TALKS
20.11.09: Camas Books & Infoshop's Free School, Victoria, BC, evening workshop: "Essential Ingredients of an Effective First-World Activism"
- 7:30pm, Camas Books, 2590 Quadra Street, Victoria.
- Effective activism requires three essential ingredients that are mostly absent in First-World activism: (1) Paulo Freire’s “authentic rebellion” in the individual, (2) the actuation of Freire’s notion of solidarity that “you can only fight your own oppression”, and (3) an understanding of power in which power’s primary concern above all else (above profits and above avoidance of destruction) is “control”. In this model, solidarity means fighting the common oppressor locally and at comparable risk levels.
20.11.09: Joint UVic-Camosun College event on the UVic campus, BC: "How Free is Your Education?"
- 3:30pm, Student Union Building, room TBA.
- In the 60s Jerry Farber wrote the underground essay “The Student as Nigger”. George Orwell’s “1984” warned of even more insidious personality control, as did philosopher Herbert Marcuse in “One Dimensional Man”. Physicist Jeff Schmidt recently spelled it out in “Disciplined Minds”: University as boot camp for obedient employees and professionals who adopt the system’s ideology. What would student academic freedom look like? How can you survive with your principles and personality intact?
19.11.09: VIU Nanaimo speaking event, BC: "Life versus Death from Compliance at School"
- 7pm, Boardroom (room 507) of the Library (building 305, centre of campus, Vancouver Island University).
- Life is risk. Creativity is agency and influence. The student anarchists of the 1960s refused to “prepare their lingering deaths” – This led to durable (but insufficient) changes in university governance and in the treatment of students. A student’s political dimension is a human necessity. A developing person that does not discover authentic rebellion within herself will likely engage in self-destructive behaviour that negates her life and her place in the world. How can students take their place?
18.11.09: UBC Student Union/Students for a Democratic Society speaking event, BC: "How to Make Student Academic Freedom"
- 1pm, Student Union Building (SUB) room 207, 6138 Student Union Blvd.
- The recognized legal notion of academic freedom (from national policy statements to the UN policy on academic freedom) is that it applies to students and that it includes collegial governance in the classroom and of the institution. Within the university, learning and human development can only be achieved in an environment of academic freedom. How can students create this environment in the classroom and beyond? How and why have previous attempts been subverted?
23.09.09: Talks and a Town Hall with Three Canadian Gadflies, Ottawa, 7pm
- Aboriginal Rights – Food Safety – Education: Corruption vs Professional Responsibility. Hear three prominent speakers who were fired for exposing truth: Rev. Kevin Annett; Dr. Shiv Chopra; Prof. Denis Rancourt -- followed by a town hall discussion.
Link to event information >>>
18.09.09: Public lecture in Hamilton, Ontario, 7pm: "Gadflies, Saboteurs, and Organizers: Activism Inside-Out"
- Observations and critiques about First World activism. The talk will explore the interrelated concepts and phenomena of solidarity, critical mass, consensus, diversity of tactics, survivor guilt, pacifism, and burnout; using many examples. In the end, Rancourt concludes that our activism is primarily a lie that we vehemently protect to guard us from the guilt of our privilege and the shame of our cowardice.
18.09.09: Another University is Possible - CUPE-sponsored conference - McMaster University, 2pm: "State of Academic Freedom in Canada"
- How to corrupt the youth to the point of being fired by a hysterical university administration bent on its image and control above all else... And a review of the legal meaning of academic freedom in Canada, via landmark arbitrations and hearings, with emphasis on student and TA academic freedom.
Link to a video of Rancourt's talk >>>
04.05.09: Rancourt to speak at the University of Western Ontario, 3:30pm
- Free and open to all. All are welcome. Sponsored by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Professor Rancourt will highlight his recent experience of being wrongfully dismissed from the University of Ottawa, as a measure of the state of academic freedom in Canada. Location: University of Western Ontario, London, ON – North Campus Building, Room 113.
29.04.09: Rancourt to speak at the Umi Cafe, 7pm
- The title of the talk will be: Is "hippie activist" an oxymoron?
I will examine activism and solidarity in the context of life style choices, community, wellness, and fraternity. I will draw from the works of Herbert Marcuse, Ward Churchill, Edward Said, Paulo Freire, and others in a critical analysis of the hippie phenomenon.
Link to Umi Cafe
21-22.04.09: Rancourt to participate in Winnipeg workshops and discussions
- Rancourt will be in Winnipeg for two days in April. The events are being organized by the University of Manitoba Graduate Students Association. Click for more information and the poster.
April 20 - High Cost and Benefit of Taking on the Corporate University - U. of Manitoba at noon (GSA Lounge, University Centre)
April 20 - Critical Pedagogy: Universities that Train but Fail to Educate - Mondragon Café and Bookstore at 7 pm (91 Albert St, Main Floor)
April 21 - Global Warming: Truth or Dare - U. of Manitoba at 10 am (218 Wallace Bldg)
April 22 - Risk Avoidance Pathology in First World Activism -Rudolf Rocker Center at 2 pm (91 Albert St, 3rd Floor)
03.04.09: Rancourt to speak in New York City
- Rancourt will share a panel with York University professor David Noble, author Jeff Schmidt and Drexel University professor Mary Ebeling at New York University's Frederic Ewen Academic Freedom Center 2nd Annual Conference. Click here for details.
23.03.09: Rancourt to speak at University of Guelph
- 6pm, March 23rd, Axelrod Room 200 (free admission). John McMurtry to open; David Noble to comment. Click for poster.
I will advance that only the student can liberate herself from the shackles of grades and imposed dogma, that only the student can make a sane university, that rebellion is an essential ingredient in self-discovery, and that self-discovery is the basis of all learning.
06.02.09: Rancourt to host Cinema Academica at University of Ottawa
- uCA will shed its skin and become a praxis workshop until further notice: report on Monday Senate followed by workshop on practical activism of student liberation. MacDonald Hall auditorium (MCD 146), 150 Louis Pasteur Street. Doors open at 7pm, activities begin at 7:30pm. Organized and facilitated by professors Claude Lamontagne and Denis Rancourt.
30.01.09: Rancourt to host Cinema Academica at University of Ottawa
- Cinema Academica, MacDonald Hall auditorium, University of Ottawa, 7pm.
28.01.09: Rancourt to speak at Carleton University
- Organized by Carleton Cinema Politica: "Join us as we screen a short film and host the controversial University of Ottawa Physics Professor and internationally recognized academic freedom activist Denis Rancourt." Click here for the poster.
27.01.09: Rancourt to speak at University of Toronto with David Noble
