[SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'

Wed Sep 28 08:31:47 UTC 2011

Goodness, I couldn't disagree more (except for the point about Blair).
And yet, is that a reason why John and I can't work within the same
group? I think not.

Pete 

-----Original Message-----
From: john andrews [mailto:john.andrews57 at ntlworld.com] 
Sent: 28 September 2011 07:10
To: Peter Somerville
Subject: Re: [SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'

Surely the work done by a group of people must be informed by a commonly
held belief? Otherwise the work done by some of the group will
inevitably contradict and oppose the work of others in the same group.
It isn't possible for LSSC to NOT have a political posture of some sort:
education is a political issue. Peter Sommerville is wrong to suggest
that 'the market', or anything else associated with existing government
has anything to do with anarchism; and he's equally wrong to exclude
'new' labour from his criticism - much of today's problems were created
by Blair. Existing government is about gangsterism, not anarchism, and
has far more in common with Al Capone than Kropotkin, Goldman or
Chomsky. Tories, 'new' labour... 
they're all the same. I'm not sure what Peter is 'interested in doing',
but I would be very surprised if it's entirely apolitical, and if it is,
it's probably not of very much help.

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Somerville" <psomerville at lincoln.ac.uk>
To: "Amsler, Sarah" <S.S.AMSLER at aston.ac.uk>
Cc: <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: [SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'

>I sympathise with Andrew Taggart but I don't think the SSC is about
> political posturing - at least, that's not what I'm interested in
doing.
> The 'real' anarchists these days are the Tories, with their 'Big
> Society' and their unshakeable belief in the anarchy of the market.
But
> do we really need to have an agreed 'position' with respect to the
state
> and the market? I hope not. Do we even need to have a set of 'common
> values', which we all sign up to? I think not, except in the broadest
> possible terms, e.g. mutual respect and democratic decision-making. If
> we must be judged at all (which I doubt) it should be by what we do
> rather than by what we believe in.
>
> Pete
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ssc-bounces at lists.aktivix.org
> [mailto:ssc-bounces at lists.aktivix.org] On Behalf Of Amsler, Sarah
> Sent: 25 September 2011 22:59
> To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
> Subject: [SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'
>
> Dear all,
>
> I came across the two texts below and would be interested in
discussing
> them with anyone also interested. I think they offer a way into some
> pressing questions about major concepts (freeness and freedom,
> radicalism, anarchistic politics, etc.) that are being both
materialised
> in practice and called into question. It might be an interesting
> exercise, for example, to try to formulate responses to some of the
> (perhaps rhetorically framed) questions in the second.
>
> Sociological Imagination's working list of 'radical education
projects'
> in the UK:
> http://sociologicalimagination.org/a-work-in-progress
>
> Andrew Taggart's critical questioning of the above forms, as
> particularly read:
>
http://andrewjtaggart.com/2011/09/19/on-the-other-side-of-radical-educat
>
ion-lies-wisdom-an-exhortation-or-on-the-question-whether-really-free-is
> -really-good/
>
> After spending a second weekend working with the people of the Free
> University of Liverpool (to whom I will send a copy of this message),
I
> am clearer that there is certainly a moment of emergence with these
> different projects, which have been developing for a little (or long)
> while, all coming into some serious material form but often
autonomously
> from each other. I'd like to think about the place of this in history,
> the context of this historical moment and the forms of politics and
> pedagogies being developed -- and whether or not they really are all
> characterised by a 'shared ethos of anarchism' (an argument which I do
> not entirely agree with) it seems like a wider conversation to have on
> the radar. I have had some thoughts about at some point in the
> reasonably near future bringing people involved in these different
> projects/spaces together to share experiences and imaginaries?
>
> Best,
> Sarah
>
> Dr Sarah S Amsler
> Lecturer in Sociology
> Aston University
> Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK
> +44 (0) 121 204 3072
> s.s.amsler at aston.ac.uk
>
> Campaign for the Public University: http://publicuniversity.org.uk
>
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