In the first part of this interview, Ethan Hughes talked with The Technoskeptic about events that led to the founding of The Possibility Alliance, an intentional, electricity-free, petroleum-free, permaculture community in northeastern Missouri. He described daily life on the homestead and the rewards and challenges of the gift economy and sustainable living.

In the second part, Hughes expounds on the mission of social justice that drives him and how it is intertwined with his lifestyle. Plus, how do children raised without electricity or money react to modernity? The interview has been condensed and edited.

Inspirations
Mo Lotman: Do you think that we generally underestimate what we’re capable of as a human race?

Ethan Hughes: Yeah. I point to my inspirations, which I think of in education. In first grade I learned about some amazing people like Bacha Kahn. A lot of people don’t know about him. In what’s now Pakistan, when the British were assaulting Northern India, the Pashtun, which are Muslim, Bacha Kahn was a rich landowner and he decided to create a non-violence army, trying to heal the land from the war. They would heal anyone, any side. And they had a standing army of 100,000 non-violent soldiers. It’s the largest standing non-violent army known in the history of the world.

There’s a wonderful book, Non-Violent Soldier of Islam. Incredible story. They would walk and just heal the hillside and rebuild schools, and sometimes the British thought that it was a joke and would open fire on them and they would open their arms. It’s incredible. And then once Pakistan became separate, he was imprisoned by his own government because he was dangerous. ’Cause he was just going to live his truth.

But they had to switch guards with him because he’d become friends with the guards, and the guards would be like, “Why do we have this amazing person?” And of course, because he’s Muslim, that story’s been hidden, pushed away, that the largest standing peace army that we know of in human history was inspired by Islam.

You can take so many cases of history, Harriet Tubman went to freedom and then once she crossed the line she realized, “I’m not free until everyone’s free,” and went back and brought 300 women and children across the line to freedom. She had a bigger bounty on her than any of the other generals or anyone in the Civil War. Just this small woman, who just demanded everyone tasted freedom. And so those are the moments that take great courage, but to realize, yeah, if one human being has done it, it reminds me that I can imperfectly go for it.

All drawings from The Possibility Alliance Newsletter

Imperfection
ML: The imperfectness of it, I think is important to get across. And I like that you mention that, because I think for a lot of people, there’s a barrier there between what they want to go for when they feel like they will fail or they can’t live up to someone like Harriet Tubman.

EH: Yeah. We’ve become a big target too, because we’re imperfect. So here I’m trying to practice non-violence and be peaceful, and a couple years ago, with visitors there, my mom’s second husband passed away, and I got into an argument with my wife, and I walked out, grabbed this bamboo thing, knocked against the door, the bamboo broke and went through and smashed the window.

My daughter starts screaming, I walk outside, I’m so upset ’cause we have to replace the industrial window that I kick a chair and the chair goes up on the table and smashes this jug. And then I kick another chair that flies in the outdoor kitchen and a visitor, Mark Becker, is like making pizza in our cob oven, and I didn’t realize he was there.

I dealt with anger, growing up in Gloucester, like there was fistfights. And so the first response was just embarrassment. Here people are coming to the Possibility Alliance and one of the founders looks like part of the problem.

Mark Becker said, “In that moment I was either going to be terrified of you or I was going to come,” and he just came to the barn, put his arms around me, and I just started to cry. I mean, all that pressure of watching my mom suffer through another death. And that’s the difference, that we’re imperfect. But the response isn’t, “Oh, you’ve now lost your membership, you’re a powder keg.” It’s more of like, “Wow, you actually need more support than any of us.” And that was this pivotal moment in my life where Mark came into the barn and just hugged me.Someone who came to the Possibility Alliance who sold their car and gave all their money to the homeless population in St. Louis was the same person who stole the Reece’s peanut butter cups from a visiting youth group.

And so here’s the paradox, the same person, that’s being human. So when they drove away, thinking one of the kids ate it, we sat in a circle and that person shared, and that person laughed and cried, and we’re like “Here we are! The Possibility Alliance!”

I think when we take those people off the pedestal, you know to realize that Gandhi did amazing things, and also from his kids perspective wasn’t really there as a parent. Had some strange sexual issues. Some people say that Martin Luther King drank and cheated on his wife, and it’s like, we’re human. Those things don’t cancel each other out. And I say that with great honor.

When we think we have to be perfect, it freezes us. We have to work and then forgive ourselves, and I’m accountable. I had to clean up my relationships. Not just like, oh, you messed up. Accountability. But it makes it really exciting, ’cause when you’re taking risks, you’re gonna make mistakes. And we need to take a lot of risks right now and make a lot of mistakes.

Ideological Impurity
EH: We want to support everyone’s vision. So we’re in great solidarity with Dancing Rabbit eco-village that’s doing solar and carpooling with veggie oil. All the ships are important.

Scott Mann was just out, that does the Permaculture Podcast. In the interview [he] was like, “Yes, and I’m dreaming of a day where we don’t need this information to get out, that I can close down my computer and it’s done.” Like using a technology to transition out of it. So that’s the exciting part.

We’re all where we’re at, you know, doing our important work and trusting that any movement towards more justice, any movement towards less impact to the Earth, we have to celebrate. So a friend gets rid of the SUV, and gets a Lexus, or another friend gets rid of their second house and shares it in their community, that’s a celebration.

Lifestyle as Lever
EH: I realized, OK, I can lobby and do reformist work, I can do direct action, but why not put a lever into every part of my life? So I’m starting to show an imperfect, different way to live. I don’t like the arguments that lifestyle choice isn’t anything, you should do activism. Activism isn’t anything, you should do lobbying. If you’re called to something, let’s do it all. We need change from inside, outside, up, down.

And I think it impacts you. When I was at the fracking action in Winona, [Minnesota], the largest mass arrest in Winona, we blocked shipments of frack sand. And the owner came out and was really angry. And he turned to everyone and said, “Oh, you’re all using natural gas in your stove, and this is hypocrisy!” and 200 people were like, “Well, that’s true,” and I turned to him and I said, “Well, I use solar cookers and rocket stoves. That’s it, I haven’t used natural gas in years.” And he looked at me for a couple seconds and he turned to everyone and he said, “This guy can be here!”

I think we respond to integrity. I think it has a lot of hard-to-track impact. ’Cause then he had to really think, “Oh, there’s another way.” So now, who knows, he went home and thought “solar cooker.”

ML: Your approach is very interesting because it’s very holistic. You’re looking at everything and you’re trying to align it into one coherent world view, which I don’t think a lot of people necessarily do. And that’s very inspiring.

EH: I’ve just noticed that it’s been very powerful to have all those self-transformations creating alternatives like biking, and also being socially and politically engaged. Both direct action and also helping local towns shift and not creating the government as an enemy. Especially local government.

We’re getting a bike lane and the mayor was invited, said “Thanks for inviting me. Progressives in Missouri, they never invite me, but I want a bike path, people are overweight.”

You know, actually believing that if we reach out…. I think that enemy identity, we see it in politics right now, it just divides us. Where is the actual overlap? Like how Republicans and Native Americans came together to block the Keystone Pipeline. They said the cowboys and the Indians. But what an incredible coalition! And that’s dangerous to the corporate powers.