[PREVIEW] #8: Autonomous Education and the Brecht Forum

<html><p>Mary Boger, Michael Lardner, and Kazembe Balagun join Amogh and Matt to discuss the New York Marxist School, the Brecht Forum, and the Marxist Education Project--experiments in both radical pedagogy and autonomous space in NYC dating back to 1975.</p><p>We trace together the how and why of our political histories, as well as the Brecht Forum’s organizational evolution from collective, to committee, to board of directors, to staff--and finally back again to collective. We’re warned of the challenges and contradictions in running such a program through the forms of the non-profit industrial complex, and the need to insist upon self-conscious, voluntary participation in a strategic project aimed at building community rather than audience. Such a space is a place to think out loud together, process and analyze current events, and develop a revolutionizing curriculum. We’re reminded of the Brecht Forum’s core organizing principle of being both non-dogmatic and non-sectarian--to emphasize culture, art, poetry, and music as being essential to the process of both movement building and becoming a better person. How and where do we organize ourselves to undo the individualization, fragmentation, demoralization, commodification, and brutality we experience--to work toward an intergenerational re-socialization and self-education based on compassion and care?</p><p>--“The Brecht Forum/New York Marxist School: To the Next Generation” - Mary Boger, 2013: <a href="https://dev.sd.brechtforum.net/issue/62/remembering-arthur-felberbaum" target="_blank">https://dev.sd.brechtforum.net/issue/62/remembering-arthur-felberbaum</a></p><p>--“Reflections on the Brecht Forum / New York Marxist School” - Liz Mestres, 2013: <a href="https://dev.sd.brechtforum.net/issue/62/reflections-brecht-forum-new-york-marxist-school" target="_blank">https://dev.sd.brechtforum.net/issue/62/reflections-brecht-forum-new-york-marxist-school</a></p><p>--“Our Legacy” - Marxist Education Project, 2014: <a href="https://marxedproject.org/our-legacy/" target="_blank">https://marxedproject.org/our-legacy/</a></p><p>--“Brecht Forum Promo Video” - Kazembe Balagun, 2008: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQbziBfDEg4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQbziBfDEg4</a></p><p>Mary Boger, a founding member of the New York Marxist School/Brecht Forum in 1975, is a long-time Capital teacher for movement activists, and has been involved in solidarity and human rights struggles for many year