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Verso Books has made several e-books on the history of Palestine available for free

1) Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappe — examines the claims that are repeated endlessly in the media, enforced by the military, accepted without question by the world’s governments and reinforce the regional status quo. download here: https://versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/solidarity-with-palestine-free-resources-and-further-reading?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

2) The Palestine Laboratory by @antloewenstein — uncovers how Israel has become a global leader in spying technology and defence hardware that fuels the globe's most brutal conflicts. download here: https://versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/solidarity-with-palestine-free-resources-and-further-reading?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

3) Palestine Speaks ed. by Mateo Hoke and Cate Malek — a collection of testimonials from Palestinians narrating their own experiences and their own suffering. download here: https://versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/solidarity-with-palestine-free-resources-and-further-reading?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

4) Blaming the Victims ed. by Christopher Hitchens and Edward W. Said — shows how the historical fate of the Palestinians has been justified by spurious academic attempts to dismiss their claim to a home within the boundaries of historical Palestine. download here: https://versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/solidarity-with-palestine-free-resources-and-further-reading?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

5) The Case for Sanctions Against Israel ed. by Audrea Lim — considers all sides of the movement—including detailed comparisons with the South African experience. download here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2239-the-case-for-sanctions-against-israel

6) The Punishment of Gaza by Gideon Levy — Tracks the development of Israel policy, which has abandoned the pretense of diplomacy in favor of raw military power. download here: https://versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/solidarity-with-palestine-free-resources-and-further-reading?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

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Bet so we rioting again

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just saying

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Uh went on a twitter rant about the literary world after purging the liberals from my feed

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Liberal politicians learned just enough to waste our time. 

“Senseless Killings” - senseless to who? Shit makes perfect sense if you know the history of the police force as slave catchers and defenders of private property under capitalism. 

“Nonviolent protest” - Violence implies a human being or a living creature is injured. A building is not a human being or sentient.

“Peaceful protest” - a protest that does not disrupt anything is called a parade, not a protest. This term doesn’t make sense. It would be like saying “conservative revolution” or “socialist capitalism." 

"Outside agitators” - from where? every city in the country, and even internationally, is protesting capitalism which is the root cause of Black murder. if anything, police in Portland and elsewhere are bringing in instagram marketers to lead chants of “peaceful protest” against militant and anti-capitalist movements native to the area.

“Clashing with Police” - are we equals? Do the state and the civilian population have equal access to defensive and offensive equipment and tactics? Seems to me these are not clashes, they are violent military actions against civilians.

“Systemic racism/oppression” - slick slightly woke politicians might use this, but immediately resort to non-systemic reforms and refuse to name the system. What system emboldens and depends on white supremacy? Is it capitalism? If so, say it.

“Social Injustice” - again, a general term that leaves a lot of room for social ignorance. If it’s a social problem it needs a social solution, maybe even a socialist solution if you ask me. 

“Small Business Owners” - versus what? Small people? What wealth do workers and the unemployed people have? Are they not still oppressed by the business-owning class? In fact, there are many small business owners who support the uprisings and the coming revolution. The petite bourgeoisie class is not always on our side though and they should not be expected to have our interests in mind. 

*Black person on TV calling themselves a leader and saying they want nonviolence only* - Okay so think about why the media has chosen this person to represent Black and proletarian interests. Almost all Black politicians and social media marketers are tasked with affirming White viewpoints to quell insurrection.

“Many people agree this one cop was bad but don’t like the protests,” - Yes, the ruling classes should not be convenienced by any uprising. Should a cop or a boss or a business owner or a mayor nod along to what you are doing, or whatever self-declared “leader” is doing, you might find it is respectability politics rebranded. 

Again, this is not an individual problem with one police officer but a general problem with America and with capitalism. 

If every Black person dropped dead tomorrow it would continue because capitalism requires a hated underclass to create wealth and extort resources from.

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“is this moment radicalizing you?”

while i’m here, and still somehow have followers on this website, i thought it would be useful to repost an activism resource masterpost i saw on twitter a few days ago. it looks like the OP (@thebryreed) set her account to private, but i saved the links and figured they would be useful reading & listening, given everything that’s going on right now.

Malcolm X (1964) The Ballot or the Bullet

Martin and Malcolm by James Baldwin (1972)

Assata Shakur’s Autobiography (1987)

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde (1979)

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis (2003)

The Invention of Women by Oyěwùmí (1997) (this requires institutional access or creativity)

Sylvia Rivera’s Y’all Better Quiet Down speech (1973)

Toni Morrison’s Nobel Prize Speech (1993)

Fidel Castro’s History Will Absolve Me (1953)

Toni Morrison (2015) No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear 

W. E. B. DuBois Why I Won’t Vote (1956)

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Portland, OR: watch out for Lyfe Tevarres

dude allegedly called “Lyfe Tevarres” is leading the protest going on tonight. yesterday he met with cops and was sharing information with them. blast this fucker everywhere!!! this shit ain’t safe y’all. On his Facebook page he is shitting all over Black women. DO NOT SHARE INFO OR TRUST THIS MAN. 

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Too many fashy and apolitical places for animal crossing comradery? Join the group if you want a place to trade/visit/get stuff and you are a communist or anarchist. I want more animal crossing comrades!

You’ll have to be logged in to see it, but the link is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/animalcrossingliberationfront/

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Sometimes it is very important to be awkward, inelegant, jerking, to be neither poetic nor prosaic, to be positively bad. To express other possibilities for bodies, alternative values, to stop making sense.

— Zadie Smith, “Dance Lessons for Writers,” Feel Free

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Portland and the Global Rent Strike Movement: An Interview on Portland Mutual Aid Review with Olivia Olivia

I am excited to share an interview I had recently on Portland Mutual Aid Radio as local media support for Rent Strike Portland (Oregon) and the admin of the COVID-19 Portland Oregon Area Community Support Facebook group. We discussed the following context and insights on many aspects of the international and local rent strike, including:

Why is a rent freeze important in addition to the temporary ban on evictions?

How do mortgage holders factor into this?

What are the aims and demands for this rent strike in Portland?

What are other cities doing on this?

What is the best first step for folks who want—or need—to get involved with this?

Some of the resources mentioned in the episode (more to come!):

COVID-19 Portland Oregon Area Community Support Facebook group

PDX Rent Strike website

PDX Rent Strike (Instagram)

PDX Rent Strike (Facebook)

PDX Rent Strike (Twitter)

Rent Strike Toolkit for Organizers and Strikers

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FREE READING WITH QTPOC! booooost!

Hey Y'all - I’ll be reading and speaking about the international rent strike movement tomorrow night at my first ever ALL digital reading. Join me and my comrades Xesxa Despentesand Robert Torresfor this night of all the good shit, hosted by the Independent Publishing Resource Center.  #RentStrike2020

Facebook Event Page

Direct Link to Zoom Event

SAT. APRIL 25, 2020 - 7 PM!

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Zadie Smith, On Shame, Rage and Writing

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Are you participating in the rent strike? We have started an international coalition group on Facebook for rent strike organizers anywhere in the world. Message us for an invite. We need every city’s participation for a global movement.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Gender Recovery and poetry by trans, two-spirit, and nonbinary people on the triumphs and trials of recovery, with particular attention paid to mental health, transition, and addiction.

This anthology aims to take the standard diagnostic language of trans, two-spirit, and nonbinary narratives and completely rewrite it. Rather than presenting a prescriptive story steeped in medical confusion, Gender Recovery: Rewriting Tales of Transition, Mental Health, and Addiction aims to present our trans, two-spirit, and nonbinary lives on our own terms.

Recovery, however, does not necessarily mean recovered. Recovery can be a constant process, full with bumps and hazards, exciting detours and missed opportunities, moments of growth and plateaus of peace.

OVERVIEW:

Creative Nonfiction: 2500–5000 words, with 3000-3500 being a solid length to aim for. Hybrid essays (ones that include snippets of poetry, academic work, or visual images) will also be considered.

Poetry: 3 to 5 unpublished poems, or up to 7 pages of poetry (whichever comes first).

Proposals: If you would like, you are welcome to send in a proposal before you begin writing to see if you are on the right track. Please submit 250 words describing what your project will entail. Feel free to also reach out if you want to propose a piece that is not an essay or poem; let's see how we can make it fit!

Submissions should be emailed as a .doc file to recoveryourgender [at] gmail [dot] com by February 15, 2020. Please review the entire submissions guidelines (including the header information for your piece) at: http://bit.ly/GenderRecovery.

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Want to hear more about the Rent Strike? Listen to me on the Mutual Aid Coalition Northwest podcast today. Share with someone who doesn’t know about it yet.

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Starting Wednesday, March 18th

https://www.facebook.com/events/1393216827540894

🤩 Join us for PANDEMIC! Virtual Open Mic this Wednesday!!!! Are you laying low or self-quarantined and looking for entertainment? Have something to share and don't want to brave the virus? Problem. SOLUTION! Bring your songs, your poems, and your jokes to PANDEMIC! Virtual Open Mic. Bring your joy, laughter, and passion to brighten up dark days ♥

Click the Zoom link to join this Wednesday at 8PM to join from wherever you are! The amount of time will depend on the number of folks participating. Stay well!

Topic: PANDEMIC! Virtual Open Mic

Time: Mar 18, 2020 08:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Every week on Wed, until Apr 8, 2020, 4 occurrence(s)

Mar 18, 2020 08:00 PM

Mar 25, 2020 08:00 PM

Apr 1, 2020 08:00 PM

Apr 8, 2020 08:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/302529441

Meeting ID: 302 529 441

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The demand to get our local officials to produce an immediate rent freeze and an end to sweeps is on. For our comrades who owe mortgages, we encourage further action as it might be in the hands of forces larger than our local government can prevent. Ask for the support you need here and we will do what we can to meet each other’s needs. Stay tuned, share widely (link is: change.org/pdxrentfreeze), and know we will likely need to mobilize everyone we know, both on and offline, in the coming days. Plans are being made to organize a safe way to get this demand into the hands of everyone who wants or needs it.