Cash Runs Everything Around You

... The Political Economy of Everyday Life

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• when: CANCELLED!!!
  • mondays
  • ten weeks
• where: CANCELLED!!!
• who: facilitated by christian whittall
• contact: christian@anarchistu.org

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the anarchist free university presents a ten week discussion group designed to heighten community awareness of the material and economic forces that determine the form and structure of our day-to-day lives. we are offering it to address fact that many of the institutions that demand a share of our time, effort and money – be it work, school, housing, government or goods and services – often conceal the underlying forces and interests that give rise to their existence. this has resulted in a society where people are forced to alter their personalities in order to adapt to existing conditions rather than one where those conditions can be freely altered to express human desire. it is a situation that is often referred to as 'reality' - and 'life' is the process of adaptation to it.

but what is the true nature of this so-called 'reality'? this question directly impacts the day-to-day lives of everyone who exists under current political/economic conditions. and yet, once again, the search for an answer is regarded as the exclusive concern of highly-trained specialists: professional academics, business leaders, and politicians, i.e., only the most refined products of ... existing institutions.

' cash runs everything around you ' aims to build a political economic understanding among its participants that is an organic outgrowth of concrete life experience. to that end you are encouraged to share the knowledge and understanding you've accumulated through your own interactions with social institutions. it is from this basis alone that we will begin to collectively explore the radical literature available on this difficult subject.

this workshop is for those who refuse to equate the lack of alternatives offered to the way things are to a tacit acceptance of them. it is for those who are curious to find their own radical answers to questions like these:

• what is meant by 'political economy'?
• what role does economy play in the organisation of society?
• how does mainstream society explain political economy?
• what alternatives have been given, historically, to these views?
• where did 'the economy' come from?
• where is it going?
• what are the forces behind the current 'crisis of capitalism'?
• what role to i play in the economy?
• what can be done to gain control over the economic forces that i am subject to?

it is this final question that will come to the fore as we approach the course's conclusion. it is hoped that by the end of our investigation, we will be empowered enough by our understanding to begin to discuss and put into practice new forms of social intercourse that truly reflect and express our individual feelings and desires. it is one of the goals of the afu to encourage and support progressive social endeavours of all kinds.

readings:

there is no strict syllabus for this course. however, we will be engaging openly and critically with the historical 'canon' of radical political economy, i.e., the works of proudhon, marx, bakunin, kropotkin, luxemburg, etc., as well as more contemporary critiques from the standpoints of feminism, post-colonialism, and so on. we are also going to engage with the media's treatment of the topic and subject mass communication to informed critique. the choice of texts is to be decided upon via group-consensus and participants are invited to partake in their own research and study and to share their findings with the group.

[ note : because as members of society, each of us play our separate roles in its maintenance, there is no justification for one person or group of persons to claim a monopoly of knowledge on the subject of political economy. this course has been designed to reflect that fact. although we will be investigating several different radical theoretical approaches to political economy, it is the goal of this workshop to subject these to our actual life experiences rather than the other way around. group members are encouraged to share their independent research with the class insofar as they serve to empower and enlighten. the intended outcome of this is informed action rather than theoretical uniformity. texts are tools, not rules!]

this group is facilitated by christian whittall. he teaches creative writing at the george brown seniors' association. this is his seventh course he's offered through the afu and his first on radical political economy. he is busy making his way through many of the major texts on the subject and would like to share the inspiration for change and action their study is instilling in him.