When Nathalie Roos approached me a while ago and explained that the Dutch cabinet is considering to separate politics from art education as the country struggles with leftist tutors ‘’indoctrinating their students’’, the first thing I thought about was how claiming to separate politics from the classroom will leave us with an education that Paolo Freire describes as ‘’a banking system’’. As the students adapt to the guidelines of the oppressor attempting to silence a debate inside the classroom, oppression becomes internallised, and students become fearful of freedom. This was in the same period as I was reflecting on how Western institutions loved inviting me to speak about my project on the far-right British representation of female armed struggle in Syria but never wanted me to speak about armed struggle in Palestine. Unlike Syria, I**ael is a European project, after all.
Months later, and as I was joining a students' action for a disruptive teach-in on Palestine, I was invited to a meeting the same day to be informed on how the institution I work at will slowly start enforcing more and more AI to match the fast changing technologies...
The first thing I found when looking up the AI model my workplace wants to implement (which in their own statement embodies the university’s guidelines for climate, social and racial justice) is how it was the same model that has been used to target Palestinians, track, and ki** them. That day, I realised that the oppressor, in fact, never separates politics from the classroom.
Implementing tools developed for military purposes in higher education at the same time as we separate criticality from the classroom leaves me wondering; what does it mean to practice an AI pedagogy of laziness, helplessness, and individualism as we witness a genocide/ a man-made famine?
From Dealing with the Real Stuff symposium at Framer Framed.
Months later, and as I was joining a students' action for a disruptive teach-in on Palestine, I was invited to a meeting the same day to be informed on how the institution I work at will slowly start enforcing more and more AI to match the fast changing technologies...
The first thing I found when looking up the AI model my workplace wants to implement (which in their own statement embodies the university’s guidelines for climate, social and racial justice) is how it was the same model that has been used to target Palestinians, track, and ki** them. That day, I realised that the oppressor, in fact, never separates politics from the classroom.
Implementing tools developed for military purposes in higher education at the same time as we separate criticality from the classroom leaves me wondering; what does it mean to practice an AI pedagogy of laziness, helplessness, and individualism as we witness a genocide/ a man-made famine?
From Dealing with the Real Stuff symposium at Framer Framed.
Brilliant photography by Ben Yau www.benyau.org 📸
