The planning for the London FreeSchool week is going well with confirmed workshops and the such like starting to appear on the website. Bowl Court Social Centre, the original location for the weeks event, was sadly evicted a couple of weeks ago. However, the event lives on and has moved to the rampART ( http://www.rampart.co.nr) and LARC ( http://www.londonarc.org.) After all a free school should not be limited and contained by concrete walls!
The deadline for workshops is soon approaching so if you are up for facilitating something over the week drop us a line ( deschooling_society@lists.riseup.net) with a brief description of the event, how long you will need, your availability between the 1st and 7th September and if you have any special requirements (e.g. Tools / equipment). If you do this by monday then we can include it in the timetable.
If you want to know what is happening over the week and when, you are unfortunately going to have to wait until the full timetable has been released next Wednesday. But here’s a little taster…
MONDAY 1st SEPTEMBER 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Welcome to London FreeSchool!
Come along, have some lunch, meet each other and find out about the week ahead.
GENDER & AUTONOMOUS SPACES
Autonomous spaces are not immune from the kind of casual sexism that is still common in the wider culture but the problem is rarely discussed. One solution has been to set up women only spaces but many people feel that these avoid the problem rather than addressing it. This workshop will be about exploring how people feel about questions of gender and sexuality in the context of radical activism and how we can find ways to address the issues.
SAFER SPACES
Its about acknowledging that oppressive behaviours and ideas are still with in our ‘radical’ activist communities, no matter how ‘radical’ we think we are. The point of the workshop is to get people to think and talk about this, find ways to deal with this in their communities and work to stop their own oppressive behaviours.
GETTING RID OF EDUCATION: COMMUNITIES FOR LEARNING
No ones needs to be educated. We all learn all the time. What people need are resourses and support to help them get where they want to go. What does this sort of an organisation look like and how can you start one? Come and find out!
Leslie Barson (Safran) home educated her two children and founded and runs The Otherwise Club, a community centre for families choosing not to send their children to school, in NW London since 1993.
SCHOOL PRIVATISATION
A discussion on school privatisation in the UK and the Wembley Tent City Occupation ( http://www.tentcityoccupation.co.uk/) with Hank Roberts.
A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION TO FOOD BUYING GROUPS
Have you ever thought of getting together with a group of people to buy food in bulk? Come and meet other folks who’d like to do the same, to find out more and start planning your food-buying group. Cheaper food, autonomous organising, stronger links within our communities, and no more
supermarkets: let’s make the best of the recession!
Please bring pens and paper, especially markers and flipchart-like paper, to share if you have any
FOOD NOT BOMBS…
is a network of independent direct action groups. They all use food that is being thrown away, cook delicious vegan meals and serve it for free to any hungry person! Come with us for a bit of skipping (getting food from the bins!), vegan cooking, serving and cleaning! It’s political, fun and empowering!
BASICS OF GENETICS
what’s a cell? what’s a chromosome? what’s the DNA? what’s a gene? what’s a genome? what’s a genetically modified organism? what’s cloning? etc.
Have you ever asked yourself these questions?
We’ll try to talk about all that together!
INTERNET ARCHITECTURE / PHILOSOPHY
The idea for the discussion is to look at the way the technical aspects of the internet have political and philosophical implications. Some of these are well known, others not so well known. Starting
from a few technical points I hope the group can discuss general ideas around the hacker culture that has shaped the internet, as it applies to social networks and political engagement. Some sample principles from internet engineering culture:
“Be conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from others.” (Jon Postel)
“We reject: kings, presidents and voting. We believe in: rough consensus and running code.” (David D. Clarke)
deschooling_society@lists.riseup.net
http://londonfreeschool.wordpress.com