Another thoughtful and inspiring gathering around municipalist strategies yesterday as we read over the draft of the Barcelona en Comu International Committees statement for starting municipalist platforms in America. Much to unpack; from ideas around pluralism, difference, power, and notions of commonness, there’s obviously a lot of cultural and political translation to be done between a European and American municipalist model. And yet, so much to grab on to, desire, feel energized and inspired by. An aspect that stuck out for me which bridged this cultural divide was the necessity to begin and aggressively maintain a desire to build critical connections around ideas between people and existing publics, maintaining a close but healthy distance from the electorate. This isn’t to say that an “authentic” municipalist platform will avoid electoral politics, more so that it will access the electorate as a means and not an end. Much more to unpack, many more connections to form and sustain, and more barbecues to have after our get-togethers as well, because you know, those are where those critical connections take root.
Power Learned from Paul: On Paul Wellstone’s Radical Pedagogy
Please join us at Beyond Repair at 12 PM on Saturday, October 1, 2016, for a release event featuring the Wooden Leg Press reprint of Dan S. Wang’s memoir-essay about Paul Wellstone.
The text was originally written as a letter to a friend, an attempt to describe what he had learned from Paul Wellstone in the classroom. It turned into an essay about political power, political science as experimentation, and the expansive vision of political action that Paul Wellstone embodied.
What did you learn from Paul Wellstone? Were you a student of his? Did you work in his office or for his campaign? Did you know him only through the media? Were you too young to remember much about him?
Join artist, writer, printer, and former student of Paul Wellstone’s, Dan S. Wang for a low key afternoon of conversations of political education in general, and Wang’s in specific as it regards to his understand of Wellstone’s teaching.
Lacey got our conversation with Emory Douglas down to 1′ and 0’s and we’re in the midst of cleaning it up. I cannot wait to get this out into the world! Here’s a quick taste…
Sam: So, in that way, you have the BPP doing something similar to, say the Wobblies at the turn of the century — of being on the street corner, being visible, saying, “look, here’s this thing and here’s the person attached to it. You could also be that person.”
Emory: Yeah, absolutely. We had a paper — 6:00 o’clock in the morning, people had assignments to go sell the papers. It was at the subway, the bus stations or wherever that may be.
Sam: In that sense was the history and methods of, say, the Wobblies or the black press leading up to your work at the paper in your minds at the time?
Emory: Yes, yes. Because the context and the content was the connection.
