Alex went to a talk at McMasters University by Alan Sears and sees a point to his argument that we need collective investigation into how today's movements and oppressed communities are rebuilding the infrastructure of dissent.

R. Rosen went to see Persepolis, a film based on the comic strip about the experiences of a young women during the Iranian revolution and the years that followed.

Karine looks at a book that summarizes the experiences of women anarchist organizers during the Spanish revolution

In her racy and humbly excited nature Cindy invites the audience into her idea of a better world. As she talks, describing hers and other’s projects, one really does begin to imagine the possibilities. Ideas of a better, richer, more fulfilling life, dedicated to actively and simultaneously deconstructing the oppressive systems of he current world and replacing them with healthier, anarchistic ones.

“Education is about empowering people in a disempowering time”- Cindy Milstein

In a talk entitled “Education for Freedom”, part of the unSchooling Oppression conference, Cindy Milstein builds a model of anarchism through education and education through anarchism. Personally, a deep proponent and practitioner of both, she comes from a self-made community, operating without hierarchal structures and concentrating on continual learning and action.

Speaking about the impacts on societies and individuals of the forced schooling system, John Taylor Gatto propelled forward the momentum gained by the unSchooling Oppression conference.

Following in the lead of David F. Noble who opened the conference Monday night, Gatto too believes there are major problems within the educational system. Problems solvable only by deschooling the self. Unlike Noble though, Gatto does not believe in challenging and infiltrating the system but rather in taking it down. In the context of rule-breaking though, Gatto is quite similar to Noble, and like him, professes self-determination, autonomy, and the fight against authority. ‘You cannot replace one educational system with another system’ he says, explaining that education is always a custom-made job that starts at self-examination.

By Lia Tarachansky

Kicking off the unSchooling Oppression conference, David F. Noble filled the Ottawa Public Library's auditorium. Not a surprise from such a high caliber activist and speaker. With an academic career spanning over three decades, he has gained a wide range of experience with the higher education system.

Being let go from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), fired from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and denied tenure at the Simon Fraser University, his defiance of University systems is deeply rooted. In spite, he is currently a tenured professor at York University and has a long record of publication.

Shortly describing his experiences in this talk he has built a colourful picture of a man bent on getting education and leaving schooling far behind. Told with a grain of salt from a tireless activist, his talk was never lacking in humor or insight.

A Review of Planet of the Slums (Verso 2006) by Mike Davis.

In the mega-cities of the global south, massive slums and squatter settlements have shattered modernity’s optimism with an unprecedented Dickensian squalor - now for the first time in our history the urban population of the earth outnumbers the rural. Planet of The Slums is Marxist belligerent Mike Davis’ attempt to map our world's breakneck urbanization and the impact of this watershed.