Ivan Illich, author of Tools for Conviviality, died aged 76 in Bremen last Monday. Illich was a consistent critic of industrial capitalism and the institutions that support it. Born in Vienna, he trained as a priest and worked in New York and Mexico before being excommunicated for his outspoken views (he remained distrustful of organised religion). His first book Deschooling Society argued that the purpose of schools was not to educate but to maintain social inequality. His subsequent writings covered a variety of issues relating to industrial society, arguing against centralised political hierarchy and rampant technological expansion. Link: The Ivan Illich archive