Page 10 - C.A.L.L. #34 - Winter 2011/2012

Community Visitors

This summer brought several visitors to our shores;
community-dwellers that came to share their stories
in community, and listen to ours.

Firstly, we welcomed Bettina, Stephan and Zen, from the Jindibah Community in the
Byron Bay area of Australia. They put together a presentation especially for the
meeting (You can download it from their website at http://www.jindibah-
community.org/images/Presentations/Jindbah_Presentation_28May11.pdf). For a
small non-income sharing community on the
other side of the world, we found that their
experiences struck a familiar chord with those
Israelis present – the kibbutzniks and the

urban kibbutzniks alike. Especially salient were
disagreements over having pets in community,
mass tree-planting as a community/national
mission, and legal struggles over land
ownership.

Stephan (top left) and Bettina (next to
him), explain Jindibah’s 'Triple Bottom
Line' – a balance between social,
environmental and economic development.

Later on in the summer we welcomed
Susan Grossman and Richard Wonder
from Ganas community in New York
City. Here too, there are similarities to
be found with some of the urban
kibbutzim in Israel; they live within a
Richard and Susan (centre of the photo) share regular neighbourhood, having actually
their insights of Ganas Community. Ganas holds a purchased their buildings and choosing
community meeting each morning, where they are to hold them under common ownership.
just as likely to discuss interpersonal issues as They also have several circles of
problems with their businesses. community; from the income-sharing

core group to those more loosely connected to Ganas. One of the most interesting

aspects of Ganas is the fact that they have very few children for a community so
large (A ratio of around one child to every ten adults).

We at the International Communes Desk want to thank our visitors for affording us
an insight into their wonderful communities and we’d like to extend a warm invitation
to others to get in contact if you’re heading this way!