Call-out for students for this autumn's MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism at Maynooth - please circulate!
We have a lot going on at the MA - a talk next week "Gypsy rebellion? Leadership, NGOs and activism among Spanish gitanos"; in April John Holloway is giving a two-day seminar "Think Hope, Think Crisis" and not long after that we're co-organising the "Joining the dots" Grassroots Gathering in Dublin - all part of a wider Dublin Spring of resistance and creation bubbling up from below.
Now read on...
Are you
- active in social movement struggles but need space to stand back, reflect, recharge?
- committed to community activism but frustrated by where the community sector is going?
- trying to see a way forward for radical education in a cold climate?
- politically minded but don’t know how to turn that into an effective and radical practice?
- involved in NGO or trade union activism but feel trapped by the structures?
- concerned about the cooption of community and other groups and wondering how to reorganise?
- clear that social change is central to you but unsure how to build a life around it?
- interested in spending a year with experienced activists and community educators?
Around
the world today, movements and communities are making history – or
trying to. Austerity is being challenged across Europe, while Latin
American movements are rewriting the rulebook and elsewhere massive
popular movements are challenging the powerful from Hong Kong to Turkey
to Ferguson. In Ireland too, struggles around water charges, fracking,
abortion rights and direct provision are shaking the old certainties
that “there is no alternative” to neoliberalism, that cosying up to
state institutions is the only game in town, that we are condemned to an
endless rerun of the same parties in power.
The
need for change is huge and the outcome is still all to play for. We
see seemingly unstoppable movements squashed - and seemingly hopeless
ideas winning against all the odds. Movements seem to come out of
nowhere and shake the powers that be – but then it can be hard to see a
way forward.
What makes the difference, and how can our movements really
change the world?
The
Masters in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism (CEESA) at
Maynooth responds to the crisis by helping us learn from each other’s
struggles in dialogue between different movements, different communities
and different generations. The course is not tied to any single
movement and participants come from many different communities and
countries. Some are experienced activists who want to go back to
education; others are people who are just getting involved in movements.
This lively mixture of ages, backgrounds, experiences and questions is
an integral part of what makes the course so rewarding. Together we are
building a diverse network of movement activists, radical educators and
campaigners for equality and creating new alliances for change. See the
video at http://tinyurl.com/ceesavideo
The
course team are experienced practitioners and engaged researchers
working on equality, radical education and movement struggles. The
course combines political strategy, bottom-up organising methods and
social analysis with a wide range of learning methods and a focus on
knowledge for change, taking a practical but radical look at the
problems facing movements today. Our small-group classes run one or two
days a week to facilitate participants’ lives, over two 12-week terms
followed by working on a project aimed at developing your own movement
practice. We don’t just learn within the classroom: we do joint events
with a wide range of community and movement groups in Ireland as well as
running events with international activists like Hilary Wainwright,
John Holloway, Selma James, John Krinsky, Jane McAlevey, Eurig
Scandrett, Rhetta Moran, Firoze Manji…
Often
we are told we have to choose between our politics and “real life”.
This Masters shows how to integrate the two with confidence,
practicality, solidarity, emotional resilience, seeing the bigger
picture, taking time out to reflect and supporting each other for the
long haul. Participants go back to their own movements refreshed, set up
new projects, find work in movement organisations, go on to further
education - and bring back what they have learned to their own
struggles.
For more details: ceesa-ma.blogspot.com and www.nuim.ie/study-maynooth/postgraduate-studies
Contact the Dept of Adult and Community Education at adcomed@nuim.ie or (01) 7083937.
