Jason C's thoughts on this year's gathering
Part 1 - June 30th
In this moment of pause I’d like to share some extremely long winded thoughts about the continuing transitions on the land over the last few days.
The result of what seems to be uncoordinated and miscalculated actions from the local law enforcement and Forest Service authorities has lead to something that is bordering a humanitarian crisis under the efforts of protecting the health and safety of the area being gathered in. For the moment it seems that gatherers have found a way to contain people coming in from across the continent at a new site on the other side of the mountain. Hopefully going forward, everyone from both sides can make careful decisions about how to contain the gathering with safety and health as priority, but this closure that happened seems to have had an effect that directly contradicts the goal of health and safety for both the locals as well as people gathering.
There were husbands whose wives and children went to town to get a hotel, swim and clean up only to find they couldn’t get back to their families. A mother and 17 year old daughter trying to get back in were dropped off by a local driver, got stuck in the woods on the outside of the barricade were told by LEO’s after dark that they couldn’t come in and to just walk back down the road. They ended up sleeping in the bushes overnight in near freezing temps exposed to the elements with no gear.
Untold stories of people on the outside with camp gear and animals on the inside being told by the LEO’s that they could try to come back in a couple of weeks and may or may not find their belongings if they return. When they ran everyone off yesterday, they were telling everyone that they could not participate in cleanup and to just get out. One person had guns pulled on him while trying to go back for his partner who had a broken ankle and was threatened arrest if he didn’t leave without them. Kitchens told to leave their gear and get out or risk arrest. The LEO presence at noon was extremely intimidating. Some LEO’s were telling kitchens that if one person took the ticket, the rest of them could stay for 48 hours without risk, but communications and proceses have changed by the hour and so no one has been able to have any good faith in what they’ve been told by the authorities.
No one knows what has been going on within the ICT (Incident Command Team) side of things this year, but one thing is clear - the whole law enforcement’s response seemed to be completely disorganised. Rumors are that the local forest service told the ICT to stand down and that they would handle the gathering on their own and just force everyone off the mountain using intimidation tactics. Who’s knows what’s actually been going on, but it seems to have created a whole lot of chaos, and actually raised the risk of injury to both gathers and everyone involved.
I want to add that although some gatherers have mistrust in the ICT because they usually hand out tickets for various things, in my opinion they are a necessary element of the Rainbow gathering experience - a vital presence for organisation and education around environmental impacts, local concerns and vehicle management. This year it is clear that without their presence, the communication and teamwork completely falls apart. Most of the yearly guys that work on the ICT are easy to work with, familiar with the ebb and flow of the gathering and it really helps maintain some organization and teamwork.
For the past week or so, the normal ICT presence seem to be all but non existent. A couple of the familiar faces came through briefly a few times and communicated that they were not facilitating the actions that were being taken. They related a few messages including the forest closure and a rumor that folks had 48 hours to disperse, but that was about it. As far as the local LEO’s communications went, everything changed by the hour. They would tell gatherers that the night shift team wasn’t aware of the orders that the day shift team had and vice versa. They said they needed to wait for orders from Reno that never came. They said there was a barricade, but then they would have no presence at all for hours on end. It’s important to note here that it’s all but impossible to predict or know exactly what is going on within the LEO elements and that sometime what gatherers are being told is half truths and intimidation tactics to manipulate responses. There are familiar faces and relationships between gatherers and federal ICT but the local LEO element changes from year to year.
Rumours abound as all gatherers know. But you can count on things of this nature to stay fairly static even with the phone game that happens on the land. When the closure happened, there was paperwork with a signed closure by the Plumas National Forest Supervisor, and map of the closed area presented to two or three people on the road. The closure was set to start the moment it was handed to gatherers at 12:00 noon on the 26th. The LEO’s that presented it said that gatherers would be given 48 hours to gather their belongings and leave, and for people in town to come collect their belongings. But that was not part of the signed closure nor was it honoured as a verbal commitment. A few hours later people coming and going were told that at 9PM they were closing the road and no one would be allowed in even if they were only coming in to collect gear. At one point, they communicated that if folks were willing to sign an agreement to help the forest service cleanup the site, show ID and licence plates and give a signature, they’d be allowed to help in cleanup without risk of fine or jail time. That promise was never mentioned again after the initial communication.
The next morning crickets for a few hours, a presence around noon for a couple hours, then crickets again for a couple of hours - then a heavy presence on the road with no one getting in for any reason until the 28th at noon when they came in with heavy intimidation tactics telling everyone they had an hour to get out or get tickets with the 5,000 fine and up to 6 months jail time.
There is a fire ban in place since around the 23rd. Gatherers do their best to self regulate for safety. I don’t need to go into detail here about how gatherers have a long history about only having very contained community fires here, or that gatherers this year have actually been very excited about the idea of having propane gatherings and learning how to adapt, but it seems that the response from authorities in this case was not very well thought through. In the presence of a fire ban, stopping gatherers from bringing in propane was a really bad move. Most gatherers will not leave before they are completely satisfied that there is no trace left of their presence on the land. The cleanup process is a time consuming meticulous process that cannot and will not be neglected. But people have to be fed in a sanitary way. Without propane to cook with, boil water with and use for cleaning and sanitising cooking gear and utinsels, the only option is fire. Closing the roads from propane and other equipment, as well as letting people rescue loved ones was a really bad move by the authorities. The fire risks, health risks and risk of harm or injury being exposed in a strange place without resources or support is at mich greater levels now for both gathers as well as local resources and communities at this point.
One takeaway from my perspective is very clear. No one on the road (parking lot etc.) should be communicating with LEO’s in any way. For the safety of everyone involved, there absolutely needs to be clear and consice communication between gatherers and decision makers on the LEO side in a very open way inside the gathering within the circles that gatherers typically communicate and make decisions through. It may seem awkward, but in the past those types of communications and organisation efforts have been very successful. In the scenarios that are happening this year, chaos has ensued on all sides and risk levels have gone up for everyone involved. This stopping through briefly by the LEO’s and communicating with a couple familiar faces doesn’t serve the safety and health of either gatherers nor local communities. There needs to be thorough dialogue and enough effort to cover all concerns and tie up loose ends. There IS enough time and resources to make this happen from all sides. It doesn’t take that much effort - just some careful thoughts words and a little bit of time.
At the moment there seems to be a new location. Only time will tell if both sides can take this opportunity to take a breather and try to make calculated, thoughtful decisions moving forward. People on both sides are exhausted I’m sure. But now it’s a split gathering. The risk and chances of exposure and injury have risen exponentially. Let’s all pray that those who gather at the new location can go to extreme efforts to have as minimal infrastructure and impact as possible so that after the Prayer for Peace and silence on the 4th are over, a lot of folks can rally and go up the mountain to rescue our family that is stranded and abandoned up there. They need healing and help, and if all goes well, maybe the authorities will let enough of us up there that we can facilitate a very quick and adequate cleanup of whatever is left and get them off the mountain.
This Rainbow thing is a necessary expression of the human condition IMO. The skills that are shared and the bonds made at Rainbow gatherings are something that comes deep from within the human spirit. Local communities often meet gatherers with fear and misunderstanding before the gatherings, but then go away with a sense of awe and wonder in how the thing expands and contracts, then disappears without harm afterwords - often warming the hearts and opening the spirits of the locals that do become involved. But the reality of the thing is that people will come from every corner of the continent. It cannot be stopped or slowed down. Gatherers are not hippies and druggies. They are every day tax paying human beings from every walk of life that come to see family and loved ones, cook food together and experience some of the last natural and beautiful places left. Folks need to start dropping the term hippy, and dissolve the typical misunderstandings of this thing that happens. The Rainbow gathering is an unstoppable movement. Over that least 50 years it has spread to every corner of the earth. The untouched natural pleaces are becoming islands. They belong to everyone and anyone that chooses to enjoy them without injury. The more people that visit and become intimate with these places, the more they’ll become protected from the waves of industry that destroy them. This thing that they call Rainbow is possibly the only way in which humans can take expression in this process across the Earth with little to no impact. They don’t build sidewalks, or bring tourism, leave permanent structures, impact or exploit resouces.
If there is anything that can be learned from the relations happening now between gatherers, locals and law enforcement, it’s that communication is key. Containment of the gatherings in one place, with health and safety as the number one pririty, teamwork between all sides with communication, safety and careful deliberate decisions as number one priority is absolutely crucial.
So far it’s been a ride. An intense but necessary learning experience for all sides. Perhaps over the next couple of weeks, the communications can become part of the healing. The local communities can realise that gatherers are only concerned with the safety and health of the humans involved as well as the land that they gather on and everyone involved can come away with a better understanding and a better connection to these beautiful forests. Nothing happening here is new to the Rainbiw family. It’s all part of the magic that happens. The adaptability and the connection, and the resilience of humanity in its rawest forms is what is happening. Let’s hope that moving forward, after this brief pause, everyone involved can choose their words more carefully, make better decisions and try to navigate what’s left of this transition without injury.
Thoughts and prayers to those left on top at the original site. My heart is with you.
Part 2 July 13
Whatever this Rainbow thing we do is supposed to be, I feel like this year really drove it home. Looking back over the last couple of weeks, all I see is win after win after win. It’s clear that a lot of folks don’t see it that way, but being there and being a part of every little transition, I see nothing but resilience, adaptation and resource management on a scale that astounds me. Druggies, dumpster divers, homeless bums “loose knit group of beatniks”… that’s what the media, locals and forest service pushes every year about people who gather. I don’t think they could be further from the truth.
At a Rally on May 4 1970 four unarmed students were killed and 9 wounded by the Ohio National Guard. Later that year, the only state sponsored music festival in U.S. history was planned to demonstrate the positive side of the anti war movement and divert a protest during a planned appearance by President Richard Nixon. It was an extremely turbulent time in U.S. history. The people were polarised to the degree they are today and the tension needed a place to release. I believe it was the culmination of these two events coupled with the polarisation of the outside world that lead to the birth of Rainbow the next year.
It’s important I think to remind ourselves of where this thing came from because it’s still an integral part of why we do the thing. The whole country is being squeezed on all sides and it shows in the gathering as well. Over the last decade the gatherings have been relatively small in number and there have been some extreme learning curves. Georgia was heavy handed in the LEO presence, gatherers pumped water uphill in Wisconsin, spread to the four corners in Covid, gathered without fire and now shown the ability to create a gathering in less than 24 hours in the midst of crisis. Resilience, adaptability and resource management seem to be the recurring themes. New areas and abilities are being opened up now because of these adaptations.
There was a trifecta of opposing factors that worked against the gathering almost from day one this year. Coming in to California, a lot of folks forecasted a difficult gathering, but no one could have known how much of a perfect storm it would turn out to be.
A fire ban for the area was put into place around June 23. Some folks were chattering that it was put in place because of the gathering, but I don’t think that could be a thing. In the weeks leading up, a burn ban preceded it that didn’t allow people to use burn barrels or to burn fields etc. It’s a levelling up situation that happens every year. Regardless, it presented another opportunity for gatherers to adapt. The first of this trifecta of opposing factors did lead to some turmoil though, as well it set the stage for the ensuing mass exodus that was later to come. It had a heavy presence on Meadow One.
The gathering was still in adaptation mode. There were two cook fires that weren’t dealt with yet at the time of the exodus. Circles were happening, and folks had plans the night of the closure to go down to the library and ask the brother that was building his fire what they could do to help him do his things with propane or other means. People felt good about it and had faith that there would be a good outcome, but the chaos of the forest closure took priority that evening and the Shanti Sena movement never happened. It is worthy of note here to say that at Meadow two, there were no rumours of a fire that happened and gatherers did the thing and fed everyone without incident. There was sooo much food. Dinner circles were off the hook because of the prep between two locations. I personally witnessed the heart fire at Meadow Two that was made with dead sage brush built up in the shape of a fire. It had a giant red LED in the heart of it with a heart shaped crystal on top and other white and yellow lights gathered inside. From the circle it was an amazingly beautiful (digital) fire that to me reflected the resilience and beauty of this thing that happens.
The second part of the trifecta is a very difficult thing to report on. I feel like everyone needs more time to process and perhaps a later bit could be written on this subject alone. To quote some words from a local tribal member, the people in this area are raw. They have had to fight the encroachment and resource exploitation of their sacred areas for as long as anyone can remember. For the first time in Rainbow history, there was a months long concerted effort to invite family to join a team dedicating time and energy in a tribal outreach effort to work with local tribes leading into spring with the goal and intentions of reducing conflict. Historically Rainbow has had a few folks that were really good with speaking and working with local tribes. They were relied on heavily but most of them are either passed away or retired from the effort now days. Despite what some people may think based on the media reports, this effort was a huge success on many levels.
First off, the people involved were present with all of the discussion. The movement has educated a lot of people from both sides of the situation and inspired others to become involved. It undoubtedly will be a learning curve, but also will remain an integral part of the social relations between Rainbow Family and locals going forward. It’s going to be a tough nut to crack. Local indigenous people don’t want to talk to Gatherers before the thing happens for various reasons. People doing the thing have to be sympathetic to that fact, yet remain available for any dialogue or questions that may crop up during any time. The peoples that we gathered in their homeland in this case used the mountains not only for historic and ceremonial reasons, but also a resting place for their ancestors. The idea of sharing locations that might be acceptable to them was almost as bad as sharing locations that weren’t acceptable. They were put between a rock and a hard spot when we came to them asking that they work with us to make sure we didn’t land on areas that were sensitive to them.
Almost immediately after the location was announced and the meet and greet happened in town, the discord started. This is par for the course to some degree every year. The loudest and most emotional voices always get center stage and there is nothing folks can do to change their minds. This year, and with this situation specifically, there was a loud voice that garnered a lot of attention and was particularly controversial. The person is more concerned with civil rights and first amendment rights and brought the topics to a conversation that they didn’t need to be in. It confused the effort, made a lot of locals angry and led to a media frenzy that served only to inflame any positive mediation that was taking place. On some level, maybe it was a good thing that it happened this way, who knows. I think it may have served to draw in some folks who cared deeply about their own regional issues and gave them a platform to speak and listen to those of the Rainbow family.
There seem to have been some extensive conversations on zoom and lots of time and energy taken to listen and converse between the Rainbow family and local peoples that weren’t able to be on the land. For the dialogue that did happen on the land, most of the relations I’ve become privy to seemed sweet and well managed. One thing seems clear to me. Even after the exodus from Meadow One, there has been dialogue. This tells me that there are things to be learned, shared and educated over from all angles and it seems to be happening to some degree. That is a good thing.
People sometimes get caught up in words and language being used in these discussions. I think an important note to be made is that people from all areas of this country speak in ways that seem comfortable and accepted in the circles they come from. When talking about these issues, getting caught up in words being used can distract from the mediation efforts to a large degree. Using words like Indian, white, appropriation, etc, can seem to cause conflict within the discussion. But it’s important to hold in mind that people in the Rainbow Family as well as tribal members and locals are all individuals with diverse experience as well. Many of the Rainbow family have sat with indigenous peoples for decades across the country during ceremony and taught that words like Indian are held in reverence, not as a term of disrespect. Many examples of this nature serve to cripple the discussions if people get caught up in the use of terms and whether they’re disrespectful or not. The ideas of appropriation or colonialisms do not have a place in the discussions or mediation efforts between Gatherers or local tribes IMO. That part should come after peaceful resolution has taken place.
The Rainbow Family is filled with people who have skills that can be beneficial to those who see themselves as land protectors, or water protectors, environmentalists, minimalists, social workers etc. etc. you cannot find a movement of these sorts anywhere on earth that doesn’t have Rainbow family there learning about and supporting these things. There are so many skill sets and experience that can be shared between Rainbow and the tribal communities when gatherings happen in their areas. Hopefully in the future, a good amount of the tribal outreach efforts can start with this consideration and build upon that reality toward bonding relationships.
The third part of the trifecta was of course the forest closure. I won’t go too deep into reporting on that part here as I have already given a timeline of these events in another post. But I will say that it seemed clear to me that the actions from the authorities during the first half of the gathering were uncoordinated and unfamiliar. There was some sort of internal conflict that happened. In the efforts to close the forest area gatherers were in, a crisis was created. The risk levels went up exponentially and potential for harm in both the Rainbow family as well as local communities was elevated in the closure that was supposedly enacted for “health and safety” reasons. Whether you’re on the inside or the outside of a Rainbow gathering, common sense would say that keeping the thing contained is the best option. The ICT team that serves Rainbow and locals every year is a small unit. They don’t do much in the purpose of keeping peace or managing roads, or sustaining law and order. They’re a force of probably less than 50 people. Their presence is necessary for a host of reasons, but the Rainbow family has historically shown the ability to manage themselves in such a way that outside support isn’t necessary. Forcing gatherers out onto the roads in an area where every nook and cranny, state park campground, hot springs or other tourist area has been booked up for months was a bone head move that easily could have lead to so much confusion and harm.
At the bottom of this report, I’ll link the other post I made with a timeline of how the forest closure and LEO presence unfolded. I’ll also link some info about the forest closure regulations and process as well for anyone interested. Is a really interesting read in regard to the civil liberties aspect and closure process that could be important for anyone who may have gotten tickets or had interactions with LEO’s at Meadow One.
Resilience. That’s the word that keeps coming to mind for me. I am so proud and honoured to have been witness to this thing that happened this year. Meadow two bloomed like a flower in a matter of hours. While kitchens and infrastructure was still being cleaned up and managed at the first site, folks were pooling resources and building a Rainbow gathering from scratch around Meadow Two. In the morning of the 30th, there were a few cars and people milling about building camps, at midnight that evening, I stopped through to see Granola Funk having a talent show. Kitchens feeding people across the meadow a mile from the road, kitchens and trails leading off in every direction and by the morning of the first, miles of water line had been laid for the whole gathering despite the fact that almost none had come from up the hill at this point. The ovens baked at both meadows, triangle was off the hook at both sites. The All Ways Free made its round to both sites. Pizza was delivered to Meadow One on the Second, love letters were sent back and forth on the third. So many amazing little aspects of sweet compromise, love, concern, and effort went into this year that it swells my heart. I don’t think people knew what was happening most of the time. They just pitched in somewhere did their best and a beautiful little Rainbow Gathering unfolded before everyone’s eyes.
At one of the circles at Meadow One that happened about the Forest Closure I took the talking stick and expressed my concern for safety during transitions. In my line of work it is obvious and it’s an ever present awareness. 95% of all injury happens during transition. When injuries do happen, it takes a special kind of person to manage the situation without adding more risk of more injury. Often times, without trained individuals present, the risk levels compound and a situation can become worse before it gets better. In the circle I cautioned people that whatever they choose to do, stay or leave or whatever, to please move slowly, be careful in every decision they make and try to manage the transition in as safe a way as they could imagine. But OMG was I speaking to the choir! I cannot imagine a situation that was more rife with potential for harm and trauma than the one the LEO’s set up for us this year, but somehow due to the resilience, experience, adaptation and resource management skills that exist in this family, everyone pulled it off without anyone getting hurt. That just blows my mind! This is why I come. This is why we do this thing we do. So that we can learn how to navigate these types of incidents. So that we can be the conduit for peaceful resolution in the face of conflict. It brings my thoughts back to 1970 when the Rainbow Family was created and shows me how far we’ve come, how much we’ve learned and how good we’ve gotten at doing these things we do.
I love you all. Thank you for inviting me to come home and be a part of this amazing Family. I feel so honoured and privileged to be witness to such a beautiful human experience.
