This afternoon I am speaking at a DMU-hosted event called:

THE ASSAULT ON UNIVERSITIES: Privatisation, Secrecy and the Future of Higher Education, which is being chaired by Stuart Price.

My argument will focus on 4 points.

1. That our existence inside the University is framed by a systemic, historical crisis of capitalism.

2. That through this crisis capital is accumulating historically-developed, social values [e.g. NHS, *free* education] through commodification and, increasingly, coercion.

3. That through both the impact and the re-inscription of capitalist social relations, our institutional lives demand critique framed by the materiality of the crisis.

4. That academics might consider their roles in the processes of refusal/negation/pushing back that emerge. This includes the courage it takes to describe and reveal coercive practices.

I have uploaded the slides to my slideshare [Reclaiming the idea of the University].

I intend to blog the outcomes of this session aligned with my take on: firstly, John Holloway’s lectures in Leeds last week on “the rule of money“; secondly, the discussion meeting held at the Bank of Ideas last Friday about creating the London Free University; and thirdly, Jonathan Davies’ critique yesterday of network governance. The focus will be on the realities of protest, resistance and hegemony in/against/beyond the academy. I will do this in the next few days. In solidarity.