There are a series of "Free School University" classes taking place this weekend at Dewey Square. Read their descriptions.
Friday, Nov. 18th
1. Political Policing in the United States: Historical Perspectives on the Challenges Confronting the Occupy Movement (FSU) – 1PM
This teach in will briefly review the history of political policing in the United States before giving an analysis of the four principal approaches security forces use to subvert movements. From here, I will cover the contemporary organization of domestic intelligence gathering under Homeland Security and close with pressing questions for the occupy movement derived from a comparison of the differing outcomes of the confrontations between various occupations and the police.
Teacher: Brendan McQuade, PhD student in sociology at SUNY-Binghamton.
2. Power & Visibility: “The Means of Correct Training” from Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish – 2PM
Philosopher Michel Foucault believed that we live in a vast network of surveillance. We go to school, punch a clock, pay our bills – each of these actions make us visible as orderly citizens, as, in Foucault’s words, “docile bodies.” Small disorders are allowed, but they bring greater scrutiny: the truant is watched by the principal; the late worker by the boss; the person behind on their mortgage by the banks and courts. Greater degrees of disorder sentence one to greater visibility, all the way to the prison cell fitted with surveillance cameras. The Occupy movement represents a disorderly form of visibility. Are we making our dissent easier to see, and thus easier to control? Or are we powerfully refusing the docility we’ve been taught? Let’s talk about it as we discuss this chapter from Foucault.
Teacher: SUSAN GORMAN, Ph.D. in English from Tufts University. She teaches at several sites in the Boston area and is committed to the idea of empowering communities through the classroom.
3. Paul Le Blanc Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture – 5PM
Teacher: Paul Le Blanc is Associate Professor of History at La Roche College in Pittsburgh, PA. He has written widely on history and social issues, edited the “Revolutionary Studies” series published by Humanities Press and Humanity Books, and is an Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of Protests, Uprisings and Revolutions to be published by Facts-on-File.
Saturday, Nov. 19th
1. Globalization and How it Affects Us – 1PM
Corporate globalization has brought the whole world into one economic system, dominated by multinational corporations. It is the biggest change since the Industrial Revolution. This interactive presentation will include a brief description of the development of corporate globalization and an explanation of how it results in soaring corporate profits, the loss of millions of jobs in the United States, increased hunger and poverty in developing countries, the environmental crisis, and the inability of our country to recover from the present recession.
Teacher: Madeleine Cousineau is a Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Human Services Program at Mount Ida College. She has also taught in the Boston University Prison Education Program. She is the author of books and articles on radical religion and social activism in Brazil and a longtime activist on global issues.
2. Occupy The Economy, with Kerry Power, followed by Q&A – 2PM
An overview of the twelve steps of the Economic Revolution as a process to create a new, sustainable economy and society that more equitably enriches all who contribute to it.
Teacher: Mr. Kerry Power has been a successful entrepreneur and social activist for over thirty years. In addition to his extensive experience in the Alternative Energy and Internet Technology industries, Kerry has also worked with many of the nation’s largest grassroots organizations, from both liberal and conservative camps, to provide a variety of non-partisan voter education publications to dedicated activists across the nation. “Economic Revolution” takes Kerry’s commitment to social and economic improvement to the next level, launching his new trilogy of solution-oriented instruction manuals for restoring America’s famed standard of living, and celebrated way of life.
3. How “Free” Trade Kills Jobs, Reduces Wages, Wrecks the Environment & Destroys Democracy – 4PM
President Obama recently signed into law new trade agreements Korea, Colombia and Panama, but like NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO and a host of other bad trade deals that came before them, these free trade agreements have nothing to do with growing our economy or supporting the middle class with good jobs. What they are really about is exporting jobs, weakening the democratic process and putting more power in the hands of multinational corporations and their Wall Street Bankers. This teach-in is an introduction to the costs and threats posed by “free” trade.
Teacher: Steve D’Amico is a coordinator with americanjobsalliance.com, a non profit 501c(4) fighting against unfair trade agreements and for American jobs. As a community organizer in the 70s and 80s he fought against discriminatory lending practices by banks and helped win passage of the Community Reinvestment Act. He is a former Massachusetts State Representative from the Fourth Bristol District.
The full Occupy Boston schedule can be found here: http://www.occupyboston.org/
*Thanks to Shea Riester for this information.