The Anarchist U, or more formally Anarchist Free University (AFU), is a volunteer-run collective in Toronto which organizes a variety of courses on arts and sciences. Most courses run for ten weeks, and meet once a week; there are no admission fees. The Anarchist U follows the tradition of free schools in that it is open, non-hierarchic and questions the roles of teachers and students.

Anarchist U was started in part as a protest against the rising cost of university education in Ontario. In this respect it continues the tradition of Food Not Bombs
in providing a service that at the same time enacts a protest against social inequality.

Courses are approved at monthly collective meetings. Anyone can propose a course; usually by pitching an idea to the meeting and presenting a syllabus, usually for ten weekly meetings of two hours. Most of the materials are not available online but courses rely on photocopied materials. The school has found that about 20 pages of readings per week works best.

One limitation the school has encountered is that most people taking courses do not wish to do written work. There have been some experiments at collective work creating web pages based on courses but with limited success.

Anarchist U uses consensus decision-making. There have been discussions about this and also about the purpose of the free school as the original cohert of activists have been gradually replaced by new people who do not necessarily share the same assumptions about anarchist organizing.

Anarchist U is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. There is no single street address; rather different classes and meetings take place in different community centres and homes throughout the city. Starting in January 2006, some courses are at 457 Bathurst Street, a storefront space acquired by one of the founding members of the school.

The main organizing tool is the Anarchist U website, which uses Wiki software and is much more participatory than many activist websites. The website is updated by many members of the project who have little experience in creating a website.

Through connections made at the Anarchist U, a new collective house began in the city, the Anarchist F.R.A.T. (Federation of Really Autonomous Tenants) House was born. Many courses and Anarchist U meetings were also held at the F.R.A.T. house.

External links

Official site