#Leftword

[discoursets]

stacks of happiness at may day bookstore. ☭

[a-very-tired-jew]

That moment when you find out the anti-Zionist Jewish friend you have has been getting all their news, positions, and rhetoric from BreakThrough News. It explains so much of their sentiments towards the West in general, not just Israel. If you're unaware, The DailyBeast did a thorough report and investigation on BTN and how it's just a propaganda piece for the B, R, C, and S of BRICS. Many of its content creators are former Sputnik and RT personnel. They've downplayed the war in the Ukraine and repeatedly put out pro-Russia propaganda. They currently still put out pro-Russia/anti-Ukraine pieces, but also put out pro-Hamas/anti-Israel material as well.

They are part of an ever growing network of anti-Western media that defend the regressive policies of Russia and China while garnering support from Leftists who may find those policies bad, but are so driven by anti-Western rhetoric and belief that they're willing to make allies of of people, organizations, and governments that would likely see them stripped of their rights, imprisoned, and/or dead.

Please give their article a read.

I personally found this particular bit interesting:

BreakThrough’s filings, meanwhile, show it operates out of the People’s Forum in Manhattan, another organization that has acknowledged receiving dark money donations from Singham—whom the group praised on Twitter as “a Marxist comrade who sold his company & donated most of his wealth to nonprofits that focus on political education, culture & internationalism.” To date, Singham-linked groups have donated almost $20 million to the People’s Forum.

Sitting on the People’s Forum’s board is Claudia De La Cruz, who pulls triple duty as BreakThrough’s secretary and as a “co-coordinator/educator” for the Justice and Education Fund. An auditor’s report filed in New York shows that more of Singham’s money trickled down to BreakThrough from the Forum in the form of $80,575 in donated rent in 2021, the most recent year for which filings are available.

But when The Daily Beast visited the People’s Forum address, it found a bookstore hawking tomes by Prashad and titles from his Leftword imprint, as well as a coffee shop and an event space—but no evidence of a studio. What’s more, none of BreakThrough’s hosts appear among the staff listed in the outlet’s filings. Rather, the underlying nonprofit’s leadership consists of figures like De La Cruz who donate an hour a week to the organization, and who like De La Cruz are affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a small far-left sect that does not appear to receive substantial donations from Singham or from anybody else. The PSL does, however, appear as an allied group to the International People’s Media Network on its webpage. Puryear and Becker, two of the BreakThrough anchors, are co-founders of the party.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not surprised due to the community they are part of. But it's really telling that they'll claim Zionists are spreading propaganda, are paid propaganda shills, and all the other lines we've heard since October while they themselves are spreading stuff like this. Yes there's the cliche line that every accusation is a projection, but I think in this case, because I know the individual so well, that it's sheer willful ignorance because those unvetted sources support The Narrative.

[vague-humanoid]

The U.S. Seeks Global Supremacy Through New Mid-East War w/ Vijay Prashad

The western capitalist media is deliberately misleading people about the US-Israeli aggression against Palestine and Lebanon and the looming possibility of a war with Iran. Vijay Prashad and Brian discuss the true relationship between the U.S. and Israel, what lessons from history tell us about U.S. foreign policy goals, and the nature of imperialist expansion.

Brian Becker is joined by renowned journalist and author Vijay Prashad, the Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research and Chief Editor of LeftWord Books.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at Patreon: thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

[diamorphinedreams]

The two books I would recommend for dipping your toes into Socialism / Communism would be:

First and foremost, Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party. This book saved my life. I mean that in the most sincere way possible.

Next would be Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti. This is a overall view and practical summary of the history of fascism, communism, imperialism, liberation, and how they all relate to each other. It is a very easy read, Parenti is a brilliant author, everything he has written is a must read especially on the topics of US foreign policy and imperialism. And a brilliant and humorous speaker with many speeches on YouTube here is a shorter one https://youtu.be/JSpVB_XXXBQ?si=Gsnu3zVnh1t3rPwU

Vijay Prashad gives me a similar vibe to Parenti in that he is current, easy to understand, and very knowledgeable on many topics. He has many great books and videos on YouTube to watch. I believe he runs the publishing company LeftWord books! You can get a lot of the books I recommend in this post on LeftWord!

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney is crucial for understanding the concrete, and material consequences of colonialism, imperialism, and how it dictates systemic racism today. For more advanced work on imperialism and colonialism especially as it relates to Africa, Nkrumah is a go-to.

Lenin’s Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism is the foundational text that all of the above studied so they could become the revolutionaries they became. The concept of communism was not invented by Marx or Lenin. People in the global south and colonized countries have known this, in fact all of humankind, have known and understood the concepts and science of communism long before Marx, Engels, or Lenin. They were just the ones to put it into a science using the scientific method, and outline their analysis the most thoroughly. Nkrumah really builds on this and established some fantastic scientific formulas.

For feminist thought I recommend all works and writings by Nadezhda Krupskaya, Claudia Jones, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, Alexandria Kollontai.

For more works on colonialism and imperialism I would recommend anything by Rodney, Frantz Fanon, Claudia Jones, Red Skin White Masks by Coulthard, The Inconvenient Indian by King.

For Queer thought I cannot recommend Leslie Feinberg enough. Harry Hay is an amazing person to read about. Of course Angela Davis as well.

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/before-stonewall-queer-liberations-communist-party-roots/

R Palme Dutt’s book called Fascism and Social Revolution is a bit more academic but an amazing breakdown of how fascism and social democracy are two sides of the same coin. A great runner up to Blackshirts and Reds. I love how Dutt breaks down the metaphysical quackery of fascism, you can certainly see how it still persists today.

Start wherever interests you the most! Once you feel as though you can advance your learning, the next crucial step is to learn about dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism is the foundation of all Marxist / Scientific Socialist / Communist ideology. Once you understand dialectical materialism you will see the world differently. You will see all the works you just read completely differently. I will update this post with foundational texts on dialectics!

[wherestoriescomefrom]

i get most of my book recommendations from you, but where do you get your book recommendations from?

omg im so touched. well, idk what to tell you except i spend a lot of time on the internet and the amazon algorithm does manage to curate a selection for me. but i think my favourite way to find new books is actually to go to a weird bookstore and try to find some local publishing houses, if possible. the bookstore in hazratganj that has my whole heart is Universal, and they ALWAYS have some books from local lucknow presses. this has happened to me in Pondicherry too, where i just found some nice books from local presses.

finding books is also just my job - which means i end up knowing a lot about different publishing houses, and spending a lot of time in their catalogues. aleph press usually has a lovely catalogue, and i do like the books available in the orient blackswan translation section. i think one of my favourite translated books from there last year (book called Softly Died a Lake, which was about village life near the lake Kolleru, in Andhra Pradesh). i think Zubaan's catalogue also usually comes with some nice books, and i usually ADORE Leftword's catalogue. they're having a May Day sale today btw!!!! i like Speaking Tiger's catalogue usually too.

for children's lit u can find me lurking on the pages and websites of Eklavya. i think the Cycle magazines tell u so much about different hindi writers. Pratham always has a lovely catalogue for multilingual books for kids, too, and i really enjoy reading them.

see if any of these catalogues do something to you, or whether or not they help in finding more books!! thats usually what i do. i also hang out with so many people who read, so i use them for recommendations shamelessly.

[mideast-n-globalconflicts]

Genocide in Gaza: Western Moral Collapse in the Age of Hyper-Imperialism | Vijay Prashad

421,040 views Dec 24, 2024“

This is not just an Israeli genocide - this is an Israeli, European and US genocide!” Vijay Prashad exposes the moral decline of the global north in the age of hyper-Imperialism and its continued war against “defiance” found in the global south. In a recent report published by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research titled Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage, Prashad argues the global north has heightened its reliance upon force to insist on obedience.  Read the report: https://thetricontinental.org/studies...

Interview recorded 11th November 2024.

__________________________

Vijay is an Indian historian and journalist. He is the author of forty books, including Washington Bullets, Red Star Over the Third World, The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World, The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South, and The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. He is the executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, the chief correspondent for Globetrotter, and the chief editor of LeftWord Books (New Delhi).

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers.

[no0dlru]

It's Vijay. What else can we say..? Author of The Darker Nations, Washington Bullets, Red Star Over the Third World, Struggle Makes Us Human, The Poorer Nations, Arab Spring Libyan Winter, No Free Left, The Karma of Brown Folks and about a dozen other titles. Not to mention his work as the executive-director of Tricontinental, editor of LeftWord Books, Chief Correspondent at Globetrotter, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. Finally, most importantly, of course, editor of our forthcoming book Ghosts of the Red Soil.

[bauliya]

Hello, do you know if leftword publishing house is a good place to buy books from? I recently found out about them and wanted to ask someone first, and you seemed like a good bet since they're based in delhi too. Thank you!

i have no idea! but their website shows they have a promising catalogue. ty for introducing me.

[trinketization]

What?? Defend Toko Buku Rakyat bookstore.

Image: Officers from the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs raiding Toko Buku Rakyat in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Peoples Dispatch) ~~~~ VIA Leftword: https://mayday.leftword.com/blog/post/books-are-not-a-crime-solidarity-with-toko-buku-rakyat-in-malaysia: “The International Union of Left Publishers expresses solidarity with the Toko Buku Rakyat bookstore that suffered a raid by officers…

[somerabbitholes]

Also can you suggest best bookstore in Delhi, which have wide collection of books ??

TY.

this is my delhi list —

midland books, hauz khas and south extension (the south extension one is bigger and has a great and huge collection on history, politics, and warfare)

the bookshop, jorbagh

bahrisons booksellers

leftword books/mayday (especially if you're looking for leftist writings + they keep used books)

amrit book company, connaught place

[oofuri2003]

I can't find it easily so I figured I'd just ask.. for no reason in particular, is there a specific range these markings go? Like how far they generally radiate out? And is it sorta just like a lightning bolt looking scar/marking/etc.?

I'm blind and can't read so I just didn't wanna hunt down the info lol tyyyy

HII <3

That's Naoni's lightning bolt scar! He got nat 20'd by a whil-o-wisp in a flashback session and it gave him a scar. This is how I have it in his ref:

(also pictured, his stab wound scar and his bullet wound scar)

Typically I freeball how high it goes/the range of it because I'm lazy, but it usually stops at the base of his neck and is centered on like, the upper part of his tit. It can be as large or small as I'm feeling when I'm drawing it - I usually end up giving it more leftword spread than it shows in his ref here lol

but yes, it is supposed to be styled after the scars people get after they get struck by lightning!

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Webinar: Celebrate the Life & Legacy of Fidel Castro 

Thursday, August 13 - 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Join us to celebrate brother Fidel Castro’s 94th birthday and pay tribute to his remarkable life!

Register today: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_trWRd3qyReuzWrKMZtVzjQ >>> Co-hosted by: Ike Nahem —Longtime anti-imperialist and socialist activist. Retired Amtrak Locomotive Engineer, member Teamsters Union and Railroad Workers United.  He is active in Cuba solidarity work in the New York-New Jersey area and a central organizer of the International Conference for the Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations. Author, The Life of Fidel Castro: A Marxist Appreciation. Tamara Hansen  —Executive member of the Canadian Network on Cuba, Coordinator of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) & Author of “5 Decades of the Cuban Revolution: The Challenges of an Unwavering Leadership” >>> Featuring: José Ramón Cabañas   – Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to the United States. Josefina Vidal – Cuba’s Ambassador to Canada. Lead negotiator in talks with Barack Obama Administration leading to reestablishment of US-Cuba diplomatic relations. Ana Silvia Rodriguez – Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations. Don Rojas – Press Secretary for the martyred Prime Minister of Grenada Maurice Bishop (1981-1983); Executive Political Editor, The Real News Network; Director of Communications and International Relations, Institute of the Black World; Founder of the award-winning The Black World Today. Mary-Alice Waters – President of Pathfinder Press, a major US and international publisher of speeches and writings of Fidel Castro and other working-class leaders, from Malcolm X and Farrell Dobbs to Thomas Sankara and Vilma Espín. Waters has edited or written some 30 books on the Cuban Revolution and its communist example. Clever Banganayi —  Friends of Cuba Society in South Africa (FOCUS); Clever is a Cuban-trained Engineer who studied in Cuba 1991 to 1996 during the “Special Period” of economic crisis and intensified the US economic war. Clever is a recipient of the Friendship Medal Award from the Cuban Council of State for his work in the campaign against the US blockade and for the freedom of Cuban Five. Vijay Prashad — Indian historian, journalist, commentator, and Marxist intellectual. He is an executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books. Gail Walker — Executive Director, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, “Remembering Fidel” & More!!!! Cultural Performances, Special International Guests and Solidarity Statements Organized by: Organizing Committee, International Conference for the Normalization of US-Cuba Relations us-cubanormalization.org Saving Lives Campaign US-CANADA-CUBA Cooperation savinglives.us-cubanormalization.org New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Coalition cubasinynjcoalition.org

[aqueerpolysocialist]

At this great moment in the battle between right and might, we, the peasant women of the village of Nogatkino, greet the elected delegates of the people who have expressed their lack of confidence in the government by demanding the resignation of the ministry. We hope that the representatives who have the support of the people will give that people land and freedom, will open the doors of the prisons and release those who fought for the freedom and happiness of the people, and that they will win civil and political rights both for themselves and for us, Russian women, who are without rights even in our own families. Remember that a woman slave cannot be the mother of a free citizen.

A telegram sent to Deputy Aladyin by 75 women from the village of Nogatkino in 1905. Text taken from The Soviet Woman: Selected Essays, Leftword 2017, pg 89

[wherestoriescomefrom]

leftword catalogue is so iconic i just got idk 5 books

[onetwofeb]

The Chris Hedges Report

The neofascist movements currently rising around the globe differ from the fascist movements of the 20th century. Fascism in the last century arose to break radical workers' movements, many organized by the Communist Party. But the current neofascists, figures such as Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Narendra Modi in India, do not need to focus on destroying unions, which have already been decimated by globalization. Instead, they can directly channel the anger of the unemployed and underemployed towards minorities and the vulnerable. Vijay Prashad addresses these deformations—and explains how we can fight back—in conversation with Frank Barat in his new book Struggle Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism. Prashad, an Indian historian and journalist, is the author of 30 books, including Washington Bullets, Red Star Over the Third World, The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. He is the chief correspondent for Globetrotter and a columnist for Frontline. He is also the chief editor of LeftWord Books. Joining me to discuss his new book, Struggle Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism, is Vijay Prashad.