International Oikonomia - TIDBIT – HOW TO LOCKDOWN in A BURNING HOUSE, AND SAVE IT ALL!– CLIMATE, HEALTH CRISIS AND ECONOMY

International Oikonomia / Workcamp Camp

Dates
When: 2020-08-01 - 2021-02-20
Arrivals from 00:00 of the 01 August
Ends at 23:59 of the 20 February

This year the tidbits of the adult camps are also for children that turned already 16.

DEAR ALL

The current situation, as we know, does not allow us to do the camps in Agape. For that to imagine alternatives is a challenge that we are all facing with commitment but which also presents many difficulties. Despite this year’s obstacles, we want to bring Agape out of Agape, proposing not only activities but trying to recreate a sense of community and continuity for all the people who would have been part of the Agapina summer and who unfortunately will not be able to meet in person, smile, talk and blend together. We therefore decided to elaborate tidbits of what the camps would have been: different and various activities, some in front of the screen, others organized independently and shared after in dedicated moments. For participation, we ask you for a symbolic donation, around € 30 or what you can afford and which you would like Agape to have! Here is our IBAN: IT85T 07601 01000 0000 2037 8105.

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“[…] a view of land is, of course, subject to the blurs and distortions of personal experience and personal bias. But wherever the truth may lie, this much is crystal clear: our bigger-and-better society is now like a hypochondriac, so obsessed with its own economic health as to have lost the capacity to remain healthy. The whole world is so greedy for more bathtubs that it has lost the stabiliy necessary to build them, or even to turn off the tap. […] a shift of value can be achieved by reappraising things unnatural, tame, and confined in terms of things natural, wild, and free”. Aldo Leopold – 1948

The Greek term Oikonomia originally refers to the „rules of the house, yet Economy has become something else in postindustrial times. What if, once more, we were to see the economy as a way of looking after the house we are all living in, our world, our planet?

During this current pandemic apparently strong and functioning economies exposed contradictions and faults in money flows, social injustice, poverty, wealth, health care systems and education. Is this an evidence of what “Club of Rome“ already reported in 1972, there can not be endless growth on a finite planet?

The aims of the camp are therefore to:

– talk about how we can intervene and change the current system, perhaps discovering a wild essence within ourselves, a natural connection that is there to help us despite all.

– create a path of observation and sharing of information, practices, research of the transformations of ecosystems and economic systems during a year of pandemic.

– understand the relationship between economic behavior and environmental suffering (human’s included), through debates and non-formal learning activities.

– organize ourselves, share our knowledge and get into action, as a group, as a community despite physical distancing and borders.

MANIFESTO “the full circle bicycle”

At first sight, climate change and economic systems do not seem to have very much in common. The former is about changes in climate: some places on the planet will become uninhabitable because of the unbearable heat, floods due to heavy rainfall or rising sea levels. Human beings within the capitalist system contribute to the ever changing climate of the Planet’s history by producing too much CO2, driving, flying around, indulging in industrial exploitation and consumerism. This is leading to the destruction of ecosystems, damage to biodiversity and the slaughter of animals  who swallow our plastic waste. All that is economy, right? So climate change and economy have indeed very much in common! A system that is based on endless growth, using more and more of our planet’s resources can’t grow on infinitely because we are living on a finite planet with dwindling resources. A resulting economic crisis would impact the world and societies forever. 
Stopping it requires us to sacrifice our current behaviour and organizational modes, but also to change the way we see the world and ourselves. It requires us to change the way we do economics – immediately. Initially perceived as sacrifice, it can lead to a change for the better in the lives of every living species. 

For our online camp we have picked an example of human skills and energy that can prompt such a change: the full circle bicycle!

Moving around has been within our DNA for tens of thousands of years as part of our activities, part of our economy. We believe we need to break away from the ways we think about economy today: away from the terminology and the constraints of neoliberalism. The original greek term “Oikonomia” refers to a smaller scale of economy: the management of a house. It can encourage us to no longer think about the economy as an external machinery, charts and numbers, an uncontrollable imposed system dragging us behind it. Oikonomia is a concept that helps us to change our mentality concerning this huge challenge of climate change, equipping human societies with a tool to manage this house in flames, our planet. 

How to do this?
    • start asking how we produce not only how we consume
    • stop considering only the value that goods have on the market, but start to see their real value insofar as how they meet our existential needs. 
    • get away from the individual trend of thinking about ‘me’, and start thinking about ‘us’.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, we have already experienced what a severe crisis looks like. In many countries, governments reacted by placing people first and the economy second, giving us an example of empathy and priorities. We have seen how fast and efficiently our world leaders can act in order to prevent disasters and how most of the people are willing to adapt their behaviour for the common good. Although different in nature, the Covid-19 crisis and climate change have abundant parallelisms: both require strong legislation, trust in science, communal sacrifices and long term perspective. We have seen all of this since the beginning of the pandemic. It is well known that preventing a crisis is far cheaper than tackling its consequences and fighting climate change is not different. 

The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted some dramatic faults in our societies, but we have also seen positive change brought about by new needs. It has brought our lives to a halt and given us time to think things through. The forced immobility emphasised our urge to move, regaining an ancient meaningfulness.  In this camp, we want to shine a light on positive actions that are going on in the world. Cycling is a practical and satisfying means of transport in terms of the potential of human energy and collective organisation connecting climate protection, health, economy and policies. 

This is the programme we invite you to:
 
1 – Intro and presentation of contents and choices; Get to know each other (ZOOM)
2 – Videos from all around the world
3 – Webinar part 1: lectures
Webinar part 2: Q&A (ZOOM)
Tutorials on bike fixing
4– Evaluation feedback and goodbye! (ZOOM)

The camp will take place from January the 20th to February the 20th

To subscribe just send an email to ufficio@agapecentroecumenico.org attaching the file scheda iscrizione.. We have a maximum number of registrations for each field, we will give priority to those who had already enrolled or enrolled in the field or was on the waiting list.