[PeDAGoG] Living Utopias Videos

Tue Sep 28 17:16:14 CEST 2021

Dear Sarah 

I saw the two videos and enjoyed them and they can be used in our Master's
class. 

I want to tell the whole group about my recent experience of a workshop with
village level activists and the kind of materials and pedagogy used and the
next level challenges we will face. I think this might be of interest to the
whole group and people might have experience and ideas to share. 

Due to relaxations in lockdown I was able to conduct a two whole day , face
to face , workshops with 60 people , a year after it was originally
scheduled this month , on 16-17 September . About 2/3rd of participants were
working at village level in 6 districts of the state of West Bengal , one
district each of the states of Odisha and Jharkhand. So there were three
language groups. 1/3rd were the urban staff of an NGO which works in these
rural areas , primarily trying to create village discussion forums , to take
forward many of the ideas of "alternatives to Industrialism" 

In three sessions I circulated a one page note with 10-12 main points each
on Amish ( USA) , Kibbutz( Israel) , and Mendha village ( India -
maharashtra ) . These notes were in vernacular language. In groups of 6-8
persons they read the note, discussed , and came up with written comments
and questions in about 20 minutes . As I collected the notes and started
discussing , I showed them slides of still images of Amish ( not many
available) and a 5 minute clipping from a film called "Raising the Barn" .
For kibbutz also still images. And for Mendha a short 10 minute film. Each
of these sessions went on for more than 2 hours with lots of animated
discussions. The short note, the still photos , the short film were really
helpful. We had planned to do Zapatistas but ran out of time. 

These activists would like to tell these stories and initiate discussions at
district, sub-district and at village forums which they are trying to
create. But they need more "detailed stories" of such cases in the
vernacular so that can handle all kinds of questions . In India Vikalp
Sangam has already started writing detailed case studies in some state
languages and also making audiovisuals.  We are planning to translate and
dub into Bengali. 

These short films on conceptual understanding which Sarah and Mofwoofoo sent
can be tried at these levels , if we dub them in vernacular. We have used
the Hindi dubbed Annie  Leonard's  "Story of Stuff' , and although the
commentary is very fast , the dubbing has turned out quite well. 

We are also thinking of creating podcasts in the Q&A formats based on the
questions which people raised during this workshop , as well as other
relevant questions;  which these activists might be able to use at several
levels.

Apologies for this long mail. 

Sujit Sinha 

From: GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:gta-pedagog-bounces at lists.ourproject.org] On
Behalf Of sarah white
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 11:00 PM
To: PeDAGoG: Post-Development Academic-Activist Global Group
<gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org>
Subject: [PeDAGoG] Living Utopias Videos

I also loved the video - thank you for sharing. Sujit - this video is a few
years old now, and set in the context of the US, (and I disagree with
promoting identity politics, nationalism, and representative democracy), but
I love the premise of activating our radical imaginations to expand the
possible. The second video is more recent, and I have fewer criticisms. I
use them both with students to inspire radical imagination projects...

A Message from the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9uTH0iprVQ> 

A Message from the Future II: Years of Repair
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m8YACFJlMg> 

Warmly,

Sarah

  _____  

From: GTA-PeDAGoG <gta-pedagog-bounces at lists.ourproject.org> on behalf of
Sujit.Sinha <sujit.sinha at apu.edu.in <mailto:sujit.sinha at apu.edu.in> >
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 5:59 AM
To: 'PeDAGoG: Post-Development Academic-Activist Global Group'
<gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org <mailto:gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org>
>
Subject: Re: [PeDAGoG] [REDlistserve] A new article on the RED website -
"The path to a just and sustainable society" 

Terrific - the animation video  Mofwoofoo 

I and my colleague Pallavi at Azim Premji University , Bangalore teach a
course called "Living Utopias" and two of the modules are Rojavas and
Zapatista and we also take a class on Anarchism. We will use this video. 

We conduct this course (a) in our University at the Mater's level as a 3
credit one semester course (b) as 6 day intensive workshop for anyone
interested (c) and bits and pieces with alternative activists at grass roots
as per their demand in the  vernacular ( so far in Hindi and Bengali ) . 

I am attaching the course outline. Maybe you ,and others in this group ,
have more such videos which will be useful . 

Thanks 

Sujit  

From: GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:gta-pedagog-bounces at lists.ourproject.org] On
Behalf Of Mofwoofoo
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2021 6:11 AM
To: Pallav Das <dpallav at gmail.com <mailto:dpallav at gmail.com> >
Cc: KV Full <kvenvironment at googlegroups.com
<mailto:kvenvironment at googlegroups.com> >; Vikalp Sangam elist
<vikalp-sangam-list at googlegroups.com
<mailto:vikalp-sangam-list at googlegroups.com> >;
gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org <mailto:gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org> ;
RED listserve <radical_ecological_democracy at googlegroups.com
<mailto:radical_ecological_democracy at googlegroups.com> >; Ted Trainer
<tedtrainertsw at gmail.com <mailto:tedtrainertsw at gmail.com> >; WSM
<wsm-discuss at lists.openspaceforum.net
<mailto:wsm-discuss at lists.openspaceforum.net> >
Subject: Re: [PeDAGoG] [REDlistserve] A new article on the RED website -
"The path to a just and sustainable society"

It is great to finally see someone saying it for what it is, that is,
anarchism. Exactly, what I have been advocating all along, watch the 7
minute animation that I completed in April, 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wywMhg604W8&t=5s> &t=5s. If you see the
value in this, you might help spread it around.

On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 11:06 PM Pallav Das <dpallav at gmail.com
<mailto:dpallav at gmail.com> > wrote:

The "eco-anarchist" transition strategy relies on "prefiguring" the new
social forms in the existing society. The most effective way to get people
to see the sense and the merits of the new ways is to establish as many
examples of them as possible here and now. This approach minimizes the
chances of violent conflict; if we persuade large numbers to the alternative
then radical change in structures might be brought about peacefully.

Friends,

A new article, "The path to a just and sustainable society" has been
uploaded to the "Radical Ecological Democracy" website. In the second part
of his discussion on "Eco-anarchism", Ted Trainer lays out the core
characteristics of a post consumer capitalist society, operating on the
principles of "The Simpler Way".  Please share the article with your
networks and join the discussion on REDlistserv. The author is copied here
in case you would like to contact him directly.

https://www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/the-path-to-a-just-and-sustainabl
e-society/

Best,

Pallav

<https://www.radicalecologicaldemocracy.org/the-path-to-a-just-and-sustainab
le-society/> 

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