90 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
90 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
Bonaventure School - an experiment in libertarian education
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Even though now it's been around for nearly two years,
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the libertarian school Bonaventure d'Ol=E9ron had never
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really reached the communes of the Northern Alps and
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a fortiori nor did it reach Italy. So it seemed to us that
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with a libertarian group in Maurienne, whose activities
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stretched as far as Chamb=E9ry, a link to the FA
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(Anarchist Federation of France) and a co-
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organisational project with our comrades in Italy that
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this was an area that should be dealt with.
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The rounds were done between the 5th and the 11th
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of March during which time we stopped off at the home
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of some organic farmers in Ain, were the guests of the
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FA group in Grenoble, and held public meetings in
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Milan, Pinerollo, Turin, Chamb=E9ry and finally Saint-
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Jean-de-Maurienne. A heavy week for the two
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bonaventuriers, from whom we were able to verify the
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energy of the anarchist movement and the Italian
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revolutionaries who have, more quickly than here, seen
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the abandonment and indeed the defeat of a mass
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education system led and, up until recently, promoted
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by the state. In effect, the government and big industry
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foresee 'grave management difficulties' regarding the
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administration of certain social services - one being
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education - to justify their financial disengagement.=20
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A first move will be to empower local authorities to
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forgo their legal obligation to provide a maternity
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education service - we won't have to wait long for this
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one. Large local companies, heavily in the red, will not
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hesitate to shut the school gates in order to relieve their
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budgets.
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Within such a framework alternatives don't seem very
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possible. Only the Roman Catholic church has the
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means to take over 95% of these scholarly
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establishments, according to our comrades in Italy. And
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one can't deny that things have indeed worked out well
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for the bourgeoisie whose natural ally, in the homeland
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of Roman Catholicism (as indeed it is in France) is the
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state with its helping hand. This can be explained in
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several different ways but that of which we can be
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certain is that the states of Europe need a church that
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has never really lost its political footing and which,
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moreover, is willing to play the 'charitable role' of the
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state which today simply has to play at social politics
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whilst, at the same time, preferring that this disregard
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for the conditions of the poor should not provoke their
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revolt.
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The underlings therefore will get their diet of 'what
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they need' - an education of suppression and the
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necessities to survive - no more. Under such conditions
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it is tempting for the Italian anarchists to take advantage
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of this space and try out the idea of a libertarian school
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- self-management here and now, an education of
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revolt, for autonomy and individual harmony..
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Well of course the argument was heated between
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those who argued that the state system offered the best
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chance of offering space for the development of a
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revolutionary libertarian education and those who
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thought it impossible for any state institution to be
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reformed and advantage gained from it.
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The idea of the Bonaventure school came just in time
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to rescue the latter's cause and our two bonaventuriers
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were well questioned about educational matters and
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also about the political experience they had had on the
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Ile d'Ol=E9ron and it's region. In short we can say there's a
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lot of interest on the other side of the Alps and we hope
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to see one day (soon?) a libertarian education network
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which wouldn't be a mean achievement.
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On this side of the mountains the debate was
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somewhat different (as are our situations) but we can
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say that the interest generated in the single concrete
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instance of libertarian education that we have was equal
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to the Italian experience.
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Considering together the twenty outsiders who came
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to the Chamb=E9ry meeting (along with friends), when we
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hadn't been to the town for three years, with a dozen
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faces we came across in Sainte-Jeande-Maurienne and
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a few lively debates - and finding a general consensus
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view that social change is required one can say that
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these initiatives in Savoy were successful. And a
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success that was well covered by the local press. So we
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will continue, for sure, with this project and others now
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that we have proof that libertarian ideas and practices
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can be popular.
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Translated from Le Monde Libertaire
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