Free University of London/What we are (to be!)

What we are (to be!)

The Free University of London is a political collective project which seeks to act upon our critique of the current state of HE in a variety of different ways. It is a decentralised project, which seeks to stimulate the pursuit of a different form of education, while at the same time challenging the capitalist nature of our higher education institutions.

• We are a broad association of those concerned by the state of higher education, their role in society and the knowledge they teach and produce. • We want to reclaim what universities and education should be.

• Pre-Figurative - One one side we are organising for egalitarian, decentralised, liberated and collectively run learning spaces, that challenge the current pedagogic approach, and try to pursue a different form of knowledge then the one produced and thought in our current HE institutions.

• Action - One the other we are acting on our beliefs to change the way the current institutions of knowledge are run. This may be through running campaigns, proposing alternatives or engaging in direct action to expose the issues with HE.

Aims & Critiques

Opening up the ivory tower, stepping out of it and acting.

Spaces

Recreating our ‘institutions’

• Universities are inaccessible, hierarchical, bureaucratic and elitist.

• We aim to create and organise egalitarian, decentralised, and collectively run learning spaces, which bring about different pedagogical approaches to education. • Minimize the ‘teacher-student’ dichotomy

Knowledge:

Countering the knowledge thought and produced within university

• We have to recognize that capitalism is driving us into collective suicide. Academic thought should not merely be an objective, impassioned account of this suicide, but rather the means to stop it. Higher E knowledge should serve, at least in part, to the imagination of alternatives, and the means to create them and bring them forward.

• Non-Bourgeois Knowledge. • Countering the bourgeois, Eurocentric, white male dominated knowledge produced and thought within our universities • Get universities to have the radical potential they used to! We need alternatives!! • Emphasize the importance of producing and imagining Radical Alternative Ideas • Discuss the variety of movements around the world challenging the current structures of power • Recognize and empowering ‘other’ forms of knowledge -which mainly emerge outside our HE institutions - as legitimate and equally important. • Lived experiences as forms of knowledge. • Using theory and discussion to imagine a different world, and put in practice • Reflection on what role the social sciences and humanities can play in transforming society and in non-vanguardist forms of political engagement and activism. • Holding Activist Workshops teaching tactics tied to direct action and other forms of political engagement

Action:

From theory to action

• We have to recognize that it is not enough to be critical intellectually. These ideas have to transformed into forms of action. • Recognizing that through collective non-heirarchical discussion we can produce knowledge and alternative proposals that go beyond the capacity of an individual. Until direct-democracy is not adopted as our system of governance, it is still the best way to come about with proposals for change.

• Developing ways of acting upon our theoretical understandings of society, by mobilizing students to be a critical and active political force. • Holding discussions and consensus meetings which bring about proposals for change. (i.e. students and lecturers discussing how to change the student assessment form) • Producing documents, phamplets and literature that explain not only our critiques but also alternatives (i.e. Free Education FAQ) • Forwarding campaigns pushing for a change to the current university system • Engaging in forms of direct action which push the concept and ideas of “the Free University”

Outward Looking - Teach Out:

One one side the recognition of how inaccessible our university institutions are, and how restricted and inaccessible higher education is. —> Outward Looking. Take ‘university’ out to the streets and other places and part of the city. Education should be accessible to all. Knowledge is a value in own right.

Inward Looking - Teach In:

A first step is recognizing that knowledge is not only the one produced and thought within our university institutions. Recognizing that its not only Phd and Professors who have something to teach us. Holding discussions, seminars and workshops within the university on a whole series of subjects not thought within university.

What Free Uni can be!

• Organizing discussion/seminar series inside and outside our university institutions. • More theoretical • More Activist oriented • More discussion based/Proposals for Change • Recording and archiving all the lecturers, discussions and meetings held held. • Doing actions around the city - Attention to drastic state of HE & proposing alternative.

___________

In Practice

• Having a logo & name, and recognizing how putting in practice alternatives is a political action. • Building an informal network of activist concerned by the state of higher education, willing to act upon it • Getting spaces (temporarily or permanently, formally or informally) • Setting up a website, Facebook and Twitter publishing the events • Holding weekly/Bi-Weekly organizational & action planning meetings • Taking initiative and setting up discussions/lecture series..

Principles

Universal Accessibility

All are welcome: students, lecturers, workers, members of the general public, so long as all abide by the principles and safe space rules. Directly democratic, participatory and non-hierarchical Based on consensus decision making, without leaders or hierarchies. Oriented around workshops, discussions and lectures which aim to attenuate the ‘teacher-student’ dichotomy, and encourage participation from all.

Liberated and Safer Space

Free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination - may these be based on gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, religion, origin or else. Holistic and critical education: While focusing on critical and creative thought often lacking in higher education, topics can be academic or non-academic, political or apolitical.

Action focussed

We recognise that critique cannot stand alone without action. These spaces not only aim to conceptualise and re-imagine possible alternatives, but are also intended for the putting in practice our ideals - through various forms, among which collective direct action.

SOME IDEAS…

Actions - creative and subversive acts • Teach Outs • Markets • Museums • Banks • Supermarkets • Tube • Train Station • Squares • Buses • Highways • Reclaiming Public Spaces • Longer Lectures/Discussions • Parks • Temporary Occuaptions • Squats/Housing Appropriations

Working Groups:

Action

• Finding spaces.. • Planning teach-outs.. • Planning

           	◦  	May 1
           	◦  	Occupy Democracy (May 1-10)
           	◦  	Street Lecture?
           	◦  	Red Squares
           	◦  	Open Day?
           	◦  	Summer School?

• Campaigns • Working group - Campaigns

           	◦  	Teacher/Student encounters
         

Seminar/Workshop/Discussion Series Program Ideas

• Why University (and Society) is Messed Up

           	◦  	Campaigns for free education..
           	◦  	Neoliberal University
           	◦  	Post-Crash Econ

• The Dreamy approach to Revolution - Political Theory, Radical Politics, Imagination and Alternatives

• Radical Feminism...

           	◦  	What its about?

• On the artsy side of things... • Revolutions and Social Movements...

           	◦  	Zapatistas
           	◦  	Kurdistan
           	◦  	Palestine
           	◦  	Chilean Student Movement
           	◦  	What is anarchism?
           	◦  	What is autonomia?
           	◦  	Housing moments in UK and EU
           	◦  	Black Panthers
           	◦  	Black Lives Matter - Ferguson

• Reading Groups/Theoretical discussions

           	◦  	Marx - Marxist society

• Decolonizing knowledge • Activist Workshops & Meetups

           	◦  	Consensus training
           	◦  	How to organize dissent?
           	◦  	Legal Training
           	◦  	Direct Action Workshop
           	◦  	Meetup with other activist
                       	▪  	Housing movement…

Outreach/Media/Artwork

• Website • Facebook/Twitter/Social Media Team • Articles/Press • Outreach (Networking with other groups…) • Artwork & Graphics

           	◦  	Fliers
           	◦  	Posters
           	◦  	Banners
           	◦  	Graphics

Similar Projects

• FUNY - Free Uni NY - ’68
• FUB - ‘68
• Anti-University of London - ’68

• Free University of Sheffield
• Free University of Brighton
• Brixton Debates

• Alternative Magna Carta
• Dash Magazine
• Green Art Lab Alliance
• Sustainability Jam
• Forever Swarn
• Oslo Principles
• Coy
• IAUC