The Common Read is a great fit for MAPA members and our interns, past and present. It is especially valuable to young organizers and instructive for all of us.
Authors Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba each have decades of organizing experience and they maintain that ORGANIZING IS THE ANTIDOTE TO DESPAIR. Historian Robin D. G. Kelley says about the book- “Hayes and Kaba have turned decades of collective wisdom and experience into the text we desperately need right now.”
Each of the book’s ten chapters shares examples of the nuts and bolts of grassroots organizing, where “finding common ground with a broad spectrum of people” is the goal. Chapter eight is titled “Hope and Grief can Co-exist”. The authors’ discussion of the importance of listening skills and patience (along with Paulo Freire’s approach to political education) will resonate with many of us who have been in meetings where we find ourselves working hard to maintain relationships while navigating differences. Here are Hayes and Kaba on BUILDING A MOVEMENT THE SIZE OF THE ONE WE NEED: “it’s not as simple as handing newcomers a new set of politics and telling them, “Yours are bad, use these instead.”
The first of five 90 minute sessions will be held on Thursday, January 23, 7 to 8:30 PM, covering the book through chapter two Remaining meetings will continue on Thursday evenings- February 6 and 20 and March 6 and 20, and all will be on Zoom. Completing the book on the first day of Spring, we’ll move forward with new knowledge and tools to resist the abandonment of our communities by corporations and government and to oppose the U.S. war machine at every turn.
You can get the book in paperback, ebook or hardcover for 40% off from Haymarket Books – copy this link in your browser to see the options: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1922-let-this-radicalize-you . FYI, there’s a workbook which we have saved as a PDF to be printed or viewed digitally, and other resources to access.
Sponsored by Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund. Register to attend.
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