Revolutionary Planning Class

We met this woman Ava, a radical urban planning student at UCLA, while we were in LA. She told us about the Revolutionary Planning class that was going to happen this semester - Then we found out that Living Room is on the syllabus. Here is the syllabus- it seems really interesting and I thought you all might be interested in finding out about some of the resources that these students are looking at.

This class is really cool too, because it was organized by students and is going to be completely facilitated by students.

Here is the syllabus:

REVOLUTIONARY PLANNING
Syllabus
________________________________________________________________________
Urban Planning 219 Section 2
Room 3343C
Wednesdays 6:00 – 9:00pm
Spring Quarter 2006 Professor: Jacqueline Leavitt
This is a student initiated, and led course. All students enrolled will participate as “student-teachers / teacher-students” to create dialogue, revolutionary space and share collective responsibility to achieve the course goals.
INTRODUCTION
This course arose out of the realization that there is a lack of discussion about revolution and revolutionary visions in planning today. Many of the problems faced by under-privileged communities are dire in nature and have been left to only worsen because of the dominant planning ideologies in place. These ideologies and practices have left planners helpless in our pursuit for social justice and have served to only strengthen the status quo. The vision of this course is to understand and analyze the ways revolutionary thought and implementation can educate us about changing the systems that keep people physically, socially, and economically captive.

Historically, revolution has been a method to create social change in repressive environments. Though there have been successful revolutions and there are currently movements struggling for change, many go unnoticed as the society at large continues to believe that they are irrelevant to the problems we face in the United States.

ABOUT THE COURSE
This course will focus on the issues and ideas that move revolutions. Course readings, lectures and discussions will look at specific revolutionary movements as case studies in order to learn and apply strategies to our context.

GOALS OF THE COURSE
The goal of the course is to build a foundation for understanding and creating a revolutionary planning model by learning about the history of revolutions and analyzing current struggles and experiences around the world. Readings and lectures will foster discussions about practical strategies.

COURSE STRUCTURE
The governance and organization of the course will reflect the ideas we are exploring. Because the course will function as a seminar, the class environment will emphasize a collegial/study group atmosphere of participation. Consequently, punctuality, regular attendance, and volunteerism will be essential in order to ensure a mutually beneficial exchange.

PRODUCTS
All students will be responsible for introducing and facilitating the discussion for at least one class in small groups. Facilitators are required to review all reading responses for that week prior to class (see below)
Each week students will be required to submit short reading responses (one to two paragraphs) and two discussion questions for the group. Write ups must be posted to the online class message board by midnight the Monday before class. As part of the final project, each facilitation group will write a collaborative piece that summarizes their week’s topic. (Specific requirements will be discussed during the first class)

GRADING
40% Weekly Responses (8)
20% Discussion Facilitation (1)
40% Final Report & Presentation (1)
Method of evaluation will be discussed during week one.

READINGS
In addition to the required reader for the course, students are encouraged to share extra readings that they feel are important to a topic. If the reading is not available through the class website, copies of these texts should be brought to class one week prior so that the class can make copies as needed.
REQUIRED READER available at Westwood Copy Center for purchase

REVOLUTIONARY PLANNING – Reading Assignments
April 5th WEEK ONE: Course Introduction
Course Overview
Intro Activity - Caminitos
Review Syllabus
Assign groups / topic facilitation
Set the scope and goals of course – Question Matrix
April 12th WEEK TWO: Radical Spaces
Castells, Manuel “The Urban Structure: The debate on the theory of space” The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach p. 113-128
Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri. Multitude Penguin. 2005. pp. 63-115
Kohn, Margaret Radical Space: Building the House of the People (2003).
Chapter 2 “Space and Politics” and Chapter 6 “The house of the People” p. 87-109; p.13-26; p. 160-165
Cordingly, Luke. “Can Masdeu: Rise of the Rurbano Revolution” in Belltown Paradise / Making Their Own Plans. Brett Bloom and Ava Bromberg, editors. WhiteWalls, Chicago. 2005. pp. 52-68
Friedman, John. “The City of everyday life: knowledge/power and the problem of representation”. The Prospect of Cities.
The City Repair Project
Harvey, David. Justice, Nature & the Geography of Difference (1996). Chapter 11 “From space to Place and Back Again” p. 207-209 and 291-326
In Class Screening:
Living Room: Space and Place in Infoshop Culture. Liz Simmons and Courtney Kallas
The Take. Director Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis
April 19th- WEEK THREE: Popular Education Organizing Strategies / Education for Liberation. Speaker: Mario Cuellar
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. (Translated by Myra Berman Ramos) Continuum. New York. 1990 (Chapter 1, pp. 27-56) Unpublished selection from annotated bibliography for research paper entitled “Popular Education: Organizing for Revolutionary Social Change in Meso-America.” (Regarding Pedagogy of the Oppressed) by Maureen Purtill. UCLA. Fall 2005 Mc Laren, Peter and Peter Leonard, editors. Paulo Freire: A Critical Encounter. Routledge. London. 1993. (Chapter 9, pp.169-176) Hammond, John L. “Popular Education As Community Organizing in El Salvador”. Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 26, No. 4, Liberation and Pedagogic Empowerment: Identities and Localities: Social Analyses on Gendered Terrain. Jul., 1999 (pp. 69-94)
Recommended Readings in Spanish (available at YRL):
Freire, Paulo. Educación Popular. Realidad Económica, 96 (1990), 39-50
López Palacio, Juan Virgilio. Paulo Freire: sus teorías, sus métodos; la inspiración más cercana del movimiento de educación popular en América Latina. Islas, 41:121 (July-Sept 1999), 140-148. Bibl.
April 26th - WEEK FOUR: Music/Art as an Organizational Tool for Revolution
Finkelstein, Sidney. Art as Humanization. From “The Artistic Expression of Alienation” in Marxism and Alienation: A Symposium, ed. Herbert Aptheker (New York, 1965) pp. 26-30
Fanon, Frantz. “On National Culture”. From Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory. Williams, Patrick, Chrisman, Laura. Columbia University Press New York (1994) pp 36-52.
Wang, Dan S. “New Solidarities: After Ideology and Culture, There is History.” Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. Los Angeles. Volume 1, Issue 4. Fall 2005. http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/4/issue4.php?page=wang
Sanchez-Tranquillino, Marcos. Space, Power, and Youth Culture: Mexican-American Graffiti and Chicano Murals in East Los Angeles. 1972-1978. pp 53-87
MacPhee, Joshua I. “The Portable Printing Press” in Stencil Pirates. Soft Skull Press, Brooklyn. 2004 pp.11-19
Holmes, Brian. “Revenge of the Concept: Artistic Exchanges, Networked Resistance” http://ut.yt.t0.or.at/site/index.html p.1-16
Shaeffer, Christoph. “The City is Unwritten: Urban Experiences and Thoughts seen through Park Fiction.” Belltown Paradise / Making Their Own Plans. Brett Bloom and Ava Bromberg, eds. WhiteWalls, Chicago. 2005 pp.39-51
Sholette, Gregory. “Snip…Snip, Bang, Bang: Political Art, Reloaded”. http://artwurl.org p.1-6
Steurer, Erich.“Intervention to Provide Health Care to Homeless People” in WochenKlausur: Sociopolitical Activism in Art. Wolfgang Zinggl, editor. SpringerWeinNewYork. 2003. pp. 19-26
May 3rd - WEEK FIVE: Religion: A Tool for Organizing and Empowering
“Liberation Theology: An Introductory Guide” by Robert McAfee Brown. Westminster/John Knox Press. 1993. Pg. 35-88.
“A Theology of Liberation” by Gustavo Gutierrez. (Orbis, 1988) pg. 54-71.
“Cry of the People: United States Involvement in the Rise of Fascism, Torture and Murder and the Persecution of the Catholic Church in Latin America.” By Penny Lernoux. Doubleday & Company, Inc. (1980) pg. 1-14.
“Patriotism Is Not Enough.” Jesus is Not A Republican: The Religious Rights’ War on America. Peter J. Gomes, edited by Clint Willis and Nate Hardcastle. Thunder’s Mouth Press. (2005). Pg. 157-164.
May 10th -WEEK SIX: Planning, Revolutionary Practice, and the State
Friedmann, John. Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge to Action.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987. pp. 31 – 35.
Morley, Morris and James Petras. “Beyond Developmentalism.” In US Hegemony
Under Siege. London: Verso, 1990. pp. 44 – 59.
Sankara, Thomas, 1999, Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, New York, New York: Pathfinder Press pp.1-36
Skocpol, Theda. “Explaining Social Revolutions: Alternatives to Existing Theories.” In
States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and
China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. pp. 3 – 33.
May 17th -WEEK SEVEN: Law and Revolution
Lopez, Gerald. Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano's Vision of Progressive Law Practice. (New Perspectives on Law, Culture, and Society) Chap 1.
Oscar Zeta Acosta, The Revolt of the Cockroach People. Pp 234-254 and “Afterword” (259-262).
Steven W. Bender., “Direct Democracy and Distrust.” The Relationship Between Language Law Rhetoric and the Language Vigilantism Experience.” Harvard Latino Law Review. Fall 1997. Pp. 145-174
"Race, Reform and Retrenchment: Transformation and Legitimation in Anti Discrimination Law" by Kimberle Williams Crenshaw [Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas’ Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement (New Press, 1996):]
May 24th -WEEK EIGHT: Political Organization and the Revolutionary Left: Case Studies from Cuba; Iran; Porto Alegre, Brazil; and Palestine
Afary, Janet and Anderson, Kevin B. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. pp 250-260.
Al-i Ahmad, Jalal. Occidentosis: A Plague from the West. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1947. pp. 27-44, 78-91, 112-121.
Hanieh,Adam: Jamjoum, Hazeem; Ziadah, Rafeef, 2006, “Challenging the New Apartheid: Reflections on Palestine Solidarity” forthcoming in Left Turn, Spring Edition
Mackey, Sandra. The Iranians. NY: Plume, 1996.
Abers, Rebecca. “Ideas to Practice: The Partido dos Trabalhadores and Particpatory Governance in Brazil.” In Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 4, The “Urban Question” in Latin America. Autumn, 1996. pp. 35-53.
Davis, Thomas M. and Brian Loveman eds. “Guerrilla Warfare, Revolutionary Theory, and Revolutionary Movements in Latin America.” In Guerrilla Warfare, by Che
Guevara. 3rd ed. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1997. pp. 3 - 20.
Guevara, Che. “General Principles of Guerrilla Warfare.” In Guerrilla Warfare ed. by
Thomas Davis and Brian Loveman. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources
Inc., 1997. pp. 50 – 63.
Creation of the State of Israel. Map
Bishara, Marwan. Palestine/ Israel: Peace or Apartheid. Occupation, Terrorism and the Future. Chpt 7 pp 117-131.
Achcar, Gilbert. “First Reflections on the electoral victory of Hamas.” Jan. 27, 2006
Recommended Readings:
Abers, Rebecca. “Introduction.” In Inventing Local Democracy: Grassroots Politics in
Brazil. London: Lynne Rienner, 2000. pp. 1 – 21.
May 31st - WEEK NINE: Power
Speaker: Gilda Hass - Presentation
June 7th and June 14th - Final Project