Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 2:22 PM
Subject : ALERT rainbow URGENT


Voici le message d'un Rainbow à propos d'un article diffamatoire paru dans la presse espagnole ! En dessous, vous trouverez la réponse d'un autre Rainbow sur comment travailler avec la Presse:

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Hi folks,
I've spent the ast two weeks or so investigated the web and was surprised just how present the various
Rainbowfamilies are, following up links one can get very easily get from 'rainbow gathering' entered in a search machine to sitemaps and adress list, I mean, not E-mails but full postal adresses of Houses where our people dwell.
So I was about to exercise my mind very hard in order to find the words
that might touch your hearts, as heartstuff itself can't possibly be transmitted in digital media; to the end of lovingly leading you towards accepting what the Spirit has expressed repeatedly through the medium at the heart of our family, a properly called and tuned circle: not the web. I am afraid I won't have time to search for words, as events have cought up and now I'm apparantly called to do something.

Thing is, today, sun 6th of october, I found a press article about the rainbow family in the spanish october edition of Maxim, an UK based international soft porn mag the like of Playboy or Hustler, 6 pages, lots of photos, a text that while neatly sticking to political correctness compatible language associates us to sex, drugs, and tribal drumming.
A box explains ' How to roll a joint for a big crowd' , a picture is subtitled 'uuhh, forgotten to put the shirt, babe?' and so on and so on. In the moment the only possibility to see the article and its context is to run to a international press newsagent and get MAXIM, spanish ed., october 2002. I don´t know about the other editions, and I will go on working on putting the stuff onto the net, feel free to help me with it, I´living on the street and my acces to scanners, text recognition etc. is difficult. MAXIM themselves , while advertising us quite publicly, are hard to find on the net. Those who hack'n'crack are welcome to try their skills on maximspain.com and revistafuturo.com .

John.

P.S: The article is by Mirás Pontes, Fotos :Patrick Firat (Fikat? Fihat? bad print) The editor claims that 10 people have spent a year with the raibow family
"para pirarnos" , so mayby
a) they're known to us
b) they've made sure with the fotos

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Oh dear.... So now we're featured as drug-crazed, sex-mad idiots in the soft-porn press. It was bound to happen, eventually. Naked girls running around will always attract the wrong kind of attention.

I have been trying to get people to respect the Web consensus (no gathering addresses or maps, no contact details beyond those of focalisers)ever since I became involved in the Rainbow. But some (yes, I'm thinking of you, Bernhard) use semantics to pretend that that consensus is dead - and
threaten to land us in this kind of mess as a result.

THE PRESS
Professionally, I work with the press a lot. I know how it works, and what
makes it tick. You can't keep it away, but you can work with it. That means,
among other things:
- filtering press access,
- ensuring visiting reporters are taken around by reputable spokespeople
(i.e focalisers),
- making sure the press understands the "no pictures" consensus. Most reporters want to work with their sources; if you explain the procedure for taking and using pictures (always ask, in case of doubt, don't), most will respect it.

We can - and should ! - use the press to our advantage. A press kit containing positive articles and endorsement letters from the authorities like the ones we got in Croatia and Italy) should be kept, and articles translated into good-quality English. It is an amazingly helpful tool when you negotiate with authorities for subsequent Gatherings. In the language of the industry, it's called "third-party endorsement" - and it works at all levels, right up to the very top. We use it when we ask people if they've liked a workshop, rather than trusting the person organising it who says "it'll be great". Authorities use it when they have to take an unusual decision ("well, if that mayor thought these weird hippies were clean and nice, then maybe it'll be OK"). Let's make our collective life easier and use that tool too!
I don't have copies of the articles in question. But if anyone has any,I'll be happy to take care of them, ensure translations, build a press kit and distribute copies to scouts and focalisers. It's an easy job for a desk-bound guy like me to do...

With love,

Patrick