Announcing: FSC's Seminar Series

May 24, 2005

June and August seminars available. Registration open now!

The Free Society Collective’s (FSC) seminar series aims to provide an independent space for ongoing inquiries into social, political, cultural, economic, historical, and other fields of study from an anti-authoritarian left perspective. The seminar series draws on a variety of radical traditions, revolutionary histories, contemporary social movements, and social and political analyses, including anarchism, Western and autonomous marxisms, and other libertarian left tendencies. By exploring the past as well as the present, these weekend-long seminars are meant to deepen our understanding of dynamic social phenomena such as capitalism, statecraft, racism, gender, and the devastation of the natural world, to name a few. The seminars are also a way of reclaiming our own education and scholarship—by mentoring, learning from, and challenging each other in a highly participatory setting. And over time, it is the FSC’s hope that this seminar series will contribute to the development of public intellectuals, theoretical insights, and sophisticated forms of praxis as well as social organization in our struggle for a nonhierarchical, egalitarian society.

The Free Society Collective’s
SEMINAR SERIES

Cosponsored by the Institute for Anarchist Studies and Black Sheep Books

The Free Society Collective’s (FSC) seminar series aims to provide an independent space for ongoing inquiries into social, political, cultural, economic, historical, and other fields of study from an anti-authoritarian left perspective. The seminar series draws on a variety of radical traditions, revolutionary histories, contemporary social movements, and social and political analyses, including anarchism, Western and autonomous marxisms, and other libertarian left tendencies. By exploring the past as well as the present, these weekend-long seminars are meant to deepen our understanding of dynamic social phenomena such as capitalism, statecraft, racism, gender, and the devastation of the natural world, to name a few. The seminars are also a way of reclaiming our own education and scholarship—by mentoring, learning from, and challenging each other in a highly participatory setting. And over time, it is the FSC’s hope that this seminar series will contribute to the development of public intellectuals, theoretical insights, and sophisticated forms of praxis as well as social organization in our struggle for a nonhierarchical, egalitarian society.

SUMMER 2005 SEMINARS

June 17-19, 2005

Three-Part Seminar:
Anarchism and Revolution in the Twenty-first Century:
The Past, Present, and Future of Fascism and Anti-Fascism
Presenter: Michael Staudenmaier

Michael will discuss the history, theory, and strategy of anti-fascism from an anarchist perspective. He challenges traditional notions about both fascism and anti-fascism, and draws connections between an analysis of global politics and a critical review of anarchist theory and practice in North America and around the world.

Michael’s seminar will consist of three sessions. The first session will focus on the past, placing the weekend’s work in a historical framework. This will include personal introductions and a very selective history of fascism and anti-fascism in the twentieth century. The second session will target the present, through the lens of theory. The emphasis here will be on theories of fascism, what it is and what it is not, utilizing contemporary examples from across the globe. The third session will concentrate on the future, in the form of strategy. Included here will be questions of anti-fascist strategies and their relationship to anarchism and revolution. Each session will involve a lecture, a participatory activity, and a guided discussion.

Two additional themes will recur through all three of Michael’s sessions. First, the complex connections between patriarchy and fascism will be stressed in each session. Second, the difficulties posed by various contemporary theories of race relations currently popular in white anarchist circles will be discussed as they relate to the question of anti-fascism.

Michael Staudenmaier is a longtime anarchist from the Midwest. He has been involved in anti-fascist struggles for more than a decade, and has also worked on prison issues, anti-war campaigns, and in solidarity with the Puerto Rican community in Chicago. His writings have covered topics including anarchism, nationalism, and anti-fascism, and have been published in nearly a dozen different anarchist periodicals, including the “Northeastern Anarchist” and “Fifth Estate.” Michael lives in Chicago with his partner, Anne, and they are expecting their first child.

Two-Part Talk
Presenter: Spencer Sunshine

Part 1: Fascism and Anarchism: Subterranean Connections, Bizarre Transformations
The first section of Spencer’s presentation will be about the relationship between anarchism and fascism. It will focus on the historical links between German and Italian fascism to both anti-technological environmentalism and syndicalism. As well, this presentation will pay special attention to the new permutations in European fascism that are adopting the symbols and organizational forms of both anarchists and the left—and sometimes engaging in cross-recruiting.

Part 2: How Marxist-Leninists Colonized the Anarchist Discourse on Race
The second section of his presentation will look how the contemporary anarchist movement in the United States has understood race. Arguing that almost all anarchist writers on race utilize Marxist-Leninist theoretical views, it will question their fundamental compatibility with an anarchist-derived politics and ask the question: What would an authentically anarchist perspective on race look like?

Following Spencer's second section, he and Michael will comment on and discuss several contentious issues raised during the course of each other's presentations.

Spencer Sunshine has been active in anarchist and radical projects since joining a Nazi-monitoring group in Georgia in 1991. Currently he lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is concentrating on writing and doing archival research. He is the associate editor of the anthology “I Am Not a Man, I Am Dynamite! Friedrich Nietzsche and the Anarchist Tradition” (Autonomedia, 2004), and participates in the editorial collective of “Fifth Estate.” His research interests center on the intellectual history of the U.S. anarchist movement, and currently he is looking at the role of anarchists in the Civil Rights movement.

August 19-21, 2005

Jacques Ranciere and Radical Equality
Presenter: Todd May

French theorists Jacques Ranciere has promoted an idea of politics as acting from the presumption of radical equality—a presumption most societies deny in their actions if not in their words. His ideas intersect with both anarchist theory and with the thought of recent theorists like Michel Foucault. We will study his thought by means of a consideration of the text “On the Shores of Politics.”

Todd May is a professor of philosophy at Clemson University. He has written on recent French thought, including the intersection of anarchism and poststructuralism, and is author of several books, including “The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism.” Todd has also been active in a variety of politics movements, in particular the resistance to Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Dialectical Thinking in Practice: A Participatory Reading of Hegel
Presenter: Peter Staudenmaier

This study seminar will focus squarely on a single text, the notoriously challenging preface to Hegel's “Phenomenology of Spirit.” We will read the text together and attempt to draw out the dialectical structure of the argument it presents, while relating its insights to our own experience. No prior knowledge of Hegel is required, but a willingness to engage with sometimes-difficult philosophical writing is necessary.

Peter Staudenmaier has been in involved in anarchist politics since the 1980s. He is currently a graduate student at Cornell University, focusing on modern European intellectual history. His perspective on dialectical philosophy is strongly influenced by the Frankfurt school and social ecology.

Fall, Winter, and Future Seminars
The seminar series is an ongoing project. Confirmed presenters for fall 2005 are George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici of the Midnight Notes Collective; details on this and other fall/winter sessions will be available soon. For regular updates, see http://www.freesocietycollective.org, and/or feel free to send us your e-mail address to be added to our e-announcement list (Rob Augman at rob@riseup.net and Cindy Milstein at cbmilstein@yahoo.com).

We are also looking for presenters; if you’re interested in offering a seminar, please get in touch with us with a short proposal.

Format
The seminars are three-day study programs, which take place over the course of a long weekend. Attendance will be capped at 20-25 people so that participants have the opportunity to fully engage in the program. Each seminar is structured around two presenters, and four to six sessions of about two to three hours in length. In general, each presenter will give a lecture or formal presentation, followed by plenty of time for discussion, in and outside the sessions themselves. In short, each weekend seminar functions as both an intensive course and an ongoing conversation. The presenters may also suggest short readings prior to or during the weekend, particularly in those seminars featuring a close reading of specific works, in order to further focus and ground the discussion.

Cost and Location
This seminar series is self-financing; the FSC has no outside funding, nor a funding source of its own. Thus, the overall seminar costs will simply be divided by the number of participants, with the goal of making each weekend series as affordable as possible. The cost for a weekend seminar should be in the range of $50 to $100 for the course; some meals may also be included. Floor space will be available for sleeping (bring your own gear); we’ll do our best to arrange more comfy accommodations in someone’s home, if needed). The seminars will take place in the historic socialist and anarchist Old Labor Hall in Barre, Vermont.

To Register or Contact Us
If you have further questions, want to register for one or both of the seminars, or would like to propose a future seminar, please e-mail both Rob Augman (rob@riseup.net) and Cindy Milstein (cbmilstein@yahoo.com). Keep in mind that space for our summer programs is limited, so get in touch soon.

About the Free Society Collective
FSC is a small, radical Left tendency based in central Vermont. We seek the abolition of capitalism, the state, and all other social relations built on coercion, hierarchy, and oppression. To that end, we engage in a politics of resistance that simultaneously highlights a reconstructive vision. In critical solidarity with anti-authoritarian social movements around the globe, we work toward a free and ecological society premised on mutual aid, confederated direct democracy, and a liberatory culture. For more info, see http://www.freesocietycollective.org.

About the Institute for Anarchist Studies
The IAS, a nonprofit foundation established in 1996 to support the development of anarchism, is a grant-giving organization for radical writers and translators around the world. The IAS also supports the Latin American Archives Project, sponsors the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition (RAT) conference, and publishes a biannual magazine, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, to cultivate community among those interested in the development of anarchism. The IAS is part of a larger movement to radically transform society as well. It is internally democratic and works in solidarity with people around the globe who share its values. For more information, see http://www.anarchist-studies.org/.

About Black Sheep Books
Black Sheep Books is an all-volunteer workers’ collective specializing in radical and scholarly used books. Areas of particular note include anarchism and socialism/marxism, queer and gender studies, social theory and political philosophy, labor studies, history, media and film studies, literature, current events and activism, plus much more. Also, Black Sheep regularly hosts various educational, political, and activist events from talks and discussions to films and performances, and attempts to build an open and accessible community space. Black Sheep Books is located at 4 Langdon Street (inside and above the Langdon Street Collective Café), Montpelier, Vermont. For more information, see http://www.blacksheepbooks.org.