Michael’s Comments (group member since Feb 11, 2021)

Michael’s comments from the Reading with Comrades group.

Chomsky and Cornel West have both had a tremendous impact on my ability to understand and articulate problems concerning capitalism, racism, neo-liberalism, imperialism, etc etc etc, and the importance of intersectional coalition building to address those issues.

Marx was also a shock for me as I started to explore more foundational works.

Emma Goldman was probably my first experience w/ explicitly radical text, also impactful.

Reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X as a teenager was also huge for me. Very stark contrast in comparison to how the media continues to portray him and the movement, decades later.

I'm still a lil' baby when it comes to revolutionary ideas. Prior, I got most of my information from podcasts and articles. Those are extremely important too - especially when short on time! - but I feel that they ought to take a supplemental role in addition to books and essays, which are more dense with information and context crucial to generating deeper levels of understanding of left thinking.

I've been meaning to get into Octavia Butler - I'd be happy to participate as well, assuming the offer is still open ~

As far as a suggestion goes, maybe Parable of the Sower? It's a dystopic novel that takes place in a future experiencing collapse due to catastrophic climate change and socio-economic inequality. Seems maybe, sort of, perhaps relevant to contemporary developments that fall within the scope of discussion for this group.

Margaret Atwood explores similar topics in her MaddAddam trilogy. I've read the first one and I recommend it, but it's pretty dark and I assume the trend continues sharply in subsequent books.

Definitely update us if you plan on going forward w/ the reading group.