Because we all have different visions of life and diverse personalities, Ecotopia Biketour has developed a set of basic values, which helps all of us to create similar expectations from this project. Proposing different ideas and sharing diverse insights is always appreciated, but please keep in mind that these are the basic values of the Biketour.
HORIZONTAL ORGANISING
The Biketour is aiming to be a non-hierarchical community, and there is a collective responsibility to realize this principle. Decisions are made and problems are resolved by practicing consensus. Many people who come on the Biketour are not experienced with working this way, so please bear in mind that it works best if people concentrate on the discussion and make constructive proposals for concrete problems. We try to keep a balance between working effectively as a group and respecting everyone’s personal preferences and freedom.
Ecotopia Biketour is self-organised It is prepared by an open group of former participants and anybody who wants to help out. On the tour, there is ideally no difference between organiser and participant. The people who prepared it try to share their knowledge with other participants so that all of us know how to keep iketour going. Everyone is welcome to help out with organising the iketour. Get involved
On the tour, . Everyone can choose when/if they want to pull a trailer, keep the communal money, or do the cooking.
The Ecotopia Biketour is multi-lingual. It is a collective responsibility to make sure everyone understands and can be understood and, if possible, alternating the language used in circles (). In the past, English has most of the time been the dominant language on the Biketour, but we encourage multilingual communication so as to include those who do not feel comfortable communicating in English.
SAFER SPACE
On the Biketour we aim to create a non-discriminatory environment, where discrimination based on perceived or actual gender or sexual, class, race, ability or religion is not tolerated. The Biketour, like anywhere else, is not a place free of discrimination, but it should be a place where discrimination discussed in an open and constructive way. We encourage people to be willing to listen and learn. Although everyone can join Ecotopia Biketour, it is not open to people who show persistent oppressive behaviour. The Biketour commits to supporting and promoting the safety of participants from all kinds of oppression and discrimination.
Privacy must be respected: towards other participants and the projects and groups that we visit. Photography and filming should be cleared with all participants before hand, and no photos or videos should be uploaded, sent or published on the internet without the explicit consent of all the people depicted.
Because the group often is very diverse, participants should be considerate of their different experiences and backgrounds, and varying involvement in activism, which influence their values. e are all working towards finding what values work best for the Biketour community and society at large.
INCLUSIVENESS
The Biketour aims to provide opportunities for non-formal education. Here as well, everyone is encouraged to take an active role in making this aspect of the Biketour a success. If you think that you could give “workshops” on a specific topic or share an ability, you are more than welcome to do so.
Everybody should be able to participate in the Biketour. Therefore, in the “Ecotopia style” of touring, the distances are kept low and we try to make it possible for everyone to go at their own pace (for example by having some people leave early to mark the way) We support each other with preparing and fixing our bikes.
We want to make participation inclusive – also in regard to money. For this reason, our money is collected as an anonymous, suggested donation of 3–5 EUR per day (or equivalent in other currencies) The average amount of daily/weekly biketour costs are hard to estimate, because currencies fluctuate, economic circumstances change every year and we cross regions with very different cost and income levels. If the suggestion for the donation had to be corrected, this would happen through a consensus decision with participants during the tour.
SUSTAINABILITY
Meat eaters and other non-vegans are welcome to join the tour,
If we can’t find enough food in the bins or in the wild we choose to support local farmers/small shops because industrial farming and supermarket chains produce many social and environmental problems. Please buy food in small shops or directly from local farmers! Small is beautiful.
JOINING THE BIKETOUR
We encourage to avoid planes for joining the Biketour. We alternative means of transport
In bigger groups, people need time to get to know each other and joining participants need time to adjust to the group and learn about the self-organisation processes that we share among us. Therefore stay with us for a minimum of 1-2 weeks to become an active member of the group, although shorter stays are also welcome.
These guidelines have evolved from 27 years of experience, and the thousands of participants that have taken part over those years … we are always open for new ideas and suggestions to improve this process – to make the iketour experience an example of the social and political and well as social values we all share.
