Our policy paper

Policy paper in simple English (pdf)

The Principles of the Autonomous School Zürich

“Education can never be neutral. Either it is an instrument for the liberation of people or it is an instrument of their domestication, their training for oppression.” – Paulo Freire

We, the Autonomous School Zürich (ASZ) and the association “Bildung für Alle” (BfA, Education for Everyone) are self-managed education project made up of people with or without a residence permit [1]. We have different backgrounds and ideologies, but have agreed on the following common principles. This paper is the result of a discussion process that has not yet been completed.

A dignified life for all!

We oppose existing political, social and economic power structures. We want a society that enables all people – regardless of their social and geographical origin, their gender, their religion and their sexual orientation – to live in dignity. As part of the right to stay movement, we fight for global freedom of movement for all, a world without borders.

Emancipation instead of integration!

The ASZ is an emancipatory project. For us, this means that we want to develop independent and critical thinking and action. In our collective work, we deal practically and theoretically with all forms of oppression, exclusion and discrimination.

We reject the concept of integration in the sense of one-sided adaptation. Our aim is not to get people to adopt the culture and language of a country – but to facilitate exchange and understanding between all people.

We are critical of purely humanitarian projects. We support the basic idea of solidarity on which such projects are based. However, we believe that in the absence of political criticism and action, they ultimately reproduce capitalist conditions.

We also criticize multiculturalism. It tends to see everyone as a representative of a homogeneous “national” culture and conceals social power relations. We also oppose any exoticization of the foreign and an interest in people that is limited to lifestyles such as clothing, music and food.

Living instead of talking!

Through ASZ, we create a non-violent space for community and knowledge exchange, which should give us the opportunity for self-empowerment, for expression of our own voice and creativity. We want to exemplify a social ideal where people treat each other with respect and where everyone can breathe freely and live without racism, sexism, discrimination and competition.

Education for self-determination!

Education at ASZ goes beyond simply learning a subject. Together we work on a critical understanding of political, economic and social conditions. With the aim of changing these conditions and taking our destiny into our own hands. In this sense, we see ourselves in the tradition of critical and emancipatory pedagogy.

We want to work with a participatory, dialogic and action-oriented method. Knowledge is not the monopoly of the facilitators. The courses are learning processes for facilitators and participants alike. Efforts are made to eliminate the distinction between course participants and facilitators as far as possible, so that both roles are filled. Education at ASZ is hierarchy-free. Although knowledge may be unequally distributed in a situation and functions may also differ, we meet as equals.

Self-organised, grassroots-based and participatory

ASZ is open to all people and groups who want to participate in the project, provided their activities are in line with our principles. We organise ourselves in a grassroots democratic way and are a self-organised, participatory educational project. We see ourselves as an organisationally independent part of the right to stay movement. In order to achieve consistent demands and goals, we seek cooperation and networking with other organisations.

ASZ is politically and organisationally independent of state institutions (federal government, cantons, municipalities) and fights against any repressive migration policy.

We do not pursue a policy of self-isolation, but always remain communicative and with clear positions.

We try to make ourselves heard in public as a critical voice beyond the sphere of allies we already know to be on our side.

In order to be able to finance our activities, we accept financial support as long as we can maintain our independence.

Zürich, summer 2012 (last revised in September 2016)

[1] Residence letters include all designations of the ID card categories (B, N, F etc.)