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.

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informative inspiring medium-paced

Key takeaways:
Practice listening and asking questions when met with offensive behavior
I feel inspired to do more community work in whatever form it may take
Hopes and dreams are necessary for systematic change, without them we become stagnant 
hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Absolutely, awesome, inspiring ring cookbook to enhancing our democracy and resisting with kindness and respect.

Fight the sickness of individualism :)
challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced