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Renewing the Anarchist
Tradition
Archive: Complete Program of Summer
Conference 2000 ... page 2
go to page one ... Thursday & Friday
Saturday, August 26th
- 8:30-9:30 a.m.: Breakfast
& Late Registration
- 10-11:15 a.m.: Morning Presentations
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...in the sunroom
Secular Nonviolence? An
Anarchist Critique of the Legacy of Nonviolence
Arthur Foelsche
Historically, nonviolence has
been centered in a religious framework. Both Gandhi and Martin
Luther King Jr. shaped much of the current notions of nonviolence
from a strong religious perspective. How does the anti-globalization
movement understand the relationship between anarchism's critique
of power and nonviolence's rhetoric- largely
influenced by religion?
This presentation will focus on placing the dialogue of nonviolence
into a rational and ethical sphere.
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... in the big
top tent
Reclaim the Cities: From Protest to Popular
Power
Cindy Milstein
Temporarily closing off streets
during the recent direct actions has provided momentary spaces
in which to practice democratic process; indeed, that's been
one of the best parts of the new "anti-globalization"
movement in the United States. Yet the serial protest mode leaves questions of
politics and power unaddressed. As well, it ignores any sort
of reconstructive vision. This presentation will explore taking
the move-ment's own structure of affinity groups and spokescouncils
seriously by moving toward a directly democratic, confederated
model of politics in neighborhoods and communities.
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...in the farmhouse
The Continuing Relevance of Paul Goodman's
Anarchism
Wayne Price
The aim here is to show the
strengths and weaknesses of what Paul Goodman called his community
anarchism, concluding that there is a great deal that can still
be learned from his decentralist and utopian thinking, although
there is also a certain amount, rooted in anarchism as well,
that should be rejected.
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- 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Morning
Presentations, Second Round
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...in the farmhouse
Harnessing the Intrinsic Anarchy of the
Internet
(or, Using the Master's Tools . . . )
Michelle Davis
A brief history of anarchism
in relation to technology with a few supporting reading materials
will begin the presentation. It is important to address the Luddite
tendencies within ourselves, and examine the potential power
of computers and the Internet in the context of a rapidly changing
technological environment. Also in discussion will be the struggle
to empower ourselves and keep our information relevant by constantly
redefining the landscapes available for our work. The ultimate
goal is to build a strong foothold in cyberspace- without sacrificing
our need for balance in the natural world and commitment toward
a more organic existence.
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...in the sunroom
Free Speech in an Unfree Society
Peter Staudenmaier
This presentation will critically
examine one influential strand of anarchist thinking on the question
of free speech, the classical civil libertarian position. This
position treats state- or media-imposed censorship as the chief
threat to the free flow of ideas, and champions unrestricted
personal rights of expression to counter that threat. Drawing
on Herbert Marcuse's notion of repressive tolerance as well as
recent feminist and antiracist work on the politics of expression
to reject this position, this talk will began to develop an alternative
anarchist model of communicative freedom. This, in turn, rests
on a nuanced historical understanding of the dialectical relationship
between two traditional anarchist goals: defending individual
liberty and promoting social freedom.
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- 1-2 p.m.: lunch lunch lunch
- 2:15-3:30 p.m.: Afternoon
Presentations
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...in the farmhouse
Resistance Movements in the South
Darini Nicholas
From women's farming cooperatives
in Sri Lanka, to the alternative Kerala societal model, to the
Zapatista struggle in Chiapas and student strike at the National
Autonomous University of Mexico, this presentation will look
at resistance movements in the South. As well, this talk will
examine how these movements might relate to anarchism, if at
all, and how to "globalize" the anarchist movement,
while envisioning a reconstructive society that takes into consideration
the different industrial climates that are currently being experienced
by the North and South.
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...at the sunroom
Luigi Galleani & the Cronnaca
Sowersiva: Communo-Anarchism
& Propaganda by the Deed
Paul Cook
As the publisher and chief
writer, Luigi Galleani produced Cronnaca Sowersiva from
1903_1917, the first nine years of which he operated from Barre,
Vermont. Galleani was a talented, fiery editorialist, advocating
a communo-anarchist philosophy. Since most of Galleani's work
remains untranslated, and that which is translated is only sporadically
available, this presentation has the dual purpose of enlightening
participants to the overall philosophy and work of Galleani while
reexamining his ideas in light of the modern condition of anarchist
thought and practice.
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... at the washhouse
Kicking Capitalism Out of Food
Erin Royster & Andrea del Moral
What would it mean to grow
food in an anarchist framework and what would an anarchist food
system look like? This presentation explores the confluence between
revolutionary politics and the contemporary discourse on the
politics of food. Specifically, it will examine the capitalist
origins of the agricultural crisis and the creation of scarcity,
as well as the destruction of ecosystems and demise of rural
communities; this will be counterposed to a vision of directly
democratic and noncapitalist food systems that address food security,
harmonize the antagonism between urban and rural, look to ecosystem
health, and embody anarchism in restructuring our relationship
with food.
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...in the big top
tent
Ethics & Anarchism
a facilitated discussion with John Petrovato
While ethical considerations
have always been the hallmark of anarchism, there has been surprisingly
little written on it. Anarchists have generally fallen back on
only a few theories of ethics or have taken their ethics as a
given, without questioning them. This forum invites people to
participate in critically engaging with questions surrounding
ethics and anarchism.
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- 4-5:30 p.m.: Evening Presentations
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...in the farmhouse
A Poststructuralist Approach to Anarchism
Todd May
In this talk, Todd May will
present an overview of his work as outlined in his The Political
Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism. This book, which
has had a significant influence within the anarchism milieu,
provides a coherent rethinking of anarchist intellectual foundations.
He will speak about political theory, anarchism, and ethics from
a poststructuralist perspective.
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...in the sunroom
Notes Toward an Anarchist Theory of Race/Ethnic
Relations
Howard J. Ehrlich
This wideranging presentation
will explore the socioeconomic status of African Americans, and
the relationship between sociology and anarchist thought. It
will examine such topics as power, hierarchy, and violence; bureaucracy
as a mechanism for social control; immigration and acculturation;
the "national question" and anarchists; and the spectacular
role of the mass media. The talk will conclude with a look at
the differential life chances of blacks and whites, and the need
for an anarchist social science.
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- 6-7 p.m.: dinner
- 7:30-9:30 p.m.: Presentation
& Video
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... at the Goddard
College Haybarn
Film as Anarchist Pedagogy
Richard Porton
This presentation will contend
that a genuinely anarchist cinema is not only congruent with
the most vibrant currents of antiauthoritarian pedagogy but can
also function as an alternative form of pedagogy in its own right.
This assertion, however, is made with the caveat that an anarchist
version of cinematic pedagogy need not partake of the heavy-handed
didacticism that taints many mainstream left-wing films. While
the pedagogical merits of documentaries on the anarchist movement
(e.g., Richard Prost's Un Autre Futur; recent film chronicles
of the WTO demonstrations in Seattle) are self-explanatory, the
antiauthoritarian impetus of films by directors whose work could
never be confused with agit-prop (e.g., Buñuel, Vigo,
Tanner) will also be emphasized. The discussion will be illustrated
with a generous assortment of clips, culled from such films as
Viridiana, Charles- Dead or Alive, Zero for Conduct, and
L'Atalante.
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Sunday, August 27th
- 9-10 a.m.: Breakfast &
Cleanup
- 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Radical
History Tour
Barre, VT's
Italian Anarchist History
lead by Paul Cook & Dan Chodorkoff |
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Program schedule for Thursday
& Friday
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