Categories for Uncategorized

Day One: Introduction

By the end of the 20th century, those who believed in a different way of organising society were in deep trouble. Against the backdrop of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 as well as the neutralisation of the radical impulses of the national liberation projects in Africa, anyone who dared mention the word “socialism” or “revolution” took a major chance at being laughed out of the room. For a while, the marriage of liberal democracy and the “free market” looked like a match made in heaven. Capitalism not only relied on brute repression to enforce its rule. The ideas associated with capitalism seemed seductive and irresistible.

Activity 2: The market at Freedom Square

Aims: To help us to us to reconnect with the different conceptions of freedom, what they offer us as we engage in struggles to win freedoms and how we can locate our ideas of freedom in relation to these conceptions.

Day Two: State-oriented, popular uprisings and revolutions

On this day, we will be looking at struggles for freedom which are focused on the state. This includes struggles which are waged against the state (e.g uprisings against military dictatorships), as well as struggles which have as their objective the taking of state power – either through elections or revolution.

Day Four: Our strategies for winning freedom

On this day we turn the focus to our own organisations and look at our movements with a critical eye. Most of our movements are geared at fighting injustice and challenging certain aspects of the status-quo.

Activity 14: How it feels to be free

Aims: To help us to exercise our radical imaginations and conceive of potential ways of living and organising social relations that promote true freedom for all.

Day Five: Wrapping up

On this last day, we go back to the questions we posed at the beginning of the module. What does it mean to struggle for freedom today? What is the best way to get to the world of our dreams?

Activity 15: Evaluation

Aims: To help us to evaluate this module (Strategies for winning freedom today) and the course – Rethinking Freedom. We will reflect on our learning journey and give feedback to build on the work done thus far.