by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
★★★★
Tag archives: social justice
Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance
by Bethany C. Morrow (Editor)
★★★★
Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power
by Lola Olufemi
An incisive work of Black feminism in Britain covering reproductive justice, trans inclusionary feminism, supporting sex workers, prison abolition, and—excitingly—art as witness. I would have been bowled over if the chapter on food concentrated on food justice with inspiration from Vandana Shiva. Olufemi envisages a living, breathing practice … Read more
Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development
by Vandana Shiva
First off, Shiva cannot seem to write without clobbering repetition. The heart of her ideas and activism, however, are galvanising and foundational. She has transformed the way I think about food justice and agroecology. She questions the sanctity of science and development and [reveals] that these are not … Read more
The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches
by Malcolm X
I didn’t expect so much patronising flattery and unscientific claptrap in the opening speech. Very little of this collection is agelessly thundering in exposing the crimes of imperialism, the prison walls of America, and the artifice of white liberal allyship.
Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France
by Crystal Marie Fleming
This is a dissertation work on collective memory and commemorative activism. Although there are stretches of empirical research to wade through, it is fortunately also explicitly polemical. France is not unique as a country that refuses to acknowledge racial oppression (unless it’s in America or unless it’s … Read more
Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present
by Robyn Maynard
A comprehensive dissection of anti-Black racism across history, in Canada, and across all borders. If repetitious it’s as a direct reflection of unrelenting anti-Black demonisation, surveillance, containment, and violence in all our societal structures. Policing Black Lives is intersectional, potently researched, and crystal clear.
Carceral Capitalism
by Jackie Wang
★★★★★
The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls
by Mona Eltahawy
★★★★½
The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness
by Rhonda Magee
My ambivalence about mindfulness took a dive exactly during her example of taking care of the feelings of a racist instigator (Dan) with equanimity.
Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism and Anti-Racism
by Himani Bannerji
I glazed over on the more academic chapters, which in general by my definition are too diffuse. When Bannerji writes of the personal, it’s harrowing and electric, to read about the everyday trailblazing of the author and of X.
Radiant Voices: Feminist Storytelling for Rising Up
by Carla Bergman (Editor)
★★★★½
Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis
by Vandana Shiva
★★★★
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi
★★★½
Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call
by Arthur Manuel
★★★★
No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America
by Darnell L. Moore
★★★★
The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power
by Desmond Cole
★★★★½
Who Really Feeds the World?: The Failures of Agribusiness and the Promise of Agroecology
by Vandana Shiva
Important, including addressing the work of women made invisible and endangered alongside planet-wide casualties under capitalist patriarchy. Would be much more powerful if the repetition were edited out. I was especially inspired learning about the different mixed-cropping systems.
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements
by Charlene Carruthers
★★★½
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
by Layla F. Saad
Layla covers the basics incisively, spelling out the beliefs, behaviours, and dynamics of white supremacy. The prompts get a bit repetitive and may not necessarily reinforce the challenge of each day’s focus but they do call on self-excavation.
I appreciated that Layla’s definitions were not detached and … Read more