The Boho Village Project

A number of years ago in the States a group of Libertarians dreamt up something called ‘The Free State Project’, and the purpose of this project was to increase their influence by concentrating their numbers in one state. They , like all 3rd parties in the US, have virtually no representatives at the national level, and very few at the state level, at least in terms of state senators, governors or even mayors of towns. They had basically come to the conclusion that this was never going to change no matter how much the general public grew to loath and fear the two major parties. So, they came up with a list of possible states, based mainly on how Libertarian minded these states were already, and also on their population size which needed to be fairly low in order for a influx of a few thousand or even thirty thousand (their desired goal I believe) to have an affect. They also considered such things as livability, quality of life, and recreational possibilities, but I’m guessing these were secondary concerns to the need to channel their influence into the biggest possible payoff. They ended up choosing New Hampshire, the Live Free or Die State. Did it work? Well, in the last election Obama took New Hampshire by a comfortable margin.

Despite what seems a failure on the part of the Libertarians, the idea is an appealing one to me. Not to create a libertarian state, but for any underrepresented minority to decide they want to stake out a little land for themselves and pull their collective power together and do more than the individual parts could spread out within the world at large. Maybe the idea of sequestering oneself within a group of like-minded individuals sounds like something only right-wing groups or religious zealots would ever attempt, but it’s really more or less what we all do. In cities we flock to those areas where we feel most at home, the ones where there is the densest concentration of folk most like us, or if we grow up in the country and don’t feel like we fit in, we migrate to the cities as soon as we reach adulthood. All I’d like to suggest is that maybe the bohemians and artists of Britain should do the reverse. Maybe it’s time some of us leave our little enclave within the city and gather our strength at a predetermined point out in the country. Find a small village that already has a sizable population of artists, writers, nonconformists, never-do-wells, etc., and seek to gain a clear majority. And it’s not so much that I don’t like being surrounded on all sides by people who don’t all appreciate my deviation from the norm, but it’s more that I don’t want to be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of any type of human being. I’d rather live in the country, near mountains, along unspoilt swaths of sea, nestled within a bit of wilderness, surrounded by a rich panorama of rural life and ecodwellings. I want all the art galleries, indie cinemas, wholefood cafes, second hand bookshops, and music venues, but without all the chain pubs, semi-detached homes, Super Tescos, youth gangs and ring roads.

To some extent this has already happened. In Wales you have a dozen or so small market towns that have seen an influx of bohos, mainly ageing Gaia hippies, or else have tried to rebrand themselves as something other than just a pit stop for the English on their way to and from their caravan parks along the sea or in the mountains. Into the first category fall places like Llandovery, Llanandras, and Llanidloes which have become small havens for artists, craftsfolk, urban refugees, and those seeking an alternative lifestyle. Into the later category, there’s a whole slew of places who have tried to focus their efforts on one nitch market, places like Machynlleth, the so-called green capital of Wales and home to Center for Alternative Technology, which is personally one of my favorite Welsh villages. Then there’s Hay on Wye, a thriving center for used books, and Blaenafon, a UNESCO heritage site that’s getting in on the used book store action. There’s Llandeilo, an upscale rural retreat (more Bobo than Boho), Llanwrtyd Wells, the capital of Wacky Events, and Abergavenny, the self-styled gastrovillage of southeastern Wales. And there’s other places with no such focus, but which would probably make the short-list of villages to overtake, places like Llandudno, an old Victorian resort town that could really do with an influx of weirdoes, or Dolgellau, a handsome old town where the Quakers sought freedom from persecution in the 17th century, so it at least has some history of this sort of thing.

I like all these towns, but don’t know if I’d ultimately pick any of them as a place to settle permanently. I think I have to admit that there are some urban amenities I’ve come to expect as part of my daily life, things like Cinemas and authentic Italian restaurants, things which nearly all of these towns lack. Fortunately Wales has a good deal of mid-size towns that hold promise, almost all of which are home to one of the Welsh Universities. There’s towns like Swansea in the south, Aberystwyth along the western coast, and Bangor in the north. Aberystwrth is particularly appealing due to its isolation and history of anti-establishment attitudes and greenish political scene. On the down side it’s a bastion of anti-British Nationalism, and I’m all for local government and I understand that being subjugated to the English Crown sucks, but in general I find nationalism a big turn off. I could probably put up with it so long as they don’t have an ingrained dislike of Americans.

So, there’s my list of potential places to start the Boho Village Project. I don’t know if anyone could actually get such a project off the ground. It sounds too silly. It sounds even sillier than the Free State Project which seems to have gone tits up. And maybe things like this don’t work because there are so many other forces at play in our lives, such as the need to find employment, and in England, at least, most everyone gets sucked into the vortex of London or one of the other big southern cities in their attempt to find a proper career. Sure, bohemians are supposed to tolerate poverty and scarcity better than most, and they’re supposed to be able to live off the land and get along with out super markets and things like the national power grid, but I suppose the number of people who are really willing to give up all the luxuries that their urban-based service industry job provides is fewer than you’d imagine.