ANARCHIST FREE UNIVERSITY 14 JUNE 2003 -- 7-10PM

MEETING MINUTES

As people arrived we chatted socially and ate some wonderful vegan food at the potluck. The meeting started shortly after 7pm.

There was a brief go-around to introduce ourselves to the group.

Agenda items were discussed. The list we came up with is:

1. Philosophical issues.
2. Course suggestions.
3. Attracting course facilitators.
4. Fundraising.
5. Website design.
6. Consensus decision-making.
7. Rooms/space for courses.
8. whether to grade/how to grade

1. Philosophical issues There was a discussion on the issue of how academic and structured the free university courses should be. The argument for a more structured course design is that it would enable students not enrolled in the regular university system engage with a rigorous program in courses they feel passionate about. A structured course with negotiated expectations would offer continuity and should offset the tendency for a slow degradation in attendance. These remarks were prefaced with the idea that the anarchist free school collective should specialize and not try to be an omnibus organization whereby all issues are subsumed under one general overriding principle which tends to happen in socialist groupings.

There was a debate about the extent of incorporating academic with experiential learning in the free school course design; also it was asked what was meant by "academic". Some felt that it is not a conflict to include courses which are based exclusively on hands-on learning, such as bicycle repair, or direct-action protesting. Others felt that we should strive to offer something different from experiential learning and offer something that is about reading, thinking, reflecting and writing. This approach could include protests and hands-on learning as long as it also included a way of thinking and reflecting on the link between theory/action. Someone felt strongly that practical, experiential learning is important since there are persons who learn in different ways and who may therefore feel alienated from an exclusively text-based approach.

A general consensus was reached whereby courses should be structured around a 10 week duration (with flexibility) and that it should include an academic component in terms of reading and reflecting.

2. Course Proposals Alan presented a course proposal on the Russian revolution (hand-out provided). Some questions that were raised include: How stringent should we be about how the course is structured? What do we do about those who are unwilling/unable to complete the course requirements? How are grades assigned? How do we assess qualifications to teach a course? Are we trying to ape the structure of a corporatist university system?

It was mentioned that it is difficult to approve courses with so manyunanswered questions relating to the structure and requirements for the free university.

Alan left the room so the general assembly could discuss his course proposal.

A general discussion was able to focus on a couple of suggestions. A course outline should be negotiable at the first meeting. What constitutes participation and course requirements would be discussed as well. It makes sense to have requirements but not to have penalties, rather individuals would have the opportunity to discuss their own progress with their peers or the facilitator(s). There could be a diversity of approaches to course structure, i.e. group discussion/reading.

Alan's course was approved by the general assembly.

Sam presented his outline for a course on Media and politics. His primary text is Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. Sam proposed an 8 week course which would primarily be reading focuses for the first 4 weeks, then include small group discussions for the remaining 4 weeks. There would be rotating facilitators. The course would be organized by encouraging student facilitators to prepare material as well as having guest-speakers from the community.

Sam left the room so the general assembly could discuss his course proposal.

We felt that Sam's proposal was great, and we agreed to it in principle. We suggested that Sam should work toward organizing the course in more detail. We recognize that Sam wishes not to take a lead facilitator role, but he would need to be centrally active in organizing it. The general assembly approved Sam¹s course in principle with course details to follow.

Several members suggested that we continue to brainstorm on what courses to offer, without necessarily committing to be the facilitator for them. The concern is that course proposals take up a lot of time and we are still in the preliminary planning stages. This was agreed, but with the understanding that when there are concrete proposals on offer that we should allow some time to discuss them as well.

We will defer agenda items 3-8 for the next meeting, as well as Rob's course proposal on sexuality.

Bill presented a course proposal from himself and Byron. The focus is on the course itself as an activity. For example, each person organizes an activity each week along Absurdist principles, or following Crimethinc philosophy. There was general interest and support for this idea but we asked Bill and Byron to develop it a bit more and present it next time. For example, it will need a title and a paragraph description for the free university publicity leaflet.

Brian presented ideas for courses he would be interested in. A film-making or video-making course, low cost, activist. A course on living on the fringes of society: making clothing, sustainability, finding food, growing food. A course on society, new ways it can work, social problems, poverty, homelessness. Canada studies. What is a country? Canada as a possible model of a new kind of country (with many cultures and diversity), Canada in a global context. Sciences: a holistic approach, anarchism and science. Self-healing/health/fitness: questioning medicine, drug companies, researching a disease. City politics: regulations, the politics of space, transport issues.

NEXT MEETING: TUESDAY JUNE 24 at 196 Manning Ave (at Dundas) POTLUCK @ 5PM MEETING STARTS @ 6PM

Attachment. This is a revised version of the course that Alan presented to the collective.

ANARCHIST FREE UNIVERSITY anarchistfreeu@yahoo.ca

Introduction to Modern History: The Russian Revolution (ten weeks) An introduction to modern history through a case study of the Russian revolution and its aftermath. The emphasis is on examining different approaches to writing history.

Course requirements: To be discussed at the first meeting

Course books: To be discussed at first meeting.

May include Isaac Deutscher, Stalin: A Political Biography (Penguin, 1966) E. H. Carr, What is History? (Penguin, 1964) John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World (Penguin, 1966) Nestor Makhno, The Struggle Against the State (AK Press, 1996)

Week 1: Introduction Introductions, discussion of writing history, workshop on a letter written by Russian soldiers in 1917 from Steinberg, Voices of Revolution, 1917 (Yale, 2001), 126-7.

Week 2: Just the Facts? Discussion of E. H. Carr, What is History? (Penguin, 1964). 'Historical Interpretations of the Revolution' in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution (1988) Ronald Grigor Suny, 'Toward a Social History of the October Revolution,' American Historical Review 88(1983): 31-52. Also in his The Structure of Soviet History (Oxford, 2003) and in D. H. Kaiser (ed.) The Workers' Revolution in Russia, 1917 (Cambridge, 1987).

Week 3: I was there Discussion of John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World (originally published 1919) Morgan Philips Price, Dispatches from the Revolution: Russia 1916-1918 (1998)

Week 4: Social history of the revolution Examples of this approach include: Rex A. Wade, The Russian Revolution, 1917 (Cambridge 2000) D. H. Kaiser (ed.) The Workers' Revolution in Russia, 1917 (Cambridge, 1987). David Mandel, The Petrograd Workers and the Soviet Seizure of Power (Macmillan, 1984) Rex A. Wade, Red Guards and the Workers' Militias in the Russian Revolution (Stanford, 1984)

Week 5: Take me to your leader Discussion of Deutscher, Stalin: A Political Biography

READING BREAK

Week 6: Russia in 1905 Social history and the first Russian revolution. Robert Edelman, Proletarian Peasants: The Revolution of 1905 in Russia's Southwest (Cornell, 1987)

Week 7: The Revolution of Feb 1917 An unorganized revolution? The role of women.

Week 8: October 1917 Including a discussion of the role of anarchists in the revolution Paul Avrich, The Russian Anarchists (Princeton, 1967)

Paul Avrich (ed.) The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution (Thames and Hudson, 1973)

Week 9: The Left Opposition to the Bolsheviks: > From the Workers' Opposition to the Kronstadt rebellion Paul Avrich, Kronstadt 1921 (Princeton, 1970)

Week 10: The Civil War and Authoritarian Socialism in Power Nestor Makhno, The Struggle Against the State (AK Press, 1996)