the peckham experiment

via wikipedia small:

The Peckham Experiment took place between 1926 and 1950, initially generated by rising public concern over the health of the working class and an increasing interest in preventative social medicine.

Williamson and Pearse recruited 950 local families to be part of “The Peckham Experiment”. Paying one shilling (5 pence) a week, they had access to a range of activities such as physical exercise, swimming, games and workshops.

Members underwent a medical examination once a year, and they were monitored throughout the year as they participated in the Centre’s events.

Central to Scott Williamson’s philosophy was the belief that

left to themselves people would spontaneously begin to organize in a creative way, and this happened,

‘in undisturbed ecosystems ..the average individual, species, or population, left to its own devices, behaves in ways that serve and stabilize the whole..’ –Dana Meadows

the members initiating a wide range of sporting, social and cultural activities using the facilities offered by the Centre.

The Pioneer Centre was designed by Sir Owen Williams and moved away from the idea of traditional lines dominating medical buildings. Williams created a large open space using the latest structural techniques allowing the Centre’s doctors to properly observe the members. At the middle of the Centre a large swimming pool was covered by a glazed roof, which, along with large areas of windows, allowed natural light into the building. These windows could be fully opened to circulate fresh air into the building. The cork floors allowed people to move about barefoot.

The Centre went into abeyance during the Second World War, but was restored to a condition fit for re-opening by the members themselves. In 1950, however, it finally closed, since its innovative approach did not fit well with the new National Health Service, and it proved impossible to obtain adequate funding from other sources to keep it going as an independent concern.

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echoes of mincome.. ness..

and baan and mitra .. ness

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from seeds beneath the snow.. last chapter of epilogue:

via wikipedia small:

The Peckham Experiment took place between 1926 and 1950, initially generated by rising public concern over the health of the working class and an increasing interest in preventative social medicine.

Williamson and Pearse recruited 950 local families to be part of “The Peckham Experiment”. Paying one shilling (5 pence) a week, they had access to a range of activities such as physical exercise, swimming, games and workshops.

Members underwent a medical examination once a year, and they were monitored throughout the year as they participated in the Centre’s events.

Central to Scott Williamson’s philosophy was the belief that

left to themselves people would spontaneously begin to organize in a creative way, and this happened,..t

‘in undisturbed ecosystems ..the average individual, species, or population, left to its own devices, behaves in ways that serve and stabilize the whole..’ –Dana Meadows

the members initiating a wide range of sporting, social and cultural activities using the facilities offered by the Centre.

The Pioneer Centre was designed by Sir Owen Williams and moved away from the idea of traditional lines dominating medical buildings. Williams created a large open space using the latest structural techniques allowing the Centre’s doctors to properly observe the members. At the middle of the Centre a large swimming pool was covered by a glazed roof, which, along with large areas of windows, allowed natural light into the building. These windows could be fully opened to circulate fresh air into the building. The cork floors allowed people to move about barefoot.

The Centre went into abeyance during the Second World War, but was restored to a condition fit for re-opening by the members themselves. In 1950, however, it finally closed, since its innovative approach did not fit well with the new National Health Service, and it proved impossible to obtain adequate funding from other sources to keep it going as an independent concern.

_________

echoes of mincome.. ness..

and baan and mitra .. ness

_________

from seeds underneath the snow by david goodway.. [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-goodway-anarchist-seeds-beneath-the-snow] from last chapter of epilogue:

peckham experiment: the study and cultivation of Health: not with the treatment of disease..

They had no doubt that as biologists studying the human organism they had to deal ‘withfree agents’, for ‘any imposed action or activity becomes a study of authority, discipline or instructiont not the study of free agents plus their self-created environment’. Possibly foolhardily, they spoke warmly of ‘a sort of anarchy’, believing that ‘a very strict “anarchy”… will permit the emergence of order through spontaneous action…’

huge.. any form of m\a\p

his lack of paternalism… as far as this is humanly possible, was complete. He was not interested in how people should behave, or in how they might be made to behave, but only in how they did behave in any given circumstance… this made for a kind of democracy in the Centre which I doubt has ever been seen anywhere else. … He had a rooted objection to the leader in society, regarding him as someone who pushed around the human material he wished to study in spontaneous action, and who exerted the force of his personality to drive more ordinary people out of the true of their natural behaviour into activities unsuited to them and which they half-consciously disliked

socrates supposed to law et al

brown belonging law et al

So while the ‘health overhauls’ enabled individuals to learn what they might be suffering from, the doctors did not direct them what to do, allowing them to make informed, autonomous choices. Williamson told the London Anarchist Group: ‘I was the only person with authority… and I used it to stop anyone exerting any authority!’

colin ward: ‘…for many of us the experience of Peckham was a unique laboratory of anarchy, it was a study of the living structure of society, exploring principles of organization applicable not only to health but to every aspect of social welfare, to housing and above all to the organization of work.‘..t

our findings:

1\ undisturbed ecosystem (common\ing) can happen

2\ if we create a way to ground the chaos of 8b legit free people (by org ing around legit needs)

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