Friday, May 1, 2009

May Day Greetings

Steve's May Day post (and I agree with his proposal for a teach-in) has inspired me to use this important day to say a word about my participation in the recent struggles as a communist. For me the most important victory in these struggles is our own transformation. That is, the struggle changes us who participate in it. We come to think more in terms of "we" than in term of "I". We think beyond the immediate issue to ask both why things are bad and need to be changed and to ask what, ideally, we would like to achieve. This struggle has strengthened me. It has helped me to overcome passivity and individualism. I have learned so much from all of you, students and fellow teachers both. I thank you. Happy May Day!

2 comments:

  1. In addition to the ability we have to mobilize actions, we could collect our (students, faculty, staff) narratives of resistance and resiliency and anthologize them. Using critical race theory and/or other lenses, we could create a powerful description of local politics and higher education. Anyone interested in taking the editorial lead on this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's a project which could be very helpful to us and to others. I personally could not take it on, but I would love to discuss it and help those who could. Probably some of those narratives--or at least notes for them--should be written now while the experience is still fresh.

    ReplyDelete