The MFU’s courses Australian Identities? and Sustainability and Permaculture are now underway on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6.30-8pm, and have been going fabulously. I’m attaching a poster with info on specific topics, speakers and dates for the current courses for your information. Details are also online . We have some great speakers lined up, so it’s [...]
Jasmine was recenlty interviewed by Sarah from Hidden Documentaries. Lygon Street, Carlton, 5pm For generation Y, free education died before we were even born. Our parents watched Whitlam get kicked out in the 70s and by the time we were watching Agro’s Cartoon Connection, HECS was here to stay. We are a useful lot. We [...]
French philosopher Jacques Ranciere based the premise of his book The Ignorant Schoolmaster on a groundbreaking experiment led by Joseph Jacotot in the early nineteenth century. Jacotot was forced into exile by the counter revolutionary forces in 1815 and went on to teach in a Dutch university. While his Dutch-speaking students were eager to hear [...]
Education is not just about getting a job Knowledge for its own sake seems to have lost its currency in a world where “outcomes” have become the goal of tertiary education. But education without a necessary career goal should be valued, which is why on May 1, the Melbourne Free University, co-founded by Jasmine-Kim Westendorf, [...]
If you would like to participate in the MFU, an informal meeting will be held at Dexter Cafe (123 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill) on May 12 from 6.30pm. Of course, involvement in the MFU is not restricted to teaching. If you would like to participate in the organisational side of the project, please join us [...]
The first seminar on Contemporary Australian issues will take place at: North Carlton Railway Station Neighbourhood House 20 Solly Ave, North Carlton VIC 3054 It will be held on 1 May from 12 to 4.30
Articles written by members of the Melbourne Free University represent their author’s views, and not necessarily the views of the MFU.
A few days after the earthquake, Pat Robertson, a sexist, racist, homophobic American preacher, declared Haitians themselves were to blame for the disaster as they had sworn ‘a pact to [sic] the Devil’. Sometimes it is hard not to believe that the ‘Devil’ has played a role in Haiti’s plight. However, no pact was ever [...]
In January, in the wake of the Haitian earthquake, The Age published a piece by Chris Berg, from the Right-wing think-tank Institute of Public Affairs. Berg argued that the only thing Haitians need now is to ‘get away from Haiti’. For Berg, Haiti is a lost cause, and intrinsically unable to develop. … Aurelien Mondon [...]
Recent events have taken me back to almost a year ago. Time flies, suffering and indifference remains. What I found confirmed through these events and their reception in Australia is that we need to acknowledge equality ever more urgently. Within two weeks last year, over 750 Palestinians lost their lives in what became known as [...]
