Sustainable activism: Zähne putzen!

The project “Zähne putzen” (German for “to brush one’s teeth”) aims to enable sustainable and long-term activism.
It was designed for activists who are burnt out or struggling with mental health problems, who have suffered from repression, or who simply need a rest, a breather, or time to prepare.

The networks of ecovillages ( Global Ecovillage Network) and political communities ( Kommuja) have been working for years to build a world that is tantamount to utopia and system change. Many open-hearted people are working on different adjustments for a new society. This goes from ecologically sustainable lifestyles and self-sufficiency to a structure of mindful, appreciative coexistence and alternative, capitalism-critical ways of dealing with money –such as common economy / free flow– as well as educational alternatives, e.g. in the form of their own free schools. Clay-straw houses, permaculture, meditation & yoga, plant-based purification plants, local, vegan, and organic nutrition, research on new models of partnership and love – all this, and much more, can be found in the community movement.

Over time, numerous experiments in dealing with group dynamics as well as skills for group processes and organizational forms have accumulated in the “community research spaces”. Nonviolent communication, forums, radical therapy, sociocracy, “we-process”, systemic constellations, consensus procedures or connecting rituals are just a few examples.

In May 2019, at the Sulzbrunn symposium “Rebel*Innen des Friedens” (Peace Rebels), a realization took place: as part of socio-ecological change, communities and political activists want to connect and bond more.
GEN and Kommuja show solidarity with the protests and actions, while providing spaces and expertise for the “Zähne putzen” initiative to community projects all over Germany. Because we all want a system change!

You can find further information about the background, the support possibilities of “Zähne putzen”, as well as contact details, on this website: https://aktivisti-retreat.org/en/