Anarchist Free University (AFU) Meeting

Sunday January 21, 2008

519 Church Street, 3-5pm

In attendance: Angel (facilitator), Michael, Christian, Amanda, May, Enda, Ryan, Rachel G., David, Laura, Bert, Possum, Rachel M., Aaron (minutes)

Agenda as set at meeting: 1.Run down of the AFU and current AFU projects for new persons in attendance; 2.Newsletter; 3.Courses; 4.Updates on OISE, SEE and online list/bulletin board; 5.Brazilian Anarchist collective (Ativismo ABC).

1. Run down of the AFU

• Angel and Christian discussed the promotion of AFU in NOW magazine's New Year's issue in which the AFU was listed first among things to do with for/on the cheap in Toronto. The list was compiled alphabetically.

• Because the AFU is not currently offering courses in the winter the only upcoming events are the monthly workshops held at, and in conjunction with, the Toronto Free Gallery beginning the 3rd week of Februrary. The 5 workshops will address the ideas and practice of radical pedagogies and are generally laid out each month around the following topics: 1.Marxism; 2.Paulo Friere, "Pedagogies of the Oppressed"; 3.Body and Education; 4.Different schools and radical pedagogies; 5.First Nations and Education.

• Ryan wondered what promotion had been done so far for these workshops. Christian is working with Heather from the Free Gallery to promote the event. Both agree that promotion is essential for these workshops because of a general weakness within the AFU of making their events and the AFU visible, and following through on things like promotion.

• Rachel added that it would be a good idea to promote the workshops at OISE and other alternative schools as the workshop topics will be of particular interest for students at these institutions.

• Christian, following from Possum, proposed that the workshops could perhaps become a focus for any forthcoming AFU online discussion forums (see point 4 below).

2. Newsletter.

• Michael informed the group that the Process and Principles committee discussed putting together a flyer-styled newsletter at that committee's last meeting. Michael suggested that it would be a good idea to: 1. create a group outside of the Process and Principles committee to complete the newsletter as it may not be possible for the committee to do so; 2. for the flyer to be ready for, and to promote, the up coming workshops.

• Edna wondered about a suggested timeline by which the newsletter needed to be ready. Michael suggested 2 weeks before the workshops.

• Amanda's suggestions on alternative forms of printing the newsletter led to discussion of funding the newsletter. Rachel agreed that she could pay for things like photocopying but that there needed to be a more reliable and efficient means of ensuring there is money readily available for such projects. Ryan informed the group that because the AFU is neither a registered business nor non-profit the AFU has not been able to get a bank account to deposit a donation from CUPE 3903 of York University. Ryan said that Alterna Credit Union requires a group like CUPE to vouch for the AFU and that, to do this according to CUPE's executive committee, a motion needs to be passed at a CUPE general member's meeting (GMM) instructing the CUPE executive to support the AFUs efforts to get a bank account. Aaron, a CUPE 3903 member, volunteered to put forward such a motion at the next CUPE GMM (taking place January 22, 2008).

3. Courses

• Edna wondered what courses were confirmed for the summer and that, after the lull this winter in courses, the AFU should work to ensure that a good variety of courses be offered. To do this friends of AFU members need to be encouraged to hold courses. Edna further suggested that something like a reading group-styled course would be a good idea. The only course lined up for the summer will be a course on "Whiteness and Critical Race theory" beginning in May and taught by Jason.

• It was unsure whether or not the "Gnosticism course" was running in January. Because the course was originally agreed upon by the AFU members before the Fall, the question was raised as to whether or not the course needed to be reproposed by the instructor as the make-up and interests of the AFU had changed since then. It was suggested that the course could be reviewed if and when it ran if it was deemed necessary by those attending AFU meetings at that time.

• Angel suggested that an online discussion board would be an ideal place for people to suggest fields of interest that need to be covered or particular courses the AFU could run.

• May asked what type of courses the AFU usually ran? The AFU tries to run both theory-based and practical based/skill sharing courses although there has been a tendency to favour more academic-styled courses. Amanda informed the group that in Brazil it was difficult for those with the fewest resources to attend the "Free University" in Sao Paulo because economically and socially better-off students filled the majority of available spaces in courses.

• Rachel recalled that the AFU course run by Ryan on "Desire and Japanese Video" was both popular and successful because it was a good mix of readings and video, thus allowing those who might now have completed the readings to participate in class discussions. She encouraged this and courses like it to be run in the future.

4. Updates.

• Possum has been in touch with Prof. Bristo of OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) who put together the "Anarchist Social" a while ago and was told there was the possibility of perhaps offering "OISE Free Credits" to those taking AFU courses. Possum will follow up on this.

• Christian went to inquire about the possibility of running courses in conjunction with SEE (School of Experiential Education) through the Toronto School Board. There may be a possibility that SEE students can get partial credits for taking AFU courses. Christian will follow up on this but may not be able to do so for a while.

• Possum tried but was unable to get software to work that would allow for online discussions. He will try again with other software. This raised the question as to the purpose of an online discussion and what format \226 list discussion or online bulletin board \226 was the best format to meet such an end. The discussion that followed weighed the pros and cons of both an email list and online bulletin board format. Concerns about an email list were that it would clog people's email accounts with too many emails and that it would be hard to follow or take up any particular discussion topic. Given the limited activity on other AFU lists the clogging of email accounts was not deemed an immediate concern. In general there were concerns about the role of a moderator for both format and the problem with spam. In reply to those who concerned with discussion moderation being a possible form of censorship the position of moderator would rotate like other AFU positions and that there would be efforts to archive all posted and unposted communications. The moderator would primarily weed-out spam but, as May recounted from her experience with an Indy Media group in Hamilton, there was also the need to watch for posts that contained racist, discriminatory, and other hurtful content as anything posted on the AFU online discussion would represent the AFU. It was suggested that perhaps a format where people could login with a password would limit such posts. In conclusion: it was agreed that the AFU would work to set up an email list but keep the possibility of a bulletin board open for the future. Possum will work towards getting this list up and running.

• The group was reminded that online formats are not entirely inclusive but are limited to those who have access to, and choose to use, the internet.

5. Brazilian Anarchism

• Amanda, a member of "Atavismo ABC" of Sao Paulo, Brazil, distributed a newspaper and spoke about the Free School and Anarchist movement she is a member of in Sao Paulo and for whose newspaper she is researching an article on Canadian Anarchism over the next month. Amanda described the various programs run and the resource made available to everyone through Atavismo ABC (freegan meals, language courses, libraries, workshops, direct actions etc.,). Atavismo ABC is a non-profit with all funds raised through grass roots fundraising. For more information on Atavismo ABC see their website: eeso.vila.bol.com.br or contact them at: somaterapia@gmail.com.