Regarding the Previous Cancellation of Our Event with Antiuniversity
September 26, 2022 Reading time: 3 minutes
Originally, we had planned to hold an event with the Antiuniversity, Disability in Our Learning Spaces, on 16 September 2022.
And no, it wasn’t because the Queen died.
This topic is incredibly important to us, and it’s especially important to us that an event about disability in anarchist learning spaces is made more accessible for everyone who wants to participate. However, we realised that it would be difficult to make it properly accessible for participants, particularly any Deaf people who needed sign language interpreters. And this isn’t something that we wanted to do halfway.
After all, what’s the point of “nothing about us without us” if we’re not able to meet basic accommodations that people ask for? It felt hollow, especially when we already knew that many of the AI tools available (like built-in live transcriptions on Zoom) can actually make things more unclear because they’re notoriously awful for a range of accents.
So because we wanted to be able to properly meet the needs of people who were there and actually doing what we hoped the workshop could do—and it wasn’t possible—we decided to go ahead and cancel. Part of this is because we’re an international collective, and exactly none of us live in the UK. What this means for us is that we don’t have connections to people who would be willing to work with us to make it as accessible as it should be.
We’ll still be putting up part of a presentation that we’d planned (at a later date), and we’re going to go ahead with putting together the zine that would’ve been part of the event. And we very much want to have a range of conversations with people to talk about all kinds of disabilities, the impacts of how our spaces continue to exclude people when we should be open and inclusive, and how we can ensure that this happens in our radical spaces.
But that’s not all!
With this, we want to extend an invitation for people who want to help build a resource to meet the accessibility needs for our comrades: tools, people, and knowledge. This can include something as simple as helping to build a directory of sign language interpreters who want and are able to help during events to something as difficult as finding others with whom you can work directly to help build things that people need.
We talk a lot about accessibility, but it’s worth remembering: We cannot actively engage in anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and decolonial politics without ensuring that things are truly accessible. And to be truly accessible? These tools and services need to be free, otherwise they’re only available to those with the most resources.
So please reach out, share widely, and help us ensure that everything is as accessible and inclusive as possible. We either support everyone’s liberation or we continue reproducing the same oppression all over again.
Statement in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in So-Called Canada
July 5, 2021 Reading time: 3 minutes
The Anarchist Pedagogies Network stands in solidarity with the Indigenous First Nations in so-called Canada. For years, they have used their voices to speak out against the terrible abuse, neglect, violence, and oppression suffered by their communities. Today, as they continue conducting searches near former residential schools and find more and more unmarked graves, we stand in resistance with all the survivors and their communities.
These recent findings of the unmarked graves of hundreds of Indigenous children that have been found through the work of Indigenous peoples on the very same sites as residential schools in many parts of so-called Canada serve as evidence on how white supremacist systems, in combination with Catholic and Christian institutions, have been used as brutal colonising tools against Indigenous peoples. All of whom have suffered under the yoke of settler colonialism and capitalism.
We recognise the history of residential schools as supporting the genocide of Indigenous peoples. We support all of the resistance movements that work to dismantle capitalism on a daily basis. We condemn the continued violent assimilation of and oppression against Indigenous peoples.
This requires to not only keep unearthing this important history but looking towards Indigenous peoples throughout the world. We must help them heal from their losses by supporting their sovereignty and giving them their lands back. Further work is required of us, as anarchist educators, to dismantle colonialism wherever it appears, including the education systems which have always promoted settler colonial values. We must come to terms with the ways in which we may also contribute to the anti-colonial project and be aware of our own roles within it, actively working against them.
The Anarchist Pedagogies Network is committed to standing in support of Indigenous peoples in so-called Canada, across so-called North America, and throughout the world to co-create educational spaces of hope, solidarity, and resistance in order to dismantle settler colonialism everywhere.
For more information, go to:
itsgoingdown.org/canadian-tire-fire-a-n...
itsgoingdown.org/ctf-2-statues-fall
itsgoingdown.org/canadian-tire-fire-3-a...
itsgoingdown.org/canadian-tire-fire-4-c...
iaf-fai.org/2021/05/24/autonomously-and...
twitter.com/RabbitThoughts/status/14106...
Statement from the APN Regarding Previously Cancelled Event
February 9, 2021 Reading time: 2 minutes
Recently, the Anarchist Pedagogies Network called off one of its webinars after it was made aware of a speaker’s support of groups that lobby for legislation that could potentially harm the rights of transgender people. This may seem like a controversial decision for some, but we feel it was the only correct decision, as it was the one most in line with an anarchist ethic.
In 1871, in his article “Man, Society, and Freedom”, Michael Bakunin stated: “I am not myself free or human until or unless I recognize the freedom and humanity of all my fellowmen.” The anarchist position on freedom has always been conditional; we cannot be free without safeguarding the true freedom of those around us. For us, as anarchists involved in education, this commitment is deep and powerful. It stems from a profound conviction of the humanity of those around us, and a stern belief in community as a force for social change.
This principle crumbles if it stops at transgender people. Just like our commitment to solidarity with people of color, indigenous people, poor folks, and people with disabilities, our stand must be firm with the LGBTQ+ community, and especially with transgender people. This means that we must turn to transgender people for guidance, include transgender people in all of our activities, and it also means that we must stand with them when they need us. Our struggle is a shared struggle. Our freedom is a shared freedom.
Meaningful education from an anarchist perspective requires the assurance that learners can freely investigate, debate, and suggest ideas in a safe, inclusive space. It also requires coherence between principles and everyday actions. As members of the APN, we realize that anarchism is a hard standard to follow, but require of ourselves and our speakers a commitment to this coherence. The only way to practice what we preach is by making our network a safe and inclusive space, one in which any person can come, ask questions, argue, and stay curious. To do so, we must also demand that the rights of marginalized communities are upheld, and their struggles recognized. As anarchist educators, we are committed to this high ethical standard, and will continue to follow it when planning our future events and initiatives.
With love and solidarity,
APN