Written
and updated since 1992. Updated
Oct. 2014.
ConFest is a Campout Alternative
Living Festival that started in 1976 in Australia and continues to this day. Down
to Earth (DTE) is a non-profit cooperative that ensures the continuance of
ConFest
CONFEST AND
SAFETY
While ConFest is a place to
explore alternatives, it is also a place to explore care and respect of others.
DTE folk and ConFesters respect the integrity of others. It is not in any way
in keeping with the Spirit of ConFest to be engaging in inappropriate
behaviour, and or unwanted contact with others. Folk are supported to care for
themselves and each other and there are within the gathering people that are
linked into DTE processes for sustaining the integrity, wellness, and safety of
ConFest. Workers kitchen, arts village, information, and first aid, and folk
carrying the DTE CB radios can link you into this process.
In practical terms, dehydrating
is a major issue, so always carry and drink water. And injured feet are no fun
at ConFest, so always wear suitable footwear.
For over twenty three years DTE
has always had an informal community wellness support process that has been
going quietly behind the scenes with well evolved processes, experience,
competence and track record. The processes set out below have evolved from this
experience. There has also being a series of well attended workshops on the
themes of ConFest Ethics and Processes for addressing ConFest ethics breaches.
Consistent with the ConFest Ethos, these wellness processes are all about taking back ability over our lives –
individually and collectively as a ConFest Community. Processes support the whole
ConFest Community embracing and supporting well being. It is about self-help
and mutual-help, rather than the mainstream ‘we do it for you’ ‘wellness being
‘dispensed’ by ‘experts‘ ‘delivering services’ from
some ‘service centre’.
The following provides hints of
these informal community wellness support processes
Possible Sources of Feedback on Alleged Ethics Breach
o From a distressed person to
someone giving support
o From ConFesters who are
participants at the same happening, event, workshop etc.
o Hearsay, where people repeat what
they have heard from others
o Oral comments ‘in confidence’.
Does the confidante disclose comments received in confidence?
o Oral reporting; the disclosure of
events with no, partial, or full descriptors; with or without identification of
the person(s) involved
o Multiple reports of the same
incident
o Multiple reports of separate
incidents involving the same person(s)
o Learning via the grape vine
o Informal and more formal
reporting
o People reporting something has
happened, though will give no details
o Hearsay reporting on the Internet
o Issues raised at Morning Sharing
(a ConFest tradition where a number of hundred would come together to share a
discussion circle and engage in ceremony)
o Issues of fair equitable process
in naming alleged offenders in large groups
o Open and closed radio links
o Issues relating to:
o Hearsay reporting
o Written statements
o False allegations
o Proof and reasonable proof
o DTE members and others being
inadvertently and or unwisely caught up in aiding and abetting – with
significant criminal law implications
o Covert surveillance and openness
o ConFest wellbeing and crowd
contagion
Support of a
Distressed Person or Persons
Support by:
o Family, friends, and
acquaintances
o Caring strangers
o Eye witnesses
o Members of a village community
o Support by friends or strangers
within the ConFest Community
o First aid tent folk
o Information
o Workers kitchen
o People camped nearby
o Identified folk with support
experience
o DTE informal wellness support
group (that has been going quietly behind the scenes for over twenty years with
well evolved processes, experience, competence and track record – including the
highest level of ‘professional’ care
Obtaining Further
Details from a Distressed Person
o Issues of confidentiality
o Respect of the current
psychological and emotional state; no further escalation via information
gathering
o Weighing previous concern with a quick
response in identifying the ‘alleged offender’; preventing possible harm to
others
o Balancing distressed person’s
non-disclosure with safety of others
Seeking Out and
Contacting Eye Witnesses
Contact by:
o Family, friends, and
acquaintances of distressed person
o Caring stranger(s)
o Eye witness/witnesses
o Identified folk with support
experience
o DTE informal wellness support
group that has been going quietly behind the scenes for over twenty years with
well evolved processes, experience, competence and track record
Contacting Persons
Identified as Alleged Breakers of the ConFest Ethics
Contact by:
o Family, friends, and
acquaintances
o Caring strangers
o Eye witnesses
o Members of a village community
o People camped nearby
o Identified folk with support
experience
o DTE informal wellness support
group (that has been going quietly behind the scenes for over twenty years with
well evolved processes, experience, competence and track record)
o Processes whereby this support
group becomes/does not become involved
o Processes for determining who
from the support group become involved in a particular context
Processes for linking self-organising community processes into DTE
informal wellness support group and the ConFest committee ethics processes
Balancing fairness, equity and safety for:
o Distressed person
o Alleged offender
o Wider ConFest community
o ConFest spirit,
o ConFest Committee, and
o DTE directors
Preventing witch hunts, mass blame, and judgement
Positions that may
be Taken by the ‘Alleged Offender’.
o Refuses to comment
o Provides own version of events,
meaning, and or rationale for what happened
o Denial
o Justifying the behaviour
o Admits to some or all of the
alleged behaviour
o Provides mitigating circumstances
o States the other party was a
willing partner
o Others
Processes Ensuring
Social Ecology, Equity, Fairness and Healing for the Alleged Offender
o Presumption of innocence (?)
o Issues relating to the distressed
person and the alleged offender being at the same meeting
o Evolving processes of informal
and formal action
o Use of open and closed radio
links
o Issues relating to privacy in the
context of linking with the Committee of the Board and the Directors
o Processes relating to the issuing
of a formal letter from DTE to alleged offenders
Other Matters
o Minimising the possibility of a
report stressing the whole of the ConFest community
o Processes for relational
mediating, support and healing involving large numbers of people (c/f Birdlands ConFest alleged rape aftermath)
o Providing healing support for people
wrongly accused
o Providing healing support to the
DTE informal wellness support group
o Healing support for offenders and
support in re-entering the ConFest community
o Ethics ceremonies and rituals
o The low profile of the DTE
informal wellness support group
o Evolving the experience within
the DTE informal wellness support group
o If, when, and how to involve the
police
ConFest and the Next
250 Years