posted February 21, 2013 06:43 PM            

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Every Fourth of July, the Rainbow Gathering draws up to 30,000 of the strangest people in the world to a different national forest each year. Most stay a few days, while others come weeks ahead and stay even longer. The week-long "prayer for world peace" includes aging hippies, drug-addled teen runaways, Hare Krishnas, and mainstream onlookers hungry for a taste of the free-love ’60s.

Almost all the Rainbows share an anti-authoritarian streak that flies in the face of the National Forest Service’s attempts to control the Gathering. Federal law decrees that any group larger than 75 must obtain a permit before assembling on National Forest property. Unlike the organizers of other high-profile countercultural events, such as Burning Man, the Rainbows have always refused, even when facing heavy fines and jail time.

This time was no different. Lawless, unplanned, and almost wholly free of traditional leadership, the 28th annual Gathering was staged in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwestern Montana, much to the chagrin of a special federal police unit designed to press the Rainbows into submission. What’s more, the estimated 23,000 campers—a big city by Montana standards—managed to pull this off in a harsh physical environment with almost no facilities.

Mad Mike, 21, is typical of many young Rainbows. While many older attendees have families and full-time jobs in the outside world, the younger generation tends to live the Rainbow life all year. A New Orleans native, Mike has been bumping from city to city, taking odd jobs whenever possible, living on the streets for over a year. He hitchhiked to the Gathering with the clothes on his back, a tent, a blanket, and his guitar. He had no money, no food, and no means to earn either. Still, sitting on the main path strumming his instrument, he seemed healthy and happy to be with the Rainbows.

"Here, the Christians get along," he told us. "The Krishnas get along. Everybody gets along. Everybody smiles and helps people out. When you’re walking down the path at night, you’re not scared."

Mike had good reason to be pleased. Not only was he getting free meals at the community kitchens, but he had made a niche for himself as the Heady Nugget Guy.

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According to Owl, the authorities dislike the Gathering because they can’t control the people involved or take any profits off the top. "They hate it because we are not building a stadium, like professional sports," he explained. "There is no transfer of funds. There is no way the government can tax us." There is no Rainbow Family organization, he stressed. "None of us comes here as part of the Rainbow Family. We come out as individuals. It just so happens that we have no official legal standing as an organization, and the police can’t stand that."

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Labor, on the other hand, was free. After eating at the kitchen, my photographer went to work washing dishes. Later, he volunteered to dam a stream to make it easier to fetch shower water. A Rainbow from Amsterdam who stopped by for water ended up taking over dish duty, and an exceptionally dirty young man walking along the trail gathered firewood for the kitchen while waiting for his turn in the shower. It was impossible to tell who actually came with the kitchen and who had stopped by to help.

"There’s no organization here," admitted NZANE. "It’s just whoever picks up the ball and runs with it. Someone always seems to do it."

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The guy complains here, but I didn't see that as their problem, but HIS for being unprepared (not all that dissimilar from trying to use American money in another country because you didn't get traveler's checks or local currency first):

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While the Rainbows do an impressive job of guiding their anarchic community through the various hardships of living outdoors, the going isn’t always smooth.

First, the participants show a strong aversion to the use of money. On my first day at the Gathering, I made my way to the large "trading village" in the hope of scoring a trinket to impress my own hippie princess back home. The large circle included scores of Rainbows displaying everything from beads and handmade crafts to psychedelic mushrooms and rolling papers.

It soon became clear that no one was interested in my money. Trying to buy a bowl from a teenage girl, I asked what she was hoping to trade. When she told me she needed gas money to get home, I jumped at the opportunity. She sneered at my useless wad of bills. "Look man," she said, "I really try to keep money out of the trade." Instead, she was hoping to trade with people willing to siphon fuel directly out of their cars.

After several similar encounters, I realized that the closest thing to money at the Rainbow Gathering was green of another sort: marijuana. Weed was acceptable as a trade in almost any circumstance—an informal medium of exchange. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any, so we had to go to A-Camp.

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For some strange reason A-Camp (alcohol is discouraged at Rainbow Gatherings, and where people can't, or won't, eschew alcohol there's A-Camp, A for "alcohol" and perhaps another A-word normally censored) accepts money...but also other problems people at the Gatherings prefer to leave behind as described here:

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So off we trudged, but only grudgingly. On the way into the Gathering, we had walked by A-Camp at about 6 a.m. The serious alcoholics on hand were either still or already drunk. A fight had broken out over an offensive remark one Rainbow had made about Guatemala: Someone sent his pit bull after the offender, and the entire encampment, including at least 50 people, was in an uproar for 20 minutes. The ubiquitous fighting made it clear that America’s only legal intoxicant is probably its most disruptive.

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Still, barter strikes me as the same as money. What is money but what we (typically) earn with our efforts? That is, that German may clean a home for room & board, but he could just as easily clean someone else's home, get paid, and pay for the room that way. I don't see the difference.

posted February 21, 2013 07:02 PM            

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Originally posted by T:
http://shine.yahoo.com/financially-fit/family-lives-without-money--by -choice--and-thrives--190436599.html

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