Let This Radicalize You : Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care

What fuels & sustains activism & organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical & imaginative resource for activists & organizers building power in an era of destabilization & catastrophe.Longtime organizers & movement educators Mariame Kaba & Kelly Hayes examine some of the political lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the convergence of mass protest & mass formations of mutual aid, & consider what this confluence of power can teach us about a future that will require mass acts of care, rescue & defense, in the face of both state violence & environmental disaster.The book is intended to aid & empower activists & organizers as they attempt to map their own journeys through the work of justice-making. It includes insights from a spectrum of experienced organizers, including Sharon Lungo, Carlos Saavedra, Ejeris Dixon, Barbara Ransby, & Ruth Wilson Gilmore about some of the difficult and joyous lessons they have learned in their work.°°°Kelly Hayes is a Menominee author, organizer, movement educator, & photographer. She is also the host of Truthout’s podcast Movement Memos. Hayes is a cofounder of the Lifted Voices collective & the Chicago Light Brigade. Her written work is featured in numerous publications & multiple anthologies, including Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence & Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books, 2016), Education in Movement Spaces: Standing Rock to Chicago Freedom Square (Routledge, 2020), & The Solidarity Struggle: How People of Color Succeed & Fail at Showing Up for Each Other in the Fight for Freedom (BGD Press, 2016).Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator, librarian, & prison industrial complex (PIC) abolitionist who is active in movements for racial, gender, & transformative justice. What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe. Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the political lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the convergence of mass protest and mass formations of mutual aid, and consider what this confluence of power can teach us about a future that will require mass acts of care, rescue and defense, in the face of both state violence and environmental disaster. The book is an assemblage of co-authored reflections, interviews and questions that are intended to aid and empower activists and organizers as they attempt to map their own journeys through the work of justice-making. It includes insights from a spectrum of experienced organizers, including Sharon Lungo, Carlos Saavedra, Ejeris Dixon, Barbara Ransby, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore about some of the difficult and joyous lessons they have learned in their work. Foreword: Radicalization Is Vital Maya Schenwar Introduction: Remaking the World Kelly Hayes Introduction: We Can Only Survive Together Mariame Kaba Chapter 1: Beyond Alarm, toward Action Chapter 2: Refusing to Abandon Chapter 3: Care Is Fundamental Chapter 4: Think Like a Geographer Chapter 5: Rejecting Cynicism and Building Broader Movements Chapter 6: “Violence” in Social Movements Chapter 7: Don’t Pedestal Organizers Chapter 8: Hope and Grief Can Coexist Chapter 9: Organizing Isn’t Matchmaking Chapter 10: Avoiding Burnout and Going the Distance Conclusion: Relationships, Reciprocity, and Struggle Kelly Hayes Conclusion: Beyond Doom, toward Collective Action Mariame Kaba Afterword: Movements Make Life Harsha Walia Appendix A: Navigating Police Use of Chemical Weapons Appendix B: Attorney’s Note Acknowledgments Glossary Notes Index Doing Justice: The Revolution of Rescue and Reciprocal Care is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe