At Risk of Being Forgotten: Great British Libertarian Educationalists Leila Berg and Bob McKenzie

AT RISK OF BEING FORGOTTEN: GREAT BRITISH LIBERTARIAN EDUCATIONALISTS LEILA BERG AND BOB McKENZIE. ANYTHING MORE NEEDED TO BE SAID ABOUT EDUCATION?

A talk by Ros Kane and Emily Charkin

Saturday 23 July 2016, 2.00pm - 4.30 pm

@ The MayDay Rooms

Organised by the New Anarchist Research Group

R F McKenzie is a largely forgotten libertarian educationalist, but Ros Kane considers that he has written the last words on the subject. Attempting to initiate child-centred, creative practices within the state system as head of two Scottish secondary schools, he was – not surprisingly – twice kicked out, ending his days writing and lecturing. Ros, who has flirted with teaching and now works in child mental health, will present an account of Bob McKenzie's life, work and books, and invite a discussion about what lessons we can learn of the possibilities and pitfalls of trying to apply A.S. Neill-type ideas in state schools. Ros Kane is author of To Have An Only Child.

‘We talked practically non-stop’:  Mackenzie and his radical networks (1910-1987)
This talk explores how Mackenzie's life and work can be understood in the wider context of radical educational and political ideas in the twentieth century. Emily will draw on her current research on John Aitkenhead (1910-1998), who was friends with Mackenzie, and ran a private boarding school in Scotland called Kilquhanity (1940-1995) based on many of their shared ideas about freedom and community in education.  I will also share perspectives on Mackenzie from my research on Leila Berg (1917-2012) drawing particularly on a transcript of an over-night meeting which Berg hosted at her home in London, in 1968 - a radical cocktail of Mackenzie, Duane, Neill and Holt.  I will argue that this network and their debates can help us draw significant distinctions between progressive and radical educational ideas - and their relationship to anarchist political thought.

Emily Charkin's historical work is concerned with anarchist educational ideas, experiments and the learning experiences of ordinary people.  She uses these historical accounts to cast light on debates in the philosophy of education in the present. She is currently working on an ESRC funded PhD at the UCL Institute of Education with a working title: ‘Together they build a structure to suit their needs’: Children's experiences of self-build, radical education and anarchism from the 1930s to today. Her previous work has been about the Peckham Health Centre (1935-1950), Whiteway Colony (1926-today), Colin Ward (1924-2010), Leila Berg (1917-2012) and the US de-schoolers in the 1970s.

Emily has also worked outside academia as a social researcher at the National Centre for Social Research and a curriculum director for the civic leadership organisation, Common Purpose.  She and her architect-builder husband are currently setting up a work hub and 'school' of self-reliance at Wilderness Wood where adults and children can work and learn together. 

MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH

Please note, that we have a new venue, The MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. The nearest tube station is St Paul's, but there are others close by. For more details about the MayDay Rooms and how to get to there (including a map) go to their website:

MayDayRooms: http://maydayrooms.org/rooms/visiting/

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

An Alternative to Neo-Liberal Education - Venue Change!

AN ALTERNATIVE TO NEO-LIBERAL EDUCATION

VENUE CHANGE

NOW AT THE MAYDAY ROOMS

Apologies for the short notice but unfortunately it has been necessary to change the venue for the meeting on Saturday 28 November.  This will now be held in the MAYDAY ROOMS, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH, 2.00pm – 4.30pm. 

NEW ANARCHIST RESEARCH GROUP

JOINT MEETING WITH THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CENTRE (LINCOLN)

Saturday 28 November 2015

Mayday Rooms

88 Fleet Street

London, EC4Y 1DH

2.00pm – 4.30pm

The Social Science Centre (SSC) in Lincoln is a self-organised co-operative higher learning provider that is democratic at all levels of its organisation. The scholars who are members of the Centre work and study together whether they are traditionally students or teachers. One of the aims of the Centre is to analyse and dissolve the tensions in the relationships between research and teaching, and students and academics. Set up by academics from the University of Lincoln, the Centre has no relationship with the University, although it is a critique of the formal institution as a dysfunctional neoliberal arrangement in many ways. The SSC aims to ‘reinvent’ the University and transform the scholars’ relationship to knowledge in order to insert their own experiences into theoretical knowledges that aim to emancipate them as active change agents. The SSC engenders provocations, conversations and discussions that enliven the notion that all those who are involved in active knowledge work should become (co-) producers of knowledge. Two of the (student) scholars and an academic from Lincoln will be visiting the Anarchist Research Group to talk about the centre and their experiences studying there.

In this session, we would like to tell you a little about our experiences with the SSC and then invite a discussion on the SSC, self-organised education and the relationships between education, learning, and social change.

The Social Science Centre provides free public higher education in the city of Lincoln and emphasises the collective and collaborative nature of education. The Centre was opened in 2011 by academics and students and Lincoln residents who feel passionately that those wishing to study higher education should not have to take on the burden of debt. There is no fee to pay when joining the Centre, only what you can afford. Free also means freedom to study outside of the current disciplinary structures of higher education around topics and issues that are of direct concern to you and your local community.

  

Anarchist Research Group Website: http://torrianomeetinghouse.wordpress.com/where-we-are/ 

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

An Alternative to Neo-Liberal Education - Venue Change!

AN ALTERNATIVE TO NEO-LIBERAL EDUCATION

NEW ANARCHIST RESEARCH GROUP

JOINT MEETING WITH THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CENTRE (LINCOLN)

VENUE CHANGE

NOW AT THE MAYDAY ROOMS

Apologies for the short notice but unfortunately it has been necessary to change the venue for the meeting on Saturday 28 November.  This will now be held in the MAYDAY ROOMS, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH, 2.00pm – 4.30pm.  

Saturday 28 November 2015

2.00 pm - 4.30pm

The Social Science Centre (SSC) in Lincoln is a self-organised co-operative higher learning provider that is democratic at all levels of its organisation. The scholars who are members of the Centre work and study together whether they are traditionally students or teachers. One of the aims of the Centre is to analyse and dissolve the tensions in the relationships between research and teaching, and students and academics. Set up by academics from the University of Lincoln, the Centre has no relationship with the University, although it is a critique of the formal institution as a dysfunctional neoliberal arrangement in many ways. The SSC aims to ‘reinvent’ the University and transform the scholars’ relationship to knowledge in order to insert their own experiences into theoretical knowledges that aim to emancipate them as active change agents. The SSC engenders provocations, conversations and discussions that enliven the notion that all those who are involved in active knowledge work should become (co-) producers of knowledge. Two of the (student) scholars and an academic from Lincoln will be visiting the Anarchist Research Group to talk about the centre and their experiences studying there.

In this session, we would like to tell you a little about our experiences with the SSC and then invite a discussion on the SSC, self-organised education and the relationships between education, learning, and social change.

The Social Science Centre provides free public higher education in the city of Lincoln and emphasises the collective and collaborative nature of education. The Centre was opened in 2011 by academics and students and Lincoln residents who feel passionately that those wishing to study higher education should not have to take on the burden of debt. There is no fee to pay when joining the Centre, only what you can afford. Free also means freedom to study outside of the current disciplinary structures of higher education around topics and issues that are of direct concern to you and your local community.

  

Website: http://torrianomeetinghouse.wordpress.com/where-we-are/ 

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

12th Working Class Bookfair

12th WORKING CLASS BOOKFAIR

31st October 2015
Saturday at 11:00–17:00

Museum Vaults
Silksworth Row, SR1 3QJ City of Sunderland, UK
Directions: About 11 minutes walk from Sunderland rail station

Sunderland Working Class Bookfair 2015

Books, magazines and pamphlets will cover at least: local and general history, Marxism, environment, football and other sport, culture, railways, mining, fiction, social science, co-operatives, economics, Anarchism, international relations, Socialism, trade unions, sex, drugs & rock n' roll... smile emoticon
Stalls confirmed so far include Unite Community, Clothing Bank, Active Distribution, PM Press and Mayday Books

What is going on?

Despite the accidental way Jeremy Corbyn has become Labour leader this has opened up new spaces for politics, and we aim to welcome all progressive people.

Immediately, the Tories are in crisis with the defeat in the Lords, but this doesn't mean we are happy with things as they are, no - we want lots more!

REMEMBER Remember the 5th of November is coming up soon and we hope everybody's making their Tory dummies to burn. Andrew Lloyd Webber is the latest candidate to add to our list of dummies.

On a wider level the Liberals have collapsed because they're career opportunists; its class against class now and you have to take sides. Recent media scare stories have proven that the spectre that haunts Europe is no longer that of communism but of anarchism, and on this Halloween we can note the importance of this haunting.

Our side are the poor, workers, unemployed, the NEETS, disabled, the pensioners and those trying to get a decent pension, migrants and the otherwise oppressed such as the trainee workers - THE STUDENTS. We want to spread great literature that is useful for our people.
Words are not enough though and we have to put ideas into practice on a large scale.

Come and plan for the day out in London when the massed ranks of education workers, students and the otherwise pissed off at the TORY government will be making their voices heard for once on the large STUDENT protest on November 4th in London.

A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of anarchism

In London a large Anonymous march on November 5th will see Class War dragging an effigy of Zac Goldsmith, the posh Tory boy Mayoral candidate, down Downing Street where it's going to be burnt.

Hopefully we will be hearing from those who went to the Manchester Tory conference about what a great time they had too.

This is an open invite to all fellow travellers to come on down to the 31st October Bookfair and have a great time; Teesside Solidarity Movement, Steelworkers, Sunderland Welfare Action group, the Industrial Workers of the World, SPGB, Class War, NUM, Mayday books, North East Anarchists, the Black Bloc (if we can find them), UKUNCUT, syndicalists, students, teachers and lecturers, and many more are invited as well.

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/12th-working-class-bookfair.-31st-october-2015.-sunderland

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

London Anarchist Bookfair 2015

LONDON ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR 2015

Saturday 24th October 10am to 7pm

Central Saint Martins, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AA

Books, pamphlets, magazines, meetings, films, discussions, crèche and older kids space, food and much more...

We have finally found a venue suitable for this year’s Bookfair. Central St. Martin’s is a huge building behind Kings Cross train station. It is a fantastic space for us all to display why anarchism is just such a bloody good idea. In these days of hyper capitalism an alternative is needed. That alternative can only be anarchism. Come and find out why.

If you want to book a stall or meeting or want an advert in the bookfair programme go to the bookings page.

What is anarchism?

Like all really good ideas, anarchy is pretty simple when you get down to it - human beings are at their very best when they are living free of authority, deciding things among themselves, rather than being ordered about. That's what the word means: without government. Read on...

Anarchism and the bookfair

Bookfairs provide a space where like-minded people can come together to re-affirm old friendships, make new ones, discuss all things anarchist and anticapitalist and start planning the future revolution. They're also one of the public faces of anarchism. Anyone unfamiliar with the ideas or wanting to know more about the politics can come along, look through books, sit in or get involved in meetings, workshops and discussions or just chat to the groups and organisations having stalls there.

It is also a space where we counter the rubbish talked about anarchism by sections of the media and our opponents. Bookfairs are one small element of making anarchism a threat to the present political system.

We need people to help us publicise the event to every nook and cranny in London. If you are new to anarchism, check out the pages websitesand bookfairs

There are links to anarchist and campaigning groups around the country and anarchist bookfairs throughout the world. 

See: http://anarchistbookfair.org.uk/

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

London Radical Bookfair 2013

LONDON RADICAL BOOKFAIR 2013

On Saturday May 11th 2013, the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) will be hosting a new radical bookfair, to take place in London’s Conway Hall. The idea behind the fair is to create an event which showcases the depth and breadth of radical publishing and bookselling in the UK.

The ARB is composed of booksellers with a range of subject interests, including socialism, anarchism, peace/pacifism, sex & gender, environment, anti-racism and progressive children’s writing: we intend for the London Radical Bookfair to represent the full spectrum of radical publishing.

The event will culminate with the announcement of the winner of the ARB’s book prize for the best political non-fiction, The Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing. This year for the first time the Bread and Roses award will be complimented by a new prize, The Little Rebels Award, to be given for the best piece of fiction for readers aged 0-12 years.

As well as the bookfair in the main hall, we will be hosting talks in the Brockway Room throughout the day, with short-listed authors from the two book prizes presenting and discussing their work.

Entrance to the fair will be free for all. Food and drink will be available.

There will be lots of information about the fair and book awards to follow. An announcement for how to get involved in the fair, either as a stall holder or as a volunteer, will be made soon.

Guest Speakers include: Mark Fisher, Sarah Garland, Donny Gluckstein, Danny Dorling, Eveline Lubbers, and Emanuele Campiglio – and many others

In the meantime if you would like to speak to someone about this event, please contact nik[at]housmans.com

London Radical Bookfair 2013

Saturday 11^th May 2013

10am – 5pm

Free entry

Conway Hall

Red Lion Square

London WC1R 4RL

London Radical Bookfair: http://londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com/

Alliance of Radical Booksellers: http://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/

**END**

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

'Cheerful Sin' – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Anarchist Bookfair 2012

ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR 2012

Saturday 27th October

10am to 7pm, Queen Mary University, Mile End Road, E1 4NS. (Mile End tube)

Speakers include: Michael Albert, David Graeber, Selma James, Chris Knight.

Meetings on anarchist economics, Pussy Riot, South Africa, Palestine, G4S, workplace organising, workfare, feminism, 2013 G8 summit and much more.

See: http://anarchistbookfair.org.uk/

The bookfair is one of a number of spaces for anarchists around the UK and the world to come together. But, as the Anarchist Bookfair is one of the bigger public events we put on as a movement, we want it to also be a place where those interested in anarchism can find out what we are about. So, we need help publicising the event (and anarchism generally) outside our normal scenes & movements.

It can also be a space where we counter the rubbish talked about anarchism by sections of the media and our opponents. We want to continue to make anarchism a threat again.

So, if you can help by taking leaflets or posters to distribute (especially in London) please email us at mail@anarchistbookfair.org.uk letting us know how many you want and we will get them to you.

With the space we have at Queen Mary’s now, it’s much better for parents and kids as the crèche and older kids space are much more part of the event, and we intend to build on this. It also means all the meeting rooms are now wheelchair accessible. If you have any other access requirements, please let us know in advance so we can try and meet your needs. If you are Deaf and require BSL interpreting and/or speech-to-text provision, please give us as much notice as possible and we will do our best to organise these.

To discuss any specific access needs, please contact us at access@anarchistbookfair.org.uk  

We will add meetings, lectures and workshops to the website as we get nearer to the day, so come back to the web site (noted above) and check out what’s going on.

This is all organised by a small collective – so any help before or on the day is very much appreciated. As are donations as all our costs are increasing - making it harder for us to break even. But, as ever, the bookfair will always be free to get into.

To make the bookfair a safe environment for children and adults alike, we ask people do not bring dogs to the event - except guide dogs. Thanks.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com  

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Anarchist Pedagogies

ANARCHIST PEDAGOGIES

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS
For a book entitled
Anarchist Pedagogies
Editor: Robert Haworth PhD
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Overview:

Anarchist movements have a long history of resisting traditional schooling and authoritative pedagogical practices, while at the same time, attempting to construct transformative educative processes. Examples include Francisco Ferrer’s (1913) work entitled, Origins of the Modern School and the creation of the Escuela Moderna schools in Spain, the Modernist Schools in the United States (Emma Goldman, Voltaraine de Cleyre, Alex Berkman and others) during the early 20th century as well as contemporary anarchists who are experimenting in participatory informal learning spaces. These examples are important to acknowledge within radical notions of teaching and learning being that they are experiences that enable activists and scholars to critically re-imagine education and build theories on “how” and “where” individuals experiment in constructing knowledge through differing learning spaces (Coté, Day & Peuter, 2007; de Leon, 2008, Malott, forthcoming).
Moreover, as totalizing efforts of the nation-state continue to develop standardized curriculum, efficiency models and data driven outcomes, anarchist pedagogies attempt to construct ongoing collective learning environments that can be described as ‘disciplined improvisation’ or ‘spontaneous’ in nature (Goldman, 1969; Haworth, forthcoming; Sawyer, 2003; Ward, 1972). Furthermore, these informal learning spaces create new ways of exposing illegitimate corporate and state power, as well as participating in the ‘coming communities’ (Day, 2007).
This edited book calls on international scholars (15 single authored or collectively authored chapters) in anarchist studies to critically reflect on historical and contemporary experimentations in anarchist pedagogies. Scholarly efforts will focus on what we have learned from past anarchist experiences and current transformative learning environments — where individuals are engaged in collective, participatory, voluntary and mutual efforts that contest global capitalist structures.
The edited collection responds to the need to reflect on anarchist pedagogies and will highlight three major themes. Authors in the first section will be encouraged to focus on historical discussions surrounding anarchism and education. The authors will give introspective critiques of historical practices, including theories of teaching and learning and alternatives to compulsory public schools. Authors in the second section will construct philosophical and theoretical frameworks evolving from contemporary anarchists, particularly through individuals participating in cooperatives, independent media collectives, infoshops, political zines, open source projects, DIY, direct action networks and other autonomous and cultural spaces.
Continued efforts to construct theoretical and philosophical discussions surrounding anarchism have also provided opportunities to build affinities and tensions with frameworks outside of anarchist writings (Cohn, 2007). The third section will encompass anarchist theories of teaching and learning. Authors will be asked to construct linkages and apprehensions to theories surrounding critical pedagogies and critical theory, autonomous Marxism, postmodernity and poststruturalism.

Proposed sections:
Forward:
Zack de la Rocha
1) Introduction
2) Section 1: Anarchism & Education: Historical experimentations
a. Anarchist perspectives on education
b. Modern Schools; Spain and the United States
c. Pedagogical practices: teacher/student relationship
d. Issues of the state and compulsory education
e. Connection and/or tensions between progressive education and social reconstruction
f. What have we learned?
3) Section 2: Anarchist Pedagogies in the “here and now”
a. Contesting power through multiple fronts: Movements against neoliberalism and learning through collective processes: Infoshops, cooperatives, autonomous spaces, zines, DIY
b. Teaching and learning in non-hierarchical, mutual and voluntary spaces — issues surrounding race, class, gender, LGBT
c. Technology: Issues surrounding the use of technology: open source, listservs, blogs & discussion boards
4) Section 3: Anarchism: Theoretical Frameworks on Teaching & Learning
a. Affinities: Anarchism & Critical pedagogies. Relationship to Postmodernism and Poststructuralism-Postanarchism
b. Informal learning spaces
c. De-schooling
d. Anarchism & the role of the university
e. Pedagogical practices

Audience:

Anarchist Pedagogies will draw upon and make connection to contemporary anarchist studies literature, particularly in education. The book will be important for scholars in anarchist studies, critical pedagogy, as well as undergraduate students and activists who are interested in building philosophical, theoretical, historical and contemporary discussions and imaginations beyond traditional forms of education.

Timeframe:
1) Proposals due by July 20th, 2010
2) Proposal confirmations: August 20th, 2010
3) Chapter drafts due by October 1st, 2010
4) Editor
5) Review of drafts: November, 2010
Editor will produce a comprehensive introductory and single authored chapter in one of the three sections. The forward will be written by an activist/scholar. Final editing and approval of the formatted version will be submitted December 30th, 2010. Publishing date will be set for early fall, 2011.

Contributors:
Process for submitting proposals:
Interested scholars, researchers, educators, activists and others should send to the editor, by July 20th, 2010, the following:
1) Names, positions, mailing addresses, fax and phone numbers, and email addresses of authors;
2) Title of proposed chapter;
3) Description, of no more than 300 words, of chapter, including type of research, approach, context, connection to the book, and other pertinent information;
4) Biographies of authors of no more than 200 words;

Biography of editor:
Robert Haworth is an Associate Professor in Multicultural Education at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He currently serves as the director for the Research Center for Cultural Diversity and Community Renewal. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses surrounding diversity and education, globalization and neoliberalism. He has published multiple peer reviewed book chapters and presented internationally on anarchism and informal learning spaces, as well as critical social studies education. He co-founded Regeneration TV, along with other research collectives that are directly involved in contesting neoliberal policies at the university level. This is Robert Haworth’s first edited book.

Robert Haworth PhD—Associate Professor University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
haworth.robe@uwlax.edu
608.385.0891

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Cold Hands & Quarter Moon at MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic
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Academic Repression

ACADEMIC REPRESSION

http://www.akpress.org/2010/items/academicrepression

Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex

Peter McLaren (Editor), Steven Best (Editor), and Anthony J. Nocella II (Editor)

The extreme repressive attacks on Churchill, Finklstein, Fontan, Best, Massad, the “Dirty Thirty,” and many others represented in this book demonstrate the repressive logic of “US democracy,” whereby political elites, the mass media, and the education system establish and police the parameters of acceptable discourse. Churchill became America’s own Salman Rushdie terrorized by the fatwa of the right. Unprecedented for the media coverage given to a professor (in a mass media culture that virtually ignores substantive ideas in favor of spectacle and sensationalism) the Churchill affair was, however, just one of many cases of attacks on academic freedom that eerily evoke the tyranny of the McCarthy era where actors were blacklisted and professors were fired for having even liberal views or showing dissent against state repression. While there has been much research on political repression carried out by the Bush administration, FBI, and various law enforcement agencies, there has been little discussion on political repression in academia and how the shockwaves of 9/11 have reverberated throughout academia. This anthology brings together prominent academics who contribute original essays commissioned for this volume. The writers are known and respected figures in their respective fields, and many have experienced academic repression first-hand.

This volume aims to be a cogent intervention in debates over free speech, culture wars, and academic freedom. Given that the importance of free speech to academic life, and the crucial role universities play in the intellectual life of cultures as a whole, a volume addressing the political environment of universities in the current period promises to make a significant contribution.

Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex (AK Press), is a much needed book on a topic that has seen little attention. Since 9/11 the Bush Administration has ventured to every campus influencing and forcing change by administration to handover faculty, staff, and student work to be flagged as possible signs of threatening behavior. While there have been numerous books on academic freedom, that topic is outdated and something that arguably does not exist on U.S. campus soil anymore. This volume addresses not only overt attacks on critical or radical thinking, it also – following socioeconomic trends unfolding for decades – engages the broad structural determinants of academic culture. Slowly but surely, the university is being transformed from a space for free thinking, experimentation, and philosophical education in the broadest sense into a narrow, restrictive, utilitarian institution that serves the technical needs of corporations, government, science and technology, and the military. Thus, as emphasized by numerous contributors, the ultimate cause of repression is not the academy itself, but contemporary capitalist society as a whole, which strongly shapes the structure, function, and priorities of higher education. This volume shows that while universities are crucial sites of socialization in capitalist ideologies and utilitarian performance, they are not monolithic citadels or homogeneous systems of thought that grind out in assembly-line fashion each and every student into the service of capitalism. For just as universities can train tomorrow’s FBI and CIA agents, so they can breed the next generation of radicals, resisters, saboteurs, and revolutionaries.

The university is a contested political space for three reasons. First, it is home to a diversity of viewpoints, ranging from far-right to far-left, from Christian to Muslim, from white to black, Indian, or Chicano/a, from speciesist to animal liberationist, and from heterosexual to gay/lesbian. Second, despite broad and growing trends of repression, there are varying degrees of tolerance for the discussion of non-mainstream or radical ideas in classrooms and campus life. Third, however uncritical, conditioned, and conformist some students might be, they have the potential (often actualized) to discuss, debate, and think critically about issues such as US colonialism, slavery, sexism, and speciesism, and professors, staff, and students - consciously or unconsciously – cannot socialize all of them into their own worldviews and politics.

-- Nocella, Best, and McLaren About the Editors:

Anthony J. Nocella, II is completing his doctoral work at Syracuse University. He is a Visiting Scholar of SUNY Cortland's Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice (CEPS) and is teaching classes in Sociology and Criminology at Le Moyne College.

Steven Best is Associate Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Texas, El Paso.

Peter McLaren is Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK:

This courageous and chilling book reminds us that the Academy is always a context for intellectual exchange and political struggle. Don't miss it! -- Cornel West, Princeton University

This book takes us into the Corporate University, and it's not a pretty sight. From firing critical thinkers to putting students in debt, the system is failing America. Time to take it back by fighting for free higher education. -- Jim Hightower, populist speaker and editor of the "Hightower Lowdown"

The university should be a place of freedom not a battlefield where the military industrial complex is launching its most violent attack yet on the future of education. Nocella, Best, and McLaren shows us that education must be protected if we want peace and social justice for the world. Read now! -- Cindy Sheehan, Peace Activist and Founder of "Gold Star Families for Peace"

To the litany of claims by academics that the university is a safe haven for intellectual and political dissent, this book offers a convincing counter-argument. Academic Repression is a long overdue collective study of the long and sorry history of violations of academic freedom, iconoclastic thought and political dissent in US institutions of higher education. The editors have assembled an impressive group of scholars who, often through personal experience as much as analytic acuity, have supplied us with commentary as much as documentation of the central thesis of the book. This book should be required reading in all of the social sciences, humanities and education courses. -- Stanley Aronowitz, author of "The Knowledge Factory: Dismantling the Corporate University and Creating True Higher Learning"

Absolutely and utterly indispensible as we chart a way forward and attempt to finally turn the page on an era best left in the dustbin of history. It's a first round knock out. -- Dave Zirin, author APHOS

For over half a century, matters of knowledge and education have been central to the political struggles shaping our world, and the university has been a primary battleground. This collection is a chilling and powerful survey of contemporary battles, their stakes and possibilities. We should all be scared, and we should all concerned enough to take a stand. -- Dr. Lawrence Grossberg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Using the tired canards of anti-semitism, terrorism and radicalism, rightwing zealots are carrying out a merciless campaign of ideological cleansing on American campuses, often with the shameful complicity of university administrators. Academic Repression takes you to the frontlines of this fierce battle for the mind, telling stories of purges, institutional cowardice and resistance. Here at last is a strategic plan for how to fight back against the New McCarthyites. Read it twice and then throw the book at them. -- Jeffrey St. Clair, author Born Under a Bad Sky, co-editor of CounterPunch

Freedom of speech in the academy is a cornerstone of democracy -- fascism always creeps closely behind intellectual repression, and we are not immune from the virus. If you want to understand how rocky our freedoms are today, pick up this book, read it, and join the fight to end censorship in all of its imperialist forms. -- Joshua Frank, co-author with Jeffrey St. Clair of the forthcoming Green Scare: The Government's New War on Environmentalism

The powers-that-be are uncomfortable with academic freedom because when one investigates any political, social, economic or even scientific issue thoroughly, a leftwing analysis will tend to emerge. Thinking is dangerous for them. This book is full of the stories and observations of some of the greatest thinkers alive today. -- David Rovics, Singer-Songwriter

The editors have drawn together a diverse and competent group of scholars to assess critically the climate of academic repression. This is an essential book for anyone with a deep concern for the future of the academy. It will help raise awareness of crucial issues that face the universities. We ignore this challenge at our peril. -- Dr. Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice, SUNY Cortland

As the editors and contributors of this valuable collection make clear, American academia has long been a combat zone, and never more than today. Eternal vigilance, and constant struggle, remain the watchwords if the free expression of thought upon which a good society depends is to be realized. -- Joel Kovel, author of "Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine"

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CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BOOK:

William Armaline

John Asimakopoulos

Bill Ayers

Liat Ben-Moshe

Michael Bérubé

Carl Boggs

Marc Bousquet

A. Peter Castro

Ward Churchill

Dana Cloud

Sumi E. Colligan

Maria E. Cotera

Christian Davenport

Victoria Fontan

Takis Fotopoulos

Henry Giroux

Adam Habib

Joy James

Robert Jensen

Richard Kahn

Caroline Kaltefleiter

Doug Kellner

Mark LeVine

Bill Martin

Peter McLaren

Micere M. Githae Mugo

Mechthild Nagel

Cary Nelson

Michael Parenti

Emma Perez

Mark Rupert

Rik Scarce

Deric Shannon

Stephen Sheehi

Amory Starr

Gregory Tropea

Ali Zaidi

Howard Zinn

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com
The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk
The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com
MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Housmans

HOUSMANS

Housmans – a radical bookseller since 1945

I went to Housmans in Caledonian Road last Wednesday. It’s my favourite bookshop in London. The atmosphere more than anything else grabs me. Of course, I bought some books! I invested in Zones of Proletarian Development by Mastaneh Shah-Shuja (OpenMute, London, 2008) and the classic A Vindication of the Rights of Man by Mary Wollstonecraft.

If my readers come from outside of London and visit the capital, yes, you can visit the British Museum, the London Eye etc., but I would recommend a visit to Housmans too.

The web site for the bookshop is: http://www.housmans.com/

Wednesdays at Housmans
On Wednesdays at the bookshop there are free weekly talks and book signings. Check the website for details.

Housmans Bookshop & Stationers, 5 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross, London N1 9DX, tel: 0207 837 4473, email: shop@housmans.com

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com
The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk
MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski