Critical theory represents a body of radical thinking, forged in struggle, that must be reclaimed at this crucial juncture in history. It is especially important that critical theory speak, broadly and loudly, to the great issues of our time. It was always too important to be left to academics. While we do not welcome the attacks on the university today, we refuse nostalgia. In a moment when public-facing critical thinkers are being targeted for harassment or worse, we want to explore new forms of mutual aid and capacity-building.
If ever there was a need to communicate radical ideas with the public and with communities in struggle, it’s now.
In an age when a new breed of fascists blather on about the threat of “cultural Marxism” “gender ideology” and the antichrist, how can we be worthy of their worst nightmares?
In this moment, when billionaire-backed social media platforms appear to be making us all into angry drones, what hope is there for ideas and concepts that cultivate the radical imagination?
We wish to bring together a small group of radical thinkers who are not interested in putting their personal brand on “new” and/or intentionally obscure ideas for the purposes of careerism. Rather, we want to support one another to make critical theory, in its many varieties, accessible to social movements, radical struggles and wider audiences by (almost) any means necessary.
This is a two-day workshop for people who want to explore ways of making radical ideas and critical theory accessible to broader publics. This event is hosted by Max Haiven and Sarah Stein Lubrano of the Sense & Solidarity platform.
Beyond merely discussing the relevant issues, we’ll also share skills, stories, advice and courage.
Together, we will discuss matters that include:
What are the opportunities and risks of using today’s corporate social media platforms to reach and engage publics?
What’s the point of “doing” critical theory now?
What can('t) we learn from the practices of radical, public-facing critical theorists of the past?
Who are our inspirations? Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?
How do we support ourselves and one another amidst the slow murder of the public university? Can and should we build other institutions?
How can we prepare ourselves for backlash, attacks and defamation? How can we come to one another’s defence and build our capacities?
What does “the public” even mean in an age of “filter bubbles” and the breakdown of consensus reality?
We will also share skills, including
Producing online content
Publishing and event-planning
Defending one another from attacks
Not giving up
Building alternate infrastructures for critical theory
Forms of mutual aid
Strategic planning, being organized and not being such a goblin
This workshop will take place in central London from 10am-5:30pm on the weekend of October 17-18.
Specifically, you can expect:
To meet amazing, inspiring and lovely like-minded weirdos and a positive bit rigorous space for ideas and collaboration.
Sarah to talk about writing critical theory for the public, based on her recently published book Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st Century Minds.
Max to talk about the VAGABONDS series of short, radical pamphlet-style books he edits for Pluto Press and the broader landscape of publishing.
Sarah to talk about how to produce captivating media for Instagram, Tiktok and Substack and other things she learned when she made critical theory content for The School of Life and since then.
Max to talk about his researches and practices for “convoking” the radical imagination and participatory theory, including his recent project writing science fiction with Amazon workers (about The World after Amazon) and his game-making practice (such as the board game Billionaires and Guillotines)
Format and vibes
This workshop will include 10-20 participants and meet from 10am-5:30pm on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18. It will include:
Presentations from the facilitators and guests (IRL and on Zoom)
Facilitated large-group discussions
Small-group discussions and working groups
Very serious thinking, a lot of gallows humour, generative commiseration, maybe a game or two. Probably a pint at the pub afterwards, possibly dancing.
We assume that if you’re even reading this, you’re smart and heartbroken, and we love that about you, but this will not be a space to try and be smarter than others or to wallow in anger or self-pity. We’re for radical ambition and against competition. We’re for cultivating practices of challenging ourselves and one another in the name of being better and more effective and we’re against one-up-manship, mansplaining and pontificating. We are aiming to create a space for comradeship, curiosity and conviviality. We want to collaborate in deinstalling white middle-class “professionalism” and becoming the viruses we want to see in the world.
Registration and costs
We welcome applications from anyone with a commitment to the themes and approaches indicated above. We are open to artists and other culture workers, autodidacts, well-read malcontents and many other varieties of loquacious troublemaker. We don’t care if you dropped out of grad school, never went to university, just got fired or made redundant, or are deep in the T-hole (T for thesis, it’s like ketamine, but only hangover, no trip). In fact, we’re most interested in people who have made a choice to exit or never enter the university. We tend to prioritize people who already have at least the beginnings of a practice for engaging with “the public” or with communities. We will also prioritize people whose lived experience of oppression, marginalization and exploitation informs their work.
To register, please complete our Google Form by August 31 (https://forms.gle/KZoDWpTgppys3GZm6). We will endeavour to confirm your participation by mid-September. If you need a response sooner, please do get in touch.
Please note that we are not a real institution and, sadly, cannot offer meaningful assistance with UK visas. If this thing is successful, we’ll do it again somewhere with less fascist border policies.
Now to money. First and foremost, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Our standard rate is £160. Those with access to institutional funds are asked to pay £320. A limited number of scholarships are provided by RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab that can cover some or all of the cost of registration and can be applied for using the application form linked above. In the interests of transparency here is where the money goes: we need to rent a suitable space. We give small honouraria to our guest speakers. Sense & Solidarity has overhead costs. And we (under)pay Sarah, who is a freelancer, but not Max, who has a job.
The facilitators
Sense & Solidarity is a platform where people who want to change the world come together to learn about ideology, strategy and the radical imagination. It is led by Sarah Stein Lubrano and Max Haiven, who specialize in making critical theory accessible to and useful for people engaged in struggles against racism, (cis)sexism, capitalism, imperialism and other systems of domination.
Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano has a background in feminist, mutual aid, and other local organising as well as teaching in prisons. She holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. Her thinking often reaches the public through the Sense & Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. She was previously the Head of Content at The School of Life and wrote obituaries. She regularly appears on public radio and a variety of podcasts. Her first book is, Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st Century Minds is out now with Bloomsbury.
Dr. Max Haiven is a writer and teacher and Canada Research Chair in the Radical Imagination. He is the author of The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to Twenty-First Century Fascism and The Radical Imagination: Social Movement Research in the Age of Austerity and the creator of the agit-play board game, Billionaires and Guillotines. He led a team that recently published The World After Amazon: Stories from Amazon Workers (2024) and is editor of VAGABONDS, a series of short, radical books from Pluto Press. He teaches at Lakehead University, where he directs the ReImagining Value Action Lab (RiVAL).
