Occupy Los Angeles Freedom School is a group of people who came together for the purpose of aiding to facilitate education for those who desire to learn.
OLAFS meets every Sunday between the hours of 1pm to 5pm to conduct classes, workshops and discussions on social, educational, politcal and environmental matters. We are open to anyone and it is free to attend. We are in the process of filling an educational void in a system where public education and traditional schools teach in a way that indoctrinated workers for the industrial revolution, rath
er than aid people in knowing how to live in a contemporary society. As an educational model, we are committed to the community and focus on maintaining classes/workshops that directly help community members. We focus our classes on social/political/ historical/economic justice, sustainability and classes responding to needs in the community. We strive to maintain a safe space for all minds, but are realistic in knowing that certain conversations may not always lend themselves to a comfortable space. Part of the pedagogy of OLAFS is that we are not here to disseminate information but to create knowledge. We firmly believe in the ability and necessity for everyone to be simultaneously teacher and student, and that engaging in dialogue generates unique ideas, and therefore creates knowledge. Our classes are taught by community members, from each according to their ability to each according to their needs. As such, we acknowledge that every person comes in with their preconceived notions, and their personal histories, so the content of the workshops are influenced by the personal experiences of the people attending them. We encourage those speaking to acknowledge their bias and their privilege so as to help the community understand the perspective of the speaker. We exist for the purpose of change. We must change the system and empower each other to change the system through knowledge. We strive to help people become critical thinkers and creative problem solvers, so that, going into the future, our society might shift paradigms, and progress to something better than what is.
