Hitchgathering/2021

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Revision as of 15:57, 9 June 2021 by Tobias (talk | contribs) (Organizing/Questions)
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2021 Hitchgathering Promo Sticker -- print and distribute!

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For current information regarding Corona(-rules) please check (and if necessary update): Hitchhiking and Corona

As usual, there will be a Hitchgathering starting from the beginning of August this year -- come hitch to a beautiful spot to meet a bunch of other funky people to hang out, play music, do workshops, cook on the fire and celebrate the hitchhiking way of life together! After a lengthy and slightly messy decision-making process, it was decided that this year's beautiful spot in question will be at La Framondié, France. As always, please subscribe to the mailing list to join the discussion.

The overview over the other location proposals and all the info pertaining to the decision-making process can be found at Hitchgathering/2021/Archive.

Main Gathering

Date

The gathering is "officialy" starting August 2nd 2021. Some people will get there before to plan things up a bit and some pregatherings will very probably happen before too.

Location

La Framondié is here. It's a large area of forest in one of the least densely populated parts of France, and there's a collective of about 8-12 people living there. They do gardening and steward the forest, and for the future they are quite interested in offering more activities, camps for children, etc., so we might kind of be their guinea pigs :-)

As far as other orga things are concerned... I asked about ~50 people for ~2 weeks. If 100 people suddenly show up, I think it would be an issue. Camping would happen in a somewhat dispersed way -- to have a central camp and then camp in the forest around where you can find the space. There land is generally steep, but there are ancient terraces, and it's also possible to shape the terrain with a shovel to make it more amenable for camping. And of course hammocks will rule supreme :D There is plenty of firewood, plenty of wood for constructions, drinking water too. If we want to use their electricity and electrical amenities, we would probably donate some money; the same is also true for tools (saws, axes, shovels) -- we could decide if we want to bring some or perhaps they will also get some more tools for their future activities and we could support their purchase.

Pros

  • Swimming! 20 minutes walking from the Tarn, a gorgeous swimmable river. There are also apparently waterfalls on the land that one can swim at.
  • Gorgeous place, legal camping, cool people.
  • The people living there are not at all worried about us bringing them Covid, or anything in regards to that.
  • Of course transphobia exists in France, but probably not more than in most places.
  • If you remember them from your childhood, it's very close to where Kaplas were invented!

Cons

  • There isn't really any space there to park cars if anybody wants to bring one. (But after all, it's the hitchgathering... right?^^)
  • Since it's a remote region, dumpsters are not very close.
  • They have quite a few dogs there already, so while not saying that no dogs should come, they were a bit scared by the thought that we 'are like them and 50 people would come with 50 dogs'.

Nearby Infrastructure (Civillization)

Next town: Réquista (6km)

  • Supermarket (Carrefour market), no info yet if dd works
  • ATM, bank
  • Post Office

Next cities:

  • Albi (48km), population: 50.000
  • Rodez (54km), population: 25.000

Healthcare, emergency:

  • Réquista (6km): pharmacy, doctor, dentist
  • Saint Affrique(41km): hostpital
  • Albi (48km): hospital
  • Rodez (54km): hospital

Public transport:

  • Réquista (6km): bus (Albi - Requista - Rodez and Requista - Rodez)
  • Tanus(29km): train
  • Albi (48km): train
  • Rodez (54km): train
  • Toulouse (120km): flixbus, blablabus, train
  • Montauban (121km): flixbus, blablabus, train
  • Montpellier (161): flixbus, blablabus, train

Next dumpsters: ?

Organizing/Questions

A.P. on the mailing list proposed to ask questions to locals since someone they know lives nearby. Rom. will be there around mid-July. Also, User:Swaden will get there around June 10th to ask questions and possibly bring some stuff.

So list here questions you'd want them to ask/setup :

  • What are the possibilities for dumpster diving? Where are the spots? Do we have to bring and buy food ?
  • Borrowing bicycles?
  • What are the busiest roads? General tips for getting there by hitchhiking
  • Is there cooking gear to borrow (or even a kitchen) ? Are there drinking water, toilets or even showers ?
  • How is electricity ? Do we receive cellular network and is there WiFi or Internet ?
  • Corona border situation from a local POV?
  • What is the locals language proficiency?
  • Where do we camp? Do we have to bring our own shelters ?
  • What about this 50 people limit? How flexible is it? Is there a backup plan nearby?
  • Do we need to bring tools?
  • How is the general infrastructure ?

Activities

Think about workshops you could organise! (It's very low-key.) So far, there are ideas about making circles about DIY gear-making and rounds of what-is-in-my-backpack, lockpicking workshops, herbal walks. At past gatherings there were many great workshops such as womens' circles, how-to for political marriages, clay oven building, capture-the-flag... etc pp.

There will be games, music, dumpsterdiving, occasional skinnydipping. Massage circles and hopefully many, many workshops. Late-night joints and bottles of wine passed around, discussions on how to -- you know...

Knot workshop

I'll bring some sythetic ropes (also hanf three stranded rope) so we can all study together decorative and useful knots from beginner to more advanced. Swaden (talk)

COVID-19 testing

User:Swaden will bring around 5 COVID-19 quick tests (they're free in Switzerland) to use in case for more anxious/at-risk people or if someone starts having symptoms. User:Mrmagicmax will also bring some from Austria (if he doesn't have to use all of them on the way)

Pre or post gatherings

Kesselberg, 2nd week of July

Anybody is always invited to the anarchist bastion and forest village of Kesselberg-upon-Berlin anyway, but particularly in the 2nd week of July, hitchhikers are called to congr(e)ate there. It could be possible to join a potential pre-gathering at Langenwerder towards the end of July from there together, or move towards France already.

La Vieille Valette, end of July

Another anarchist village of unsurpassed charm and beauty in the Cevennes. Would be very much worth making a stopover on the way to the Tarn.

European Rainbow in the Pyrenees, end of July/beginning of August

Some people might also like to meet at the European rainbow beforehand. Please add info here.

Other ideas

C. proposed Kesselberg, an anarchist bastion in a forest in Germany for a pregathering. He said there is a group called Ecotopia doing a bike tour and that we could meet with them. Some people of the mailing list are part of the organisation so communication is easy. Like he said in his mail, I think it's a good idea to have pregatherings so people can met in smaller groups and have already a little bit of connivance before reaching the main gathering. Doing this is nice but we need to coordinate correctly. --Swaden (talk) 18:47, 24 March 2021 (CET)

We can organize easily small pregatherings at the infinity of forest cabins available in Switzerland, Sweden or Norway.

Promotion

Stickers are available, see the top of the page!

Online event

Some people have proposed the idea of conducting an online event for people not able to attend the gathering.-->