Transcript of University for Strategic Optimism Inaugural Lecture, Delivered by Dr.

tienne Lantier, 24th Nov 2010, 11.45am, Lloyds Bank, London Bridge Branch, London, UK.
Welcome to the University for Strategic Optimism, a university based on the principal of free
and open education, a return of politics to the public, and the politicisation of public space. As our
university buildings are being boarded up we inhabit the bank as public space. Not just a public
space but the proper and poignant place for the introductory lecture to our course entitled
Higher Education, Neo-Liberalism and the State. We will take up only five minutes of your time
for our inaugural lecture but will reconvene in different locations on the dates to be found on the
syllabus that should be circulating. Please do check the website for further information and for
details about assessment.
How much was spent on the bank bailout?
- 850 billion
Whos paying for this?
- students
- workers
- pensioners
- the unemployed
We at the University for Strategic Optimism reject the false antagonisms set up by the media
between these groups and declare our solidarity with them. We are told that we must tighten our
belts and sharpen our elbows so that the markets might be appeased, the collapse of society
staved off. Along with Joseph Stieglitz, Nobel-prize-winning economist, we puzzle over a world in
which the poor subsidise the rich.
Who owns Britain? As our universities are being sacrificed in a futile attempt to maintain the
banks, we find our resources depleting. We are forced to be increasingly inventive exploring
new spaces in which to teach, study and research.
A senior treasury official recently said the following:
Anyone who thinks the spending review is just about saving money is missing the point. This is a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way that government works.
We at the University of Strategic Optimism share the Conservative Partys excitement at the
possibilities of a transformation!
But this course wants to move beyond this rhetoric and to interrogate how the cuts make sense,
to whom, according to which logic. It urges a rampant questioning of the ideological basis for the
relentless privatisation and privation of our lives. Are labour, education, healthcare, and the
environment, mere commodities, to be consumed by those who will redeem them as more
capital? We believe in alternatives.
The University of Strategic Optimism invites everyone to take part in this exciting endeavour. We
dont believe that the people are apathetic and apolitical. There are many good reasons for
strategic optimism. There are alternatives. Join us in looking for them.