A note on the readings: Readings are provided free for use by participants studying in the Anne Braden Training Program for Anti-Racist Organizers, a noncommercial, nonprofit educational program. We encourage everyone to honor the emotional and intellectual labor of these authors by buying the works from which excerpts have been taken where possible. This is especially important as we all have white skin privilege and many of these authors are folks of color. When sharing any of these readings with your comrades, please also pass on this message.

If you’re struggling with reading, reach out to others in the group to read together, or get help on terms you’re struggling with. We’ve also created this glossary to support with key terms.

REQUIRED READINGS & AUDIO

Required: Building the World We Want: Anti-Racist Vision and Organizing Strategy

Readings

1. Nick Estes, “Liberation,” Our History is the Future. (12 pgs)
2. Liza Minno Bloom and Berkeley Carnine, “Towards Decolonization and Settler Responsibility: Reflections on a Decade of Indigenous Solidarity Organizing,” beginning with section 3: “Reflecting on lessons from organizing: a few guideposts,” Counterpunch. (11 pgs)
3. N’Tanya Lee, Cinthya Muñoz, Maria Poblet, Josh Warren-White, and Steve Williams on behalf of the LeftRoots Coordinating Committee, “Towards a Transformational Strategy.” (6 pgs, PDF here.)
4. Rachel Herzing, “Big Dreams and Bold Steps toward a Police Free Future,” Truthout. (5 pgs)
5. Alex Lee, Morgan Bassichis and Dean Spade, “Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer Movement with Everything We’ve Got,” Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex. (22 pgs)
6. Rebecca Solnit, “Protest and persist: why giving up hope is not an option,” The Guardian. (8 pgs)
7. Rural Organizing Project, “‘A Struggle for Our Lives’: Anti-Racist Organizing in White Rural and Working-Class Communities: An Interview with the Rural Organizing Project in Oregon,” Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy edited by Chris Crass. (17 pgs)
8. Mijente, Free Our Future: An Immigration Policy Platform for Beyond the Trump Era, Read p1-6. (6 pgs)

Video

1. Chris Hedges, “The radical transformation of Jackson, Mississippi with Kali Akuno,” “On Contact” on Russia Today. (30 mins) 
   1. Note: Chris Hedges is a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF), and his views on trans women are wrong. We believe Cooperation Jackson is an important model and appreciate the strength of Kali Akuno’s voice in this video so we are using it.
2. Marilyn Buck – a Tribute, Freedom Archives. (9 mins)
3. Kamau Walton, “What’s Wrong With Community Control of Police,” Breaking Down the Prison Industrial Complex, Critical Resistance. (5 mins)
4. Bill Moyers, Myles Horton – Radical Hillbilly – A Wisdom Teacher for Activism and Civic Engagement, (from 1:10-1:42 – total of 32 mins required, last hour recommended)

Required: Leadership Development / Personal Transformation / Accountability

1. Barbara Ransby, “Mentoring a New Generation of Activists: The Birth of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1960-1961,” Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision. (34 pgs)
2. Ann Russo, excerpt from “Building Communities,” Feminist Accountability: Disrupting Violence and Transforming Power. (18 pgs)
3. Dismantling Racism Works, “Giving Feedback,” Workbook for Social Change Groups (1 pg)
4. Whites Confronting Racism Workshop (Lorraine Marino and Antje Mattheus), “General Tips on Addressing Conflict.” (1 pg)
5. Brooke Anderson, “10 Tips on Receiving Feedback: A Guide for Activists.” (6 pgs)
6. Bay Area Solidarity Action Team (BASAT), Protocol and Principles for White People Working to Support the Black Liberation Movement. (2 pgs)

Required: Climate Crisis / Environmental Degradation

Readings

1. Naomi Klein, excerpts from This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate. (28 pgs)
2. Whitney Webb, “US Military is World’s Largest Polluter,” Mint Press News. (2 pgs)
3. Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring: A Strategic Framework for a Just Transition pp 14-28 required, rest recommended (15 pgs)

Video

1. “Remembering Berta Cáceres, Assassinated Honduras Indigenous & Environmental Leader“, Democracy Now, March 4, 2016 (14 mins)

Required: Resisting State Repression Webinar – Saturday, December 14th, 5-7pm EST

1. Catalyst Project, A Troublemaker’s Guide: Principles for Racial Justice Activists in the Face of State Repression (about 15 pgs of text)
2. Freedom Archives, COINTELPRO 101 (23:26-45:00 required, rest highly recommended)

Required Poems

1. Marge Piercy, “The birthday of the world,” The Crooked Inheritance. (2 pgs)
2. Louise Erdrich, “ADVICE TO MYSELF: #2 RESISTANCE,” Women and Standing Rock. (2 pgs)
3. Marge Piercy, “The Low Road,” The Moon Is Always Female. (1 pg)
4. Mario Benedetti, “Why do we sing?” (1 pg)
5. adrienne maree brown, “harriet is a north star.” (3 pgs)
6. Otto Renee Castillo, “Before the Scales, Tomorrow.” (1 pg)
7. Suheir Hammad, “open poem to those who rather we not read… or breathe,” Born Palestinian Born Black. (2 pgs)
8. Ruby Ibarra feat. Rocky Rivera, Klass, and Faith Santilla, “US”(5 min, lyrics can be found here) 

Total pages including webinar and poems: 202
Total minutes: 113 (1 hour 53 min)

RECOMMENDED READINGS & VIDEO

Recommended: Building the World We Want: Anti-Racist Vision and Organizing Strategy

1. Angela Y. Davis, “Abolitionist Alternatives,” Are Prisons Obsolete? (8 pgs)
2. Ai-jen Poo, “Transformative Organizing Theory,” Transformative Organizing Panel, U.S. Social Forum 2010.  (Video; Ai-jen begins at 10:43 and ends at 21:05). (Transcription: 3 page PDF)
3. Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” This Bridge Called my Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherrie L. Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa. (2 pg)
4. Generation Five, “Section 2: Principles of Transformative Justice,” Toward Transformative Justice: A Liberatory Approach to Child Sexual Abuse and other forms of Intimate and Community Violence, A Call to Action for the Left and the Sexual and Domestic Violence Sectors. (7 pg)
5. Michelle Mascarenhas-Swan, “A Window to a New World,” Climate Connections. (5 pgs)
6. Rachel Herzing, “‘Tweaking Armageddon’: The Potential and Limits of Conditions of Confinement Campaigns,” Social Justice 41:3. (7 pgs)
7. Ai-jen Poo, “Lessons from the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights Campaign in New York,” LeftTurn. (6 page PDF here)
8. Vermont Workers’ Center, “The People’s Recipe,” Vermont People’s Convention for Human Rights. (1 pg)
9. B Loewe interviewed by Chris Crass, “White Anti-Racist Organizers in Working Class Communities of Color: an interview with B Loewe of the Latino Union of Chicago.” (11 pgs)
10. Dan Berger,“Chokwe Lumumba and Black Nationalist Convergence,” Black Perspectives. (3 pgs)
11. Program Demand Group of the Labor/Community Strategy Center, excerpt from “Toward a Program of Resistance.” (3 pgs)
12. Dan Berger, Mariame Kaba, and David Stein, “What Abolitionists Do,” Jacobin Magazine. (6 pgs)
13. Caitlin Breedlove interviews Dove Kent, Fortification Podcast. (audio on iTunes and Soundcloud). (32 mins)
14. Maria Poblet, “‘It’s Time To Lead Ourselves:’ An interview with Rosa Elva Tobías about Feminist Organizing in El Salvador,” Organizing Upgrade. (6 pgs)

Recommended: Leadership Development / Personal Transformation / Accountability

1. Catalyst Project, “The 5 Gs: Tips for Leadership Development One on Ones.” (1 pg)
2. Sista II Sista, “Sistas Makin’ Moves: Collective Leadership for Personal Transformation and Social Justice,” The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-profit Industrial Complex edited by INCITE!: Women of Color Against Violence. (12 pgs)
3. Chris Crass, “‘But We Don’t Have Leaders’: Leadership Development and Anti-Authoritarian Organizing,” Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy. (7 pgs)
4. Mia Mingus, “On Collaboration: Starting With Each Other,” Excerpts from the 5th Annual Queer & Asian Conference, “Collide, Connect, Create,” keynote address, delivered on April 28, 2012, Berkeley, California. (4 page PDF, also at leavingevidence.wordpress.com).
5. DataCenter, “Power Analysis: Types and Sources of Power and Leadership Styles.” (7 pgs)
6. Alexis Shotwell and Chris Dixon of Punch Up Collective, “Getting It Together,” Briarpatch Magazine. (6 pgs)
7. Ng’ethe Maina‘s presentation, Transformative Organizing Panel from the US Social Forum 2010 (Video: the first 10 mins, 45 seconds)
8. Catherine Jones, “Love Letter to Common Ground Clinic.” (4 pgs)
9. Yashna Maya Padamsee, “Communities of Care, Organizations for Liberation.” (2 pgs)
10. Tema Okun, “From White Racist to White Anti-Racist: The Lifelong Journey,” dRworks. (16 pgs)
11. Ejeris Dixon, “Our Relationships Keep Us Alive: Let’s Prioritize Them in 2018”truthout.(7 pgs)

Recommended: Climate Crisis/Environmental Degradation

1. Indigenous Environmental Network, Indigenous Principles of Just Transition. (4 pgs)
2. “Ecology and Sovereignty: Native and Indigenous Perspectives Transcending Boundaries” recording of an event at Earth Week at The New School starting at minute 21 (100 mins)
3. Lewis Raven Wallace, “Poor southerners are joining the globe’s climate migrants“, Scalawag Magazine. (11 pgs)
4. Melina Laboucan-Massimo, ‘Oil on Lubicon Land’ – A Photo Essay, Greenpeace Canada. (11 mins)

Recommended: State Repression

1. Sarah Lazare, “The police state can come after Trump protesters, but it can’t make them cooperate,” In These Times. (6 pgs)
2. Democracy Now, “Private mercenary firm TigerSwan compares anti-DAPL water protectors to ‘Jihadist Insurgency.’” (60 mins)  and “Part 2: Private security firm TigerSwan targets pipeline protesters in COINTELPRO-like operation.” (22 mins)
3. Shanelle Matthews and Malkia Cyril, “We say black lives matter. The FBI says that makes us a security threat,” Washington Post. (3 pgs)
4. Zoë Carpenter and Tracie Williams, “Since Standing Rock, 56 Bills Have Been Introduced in 30 States to Restrict Protests,” The Nation. (5 pgs)

First weekend readings | Second weekend readings