the principles:
ethos & values
to our practice
London Decom is a community built on radical
inclusion, creativity and care.
The principles guide how we gather, create and
leave our mark on the world and each other.
the principles that guide us.
Radical Inclusion
We welcome the stranger, and ask nothing of you before you join in: no prerequisites, no gatekeeping. We actively work to lower barriers, so participation is open to all who want to take part.
Gifting
We give freely, without expecting anything back. A gift here isn’t a trade. It doesn’t ask for a return, an exchange, or anything of equal value in reply. Give what you can, however small, and let it be enough.
Decommodification
No sponsorship, no selling, no advertising. We protect the spirit of gifting by keeping commerce out of our spaces, so nothing that happens here is for sale. It’s shared, freely, between the people who show up.
Radical Self-Reliance
Come prepared to rely on yourself. We encourage everyone to discover and draw on their own inner resources, rather than expect others to provide for them, while still looking out for one another when it counts.
Radical Self-Expression
Express yourself however is uniquely yours. Only you, or the group you create alongside, get to decide what that looks like. No one else has a say in it, as long as it doesn’t put someone else’s safety at risk.
Communal Effort
We build things together. Creative cooperation and collaboration are how our art, spaces, and community actually get made, and we work to produce, promote, and protect the networks and places that make it possible.
Civic Responsibility
Organising an event means taking responsibility for the people in it. We look after public welfare, communicate what’s expected clearly, and make sure everyone understands the part they play in keeping things running well.
Leave No Trace
We respect the venue and the world beyond it. Nothing gets left behind. We clean up after ourselves, and aim to leave every space we use in a better state than the one we found it in, however small that difference is.
Participation
Decom isn’t something you watch. It’s something you do. We believe real, transformative change only comes from getting stuck in, not standing on the sidelines, so everyone is invited to contribute in their own way.
Immediacy
Be here now. We clear away whatever stands between us and the present moment: the people around us, our own inner selves, and the experience itself, rather than let something else substitute for actually being here.
these principles aren’t rules. they’re a promise.
We live by them to create experiences that transform us.
These principles are always underpinned by consent.
Everyone who attends our events must understand this.Consent is an agreement between people to do something specific together. It is not just about sex,
it’s needed before doing any interpersonal interaction.
Most so since the pandemic, we need to be checking
that we have consent for something that might seem
as innocuous as hugging.
we decided to up the Leave No Trace game to Leave a Better Trace.
The burner community doesn’t just change the people in it, it has the power to shape society for the better. That’s why London Decompression upgraded Leave No Trace to Leave a Better Trace.
We still honour the basic principle: leave the environment exactly as we found it. But why stop there, when our community can leave it better instead? That might mean planting trees somewhere that’s been desertified, building something the local community can keep using long after we’ve left, or simply inspiring people to take further environmental action of their own.
This means our mission has expanded to include:
- Reducing our environmental impact.
- Educating our community on environmental issues
- Empowering people to live more sustainably, at burns and beyond