Abridged Minutes from General Meeting of August 28th, 2005

The meeting was facilitated by Lauren. Minutes were taken by Theresa, but also Richard took down some notes. These minutes are an abridged version of Richard's notes. The meeting was attended by at least a dozen people, including but not limited to: Lauren, Chris S., Theresa, Ivan, Ashar, Frank, Andrew, Stu, Margaret, Christian, Tim, Jason, Bob (?)....sorry about excluding anyone, I did not write down everyone's name at the time. Also please forgive any errors in characterizing courses, I was writing in a hurry and did not know that these notes would be posted.

Agenda

Course Proposals

Course Times and Locations

Promotion/ Connections

Anti- Frosh/(dis)Orientation

Course Proposals

1. Tim proposed Killing Buddha as a Fall course, he also said that there would be a winter course he would like to facilitate called Buddhism for Anarcha- Feminists. Tim brought both a course outline and textbook entitled Freeing the Buddha, from which the readings would originate. He mentioned the course would also include alot of meditation, including walking meditations. There was some real enthusiasm for the course and the course was approved.

2. Stu proposed Back to the Land as a Fall course. This course would cover aspects of rural communal movements and the importance of social ecological approaches to anarchist thought and practice. Stu proposed to draw on a number of authors to look at how a movement might emerge emphasizing non- hierarchical rural communities that would be the foci of local food and material production. There was some concern about the title, which included the play on words and streamlining and specifying more clearly what readings will be undertaken. There was also some concern voiced over contextualizing the emphasis of eco- fascist writers such as Rudolph Steiner.

3. Chris S. provided an update on the course Judo for the Gentle. He said that there was alot of interest, but space was still an issue.

4. Christian talked about proposing a course on alternative education and free skools. He said that he would bring a proposal to the next meeting and asked for input from members of the collective.

Rob brought up the question of how the collective could better integrate new members, perhaps as part of facilitator training. This is an important point and has been raised at previous meetings.

5. Andrew and Theresa proposed a course on the Politics of Co-operatives. The course would provide a detailed look at the different kinds of co- operatives and how they can be contextualized within an anarchist perspective. A proposal was provided to illustrate the progression of the course. There were a number of films and speakers listed, including more mainstream political figures. Some questions were raised with regard to the relevance of the speakers listed to anarchist thought and practice. It was also suggested that the facilitators provide a framework at the beginning of the course within which different kinds of co- operatives could be evaluated. The course was approved.

Course times and locations

The course Cultural Economy of Hip Hop would be held on Tuesdays and 7 pm at 540 Spadina. The Direct Action course would be held on Thursdays. There was some discussion about use of the campus co- op locations for courses, but that ultimately fell through. Although Theresa and Andrew said that they were going to hold the Politics of Co-operatives course at their co- op location. All other courses times and locations would be determined in the near future.

Promotions

Promotional concerns included production of flyers and posters as well as stencils for shirts and selective structural decoration....Also, the importance of working with other radical groups was brought up. It was thought that more networking would be a positive thing to do.

Anti- Frosh/(dis)Orientation

Concerns were brought up about food/ transportation/ and promotion. Since the posting of these minutes is happening AFTER the event, I just want to say it was a successful event in terms food quantity and quality, attendance, and fun. Hope everyone who wanted to be was at Trinity Bellwoods on 9-11!

A final meeting for the potluck working group was scheduled for 6 pm on Wednesday August 31st at Uprising.

The next general meeting of the Anarchist Free University would be held on Sunday, September 18th at Uprising Bookstore, Baldwin Street, Kensington, Toronto.

John Gilbert - on 10 Sep 2005, John wrote:

Apparently there was a meeting on August 28, 2005. The minutes may still get posted soon.

Admonish this message or the messenger (me) again for posting this message, but I feel strongly that loyal website visitors deserve any comment about meetings not a blatant blank in an otherwise complete meetings archive (until recently). This message is in lieu of the blank space for the August 28 meeting.

a) I'm told that the minutes of the August 28 meeting are missing because a new member got lost in the shuffle: "The Aug 28 meeting minutes was taken by a new member who does not have access to a computer" and she said that she would contact us in order to help her out.

b) I'm told that the minutes of other meetings since May 15 are missing because too little was discussed.
.................................................................................................................................
... (On Sept 8 I had impatiently inquired to info(at)anarchistu.org "Who the fuck are taking the minutes at anarchistU", and these reasons above were the reasons given to me (along with a chastising for my annoying pushy pseudo-suggestion and my frank and candid complaint in street language.)

Peace
John - godhas4legs@allstream.net