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969 reviews for:
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Mariame Kaba, Kelly Hayes
4.58 AVERAGE
969 reviews for:
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Mariame Kaba, Kelly Hayes
4.58 AVERAGE
Talk about a book that makes you feel like you’re not doing enough 😭 if you’re an activist, I love you and thank you for all the work you do. All the time you dedicate for the fight.
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
"Regardless of how we choose to grieve or cultivate hope, we know that we are living in disastrous times and that we will need one another. We are wading through hell and high water, tasked with dreaming new worlds into being while the worlds we have known fall down around us. Here, on the edge of everything, the work of cultivating hope and purpose, of anchoring people to one another, is as important now as it has ever been, at any time in human history, because without those efforts, we would be lost in the dark. As James Baldwin emphasized at the close of his book Nothing Personal, "The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Maybe I can give this another shot in the future. Don’t have a real reason for DNF. Felt aimed at organizers already organizing with stories about how to be more successful at that
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Lovely manifesto that emphasizes hope, community care, and moving forward. I think it's good to go into this looking for inspiration and to challenge the current state of activism in the digital age, but not to expect a step-by-step guide for organizing or collective activism. Definitely an important read for the current political climate which can lead to feeling lost, hopeless, and like a deluge of crisis after crisis. Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba attempt to take the fear and panic of today and turn it into something tangible and helpful, hence the slogan "Let This Radicalize You".
The actual topics covered were pretty broad and surface level, and I often felt like the book was stretched a bit too thin or could have been edited down for accessibility. It's the kind of book that should be owned, distributed amongst friends and community members, shared, and talked about, but is sort of long-winded and can get in its own way at times. That's not to say it isn't powerful and useful, or a good resource to have, but I wished it would have been a bit less meandering and more purposeful in certain places.
Still, this is a great book whether you are new to organizing or have participated in activism before, and is useful for navigating political spaces both online and in real life. I appreciated everything the authors had to say, and they touched on a lot of modern issues such as the pedestalization of political "influencers", accepting community members' (and our own) mistakes, and the dangers of turning the indignation and sense of justice into a crusade that alienates people. These topics were tackled carefully, without relying on the "us vs. them" mentality that can often happen in these sorts of conversations, but also without holding back on critiquing more liberal viewpoints and systems.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the authors' very intentional inclusion of Palestinian activism, and how we can learn from the Palestinians in their ability to find joy, hope, and community in the face of endless tragedy. I was grateful for Palestinian voices being centered and respected, and the inclusion of an internationalist perspective.
I left clearly feeling the authors' immense passion, care, and unrelenting hope. It's refreshing to read something that has an optimistic message rather than reading about tragedy after tragedy with no real guide on how to move forward.
The actual topics covered were pretty broad and surface level, and I often felt like the book was stretched a bit too thin or could have been edited down for accessibility. It's the kind of book that should be owned, distributed amongst friends and community members, shared, and talked about, but is sort of long-winded and can get in its own way at times. That's not to say it isn't powerful and useful, or a good resource to have, but I wished it would have been a bit less meandering and more purposeful in certain places.
Still, this is a great book whether you are new to organizing or have participated in activism before, and is useful for navigating political spaces both online and in real life. I appreciated everything the authors had to say, and they touched on a lot of modern issues such as the pedestalization of political "influencers", accepting community members' (and our own) mistakes, and the dangers of turning the indignation and sense of justice into a crusade that alienates people. These topics were tackled carefully, without relying on the "us vs. them" mentality that can often happen in these sorts of conversations, but also without holding back on critiquing more liberal viewpoints and systems.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the authors' very intentional inclusion of Palestinian activism, and how we can learn from the Palestinians in their ability to find joy, hope, and community in the face of endless tragedy. I was grateful for Palestinian voices being centered and respected, and the inclusion of an internationalist perspective.
I left clearly feeling the authors' immense passion, care, and unrelenting hope. It's refreshing to read something that has an optimistic message rather than reading about tragedy after tragedy with no real guide on how to move forward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Pandemic/Epidemic