A-Infos (en) US, NYC, The Free Society =?windows-1252?q?Collective=92s_June_?==?windows-1252?q?=26_August_Seminar_Series_for_Anti-authoritarians?=

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.

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