Fwd: [Free Skool Solidarity] The End of the East Bay Free Skool

[Tim Roust]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: free skool <east...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 2:15 AM
Subject: [Free Skool Solidarity] The End of the East Bay Free Skool
To:

Hey There

 I am writing this with both a heavy heart and a sense of relief ( as honesty tends to feel).

For the last 4 and a half years I have been part of the East Bay free Skool. for the last 2 and a half years I have run the project alone (well, organizing, printing and distributing calendars).

I would like  to first thank all the people who have hosted lasses, attended classes and been a part of eachother's lives. This is where revolutions begin, with these small sparks of light, the moments you share are sparks striving to catch, and they will. I also would like to thank  the people who spent hours drawing and staring at computer screens, your beautiful work never goes unnoticed

In an ongoing process of becoming more honest with my own capacity and engaging with dynamics around organizing and privilege I am realizing that if this project is worth putting energy into it needs to drastically change, I am not convinced I am the person to do that.

I feel extremely passionate about the role of learning in undoing hegemony, in reweaving social fabrics, in empowering communities and in creating a world that we can all live in. I am convinced that learning, teaching, sharing and creating of knowledge is an  absolutely imperative  tool of social change. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for the last few months for me in the East  Bay Free Skool. In the last 2 years I have found myself seeing the calendar as a chore, I have longed for companionship, energy, things that make projects worth taking on. My own inexperience, lack of capacity and yes, privilege on different levels have created dynamics that make it impossible to create the project I see myself wanting to invest energy into.

The project I envision involves people sharing what they already know, it involves folks who grew up in Oakland, folks from all over involved in sharing skills that will  break down barriers and sustain communities (whatever they look like) against repression, economic turns and reweave what has always been an essential part of our existence. I look for a project with classes  that teach skills, that teach about this place and why it is worth defending, why it is worth staying in, I look for classes that deal with these complex dynamics of privilege and oppression. I look for classes that empower people to get what should be theirs whether it is housing, food, access to information and beyond. I look for classes that are  relevant to the people most disempowered by the institutionalization of education.I The project I envision creates relationships between people where they are awakened to a new piece of themselves, they are ignited, nurtured and able to spread like flame so hot it cut any rope and melt any chain.

These dreams are impossible for me to realize alone and in the way I have been moving forward.

That being said, I am going to leave the East Bay Free Skool. This effectively means the end of this current incarnation of this project.

If you are interested in continuing this work or starting something similar, you may contact me at

somos.mil...@gmail.com

I would be excited and happy to support anyone who wanted to  continue this work

You can also check out the Bay Area Public School which is doing something similar

http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

Again thanks to everyone for their support of this project and other forms of free knowledge sharing

Much Love,
Autumn