting November 2018. We would like to thank Peter and Annabelle Macfadyen for offering to host our November gathering at their house in Nunney Road on Sunday 25th November 3pm-6.30pm.
We start with an introduction and general discussion about gathering ideas and inviting proposals for how we go forward and then split into Open Space format across 3 spaces where anyone who is attending can propose a theme, topic or idea and we will all vote with our feet.
Tea and cake will be provided and we will operate the event on a voluntary pay-what-youfeel basis - contributions welcome on the day.
More details and a downloadable PDF which outlines our vision for Campfire’s Frome Beacon
Tickets are very limited (30) so please book your space as soon as possible via Eventbrite, using this link.
Sunday November 25th We are gathering ideas and inviting proposals. Initial meeting to include Open Space thinkshops
Sunday December 30th In With The New - End of year clear out!
2019 Projected plan January 27th Will Gethin speaker
February 24th Open Space meeting - theme TBC
March 31st Guest speaker Mary Valiakas on comparisons Greece and Frome, civic roles and self organising
April 28th Open Space meeting - theme TBC
May 26th Guest speaker TBC
June 30th Open Space meeting - theme TBC
July 28th Guest speaker TBC
Frome Campout Retreat : August 28th - September 1st TBC October 27th Guest speaker TBC
November 24th Open Space meeting - theme TBC
December 29th TBC
Check out the Campfire Frome Beacon
FROME
Ignite Athens : A Love Letter MARY VALIAKAS
How goddess Athena returned to her city in its time of need. A frank exploration of the urban environment and its emotive relationship with social innovation.
FEATURES “RUIN” A people. A civilisation. In total ruin. Euphemisms don’t work here. There is no romance in the despair. It takes strength to love the rubble. How much easier to cling to the romance and glory of our past. Or the broken heartedness of the present mire. How much harder to sift through the ruins and love the glimmers of hope. To dig your hands into the soil, and turn it over until you feel the possibilities forming.
“People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of change in a world without end.” Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark
Ignite And yet, I find hope in the strength of his perseverance to win a rigged game. I think to myself, if he were Sisyphus he’d build a pulley system. And from this resilience I learn to see this time in our history as the sorrow of the deepest happiness. The lowest octave of hope. You see, the flipside of being nothing, is the space to create everything. In this place, to imagine that things could change for the better is pure audacity. It is to rebel with dignity and empowerment, and to seek freedom from a toxic present. We don’t need permission to change the game. To journey through Athens today and to find love for her, is to journey through the underworld of all the things modern Western culture has swept under the carpet. It is to have your heart shattered, and discover love in the nooks of possibility as you put it back together.
FEATURES What follows next? • A crowdfunder for a virtual reality temple that serves as a beacon of hope, and kicks off Oi Polloi’s innovation Olympics. • An impact investment fund to fuel community innovation, called, you guessed it, the Walnut Fund. • And the building of a property portfolio of community innovation hubs to bring about urban and rural regeneration.
Resilient creativity And so this love letter ends somewhat unpoetically. But if you love Athens like I love her, you’ll learn that the wound truly is where the light enters. And that what it illuminates might take you by surprise. Mary’s Athens article
Ignite Vegan recipes : Beetroot hummus KIMM FEARNLEY
Roast two med beetroots in a little olive oil, add chickpeas (I cook mine from dried so either half a cup of dried beans cooked or a tin of cooked). Lime juice from three limes, fresh parsley about a tablespoon, three heaped tablespoons tahini, a little water from the chickpea can or cooking fluids, three tablespoons of good olive oil and fresh parsley. Whizz in a good processor and loosen with water and olive oil to desired consistency and add salt to taste.
HOW TO
Roast veg patties You can use more or less any combination of your favourite root veg. From my veg basket I have roasted a few beetroots, carrots, smoked garlic and onion tossed in a little olive oil and salt. Blitzed some day-old bread into breadcrumbs and mixed the whole lot with some pulses, lemon juice and a scoop of tahini then shaped into patties, browned on each side and finished in the oven. I also popped a batch in the freezer separated by sheets of parchment.
Ingredients
Method
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Toss the veg in oil and salt and roast for about 40 mins at 200C. When cool put in food processor with all other ingredients and blitz for a few seconds - leave quite textured. Shape into patties, chill and then flash fry on each side in a little oil oil to brown. Either store in the fridge for up to two days until ready to use, freeze in batches or cook for about 12-15mins in 200C oven. Serve with salad or on top of a bread bun. Once cooked, they can also be eaten cold.
• • • • • • • •
Five small or three large beetroot washed and cut into chunks 2 small, or one large, onion cut into chunks Four cloves smoked/or ordinary garlic A little olive oil Salt Half a tin of pulses - I used pinto beans A large handful of fresh breadcrumbs. Heaped tablespoon of tahini or you could use horseradish for a change Juice of half a lemon
Ignite Visions of the Future BILL PALMER
Bill’s blog
Because of our greed and lack of awareness, vast areas of the planet are being made uninhabitable. Drinking water is running out, droughts will be commonplace and the aquifers are emptying. Basically there are far too many of us. The fragile 'civilisation' we live in is not sustainable. This article describes how the future might go after the collapse that seems inevitable.
HOW TO
Maybe the politicians in power also see this vision and are preparing for it by closing down borders and creating regulation systems to tightly control their populations. I see three ways this can turn out: Digital Dictatorship: This is already happening in China where powerful Artificial Intelligences with face recognition technology and 200,000,000 CCTV cameras will, by 2025, be keeping watch on everyone and "keeping everyone safe". However, this also means that people with creative ideas, those who disagree with the government and those who are unusual in any way will be locked out of the system and effectively silenced. Click here to see how this is actually happening. The UK is close behind. The only countries that have more surveillance of their populations than us are North Korea and China.
Mad Max: The formation of protective strongholds by the rich, the powerful and the strong. Everyone else is a threat and will probably be killed if they try to break in. This would be the worst side of ancient tribalism but with powerful weapons that can defend against hordes of desperate people. In a way, Trump is modelling the Mad Max model, trying to turn the USA into a huge stronghold. Cooperative localism: Local communities learning the difficult task of being truly collaborative. This means being really generous, unattached to possessions, valuing others and caring for consequences. If incoming refugees are welcomed and valued then there is a chance that local communities could be sustainable without having to defend their borders. But this requires real spiritual development. It's hard work to let go of fear, of protection and of one's personal property. There are a few communities around the world who are experimenting with ways of living together that are not based on hierarchy, status and wealth and there are several visionary models that show how collaboration and community could work. But they require us to work on ourselves and to practice collaboration in our daily lives now
Read Bill Palmer’s Blog >>
Ignite Revelations from The Campout EUGENIE ARROWSMITH-PEPPER
“What I came away with is a sense that we can all lead, given the opportunity and the willingness to take some responsibility for the outcome. Campfire Campout 2018 was brilliant because we all had the opportunity to offer something, what ever it was.”
CAMPFIRE
Well I have had so many thoughts about Campfire Campout 2018, that it was almost impossible to know where to start or to even begin writing about them. There was so much to consider following a very genuine meeting of hearts and minds. The weekend was a very unexpected turning point for me.
I mentioned at one of the first fireside debates on the Friday evening that advertising innovator and self styled 'master communicator' George Lois stated that 'advertising is poison gas'. I don't think he meant it the way I read it (which is that the gross result of consumerism is literally tangible poison gas). Lois was stating it in a more romantic towards advertising at the level of innovation and the 'shock of the new', which is so
For me the idea of a self made festival was 1. akin to Chinese water torture (particularly if hand clapping, friendliness and hugging was involved). 2. bound up in the memories of a childhood of free festivals and some resultant trauma at the hands of 'out of it' adults. I guess I reclaimed some land from the sea over the weekend. I reclaimed festival culture as something I could shape. I separated my long held, puffed up self importance with the joy of a the genuinely shared spontaneous experience. I got over me and got into WE and was happy as a pig rolling around in blood temperature excrement after a Summer downpour.
What I came away with is a sense that we can all lead, given the opportunity and the willingness to take some responsibility for the outcome. Campfire Campout 2018 was brilliant because we all had the opportunity to offer something, what ever it was. I contributed a performance workshop with some chairs, singing and owning that actually following two battles with breast cancer I am currently in a significant amount of emotional pain (delayed reaction if you will) and I'm really very confused by that pain. It was powerful to stand outside the idea of myself as some kind of teflon plated heroine, because that I am not. I felt safe enough to be vulnerable.
Ignite What the weekend illustrated was that everyone had some amazing skills to offer. We did not have to stand in front of a stage looking to a 'name' act charged with carrying our collective creativity for us. Or even look to a festival director for reassurance, even though there was a very experienced one in our midst. We could sing, dance and plan for ourselves. So just as crisp manufacturers are codependent, we stopped being co-dependent on the idea of a headliner and a 'festival programme'. It's as if we all jointly decided to cut out the idea of a 'cultural dominant' and take ownership of the space and each other. This was a wow moment for me and gave rise to a very genuine feeling of warmth between people.
From that I have understood how human culture is creating these caricature leaders who border on the comical, because as long as someone is in charge that isn't us, it is easier than getting involved. Were it not for the fact that real damage is being done by these power crazy, emotionally inept chancers. As communities we need to take our part as leaders instead of passively handing the world over to people whose motives are not for the greater good - those who are motivated solely by personal profit or just desperate for the top job to say that they did it and won the prize. Campout 2018 acted as a template for a different approach to life, leadership and engagement in which we all hold our power and value and let go of the idea that someone, somewhere else is bigger and better and their contribution is much more important and relevant.
That was a lot of growth for one weekend. DIY festivals, where the community are the entertainment are going to become a 'thing' I believe. Festivals will start programming participation spaces. Sometimes it’s not enough just to watch, to be a passive spectator consumer, sometimes you want to contribute. Here’s to more DIY spontaneous festival weekends. Campfire Campout 2018 you were a total blast.
Eugenie’s Blog
CAMPFIRE
Campout Firecasts
Campout 2018 was an extraordinary gathering, held at The Bridge Inn in the Black Mountains and curated by its own members. Here we hear from Campfirers who came and made it what it was - "playful, freeing, inspiring, challenging, intense, healing, magic and fun" were some of the descriptions used. Featured : Rebecca Denniff, David Owen, Belinda Scadding, Rose Lennard, David Abell, Annie Corbett, Mark Robbins, Andie Brazewell, Dominique 'Pascal' Barrett, David Pinto and Ralph Pettingill. Music facilitation : Rebecca Denniff and Julia Palmer-Price. Produced and introduced by Pete Lawrence
On the second Firecast from the event (a sequel to Firecast 011) we hear from Campfirers who came and made it what it was - "playful, freeing, inspiring, challenging, intense, healing, magic and fun" were some of the descriptions used. Featured : Louise Wallis, Jeremy Pearce, Michelle Walters, Mandi Kimberley, Caroline Holt, Kate Edgley, Eugenie Arrowsmith-Pepper, Julia Palmer-Price. Music facilitation : Rebecca Denniff and Julia Palmer-Price. Also features the communitycomposed song 'Love Is Everywhere'
Ignite PETE LAWRENCE
Ry Cooder
US musician, producer and ethnomusicologist Ry Cooder is one of the most important musical influences in my lifetime.
Cooder's music has, for me, been the perfect entry point for many genres and styles, from an introduction to the early (often blind!) blues masters such as Blind Willie McTell, Sleepy John Estes and Blind Willie Johnson, via a treasure trove of US folk lineage (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger) as well as gospel, Tex-Mex, Hawaiian and Bahamian styles. He then collaborated with African musicians including Malian guitar maestro Ali Farka Touré teamed with Hindustani classical musician V.M Bhatt, and perhaps most celebrated of all, Cuba's 'Buena Vista Social Club', an enterprise which also cost him a $25,000 dollar fine for violating the US embargo against Cuba.
His film scores are legendary, not least 'Paris Texas' and 'Southern Comfort' and his recent solo albums have offered more of an allegorical, sociopolitical bent, with tracks such as 'No Banker Left Behind' positioning his political beliefs firmly centre stage.
Here are 10 of his greatest albums. It's a random and esoteric choice. There is much more where this came from...
FEATURES
Ry Cooder has made many great albums since his 1970 debut. Here’s our suggested starter pack >>
Ignite
PAROS 001 Six days on a Greek island
HAPPENING Paros in the Cyclades is a magical setting for escape and for retreat. This video was mainly set on the terrace at Milos House, marvelling at one of the many spectacular sunsets. On a clear day you can see over a dozen other islands from the house and its gardens. Check out our PAROS 001 event ‌.
Ignite The Path to Yoga KIMM FEARNLEY
The true purpose of yoga is not to do the perfect headstand but to train the body to be still so it can meditate for long periods of time. To sit still. It is in stillness that we will find strength. It is in that silence we will find clarity and wisdom.
HOW TO
I hope you enjoy joining me on my yoga journey and I would love to hear about yours whether you have just started or have been practicing for years. Namaste.
Watch Kimm’s yoga videos
Ignite Connecting Yoga and Politics DEVEN SISLER The last election was a wake-up call to many American citizens, breaking the glass walls of the echo chambers we didn’t know we were living in. It has also become a polarising and aggressively divisive time. Social media wars are rampant, we no longer know where fake news begins and ends, and public outcry is pervading seemingly every event, from the Oscars to the Super Bowl.
What does yoga have to do with politics, and why should we care? Kerri Kelly, founder of CTZNWELL, an organisation that advocates for the universal need for wellness, finds her yoga practice at the core of her political activism. “Yoga means ‘to yoke, or come together.’ It affirms our interconnection and interdependence with each other,” she says. “Many of us come to yoga seeking self-sufficiency and freedom. We quickly realise that our liberation is bound with the world around us. This liberation is and must be all-inclusive: joy and pain, shadow and light, individual and collective. When we can hold space for our fear and brokenness and wholeness, then we can hold space for the complex and intersectional reality that we exist in. We are not separate from the suffering of our parents, families, neighbours, in the same way that we are not separate from our planet that we live upon. When we choose to ‘live’ interdependence, we see that the personal is political.” Our personal liberation is yoked to the incarcerated black man, the alt-right conservative, the single mom, the CEO, the immigrants, the children.
The first tenet of The Yoga Sutras explores ahimsa, or non-harming. Ahimsa is also at the heart of Gandhi’s nonviolent civil disobedience that ended the British occupation in India For the survival of a democratic republic, we must become engaged—it is not only a civic, but also an ethical duty intimately connected with a yoga practice rooted in philosophy. Our Founding Fathers set out to create a government separate from and different than the British establishment they were leaving. This experiment, the United States of America, has endured many obstacles, trials, and tribulations in these 241 years. Its foundation is rooted in active civic participation, and current technology makes this both easier and more obtuse than ever before.
Amanda Stuermer, certified yoga teacher and founder of Muse, a Women’s Conference, says, “The world feels so divisive right now, so how can we start having conversations around value? Homes are political because of health care. Schools are becoming a political issue. We have tried to keep politics separate, but we have to say they are integrated. So how can we become more political in a way that is less divided, more conscious and mindful, and integrates the learning that we are given through the yoga practices?”
HOW TO
Pam Hardy, yoga philosopher and environmental lawyer, says, “For me, yoga and politics are intimately connected. When I’m not teaching yoga, my job is to be an environmental advocate; it’s very political. I literally negotiate face-to-face with elected officials, the timber industry, and the Forest Service to make sure we get the most sustainable logging projects possible. I credit a lot of my success to my yoga practice. Yoga keeps me clear, centred, and balanced, even when I’m in a difficult or sometimes hostile situation. It also allows me to have a deeper understanding of other people that I’m negotiating with. Instead of seeing them as caricatures or stereotypes, I am able to be real with them. That allows us to explore solutions that are way more creative that the normal positioning.”
The first tenet of The Yoga Sutras explores ahimsa, or non-harming. Ahimsa is also at the heart of Gandhi’s nonviolent civil disobedience that ended the British occupation in India. His commitment helped end a form of suffering of an entire nation. The United States is only one country in the world, and still a leader in culture, economics, and power. But even so, we struggle to keep many of our most vulnerable from harm. For example, we continue to climb higher and higher in rates of maternal death, diabetes, and obesity. We can choose to see, affirm, and honour our intrinsic power and influence to help each other, or not.
Stuermer offers, “The purpose of practicing on the mat is to be able to be more conscious in the real world, and what we practice on our mat is what we practice in the real world. We have the responsibility to be out in the world in a more engaged, conscious way. The future is in conscious activism versus reactivism, being aware of personal privilege and bias, then trying to see the world through others. Reactivism is a natural tendency, but to be able to be self-reflective and practice non-reaction, rather than pushing against the problem, and instead standing for something. Then you are standing for what you want to see in the world.”
As many a yogi will rock out to MC Yogi’s “Be The Change You Want to See,” it is essential to let these words seep in and inspire each one of us to see our intrinsic privilege and our own potential empowerment. If you read for leisure, are able to take a group yoga class at a studio, or have attended a yoga and music festival, you are among the privileged. Recognize this first and foremost. Now, choose what you will do with the power of your privilege. Hardy recommends practicing daily and listening closely. “Watch out for fear that will try to blind you to yourself,” she says. “Listen for what makes your heart come alive, and gives you the sense that you’ve done the right thing—even if it’s scary.”
Deven Sisler is a Wanderlust Presenter. For more wisdom from Wanderlust luminaries, check out the Wanderlust Speakeasy Podcast A senior certified AcroYoga teacher Deven is known for her joyful, playful approach to partnership and collaboration, and her articulate teaching. An ERYT 200 and CRYT yoga teacher, she has trained with international master teachers for the past 12 years in yoga, Thai massage, and acrobatics.
Ignite How to Take Your Yoga Off Your Mat DEVEN SISLER
• Take care of yourself first and foremost.
• Eat good whole foods, drink plenty of water, do yoga, meditate, and get fresh air.
• What self-care rituals can you commit to that feed your strong sense of centre?
• Commit and contemplate Warrior 1, 2, and 3: During these poses ask yourself who and what do you fight for?
• What inspires your ferocious loving-kindness? How can you stand up for what you believe in with compassion?
• Find a teacher to practice Tonglin, the Buddhist contemplation of loving-kindness.
• Join or start a Mindful Book Club. Find a supportive community to read these books in community. We need each other now more than ever. • • • •
Kerri Kelly recommends these titles:
Healing the Soul of America by Marianne Williamson
The Emperor Has No Clothes by Tema Okun
Radical Dharma by Angel Kyodo Williams
Yoga Ph.D. by Carol Horton
1.Initiate talking circles and active listening. Take the practice of nonviolent communication from interpersonal to group situations with those who may disagree with you or your point of view.
◦When watching or reading the news, ascertain where your source is getting their facts and check those sources for accuracy and authenticity.
Get to know your politicians
• Monthly: Go to a local town hall meeting. Listen to the issues and contribute your voice.
• Weekly: Write letters.
• Daily: Call your representatives. It really works!
Together, we can be the change we seek in the world.
Ignite
GUILDS
Check out Campfire’s Guilds and their corresponding key interests. We’re looking for editors to add to the newsfeeds
Ignite What is Campfire Convention? The promise of the internet was to bring the world closer together. Not divide into echo chambers, nor exploit for data. Enter Campfire Convention, an ad-free, member-led social network that puts people back at its heart, with a vision to create ecosystems of special interest communities, with a view to changing the world for the better – starting at the local level. We’re online and we’re also inviting you to organise or attend peoples’ meetings.
Our origins Campfire Convention was founded and is led by social entrepreneur Pete Lawrence, - the man also behind renowned Cooking Vinyl record label in the 80s, and Big Chill festivals in the 90s. The rise of the Big Chill, which grew from humble beginnings into a 40, 000 capacity annual event, also tracked the rise of the internet. And so, one of the greatest unexpected ‘side effects’ of the festival was the vibrant and thriving online community that formed off the back of the strong bonds developed at the physical event. Remember, this was back when the internet was in its infancy, before mainstream social networks were even established.
As Pete says, "Our vision connects thriving community, a vibrant website and exciting events, with enabling social change, creating a fairer society, and empowering ourselves, each other, and the collective. Think of Campfire as a garden for ideas which grow into inspiration, blossom into debate – and lead to the determination, co-creativity and collaboration which brings recognition, confidence and financial rewards too."
Campfire’s trailblazing, new philosophy for social networking looks beyond the advertising-based, surveillance capitalism model employed by Facebook, towards a radical, community-based, co-operative model where all members can benefit.
Campfire Beacons are regional hubs of the Campfire Convention community, where local initiatives feed into a growing international network working to change the world for the good of all. Each Beacon will be aiming to make at least one ‘call to action’ for social change at each meeting.
Background information Towards a truly democratic DIY festival
CAMPFIRE PROFILE
Your newsfeed, make friends and portfolio your activities.
BUGLE
Read and contribute to our magazine, pioneering a new journalistic voice.
PROJECTS
Develop and showcase ideas and invite collaboration.
BEACONS
Organise or join a local group, connecting members via face-to-face events.
GUILDS
Join like-minded groups, from the arts to leisure to tools fo life.
Towards a Big Picture Vision
• • • • • • • • • •
Building a movement around our values – see Values and Principles and our membership model - a global shift from extrinsic to intrinsic values, by helping each other we also help ourselves. Bringing people together to find common ground, keep the conversation going Real life meet ups, connections and conversations : campaigning, initiatives and engagement at local level and tapping into a wider Campfire network - defining our purposes, guidelines and ways of working. Building resources and templates of experience for reference and activism . Pioneering a new journalistic media voice - The Bugle and Guilds. Empowering our members through collaboration and encouraging them to step up and be active. Cultural exchange globally. Creating new models for a post-capitalist world which reward engagement - eg. Kudos and Campfire Foundation. Enabling new social innovation (Eno ‘Pioneers’ initiative). Creating a new story, new language and a fresh narrative for change.
Ignite
“I come to Campfire because I’m interested in new social ideas, how we can run the world, how we can think differently about things. I’ve met a lot people at Campfire who have specific and very exciting projects that really are to do with re-thinking democracy and understanding that democracy means ruled by the community, it doesn’t mean what we have now.”
Brian Eno, Campfire patron
CAMPFIRE
“No longer is the primary objective ‘what can I get from this?’ A move from ‘extrinsic’ values – those based around fame, power, wealth and competition, is being superseded by a realisation that ‘intrinsic’ values - universal rights and equality, the natural world and independent thinking – are more important in many ways. The fundamental shift that still needs to happen is not putting ourselves first. A move from ‘I’m alright Jack, what can I get out of this?’ to ‘How does this affect those around me and the wellbeing of the planet? Can I play a part in this?’"
Pete Lawrence, Campfire firestarter
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PETE LAWRENCE
Circle Singers
Vision
JEREMY GILPIN
Autumn Leaves
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KATHERINE SANG
La Rosa
Vision
IAN CUTHBERT
Treen Farm
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EMMA CROMAN
Snowday
Vision
THOMAS DANIELL
Apple Land takes off
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KIMM FEARNLEY
Jump!
Vision
PETE LAWRENCE
Free as the wind
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A CAMPFIRE CONVENTION MAGAZINE
Connecting : Listening : Learning : Exploring : Inspiring
The Campfire community would love you to be active. We need your spark. Please join us. Write a blog. Create a gallery. Join a Beacon. Review a place, a film, a recipe. Share a passion, an idea, a dream‌
Together we have the potential to build something amazing contact@campfireconvention.com
www.campfireconvention.uk
