Tool No.1 : “Emancipate Yourself From Mental Slavery”

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,
None but our self can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘Cause none of them can stop the time.

The Bench Marks Community Monitors School run in collaboration with 6 local community organizations  each completed their first session in the last two weeks of April. The school will run from April to October and will meet at least 8 times.

The programme for each session will include  skills training exercises in the use of basic monitoring and community action tools  as well as the study of key issues relating to community life.

The most important tool practiced in all session is the “Writing with Power/Freeing the Mind ” tool.

This is not about grammar or proper English. This is the ability to tell it like it is, to allow the thoughts in the mind to emerge in words. Any word in any language free from the traditional rules of language as well as thinking. Learning to be free in writing involves  ejecting the oppressor from the mind.

Oppressors come in many forms : Teachers who restrict thinking with their rules , the racist message which tells  black and African people that they are inferior especially in writing and language because they are not white and English, Men who  who say that women will always be second best and the system of class oppression where students from  working class  communities attend poorly resourced schools.

The free writing tool is at the same time a  weapon to “emancipate yourself form mental slavery”

Each participant is required to keep a personal diary and write for at least 10 minutes each day throughout the 8 months  .

At the same time  activists are required to observe situations in the community and write more systematic reports on community  problems. The free writing skill is intended to give the activist the confidence and skill to carry out this task, to be experimental and to enjoy this process of research and writing.

The writings of the activists will be published on this site in the coming months.