ΔΕΛΤΑΠΟΛΙΣ Δελταπολισ
Original – Sat 19 Feb 2005 – S.Maria al Bagno (Lecce, Puglia)
Revised – Sat 20 August 2005 – Brighton
Revision – Tue 02 Nov 2010 – at sea aboard “Wind-Spirit” between Sardinia and Italy.
Kibbutz-style community agriculture in Δ
The Israeli Kibbutz is possibly the only humane legacy of Marxist Socialism. Wonderful idea that it is, fewer than 3% of Israelis still live in Kibbutzim – they are slowly dying out as young people drift away to the cities and the chance to get rich thru capitalism.
A truly sustainable city needs a dedicated local food source supplying all its fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, grain, and poultry.
ObeCITIES are relentless resource gobbblers, like Pacmen ravenously gobbling up everything in their path – imports of food, water, energy, and consumer goods, much of it flown and trucked in from far distant places.
London is built on an alluvial river basin – 2500 km2 of prime agricultural land which, had it not been covered under a vast expanse of brick, tile, concrete, and asphalt, would be capable of supplying all of Britains fresh (non-meat) food requirements. For the forseeable future it will not be possible to replace more than a small portion of Londons depressing and de-humanising obecity sprawl with arcologies, but imagine if it were….
Greater London has 10 million people living and working and playing in an (estimated) 1 million (mostly dreary) energy-wasting buildings set amongst an (est) 750 km2 of ugly asphalt roads and carparks.
All this depressing concrete clutter could be replaced with just 1,000 strikingly beautiful SC’s on just 250 km2, each edifice would be faced in polished stone, shining resplendently amidst magnificent arcadian parkland.
This would free up 2250 sq km of prime farmland,
Thus, in the same space or less than that presently occupied by sprawl, all housing, employment, commercial, leisure needs AND all the inhabitants fresh food and their water collection and storage needs can be met.
But this is only the beginning. If the principle of community self-help is incorporated into the charter, the entire community could get usefully involved in their own food production. Of the 5 “life essentials” (food & water, shelter & clothing, safety & security, health & education, energy) food is the most insecure. Except in very arid regions (where it can be stored) fresh water is readily available from rivers and rainfall, fuel and fire are easily available, as is shelter.
Remember, this “free” farmland bonus is not “out of sight out of mind” miles away but, both literally and figuratively, on the very doorstep of the city.
This proximity opens up several interesting possibilities and opportunities in terms of (1) manpower needs, (2) health & fitness, (3) community cohesion, (4) social integration, and last but not least – (5) the educational needs of the citizenry, particularly the children. (6) discipline
(7) corrective service.
MANPOWER –
Farm work is labour intensive and, because this labour is now so expensive, we have become increasingly dependent on cheap food imports. My proposal is that ALL able-bodied citizens be obliged to provide at least one days free labour per month, or 12 days per year. A benign form of “national service” if you like. I further propose that whilst doing their annual (or bi-annual) farm service the “volunteers” live in special quarters (which need not be spartan) where they would cook, eat, and mix socially just as Israeli “kibbutzniks” do. Obviously, farming being a skilled trade, the part-timers would need to work under the supervision of professionals.
Of course such a considerable civic duty could not be introduced retrospectively – it must be an integral part of a city’s founding charter, and the obligation would need to be willingly, even eagerly, accepted by applicants for citizenry. It could be argued that few people would be willing for such duty, and therefore any community making such “onerous demands” would find it impossible to attract sufficient citizens. If we were talking of huge, largely anonymous, “communities” of hundreds of thousands or millions of people I might agree. But when talking of small self-governing SC’s I think people would enthusiastically offer their labour.
Those who are skeptical of peoples wish to work in agricultural communities for little or no reward other than the pleasure of shared community and knowing they are helping to build a better society, need to look how many young people go to Israel to work for a pittance in kibbutzim.
SC’s will not be like Kibbutzim, they will be high tech cities, but certain aspects and ideals of the kibbutz can and should be incorporated. SC’s will offer the best of both worlds – the magic of the city and the magic of the country, a magic which is impossible in obecities.
Cooperative agriculture would bring enormous health, social, and educational benefits, as well as better and cheaper food for all. Nobody hates getting up early more than me, but if I were a respected cog of a tight-knit community, which I had joined voluntarily and knowingly, and such a duty were required of me, I believe I would actually look forward to and cherish it. It would like a working holiday and needn’t necessarily be back-breaking work – for example, it could be fruit picking or seedling planting from dawn to lunchtime, followed by an afternoon of seminars or craft work or mucking in with food preparation for the evening get-together. I’m sure many would enjoy the experience so much they would volunteer for extra “time on the farm” and possibly trade places with those who are prepared to pay money to skip their duty, if that were permitted. The charter might insist that “everyone must do their duty” and not permit this sort of trading, and I personally would agree with that.
HEALTH & FITNESS –
Farm duty would confer many health benefits and many might offer to extend their duties (or maybe do a weekend once a month) and get paid in food. Retirees would be a good example.
COMMUNITY COHESION –
The giving of such duty would gain respect and help to cement community bonds.
SOCIAL INTEGRATION –
Much more opportunity to meet and make lasting friendships in a casual cooperative environment.
EDUCATION –
Children would have their own farm camp, which would be an important part of their education. Most city children today have little or no idea of where their food comes from and what is involved. They will grow up knowing “how to do it” and even how to live off the land.
CORRECTIVE SERVICE –
Why do we put miscreants in jail (crime academies) so that they can linger lazily, or worse pump iron in order to bully and bugger, boast about their past crimes, plan future crimes, and cost honest citizens a fortune in upkeep?
Why cant they be put to doing positive useful work for the community that is paying for their upkeep..? With electronic tagging or even implants the risk of escape is minimal. “Corrective Service”. the PC term for punishment, implies that wrongdoers are repaying society with their “service”, but this is a lie.