Necropolitics: Who lives and dies in a state of exception?

The norm is televised genocide, illegal mining and occupation. This system of marking specific bodies as kill-able and national sovereignty as “the right to kill” is as old as capitalism and colonialism itself. 

Defining a state’s freedoms in such terms normalizes mass slaughter in distant lands, but it also props up justifications for places like Guantanamo Bay and organizations like Frontex here in the belly of the beast.

Who among us have limited rights, and what laws justify the hierarchies between different kinds of political identities? 

In a Europe where the “working classes” and “stateless” people are quickly sliding into the category historically reserved for “savages” in the Dutch “Golden Age”, such questions help us anticipate who among us will be dragged off without a warrant to preserve “democracy”.

This session will break down musty academic concepts like necropolitics and the state of exception to explain how war in the 21st century has changed to keep pace with capital’s ever-growing need for blood and materials. 

No prior knowledge needed.

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The formal education system affects us all. Not only are we forced to attend schools growing up, but academic research shapes our governments, our news, and how we view the world around us. As much as many of us want to believe in the promise of institutional education, the sad fact is that our schools and universities are undemocratic and elitist. They perpetuate inequalities instead of giving people the tools to fight them. This world is fucked.

Here at Radical Sunday School, though, we know that another world is possible. Everyone should be able to direct their own learning, to grow together with their communities, and to live as though they’re already free. There are countless examples of movements already putting these ideas into practice. This collective is trying to follow in their footsteps, organizing to explore new ways of learning based on principles of autonomy, mutual aid, and egalitarianism.

This is not intended to be a course that you would have to follow all the way through. Jump in and out whenever you like. Sessions will be held every Sunday at Joe's Garage.

Doors open at 17.30, we start sharp at 18.00!