PRESENT: Alan, Erik, Brian, Luis, Rob, Helena and Clifford

before the meeting started we did brief introductions:

• Erik is interested in alternative education and community
• Brian is an artist and writer
• Luis is an artist, interested in previous anarchist free school
• Rob is interested in proposing a course
• Helena is interested in teaching design, would like help in that; is also interested in the psyche and spiritual guidance; is just learning about anarchism
• Clifford is also learning about anarchism; in his previous body knew a lot about anarchism; is in the same boat as Helena, lives through her and learns through her
• Alan is interested in modern history and Russian revolution; has just brought out his old drum kit

we established an agenda and agreed on priorities:

• discuss what consensus means (20 mins.)
• course proposals (45 mins.)
• space (where will classes take place? website? publicity?); fundraising; outreach for new course facilitators (50 mins.)

1. CONSENSUS

• in Toronto we have a weak anarchist community, where people in the left most often go to Socialist-type of meetings
• we agreed on consensus as a decision-making process for the University, but we recognized consensus has its pitfalls: can lead to conscious/unconscious bullying; can fall back on status quo decisions when you can't reach an agreement, therefore leaving no room for new ideas
• we also recognized there is no perfect decision-making process, and most anarchist groups are committed to consensus, which can work in small and large groups
• some situations do not allow for consensus: if members of group do not agree on basic purpose of the group; where there are power imbalances; where there is no willingness to make consensus work
• the pros of consensus are that it makes for decisions which people feel committed to (decisions are not imposed), and we all listen to everyone's voices
• issues of power always arise, no use pretending these issues don't happen
• positions of power should be rotated, people should take turns facilitating meetings, taking notes, etc.
• facilitator makes sure that all opinions are out on the table, that people are listening; feels out when themes arise; mirrors back to the group where the discussion is going; searches for consensus
• there are different levels of supporting a decision: fully; agreeing with minor objections; agreeing but not wanting to participate in the activity that is being decided upon; or abstaining from a particular decision

we discussed the issue of blocking a decision:

• facilitator should ask persons blocking what their objections are
• what can we do if someone blocks just to be a jerk? Ideally, person would just leave on their own, realizing that the purpose of the group does not coincide with their own agendas
• but what if person does not realize they should leave? If the group asks person to leave, this sounds an awful lot like coercion to agree or be kicked out!
• if there is an emotional investment in blocking, how do you deal with that?
• we will need to come back to this discussion many times. We also note that each group develops its own consensus model

2. COURSE PROPOSALS

Brian mentioned some courses he would like to take:

• Canadiana - contemporary history, media, aboriginal

history, role of Canada in world wars, cold war, etc. issues of national sovereignty, social structure

• natural health - home remedies, nutrition, energy

usage at home

• fringe living - making paper, mending clothes,

making soap, gardening, budgeting, taxes, communal living, outdoor survival

• film + video journalism
• science - maybe combined with health course? -

learning about chemicals in products, and their effects

• language - grammar, public speaking, communication
• world studies and anarchism
• businesses and non-profit ways of organizing, environmentalism
• mysticism - openness to what we don't know, astrology, multiple personality disorder Brian would like to write an outline to propose a course on future studies - where are we going? biomechanics, etc.

Luis is interested in proposing a course on art and anarchism

• Alan encouraged an intro level course that assumes no background knowledge
• in second semester another art class can be developed Luis will write a proposal to present

Rob handed out a written proposal about Sexuality and its Discontents - how does sexuality studies relate to anarchist thought?

• while Rob left the group we discussed his proposal and decided to accept his course, with the firm recommendation that he change the title to indicate the content of the course, and change the word 'term' to 'section'

Alan presented on behalf of Christopher, and distributed his written proposal

• the group strongly encouraged Christopher about his idea, and asks him to present at next meeting - how difficult does he envision the course?

3a. SPACE

• Alan will use his living room on Mondays for his course, offered
• room for use by other facilitators on Tuesdays or Wednesdays
• we should approach various centres to use their spaces: the 519,
• St. Stephens in the market, Art Metropole (Luis will inquire), the free university at UofT^?? (Brian will inquire), OISE

3b. WEBSITE

• Erik can set one up on his site
• tao is in turmoil right now, and requires a complicated process to be hosted
• Allan G. has a server (nomadology)
• Erik can commit to be in charge of site, can set up a simple template that others can update info on, mentioned the WIKI template system which has security passwords
• can Suhail do a web design course?
• we will have to come up with a mission statement and approve it later!!
• Erik will work on a template for the next meeting

3c. PUBLICITY

• idea that as soon as we have 5 or 6 courses confirmed we produce a 4-page flyer and distribute it with our contact info
• take out an ad in Actions Speak Louder magazine (OPIRG) - Brian is a journalist and will write something for that magazine
• we will need to decide what to do if media contacts us - who is representative? which media do we accept? can we deal with 1000 emails after a media article?
• Luis can design a flyer
• we talked about getting a flyer out in mid-July at the latest - for this we need to work on website, mission statement, and confirm classes!!

3d. FUNDRAISING

• some of us can probably get some free photocopying done for flyers - but photocopying for course material can be costly
• we will try to find free spaces for courses
• we decided not to have fees for courses
• fundraising event at beginning of each term? - this is a lot of work (above actually organizing courses)
• idea of a big launch event in September (at a club? at 56 Kensington? at Labyrinth?) with a table to sign up for courses - idea is to make $300-400 - charge $5 cover
• we will need to discuss at next meeting the issue of all-ages and booze

3e. OUTREACH COURSE FACILITATORS

• so far, we have gaps in issues of race, anti colonialism, women studies, gender issues - but we might not need to cover these gaps immediately because to do so in an artificial, tokenistic way can also cause problems
• Alan will contact someone at OISE for Radical Teaching course maybe for January term
• Erik will ask friend about anarchism and religion course
• Luis will ask Jenifer about co-facilitating an art course
• we will request for facilitators in first flyer

NEXT MEETING: Sunday, July 6 at Alan's - 5pm potluck, 6pm meeting