Death Camp

Death Camp was a birth family of husband, wife, and at least three children who came to gatherings from 2006 to 2010. (The father had additional kids with a different woman, and sometimes they also attended.) The mother was a victim of violence at a regional gathering, and she developed a hatred of hippies. She encouraged the kids to do pranks on other gatherers; some of their alleged acts included going up to passersby on trails and hitting them with sticks, aiming squirt guns that had been filled with urine, and throwing firecrackers in people’s tents as they were sleeping. Her aim was to provoke the hippies into hateful and even violent reactions and expose their hypocrisy when they went on about peace and love.

Any attempts to discipline the kids or reason with them would get replies of “we don’t care about your Rainbow rules”, and attempts at retaliation would make them single you out for future attacks. They attracted some hangers on who were not members of this genetic family, and sometimes other children would act like there had been war declared and engage in skirmishes with them. They were the subject of many Shanti Sena councils held in their absence, and the same dilemma always emerged as in the cases of A-Camp and Trading Circle – some wanted to physically eject them, but others wanted to find a way to heal them with Rainbow love.

There was not much mention of them on a.g.r. until their last grand prank at the 4th of July circle at the 2010 Pennsylvania gathering. Then there was voluminous talk, and I have gathered some of that here into one document, converting them from web pages produced by Google Advanced Groups Search. I have made no changes or corrections to anybody’s posts, with this exception: I have shortened quoted sections, since in some cases people quoted entire posts, including quotes of quotes therein, and to reproduce all of these would make this document way too long.

– Butterfly Bill

From: Butterfly Bill
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering - Pennsylvania, 2010, part 4
Date: July 23, 2010

At about 8 in the morning on the 4th, while I was still up by Main Supply, I heard helicopter noise. It continued to circle as I made the descent into the gathering. This was after waking up to some loud talking around Main Supply on a morning there is supposed to be silence. This sent me into a collossally bad mood and when I got to the edge of the main meadow and a sister standing with a group of people gathered by the edge told me that nobody was supposed to enter the meadow, I grouchily said “bullshit” and proceeded towards Info. Then I looked up at the helicopter, and noticed that its tail was a different color than the one that had been here before. When I got near Robbie’s tipi, some other people told me that the meadow and been cleared for a landing and a medical evacuation. I looked out and found the pole in the center of the field had been removed, and there were no bags or clothes or anything else lying around. One person told me that the chopper would continue to circle until the pilot felt it was safe to land.

It finally did come down in the middle of the meadow. I looked like a short and chubby Huey, with a white fuselage and a navy blue tail boom. In addition to the tail rotor it had mounted on it two tails like the back end of a B-24. In orange letters were the words, “LIFESTAR STAT MedEvac”. The back of the fuselage had a set of double doors, and these opened and some men came out with a wheeled gurney and took it over behind some bushes near the edge on the far side of the meadow. The Silence was still being maintained as the noise of the helicopter stopped, but as they started loading the gurney after returning, there was a soft chorus of “we lo-o-o-ve you”. The jet engine was ignited and the rotors started to spin, and it took off after about five minutes.

I later had a chance encounter by Info with a brother who had been working for CALM and was one of the first on the scene. He said that someone had been tripping on LSD and climbed a tree, naked. He fell out and landed on his head, and broke his spine. He was bleeding and not able to walk, and ultimately the med-evac was arranged with the aid of the LEOs. Later that morning another brother said that I had accidentally stepped on his toe as I was pushing past the people trying to prevent me from entering the meadow earlier that morning, and demanded an apology. He got it.

I made myself a breakfast of ramen noodles on the propane stove in the Info kitchenette, as the 4th of July is usually a day when it is impossible to get food without having to wait in very long lines. Then I walked out into the meadow. The pole had been erected again in the middle, and in what had to have been a very short time it was again decorated with all the trinkets and talismans that it usually bears on the 4th. Then I noticed an elaborately carved totem pole lying on its side nearby. The carvings were fresh; it looked like they had been done only one or two days ago. Apparently this had been meant to be the Peace Pole in the center, but in the confusion following the demise of the helicopter it had not been brought out in time. It was not there about a half hour later, and the next day I saw it upright by a trail that ran to the side of the meadow.

Out in the meadow nobody was talking and in general silence could be perceived. I heard no noise from the directions of Kid Village and the Green Trail. But towards Dirty Kids Meadow I heard soft murmurs and rumbles, and occasional faint outbursts of “fuck you”, quite possibly in response to being told to stay silent. As in Wyoming, there were people in blacky-khaki land who didn’t feel obligated to maintain the silence. But in the main it was never loud enough to be obnoxious, and barely perceivable when out in the middle of the menu.

Then at maybe 10 o’clock I heard the sounds of a tambourine and some people telling others to be quiet, then I heard a girl’s voice saying, “You’re all a bunch of Nazis”. I looked over and saw three girls walking around onto the meadow, all talking loudly.
[I later found out on the internet that some of them were really boys dressed as girls.]

Their clothes were especially noticeable. One of them had blond hair in long dreadlocks, and she wore a short purple dress whose hem ended in several zigzag points, making her look something like an elf out on Halloween. Another was wearing a brown chemise with puffy sleeves under a pink Renaissance fair style corset over a solid turquoise skirt and white fishnet stockings beneath – making her look like a hostess at an Oktoberfest. The bra cups in the corset were empty, none of these girls was old enough to have noticeable breasts. The third was dressed in an orange and yellow checker patterned button front tank top and shorts ensemble that left her midriff bare, looking like a 1940s playsuit. She was walking around with a video camera taking pictures of all the people who approached them. There was another older woman walking behind them.

Several people who were sitting in the meadow got up and formed a circle around them and tried to shush them, but they responded with remarks like, “You’re a bunch of Nazi punks” and “You’re all a bunch of child molesters.” Other people started protesting the attempts to silence them, saying, “Let the children speak”.

Finally there was a complete circle around them and someone started an Om. One of the kids said to the one with the dreadlocks, “You’re being Omed over”, and she responded by saying, “This is getting too weird for me”, and she walked out of the circle, followed by all the rest. A little while later I heard some rumbling coming from the direction of Kid Village, and I heard their voices again, saying “Nazis” several times. I also started hearing what sounded like one of those plastic parade horns.

Then they came back to the main meadow a second time, and I found out that a fourth child had gotten hold of a trombone and was making blasts on it. The dreadlock elf passed me by, looked at my naked body and said, “Put some clothes on, you weirdo” The one dressed like a Hausfrau threw a smoke bomb on the ground that started a little clump of dry grass on fire before someone quickly stomped on it. Several people got up and I saw a mob of people forming around them, and between the legs on the outside I saw the Hausfrau being thrown to the ground and people piling on top of her. Thruout I heard the girls crying out mockingly things like, “Get your hands off me. and “You call yourselves peaceful. you’re really a bunch of violent punks.” Another Om started up, and people got up from sitting and started holding hands in concentric circles.

The girl was released, and they all walked over to 420 Emergency, then they remained there and I heard more arguing. I put my dress back on and walked over to see better what was going on. I saw the older woman a little better, and as she was walking back into the Dirty Kids Meadow she was saying to the kids, “Now you can do anything you want. You can pick stuff up out of the shitters and throw it at them; I don’t care.”

I went back into the meadow, and almost everybody was still standing and holding hands, and the Om continued on faintly some more until silence returned – but most of the people were still standing. Then I saw a man beckoning everybody to sit down, and most did. Then he broke the silence with his loud voice announcing how there would be a world crisis in 2012, the last year in the Mayan calendar, and our Hopi brothers have left us a prophecy that we should all gather in “the four corners area”, because they knew “how to show us how to survive”. Another woman got up and started to add some more words to his. When people stated saying, “Respect the Silence”, she repeatedly answered with, “I will not be silenced!” Small circles of people formed around her and the man, and a saw people trying to persuade them quietly. But there were some more outbursts from them, and now everybody was saying Om, and this time it got louder as people tried to use the Om to drown out their voices. The two people finally quieted down, but the Om, started perhaps prematurely, continued until I saw the children’s parade from Kid Village start to walk between out rings. They had entered in silence so complete that I was surprised when I first saw them. The Om continued, loud enough to discourage a few people who tried to start playing drums and a fiddle until it finally gave way to the cheer with raised arms – maybe an hour or a half before the sun was at the meridian.

From: Butterfly Bill
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 5
Date: July 23, 2010

After about a half hour of staying out on the meadow and eating watermelon, I went back to Info and then back to my tent. I saw that a circle of about 40 people had gathered in Cooperations Meadow, and I saw the girls who had been disrupting the silence sitting in a group as part of the circle, so I went and got my chair and came back to listen. In place of a feather they were passing a yellow foam rubber bathtub fishie with orange fins.

At the Colorado and Wyoming gatherings I had been hearing stories about a place called “Death Camp”, where people walking past on the trails were sometimes attacked by little kids throwing mud and rocks, hitting with sticks, or aiming squirt guns sometimes filled with urine. Sometimes they would throw firecrackers in people’s tents as they were sleeping. Their parents made no attempts to discipline the children, but instead laughed and encouraged them in this kind of behavior. This had been something that I had never experienced personally and had known only thru rumors. But now everybody saw them clearly identified here in the circle.

I finally got a good long look at all of them, especially the woman who was apparently the mother of a lot of the kids. She was middle aged in a long brown check patterned muumuu with auburn red hair, and a pierced lip that had a ring in it. A man with long hair and a beard dressed in a plain shirt and jeans lay nearby, apparently the husband and father, but he didn’t say anything. A few more children were nearby that I didn’t especially remember from earlier that morning, but they acted like they were friends or siblings.

Sometime early in the discussion I guess someone had said, “Let’s talk about facts and not opinions”, and many times when someone in the circle started to wander off into discussion of feelings the kids would start yelling, “Facts! Facts!” They interrupted other speakers often, and didn’t show too much respect for council protocol.

There was much protestation at the way the girl had been tackled and wrestled to the ground, along with names being called like “child molesters”, “perverts”, and “Nazis”. There had been someone who had tried to grab the video camera away from the other girl but didn’t succeed, and someone else had taken away the trombone and damaged it in the process.

The mama had lots of things to say about this. “I think this shows what kind of monsters you really are. You talk about peace and non-violence, but here you go attacking little girls.” As she spoke further, it became more and more apparent that she had decided to use her daughters to deliberately provoke some kind of violent reaction to prove what she thought about the hypocrisy of hippies, and she was acting very smug in having succeeded. Whenever something made her laugh, along with the smiling expression of the mouth there was an almost pained look in her eyes, suggesting that the laughter was feelings of revenge at many years of bitterness.

There was contrition among some of the people in the circle, a few went so far as to apologize for the severity of the reaction. Some suggested that “we let the children speak”. Others were like Garrick Beck who went on about how the Silence “is a delicate thing, but powerful when it is maintained, like fine spider web.” Most of the times someone defended the Silence they were met with cries of “Facts!” from the kids. One person produced a bicycle horn in the shape of a hunting horn, with the rubber squeezer missing but a collar at its end that made a good mouthpiece, and gave it to the kids to make up for the destruction of the trombone.

Somehow the Death Campers migrated to the other side of the speaking circle, and they were allowed to speak again. Some more kids had joined them, and at one point the father arrived with a plastic chest full of hot dogs in buns and fed the kids. Some of the girls said right out, “We’re just doing this to see if we can get a reaction out of you. If you don’t give us one, we’ll get bored and stop.” Someone from the circle said., “So what is the solution?”, one of the kids said again, “just ignore us and don’t give us a reaction” The mother said, “Come to our camp and talk with us an get to know us. You’ll find out that a lot of the stories people tell about us aren’t true.”

After about two hours of discussion and another trip of the fish around the circle, I heard Joe from Kid Village say, “We were given a test, and we failed”, and I thought this was a good point to leave the circle, since it seemed that everything that could be said was already said. It continued for a while longer without me.

Among the Lakota Indians there were men who had a role they called “heyoka”, a jester with a spiritual aim. As Wikipedia says:

“Principally, the Heyoka functions both as a mirror and a teacher, using extreme behaviors to mirror others, thereby forcing them to examine their own doubts, fears, hatreds, and weaknesses. ... They provoke laughter in distressing situations of despair and provoke fear and chaos when people feel complacent and overly secure, to keep them from taking themselves too seriously or believing they are more powerful than they are.”

These people in Death Camp acted like they saw themselves as heyokas, whether or not they were actually cognizant of the Indian tradition. They were here to prove that all the Rainbow talk about peace and nonviolence is all platitudes, and that the Rainbows are as violent as anyone else. The mother seemed possessed of a vehement hatred of hippies, and was out to expose them as much as she could.

They have been the subject of numerous Shanti Sena councils over several gatherings, and there have been people advocating their forcible removal. But like A Camp and the traders, they have their defenders and they can’t be kept out of the gathering in the anarchy. So they have been coming back, a direct challenge to the efficacy of all the Rainbow ideals peace and love and including everybody with a belly button. It’s a story that looks like it’s going to go on.

From: bodhi
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 24, 2010

> Several people who were sitting in the meadow got up and formed a circle around them and tried to shush them, but they responded with remarks like, “You’re a bunch of Nazi punks” and “You’re all a bunch of child molesters.” Other people started protesting the attempts to silence them, saying, “Let the children speak”.

At this point those kids - and their mother - should’ve been forced to develop a healthy respect for duct tape. ‘eath Camp - what a joke. This is just another example of bad hippie parenting

From: *stella*
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> At this point those kids - and their mother - should've been forced to develop a healthy respect for duct tape. 'eath Camp - what a joke. This is just another example of bad hippie parenting

“A defining choice for us as a species rests on weather we can transform a catastrophic obsession with punishment into strategies for effective healing.” - Bioneers

From: az whistler
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> At this point those kids - and their mother - should've been forced to develop a healthy respect for duct tape. 'eath Camp - what a joke. This is just another example of bad hippie parenting

From: Butterfly Bill
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> At this point those kids - and their mother - should've been forced to develop a healthy respect for duct tape.

And you would have exactly proved her point, that all this talk about peace and nonviolence and

From: bodhi
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> “A defining choice for us as a species rests on weather we can transform a catastrophic obsession with punishment into strategies for effective healing.” - Bioneers Hi Stella. I hope you know I was just kidding. Better to give mom and kids lollypops laced with morphine.....

Seriously, it takes a village to raise a child and it seems to me these “Death Camp” kids are starved for attention They’re prolly very lonely children outside of the gathering.

They’re also very creative in bringing attention to themselves. I’ve heard so many crazy rumors about “Death Camp” My favorite? The one where the kids bragged about pushing grandma down a flight of stairs. Obviously these kids are imaginative in their ability to sow destruction in their storytelling.

Next summer I suggest Family helps set up a theater stage at “Death Camp” and provide the kids with make-up and costumes. These children need to act out their dark fantasies in ways in which they can win approval and positive attention. Then the community can rest back on their lawn chairs knowing the kid’s energies are constructively channeled.

Do I know what I’m talking about? I never raised kids, Stella, but I was raised as one .....

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> Seriously, it takes a village to raise a child and it seems to me these "Death Camp" kids are starved for attention They're prolly very lonely children outside of the gathering.Those death camp kids are awesome and full of love....

if people responded to their antics with Love instead of anger and hate, they would soon discover how awesome those kids are!

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

and they are not starved for attention... they have a large family in rainbow that loves and nurtures them... they are very misunderstood children.

From: sagetea
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

From: az whistler
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> Those death camp kids are awesome and full of love....
> if people responded to their antics with Love instead of anger and hate, they would soon discover how awesome those kids are!

Well, TELL us the tales of your first-hand eye-witness experience with ‘them’. [and their MOM] were YOU one of the many “Daddies”??

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 25, 2010

> Well, TELL us the tales of your first-hand eye-witness experience with ‘them’. [and their MOM] were YOU one of the many “Daddies”??

I have no blood relations with them... but it takes a whole villiage to raise a child.

instead, why don’t you give them love the next time you see them, and you don’t even need to post about it on the interdumb.

From: *stella*
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> And you would have exactly proved her point, that all this talk about peace and nonviolence and
> > namaste;
> was all platitudes and we were just as violent as they were.

They are us and we are them and hostility happens all the time. The seeds of violence, hatred and greed and delusion are in everyone and so are the seeds of kindness, honesty, generosity and love. The more we are able to be kind and look at the situation through the lense of love instead of the lense of fear, and focus our attention on beauty the more fun we will have.

From: thistle
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> Well, TELL us the tales of your first-hand eye-witness experience with ‘them’. [and their MOM] were YOU one of the many “Daddies”??

I think that’s a fair question by Dave, I too would like to hear your hipstory of how you responded to their antics with love and what their reaction was.

> I have no blood relations with them... but it takes a whole villiage to raise a child.

I’m not sure how that’s relevant. I know people say we build a village in the woods but we don’t. Its merely a temporary encampment. Even most of the towns and cities we live in the other fifty one weeks of the year aren’t villages. A village, especially as referenced in that well known quote, is a relatively small group of people living together, interdependent on each other for survival. These tribal societies have numerous negative and positive reinforcements, the type of things that aren’t available in a short week long encampment, or if available, are unlikely to result in sufficient behavior modification in such a short period of time.

Outside rainbow our cities have become so large that while people are still interdependent on each other for survival, most don’t have personal relations with those we are interdependent. We are mostly interdependent with strangers. The influence of the citizens on a child is minor compared to the influence of their primary care givers. Thus we have racist children of racist adults, Christian children of Christian parents or Muslim or Buddhist children of Muslim or Buddhist parents.

Its the rare exceptional child who questions the world view of their parent.Nearly as unusual is the teen who adopts a world view significantly different than their parents. Even most adults have world views remarkedly similar to the views of their parents. While there is a general softening of some of the more harsh views and a movement towards greater freedoms, from one generation to the next one there is often only small changes.

If the residents of our cities have so little effect on a child compared to the effect of the primary care giver I just can’t see how the rainbow “village” with its temporary encampment is going to affect much change in a child in a week or two when that change is not supported by the parent or is actively contradicted by the parent.

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> If the residents of our cities have so little effect on a child compared to the effect of the primary care giver I just can’t see how the rainbow “village” with its temporary encampment is going to affect much change in a child in a week or two when that change is not supported by the parent or is actively contradicted by the parent.

you don’t seem to know how “we” live. That there is so much more to rainbow than the rainbow gathering. That for many of us, rainbow isn’t a week or two a year, but 3 or 4 weeks per gathering. I live with family most every day of the year, wherever I am... not just at the handful of gatherings I go to every year.

I’m not sure how the effect of living in cities applies to this discussion, since the people being discussed don’t live in cities.

and which parent are you speaking of exactly? is this just for example? or does it actually apply to death camp? do you know them or their parents? do you know the hundreds of loving people who spend time with them and care for them all through the year? do you realize the hurt they feel when they are affronted with such anger and voilence at a supposed peace gathering?

I’ve witnessed lives changed when someone who reacted to them with anger was presented with the possibility of responding to them with love.

From: az whistler
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> you don’t seem to know how “we” live. That there is so much more to rainbow than the rainbow gathering. That for many of us, rainbow isn’t a week or two a year, but 3 or 4 weeks per gathering. I live with family most every day of the year, wherever I am... not just at the handful of gatherings I go to every year.

YOUR definition of “family” or even “rainbow” appears to be severely flawed. But if you care to explain or clarify, I’m quite certain that all on this list are all ears.

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> YOUR definition of “family” or even “rainbow” appears to be severely flawed. But if you care to explain or clarify, I’m quite certain that all on this list are all ears.

Love is treating everyone with kindness and respect whether you like them or not. Family is everyone I meet. “Rainbow” is a tribe within that universal family, a tribe that shares some common practices and traditions (gathering in the national forest, free food, extending a helping hand to those in need, giving love to those who need it most). Rainbow extends far beyond ‘a week or two in the woods’ it encompasses every day of my existence.

Real Love is treating the people you like equally to the people you don’t like or don’t know.

I don’t understand how my definitions could come so ‘severely’ under question in a forum where everyone bashes everyone else and the way you prove how good of “family” you are is flame wars and violent words....

From: bodhi
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

That’s true. In fact I always believed that “Death Camp” was nothing more than campfire stories told by middle-age high holies sitting in their lawn chairs late at nite smoking schwag bud and being neurotic.. Bad hippie parenting breeds monsters and no-one in the Rainbow Family can be the least bit surprised to hear tales of dirty feral children roaming the gathering in packs considering our crazy lifestyle. If “Death Camp” isn’t true then we would have to create one in our heads- if only to confirm our worst fears that our children would come back one night and murder us in our sleep. Butterfly Bill is an excellent chronicle of the Gatherings and I know him to be truthful. But as you can see, he’s highly prejudiced against what he calls the “black khaki crowd”

> I’ve witnessed lives changed when someone who reacted to them with anger was presented with the possibility of responding to them with love.

Road Dawg Family are, IMHO, more dedicated Rainbows than many “House Hippies” padding about in their fuzzy slippers writing on the Internet ..... ahem .....present company excepted .....

From: rainbowcry...@yahoo.com
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> That's true. In fact I always believed that "Death Camp" was nothing more than campfire stories told by middle-age high holies sitting in their lawn chairs late at nite smoking schwag bud and being neurotic..

death camp is real and very much trouble makers ...they may seen fun to some ...untill one of the little urchins calls you a child molester or throws piss on you ...or steals then breaks your camera ......then its not cute anymore

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> That’s true. In fact I always believed that “Death Camp” was nothing more than campfire stories told by middle-age high holies sitting in their lawn chairs late at nite smoking schwag bud and being neurotic.. Bad hippie parenting breeds monsters and no-one in the Rainbow Family can be the least bit surprised to hear tales of dirty feral children roaming the gathering in packs considering our crazy lifestyle.

Death Camp is real. That they are evil little monsters with an irresponsible mother is not true.

They probably could use a little duct tape every once and a while :-) of course, so could I!

The first time I met them, they were throwing rocks at me, and I said I didn’t care, they could throw rocks at me. They did, I left, and they never gave me any trouble again. Mostly I think they are used to people treating them like crap, so they test people to see who’s who.

> Road Dawg Family are, IMHO, more dedicated Rainbows than many “House Hippies” padding about in their fuzzy slippers writing on the Internet ..... ahem .....present company excepted .....

I’m wearing sandals :-) at my mom’s house... currently *my* house is a little saturn....

From: RiverMan
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> and they are not starved for attention... they have a large family in rainbow that loves and nurtures them... they are very misunderstood children.

They are future inmates just waiting to happen... They threw rocks at my car at Ocala 98 and chipped the paint. Their camp was right near Sweet Om and the mom came by often to eat... she was very cool. I don’t know about those kids tho... the are definatly wild

From: RiverMan
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> I think that’s a fair question by Dave, I too would like to hear your hipstory of how you responded to their antics with love and what their reaction was.

I would think if you responded with love they would take that as weekness and harass you even more. Prison rules

From: RiverMan
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

From: Butterfly Bill
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> Butterfly Bill is an excellent chronicle of the Gatherings and I know him to be truthful. But as you can see, he’s highly prejudiced against what he calls the “black khaki crowd”

“Highly prejudiced”? Not against the Montana Mud people who camped next to Info in Arkansas, and not against Fat Kids, who are usually the first kitchen to come to Dinner Circle in the early days of a gathering. And I definitely wouldn’t call the Death Camp kids blacky- khaki; they were even more colorful in their dress than the hardcore hippies. But I do have culture conflicts with people like the Pirate Camp last year at New Mexico (that the rangers told me they called “black eye camp”).

From: Thankfull
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 26, 2010

> > Those death camp kids are awesome and full of love....
> I don't think we are talking about the same kids

is there, perhaps, anyone you’ve ever made a bad impression on, that never got a chance to know you, and still thinks poorly of you?

From: RiverMan
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 27, 2010

> is there, perhaps, anyone you’ve ever made a bad impression on, that never got a chance to know you, and still thinks poorly of you?

From: RiverMan
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 27, 2010

> But I do have culture conflicts with people like the Pirate Camp last year at New Mexico (that the rangers told me they called “black eye camp”).

Yeah... fuck pirate camp. They stole the Sweet Om flag at the 98 Ocala gathering and ripped it in two. We were the largest kitchen at that gathering and i thought it sucked that they did that. And I learned my lesson at the Cali national... I camped right between TeaTime and Montana Mud.. 24 hours a day of insanity

From: sagetea
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 27, 2010

> Yeah... fuck pirate camp. They stole the Sweet Om flag at the 98 Ocala gathering and ripped it in two.

I ventured thru the mud at arkansas over to a kitchen late one nite, I was sitting there and some brother came over from fairy camp all mad at em, for some reason or another, Before he left to go elsewhere he pulled out a pretty pink fairy camp flag he had lovingly made, laid it down and asked “Anyone who wants this flag can have it” That flag was taken quietly by one or more people to pirate camp and hung at their entrance trail. just in time to greet the morning sun.

From: RiverMan
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 27, 2010

> I ventured thru the mud at arkansas over to a kitchen late one nite, I was sitting there and some brother came over from fairy camp all mad at em, for some reason or another, Before he left to go elsewhere he pulled out a pretty pink fairy camp flag he had lovingly made, laid it down and asked "Anyone who wants this flag can have it" That flag was taken quietly by one or more people to pirate camp and hung at their entrance trail. just in time to greet the morning sun.

From: sagetea
Subject: The Stairway to Heaven Gathering, part 4
Date: July 27, 2010

Pirates ripping your flag in half after stealing it, is not cool at all. People coming to gatherings for the sole intent of being schwag asses is a trend that seems to be accelerating. Someone over in A-Camp doing something off the wall is understandable. Lotsa times its merely someone who thought they could drink and it did not go well for them. Some rest and lots of water next day and maybe perhaps they might just be peaceful for the rest of the time. Its the ones who choose being obnoxious as a general path , that is something i have trouble whole heartily embracing.

Give em the love, they took everything else,maybe now they will go away.’ anon

From: Karin Zirk
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 11, 2010

This is a much abbreviated version and I am omitting all names or descriptions that would indicate a specific person (other than myself.) Everything contained in this outline of events I personally witnessed except where I noted that a friend supplied a piece of information.

On the morning of the 4th, a person fell 25 feet out of a tree and landed on his head. A helicopter landed in main meadow to medivac him out.

Later that day some kids came into the main meadow through the Emergency 420 entrance. They were yelling and throwing firecrackers. At the same time, they entered the main meadow, one older brother was being chased out from the same general direction by a younger brother because he tried to get some people to be quiet during the silence. During this situation, the younger brother threatened to beat up the older brother.

People on the scene diffused this situation. At the same time, I saw a firecracker thrown into a crowd of seated people by a person under the age of 18 and heard another one. Several more people under the age of 18 attempted to light and throw more firecrackers but various people on the scene confiscated the firecrackers. One person tried to confiscate a firecracker by grabbing a kid was told by family to leave the situation and was pushed away. After much shouting and yelling by the kids under the age of 18, I heard “this is bullshit. Let’s go get XXX (a certain camp).” Then they left.

About 30-45 minutes later the same group of people under the age of 18 along with a group of late teen to twenty year old gatherers came in. One of the under 18 people was carrying a camera. They were yelling “the children get to break the silence.” The children were heading for the peace pole and various gathering participants tried to clear a path for the kids to reach the peace pole. The children successfully reached the peace pole while the young adult woman with the youngest member of the family stood back watching. At his point, I was standing a bit back from the situation, focusing on peace with my eyes open and watching closely to make sure the kids could do their yelling at the peace pole.

A friend of mine was standing with his back to the peace pole. A female person under the age of 18 with a camera was standing to his left. A long time gatherer approached her. My friend tried to put is arm in between the two of them to create space but was unable to do so as they were too close. Therefore, he put his arm around them. The next thing he remembers is lying on the ground with everyone on top of him and trying to use his right arm and right leg to keep people away. He thinks, but does not know, that the long time gatherer tried to take the camera away from the female person.

At the point things went south, I quickly moved forward and when I got there, all I could see was a very young brother on top of a pile of people with a huge crowd of people leaning in to the situation. From that point forward, I worked on getting and keeping the crowd back and away from pile of people on the ground.

At this point, most of the people in the meadow started oming. While I was trying to keep people back, a few concerned family tried to come in to “talk” to the kids and I tried to discourage that just then as everyone was too worked up to talk and knowing many of the children involved, I felt communication would be more effective once everyone calmed down.

Then people got up and one of the under 18 kids started yelling at people and kicking them. Some of the people under the age of 18 talked about leaving. I talked to him and asked him to stay in the meadow for the OM, but he said they wouldn’t or as his exact words were “are you kidding?” At that point, a number of people milled around in the same area talking about the situation. Most of the people under the age of 18, and the young adults they had brought with them, left the area around the peace pole.

There was talk of holding a council in the afternoon. I can see people discuss it, but I can’t recall if this discussion happened just then or a bit later.

At this point, people were oming and someone said that Kid Village wasn’t ready. Concentric circles started to form. I went back to my bag, made a sign asking people to “hold the silence until the children make it into the center.” Then I walk the meadow holding the sign up so all could read. I did this for 15 minutes or more.

Then a man stood up next to the peace pole and motioned with his hands for everyone to sit down. People obliged and he started making an announcement of the year 2012 or some such thing. I couldn’t really hear. Then another woman got up to announce her prophecy and finally a second woman stood up and said it was after 12 and time for the silence to be broken. A few people were able to get these three people quieted down and then everyone stood up again and started oming again.

We Om’d for a long time. The children came in and walked the concentric circles and all of them made it to the center of the meadow.

After the silence broke and the fruit was distributed, the council started forming in the “cooperations space” adjacent to INFO. One young sister under the age of 18 announced on a video tape (of which portions are on You Tube, but only later portions) their intentions. As I did not write down what she said, I will paraphrase. We were just trying to get a rise out of you and prove you’re hypocrites. Then slowly the council formed. By this time, the mother of the children who were at the peace pole came and the council started.

I did not sit in the council, but at Info next to the council so I heard some, but not all of the topics and issues discussed. I will not repeat the words spoken at the council.

Some ground rules were laid out and according to a friend who sat through the entire thing, about the only people who stuck to the ground rules were the kids under the age of 18. According to this same friend, after a while, the people under the age of 18 got bored with the council and went to get food - thus ending the council.

This in a nutshell is what happened. My guess of how the pushing and shoving got started is one of two things: Either the brother tried to take the camera from the girl and they fell down during this, or my friend putting his arm around them to try to calm them down caused someone to push him to the ground. Since he had his arms around the other two that might have pulled them down. Everyone else who was in the pile up was just trying to help even if more bodies just made things worse. Of course using this information, you are free to make your own infrences. However, keep in mind that my, trying to perform Shanti Sena by keeping the brother and sister apart, was at the bottom of the pile.

> This is a much abbreviated version and I am omitting all names or descriptions that would indicate a specific person (other than myself.) Everything contained in this outline of events I personally witnessed except where I noted that a friend supplied a piece of information.

From: Sherman Fort
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 11, 2010

“Karin Zirk” <kz...@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:utidncs15O1ZSf_RnZ2dnUVZ_q2dnZ2d@earthlink.com...

> Of course using this information, you are free to make your own infrences. However, keep in mind that my, trying to perform Shanti Sena by keeping the brother and sister apart, was at the bottom of the pile.

“Shanti Sena” is simply forcing someone to do your bidding, typically by violence. SHAME!

From: rainbowcry...@yahoo.com
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 11, 2010

> “Shanti Sena” is simply forcing someone to do your bidding, typically by violence. SHAME!

From: Butterfly Bill
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 11, 2010

> At this point, people were oming and someone said that Kid Village wasn’t ready. Concentric circles started to form. I went back to my bag, made a sign asking people to “hold the silence until the children make it into the center.” Then I walk the meadow holding the sign up so all could read. I did this for 15 minutes or more.

After the meditation in Colorado in 2006 where peopole were yelling “S-s-h-h” whenever anyone tried to start an Om and, when it did finally get started, turned out to be rather wimpy I talked with Felipe and Lynn and they agreed that this business of trying to coordinate the start of the Om with the arrival of the kids only would wind up diluting the whole experience for everybody. The Om should start spontaneously, and the arrival of the kids should signal the end, not the beginning.

Thanks for your account, Karin. This sounds very different from anything else reported and surmised so far. I was especially interested in this part:

> At this point, most of the people in the meadow started oming. While I was trying to keep people back, a few concerned family tried to come in to “talk” to the kids and I tried to discourage that just then as everyone was too worked up to talk and knowing many of the children involved, I felt communication would be more effective once everyone calmed down.

Things happen very fast in this sort of situation, and it is nearly impossible to tell exactly what happened in what sequence, or what any given person’s intention was.

It sounds as if a much of the event was sparked by people being too physically close, and perhaps acting/re-acting without thinking.

One of the best strategies for keeping the scene from getting larger than it needs to be is to remain calm, and to help keep the surrounding crowd calm (your action of keeping the crowd back and away from the involved folks on the ground was great--thank you!)

After the scene is de-escalated and everyone has calmed down, communication and de-briefing can be very effective

Much of the Shanti Sena work I have participated in has involved the last two points.

> This in a nutshell is what happened. My guess of how the pushing and shoving got started is one of two things: Either the brother tried to take the camera from the girl and they fell down during this, or my friend putting his arm around them to try to calm them down caused someone to push him to the ground. Since he had his arms around the other two that might have pulled them down. Everyone else who was in the pile up was just trying to help even if more bodies just made things worse. Of course using this information, you are free to make your own infrences. However, keep in mind that my, trying to perform Shanti Sena by keeping the brother and sister apart, was at the bottom of the pile.

Thank you Karin for taking the time to recollect the details needed to fill out the picture of what happened on the 4th. Combining you account with BB’s and a review of the videos I think it’s pretty clear what really went on

It’s apparent that on the 4th of July this summer we had a horrible and very ugly outbreak of self-righteousness among our High Holies and several attempts were made to intimidate folks into being silent. Not only were children attacked by an angry mob but attempts were made to intimidate adults from voicing their opinions as well.

According to BB the children’s initial foray into the meadow was in order to play musical instruments. They were surrounded by adults who blocked their freedom to move and then OMMM-ed in an attempt to intimidate them into being quiet.

It might have worked on other kids (those who in the past have been cowed by adult authority) but these kids had back-up.They returned to camp and brought back re-enforcements - including firecrackers. They wanted an incident and you provided one wrapped in ribbons.

Had the little girls been ignored instead of attacked they would’ve gotten bored by the lack of attention and gone back to camp - as kids do.

But they were looking for hypocrisy with a capital “H” and they found plenty enough to write a book.

It’s a sad day for Rainbow and I am ashamed our Family acted in such a fascist manner. Unless we do something to stem this ugly flare of self- righteousness and high-holiness brewing in our middle-age Family members we are going to turn Rainbow into an ugly cult. Creating gangs of “Heresy Police” to patrol the meadows on the 4th is too ugly and fascist for me to want to contemplate

From: Butterfly Bil
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 12, 2010

> It’s a sad day for Rainbow and I am ashamed our Family acted in such a fascist manner. Unless we do something to stem this ugly flare of self- righteousness and high-holiness brewing in our middle-age Family members we are going to turn Rainbow into an ugly cult. Creating gangs of “Heresy Police” to patrol the meadows on the 4th is too ugly and fascist for me to want to contemplate
> But that’s EXACTLY what you have been doing.
> THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything you have said on this thread, from your opening barrage cloaked in Hinduism, thru all the times you have said that you just don’t care about the feeling of anyone but yourself, thru all your condemnations of violence when everyone on this group knows of the violence in your past, to your final declarations that you take for yourself the freedom to do whatever you want and call anyone who has been run over by you and objects a “fascist”, has been one of the most jive ass displays of self-righteousness and high holiness that I have ever witnessed. I’m not going to listen to you giving me advice or telling me what to do any more than you’re going to listen to your “high holies”.

From: Karin Zirk
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 12, 2010

“bodhi” <psychedel...@gmail.com> wrote in message news:8e8f2bfc-88db-42b4-bab2-ccf2e8845f69@h17g2000pri.googlegroups.com...

> Thank you Karin for taking the time to recollect the details needed to fill out the picture of what happened on the 4th. Combining you account with BB’s and a review of the videos I think it’s pretty clear what really went on
> It’s apparent that on the 4th of July this summer we had a horrible and very ugly outbreak of self-righteousness among our High Holies and several attempts were made to intimidate folks into being silent. Not only were children attacked by an angry mob but attempts were made to intimidate adults from voicing their opinions as well.

I guess eye witness accounts can’t compete with your imagination. Sounds like a great novel for you to write.

From: Will Dockery
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 12, 2010

From: Pat Easterling
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 12, 2010

> Thanks, Karin... I’ve been looking for a good calm explanation of the events.

Good account, calm, reasonable, honest... And I watched the video and saw only one grey beard - was that the mob of High Holies?

But enough of that! I want to hear more ranting about MOBS of HIGH HOLIES (all black belts in kung-fu, waving nunchakus and holding whips and clubs and tazers). Heck it wasn’t just a mob, it was THOUSANDS of sanctimonious High Holies’s marching lock-step in Nazi Boots (dragging their lawn chairs behind them - or were they lazy-boy recliners?), screaming AUM in a fascist display of cruelty and anger at the cowering innocent dewy eyed pre-teens. All the High Holies, who have lorded it over us arm chair hippies for decades, then stomped the shit out of the innocent flower children, crippling, if not their bodies, at least their minds and their faith in Rainbow forever. The High Holies then circled their lawn chairs and pretended to AUM, all the while searching for more children to tackle.

From: thistle-m
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 12, 2010

> Good account, calm, reasonable, honest... And I watched the video and saw only one grey beard - was that the mob of High Holies?

That’s actually bi goalies but as the information was passed like a game of whisper down the alley it got distorted. I think the problem is obvious now. If you’ve ever watched a hockey game you know how prone hockey players are to sudden outbursts of violence. Bi referring to the fact that these particular hockey players will attack both men or women. That violence is exacerbated by the fact that goalies can use their hands! Its no wonder people are upset.

From: az whistler
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 12, 2010

> All the High Holies, who have lorded it over us arm chair hippies for decades, then stomped the shit out of the innocent flower children, crippling, if not their bodies, at least their minds and their faith in Rainbow forever. The High Holies then circled their lawn chairs and pretended to AUM, all the while searching for more children to tackle.

> That’s actually bi goalies but as the information was passed like a game of whisper down the alley it got distorted. I think the problem is obvious now. If you’ve ever watched a hockey game you know how prone hockey players are to sudden outbursts of violence. Bi referring to the fact that these particular hockey players will attack both men or women. That violence is exacerbated by the fact that goalies can use their hands! Its no wonder people are upset.

<chuckle> Sounded like an objective take on the situation. I enjoyed the sarcasm at the end. :^)

I cross-posted this to another thread, but felt it would be appropriate here too. Here is my recollection of the events on July 4th regarding Death Camp and the scuffle:

“I was near the center of the meditation circe, 2 or 3 rings out, near the side of the meadow where info booth and River Rats were located. First I heard the Death Campers shouting from the River Rats area (the direction, not necessarily the camp), things like “What? We can’t hear you! Why don’t you say something? You’re all a bunch of weirdos and pedophiles! Put your clothes on!” They started marching toward the circle. I don’t recall any instruments, like the ones I’ve seen referenced in this thread. They had their (as I’ve been told, stolen) video camera, and hollering louder. At one point, one of them shouted that Grampa Woodstock was a pedophile, which seemed to cause some internal disagreement. They argued for a moment then said, “No, Grampa Woodstock’s cool.” One of them threw a smoke bomb. I had been hearing firecrackers earlier, and everyone moved away quickly, assuming I’m sure (as I was) that the thing might explode. After it was clear that it would only smoke, a brother went and stomped it out. It was at this point that the kids started wandering through the circle taunting people, calling them freaks and pedophiles, apparently trying to cross the line and tempt someone to strike them. One brother was going behind them quietly telling people, “Don’t react, they’re just provocateurs”. Finally one brother snapped, and there was some act of violence. I didn’t see exactly what transpired but what I’ve gathered is that he threw a little girl to the ground. Instantly there was a body pile-up as people simultaneously all tried to pull eachother off of the scuffle. When it cleared the kids were righteously outraged; the little girl was sobbing, and they other kids were shouting “That’s fucked up, why would you hit kids, fuck you” and the like. Then a group surrounded them and om’d at them, they got louder, the ‘om’ got louder, and the kids were eventually pushed out of the circle. Then there was a little confusion as to whether to ‘om’ early or stay silent, and the kids parade marched in very subdued and kind of waited before the actual ‘om’ and party got started.”

Karin, I remember you and your sign. Much love to encounter you again out here in cyberspace!

From: Karin Zirk
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 21, 2010

“Finch” <atomb...@gmail.com> wrote in message news:a3d1369b-cc20-4af6-805b-938b86e3bd32@p12g2000prn.googlegroups.com...

> I cross-posted this to another thread, but felt it would be appropriate here too. Here is my recollection of the events on July 4th regarding Death Camp and the scuffle:

From: Will Dockery
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 23, 2010

> Heck it wasn’t just a mob, it was THOUSANDS of sanctimonious High Holies’s marching lock-step in Nazi Boots (dragging their lawn chairs behind them - or were they lazy-boy recliners?), screaming AUM in a fascist display of cruelty and anger at the cowering innocent dewy eyed pre-teens.

From: Preacher Mike
Subject: Karin’s Tale of July 4th
Date: August 23, 2010

> As I did not write down what she said, I will paraphrase. We were just trying to get a rise out of you and prove you’re hypocrites.

I commented on the email side concerning this situation and, while I was neither a witness nor in attendance, I’m still dealing with medical issues in FL), I have noticed a couple of points that appear to have been ‘glossed’ over.

#1: a 17 year old sister is NO child and the one mentioned seems to be a bit more than a manipulative game player.

#2: messing with silence is much the same, (and/or worse), than going into another’s /tent/campsite and telling them what to do.

The entire described scene is reminiscent of one of Jeff’s “Little Squawk’s” “HOW do you like me now” looneytunes, meant to draw attention ... choosing to violate a long held tradition to do so. (I can be an admitted a--, but even I wouldn’t violate the silence of the 4th in main circle. Heck, I don’t think even one of the ‘high-holies’ would have tried. <shaking head>

In defense of the ‘involved’ parents ... I doubt the parent had much control of her 17 yr old daughter, (or the other teens), I know I didn’t listen to folks at that age either.

As per the young brother who threatened the older brother with violence, shantisena should have pulled a council on him and dealt with it asap.

There is a long tradition in the family concerning how to deal with thieves as well.

While I can appreciate a good prank as much as the next person, this sister was WAY out of line and IMHO needs to be the focus of a couple of sister circles in the future. She sought confrontation, received a gentle versionof what she hoped for ...

The ‘prank’ appeared, (from description) to be pre-planned and was extremely disrespectful of other’s space, apparently the young woman’s goal to begin with.

I am guessing we have a new ‘high-holie’ wannabe in the making here seeking notoriety.

While there is some hypocrisy in any society, (such is the nature of the human animal), the issue of disrespect is what should be addressed here.

The fact she and hers attempted guilt-tripping is evidence in my opinion that she KNEW she was wrong which is more than apparent in the ‘editting’ of the video ... if someone wants to document an action, they should film ALL of the action, not just what works for the said goal.