Jul 27 2015

The Ten Year Anniversary of Burners Without Borders

BWB_logo

Thanks to Jex from BMIR for writing this guest post. It adds to earlier stories we have published regarding Burners Without Borders:

Burners Storm The Jersey Shore

Superstorm Sandy Vs The Burners

Seeding The Future

3 months ago, Burners Without Borders got assimilated by the Borg. We hope this will lead to an expansion in the amount of good they do in the world.

The Ten Year Anniversary of Burners Without Borders

by Jex

During a recent online conversation on Burners.Me, I, as many do, found myself in what grew to be a heated discussion. Some of my final words included something of ‘why not focus on the positive in our community, showcasing volunteers and such?’. With these words, Zos offered me a voice via his publication to showcase said volunteers. A lovely opportunity to share my words on what may possibly be my biggest inspiration, as well as what I believe is a huge part of the pulse within the burner community. Thank you, Zos for sharing this piece and thank you in advance for reading…Burn Bright – Jexime, Production Director of BMIR – 94.5 Burning Man Information Radio.

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Ten years ago, on August 29th, 2005, the third largest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall on the United States showed its wrath on Louisiana and Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina, the namesake of this monster storm, peaked at a category 5 with over 175 mph winds. It left New Orleans 80% underwater, with a death toll of 1,577 people in the state of Louisiana, and another 238 fatalities in neighboring Mississippi. Katrina caused over 15 million people to evacuate their homes and left what may exceed an estimated 150 billion dollars in economic damage, with hundreds of thousands of citizens left unemployed, displaced, and homeless.

Hurricane Sandy Relief_BWB website

BWB Grant Program_BWB website Ten years ago, on August 28th, 2005, Burning Man presented us with ‘Psyche’ – exploring psychology: self-expression, self-reflection and the unconscious power of dreams. Who are you? Who are we? What is this ‘we’, this ‘I’, we speak of so commonly on a daily basis? As burners pondered the very existence of their symbiotic relationships between I, we, and the power of dreams, a plethora of self-expressing art filled the clockworked city streets, giving unique avenues for self-discovery.

During this journey of self-reflection, as Hurricane Katrina simultaneously destroyed the lives of millions of people, one of the most important and phenomenal representations of Civic Responsibility was born. When word made its way through the dust of the devastation of Katrina, a group of burners discovered a profound sense of self and reflection of those in need. They headed straight to ground zero of the disaster area to help rebuild the destroyed communities.

“As the volunteer numbers grew, they focused their initial efforts on rebuilding a destroyed Vietnamese temple in Biloxi, Mississippi. After several months, that job done, they moved to another needy Mississippi community, Pearlington, to continue to work hard – gifting their time – to help those in need. Over the course of eight months, BWB volunteers gifted over $1 million dollars worth of reconstruction and debris removal to the residents of Mississippi.”

-BurnersWithoutBorders.org

This solitary event opened the doors to one of the greatest grassroots, volunteer driven, organizations to emerge from our ever growing community – Burners Without Borders. With a goal to empower local communities, BWB supports their volunteers from all around the world in finding creative solutions through community efforts to aid in disaster relief. They believe in the power of collaboration and community driven leadership to make solid and effective change. The BWB mission statement reads:

“BWB promotes activities around the globe that support a community’s inherent capacity to thrive by encouraging innovative approaches to disaster relief and grassroots initiatives that make a positive impact.”

-BurnersWithoutBorders.org

Haiti_BWB website Since Hurricane Katrina, BWB has supported major global projects including; Will Ruddick’s project of Kenya’s alternative currency, Green Peace’s Water Patrol with several members of Buklod Ng Kabataan, the communities affected by the Colorado Floods, participation in a one month artist residency at Jakmel Ekspresyon in Haiti (a program set up and run by Su Frame, a Chicago based art educator and activist) as a response to the horrific earthquake to hit Haiti in 2010, relief for those affected by Hurricane Sandy, and a multi-year earthquake disaster relief project in Peru. BWB sets up programming for volunteers to contribute to ongoing efforts such as these, as well as offering $100-$1000 dollars in grant money every April for civic projects that make a positive impact.

Project Hope Art_BWB website As the ever growing nucleus of Burning Man and its diaspora continues its shift, feeding upon the current state of our populous, us burners find ourselves at the target of hyper criticism and challenges to our foundation’s ethics. Drama saturated rants infest social media – shrieking cries of billionaire plug and play camps echo far and wide as if they were the Mordor of Burning Man, while playa famed EDM DJs curse the dust over power discrepancies. We shockingly discover our beloved Ten Principles are mere reflections of our own ideals, held so tight they started to fall, vowels and consonants shattering into shards of morals and attachments, leaving us holding our knees, shaking in deep Playa, desperately asking ‘whatever shall we do?’. We look to the creators to change what is quite possibly in OUR hands to change. Perhaps, Burning Man is our true mirror and the evolution of our precious world and the fate of our community is our responsibility? Our Civic Responsibility. Let’s say the Borg are not our metaphorical parents, but are the gatekeepers who give us the blank canvas to create what we desire to reflect. Rules are inevitable – we are a society of rules, whether we’d like to admit it or not. However, are these rules a reflection of the chaos we are impassioned by? Are we subconsciously choosing entropy as our community religion? Are we the destructors of our own world while struggling through cloudy vision, unable to see we have the ability to come together to create change?

A mindful and ever so humble suggestion: Look to the example of those who have come before you. BWB is a pure example of the power we have to create something fantastic, something mind-blowing, something truly capable of changing the world. They are not just an organization working toward aid of physical disaster relief, they are a symbol of how community, solid leadership, and how the true sense of Civic Responsibility can create massive waves. Be the change you want to see, in whichever community you dance in. Start with your passion, connect with those like minds who share it, rid yourself of mental clutter, and watch what can unfold. You can add to the poetry of those who have come before you and contribute to building a better world.

Haiti_2_BWB website Project Hope Art 2_BWB website

“When we connect our passion to the community purpose, anything is possible.”

-Carmen Maulk, BWB

BWB_Infiinte Possibilities This 2015 burn, we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Burners Without Borders. May you continue to succeed exponentially, for many years to come. Thank you for the inspiration.

Visit http://www.BurnersWithoutBorders.org to find out more and get involved!!

Image: Burning Man

Dec 29 2014

Seeding the Future

A guest post by reader Nick Heyming, who has been inspired by Burns to create something phenomenal.

Burner Holiday

In the spirit of the holidays, here’s a story to make you remember what gifting and communal effort is all about. If you’re more interested in the latest on the commodification crisis or tickets, don’t bother, but if you want to read about burners who are taking the principles to a new level, read on.

The first place Nickipedia heard about the burn was in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was standing next to a large dome, a decorated bus, and a newly rebuilt buddhist temple. The man in front of him was Big Stick, a civil engineer and the head of heavy equipment and last arbiter of safety for all the amazing and sometimes dodgy construction projects people bring out to the playa. He was explaining about the event, the temple, the art, and how a huge group of them had driven straight out from the festival in 2005 to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Nickipedia, being a noob and kind of a dork, said ‘Wow, sounds like a great party’.

Big Stick looked at him with a scowl, and said, ‘Yeah, you probably shouldn’t go’.

Nickipedia quickly corrected himself, ‘Um, I mean, it clearly is a lot more than just a party. Sounds like a rite of passage or a spiritual…’

Big Stick cut him off ‘If you need a rite of passage, stick around here’. He gestured to the piles of debris littering the vacant lots surrounding the encampment. “There’s plenty of opportunity to come of age helping these people out. When you’re done with that, maybe you should come out to the playa and see what we build with that blank canvas and no code enforcement or FEMA in our way.”

The blunt attitude of the Burners Without Borders didn’t dissuade young Nickipedia from venturing out to the playa 10 months later. The efforts of BWB have been well documented in such films as Burn on the Bayou:http://vimeo.com/8057642 . What many don’t realize is how many burners, both with BWB and on their own, have shown up to rebuild after disasters.

Ten years ago, when the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, thousands of volunteers from around the world poured into the area to lend their support. Many of them were backpackers and burners, looking to do more than just be tourists but to actually have meaningful exchange with the locals and leave a positive trace.

Founding members of Communitere (http://www.philippines-communitere.org/ and http://www.haiti.communitere.org ), Hands On Disaster Relief, International Disaster Volunteers (http://www.idvolunteers.org/ ), and of course Burners Without Borders (http://www.burnerswithoutborders.org/ )are regular attendees of Burning Man and go there not just to recharge but to connect with fellow volunteers they may not have an opportunity to see anywhere else.

The work the Burners do internationally is not just superficial: aside from serious engineering and sanitation projects, Burners frequently find themselves as hubs for interagency coordination. When well-spoken foreigners show up, doors open, and Burners are known for sneaking as many disenfranchised locals in when the opportunity presents itself. This can mean doing things like community-wide design charettes where people who never normally are heard get to voice their needs directly to decision-makers.

Burner making efforts for the greater good aren’t just limited to after disasters though. That little virgin Nickipedia who almost got told off at the beginning of our story? He ended up going to Burning Man in 2006, then again for a month with DPW and Black Rock Solar in 07, again with BRS and BWB in 08 (after appointing himself director of external relations for BWB in Peru for 4 months). He’s taking the lessons he learned rebuilding parks in Mississippi.

And creating community gardens in Peru.

To create a series of video games that educate people about sustainable gardening and farming practices. The goal is to mitigate climate change, solve world hunger, and help with internet and video game addiction. All using radical self-expression, communal effort, and leaving an awesome trace.

He’s in the last day of his crowdfunding campaign and they’re still a few thousand short, so if you think that sounds like something the world needs more of, support and share at www.igg.me/at/seeds