[Oberlist] DK* cfA: All power to the free universities of the future - statement in relation to the outlawing of the Copenhagen Free University

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---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [transversal] FW: Statement in relation to the outlawing of the
Copenhagen Free University: All power to the free universities of the
future
From:    "Lina Dokuzovic" <aniliname at yahoo.com>
Date:    Wed, June 29, 2011 12:51 am
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From: Jakob Jakobsen [mailto:jakobhjakobsen at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 3:38 PM
To: Jakob Jakobsen
Subject: Statement in relation to the outlawing of the Copenhagen Free
University: All power to the free universities of the future  Statement in
relation to the outlawing of the Copenhagen Free University:All power to
the free universities of the futureThe Copenhagen Free University was an
attempt to reinvigorate the emancipatory aspect of research and learning,
in the midst of an ongoing economisation of all knowledge production in
society. Seeing how education and research were being subsumed into an
industry structured by a corporate way of thinking, we intended to bring
the idea of the university back to life. By life, we mean the messy life
people live within the contradictions of capitalism. We wanted to
reconnect knowledge production, learning and skill sharing to the everyday
within a self-organised institutional framework of a free university. Our
intention was multi-layered and was of course partly utopian, but also
practical and
 experimental. We turned our flat in Copenhagen into a university by the
very simple act of declaring 'this is a university'. By this
transformative speech act the domestic setting of our flat became a
university. It didn't take any alterations to the architecture other than
the small things needed in terms of having people in your home staying
over, presenting thoughts, researching archival material, screening
films, presenting documents and works of art. Our home became a public
institution dedicated to the production process of communal knowledge and
fluctuating desires. The ethos of the CFU was critical and opinionated
about the ideological nature of knowledge, which meant that we did not
try to cover the institution in a cloud of dispassionate neutrality and
transcendence as universities traditionally do. The Copenhagen Free
University became a site of socialised and politicised research,
developing knowledge and debate around certain fields of
 social practice. During its six years of existence, the CFU entered into
five fields of research: feminist organisation, art and economy, escape
subjectivity, television/media activism and art history. The projects
were initiated with the experience of the normative nature of mainstream
knowledge production and research, allowing us to see how certain areas
of critical practice were being excluded. Since we didn't wanted to
replicate the structure of the formal universities, the way we developed
the research was based on open calls to people who found interest in our
fields or interest in our perspective on knowledge production. Slowly the
research projects were collectively constructed through the display of
material, presentations, meetings, and spending time together. The nature
of the process was sharing and mutual empowerment, not focusing on a
final product or paper, but rather on the process of communisation and
redistribution of facts and
 feelings. Parallel to the development of the CFU, we started to see
self-organised universities sprouting up everywhere. Over this time, the
basic question we were constantly asking ourselves was, what kind of
university do we need in relation to our everyday? This question could
only be answered in the concrete material conditions of our lives. The
multiplicity of self-organised universities that were starting in various
places, and which took all kinds of structures and directions, reflected
the diversity of these material conditions. This showed that the
neoliberal university model was only one model among many models; the
only one given as a model to the students of capital. As the strategy of
self-institution focused on taking power and not accepting the dualism
between the mainstream and the alternative, this in itself carried some
contradictions. The CFU had for us become a too fixed identifier of a
certain discourse relating to emancipatory
 education within academia and the art scene. Thus we decided to shut down
the CFU in the winter of 2007 as a way of withdrawing the CFU from the
landscape. We did this with the statement 'We Have Won' and shut the door
of the CFU just before the New Year. During the six years of the CFU's
existence, the knowledge economy had rapidly, and aggressively, become
the norm around us in Copenhagen and in northern Europe. The rise of
social networking, lifestyle and intellectual property as engines of
valorisation meant that the knowledge economy was expanding into the
tiniest pores of our lives and social relations. The state had turned to
a wholesale privatisation of former public educational institutions,
converting them into mines of raw material for industry in the shape of
ideas, desires and human beings. But this normalising process was somehow
not powerful enough to silence all forms of critique and dissent; other
measures were required.In December 2010
 we received a formal letter from the Ministry of Science, Technology and
Innovation telling us that a new law had passed in the parliament that
outlawed the existence of the Copenhagen Free University together with
all other self-organised and free universities. The letter stated that
they were fully aware of the fact that we do not exist any more, but just
to make sure they wished to notify us that "In case the Copenhagen Free
University should resume its educational activities it would be included
under the prohibition in the university law §33". In 2010 the university
law in Denmark was changed, and the term 'university' could only be used
by institutions authorised by the state. We were told that this was to
protect 'the students from being disappointed'. As we know numerous
people who are disappointed by the structural changes to the educational
sector in recent years, we have decided to contest this new clampdown by
opening a new free university
 in Copenhagen. This forms part of our insistence that the emancipatory
perspective of education should still be on the map. We demand the law be
scrapped or altered, allowing self-organised and free universities to be
a part of a critical debate around the production of knowledge now and in
the society of the future.We call for everybody to establish their own
free universities in their homes or in the workplace, in the square or in
the wilderness. All power to the free universities of the future.The Free
U Resistance Committee of June 18 2011.    Practicalities in Denmark:
Please send a mail to the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation
declaring your university (min at vtu.dk) and cc. to the The Danish Agency
of Universities (ubst at ubst.dk)

Please circulate!

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