On Wednesday 25th September 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Prima Facie, an award-winning play exploring the patriarchal power of the law through the experiences of a young, brilliant barrister who has worked her way up from working-class origins (links to watch or read the play below). Together with the play, we will discuss two short pieces from a zine called “What About The Rapists?”, which looks at contemporary anarchist theory and practice on crime and justice (links to download these below). Relevant to the issues raised by the play, these readings will also connect back to our previous two sessions (exploring anarchism in different ways), but you do not need to have attended the previous events to come along to this one.
Find links to resources related to the play and zine below, as well as information about the venue for our events and our group. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH.
Content warnings for sexual violence, rape specifically, and for the criminal justice system.
If you can’t make those dates or afford the £14 tickets, you can alsowatch the play for free as a video on the Internet Archive website (1 hour, 40 minutes)
The script of the play is also available as a book – together with colour photos and exclusive additional content- from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50). If you buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop via the previous link – RRP £12.99, when looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £11.43, a saving of £1.56).
Finally, there is also a novellisation of the play, written by the same author, Suzie Miller. We intend to discuss the play (and the zine) rather than the novel – but radical readers may wish to read the novel as well.
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.
We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the play
“Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister who has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning. But when an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law – where the burden of proof and morality diverge – she finds herself in a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game.
After acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers’ Guild Award for Drama, Prima Facie received its European premiere in a sold-out run at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End in 2022 starring Jodie Comer in her West End debut. It was named Best New Play at both the 2023 Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards. A filmed version, released in 2022, went on to become the highest-grossing event cinema release ever in the UK.”
About the zine
“This zine looks at contemporary anarchist theory and practice on crime and justice, though it won’t be using these terms. The first half will be a critical examination of Transformative Justice-based accountability processes, an approach with origins in US anarchist circles now taking seed in parts of Europe. The other half looks at retributive approaches, such as survivor-led direct action against rapists.”
On Wednesday 28th August 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Anarcho-Indigenism: Conversations on Land and Freedom– edited by Edited by Francis Dupuis-Déri and Benjamin Pillet. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to free resources related to the book, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event and venue.
Anarcho-Indigenism is a dialogue between anarchism and indigenous politics. In their interviews, contributors Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Véronique Hébert, Gord Hill, Freda Huson, J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas and Toghestiy reveal what indigenous thought and traditions and anarchism have in common, without denying the scars left by colonialism even within this anti-authoritarian movement. They ultimately offer a vision of the world that combines anti-colonialism, feminism, ecology, anti-capitalism and anti-statism.
Episode 1 of Season 10 of Anarchy on Air radio show (broadcast January 2020) focusing “on a blockade at the base of Mauna Kea, a mountain on the “Big Island” of Hawai‘i”
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.
We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book, editors and contributors
“As early as the end of the 19th century, anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus became interested in indigenous peoples, many of whom they saw as societies without a state or private property, living a form of communism. Contemporary thinkers such as David Graeber and John Holloway have continued this tradition of engagement with the practices of indigenous societies and their politics, while indigenous activists and intellectuals coined the term ‘anarcho-indigenism’, in reference to a long history of (often imperfect) collaboration between anarchists and indigenous activists, over land rights and environmental issues, including recent high profile anti-pipeline campaigns.”
Francis Dupuis-Dériis a Professor of Political Science and a member of the Institut de Recherches et d’études Féministes at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Gord Hill is an Indigenous writer, artist and activist from the Kwakwaka’wakw nation.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies at California State University. She is author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.
Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkeha’ka activist, film-maker and entrepreneur from Kanesatake. He made a number of independent documentaries such as ‘Elsipogtog: No Fracking Way!‘ and ‘Karistatsi Onienre: The Iron Snake‘ on the pipeline project called Énergie Est (embedded below)
Véronique Hébert is an actor, theatre director and writer from the Atikamekw First Nation of Wemotaci.
Freda Huson is a Wet’suwet’en land defender and representative of the Wet’suwet’en Camp in North West British Columbia, blocking various tar sands and fracked gas pipelines.
Toghestiy is a Wet’suwet’en land defender and representative of the Wet’suwet’en Camp in North West British Columbia blocking various tar sands and fracked gas pipelines. Toghestiy is a hereditary chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan.
J. Kēhaulani Kauanuiis a diasporic Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) born in southern California on traditional homeland of the Tongva people. She is the co-producer for Anarchy on Air, a majority POC radio show co-produced with a group of students.
On Wednesday 31st July 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States by Zoe Baker. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to free resources related to the book, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event and venue.
Means and Ends is a new overview of the revolutionary strategy of anarchism in Europe and the United States between 1868 and 1939. Zoe Baker clearly and accessibly explains the ideas that historical anarchists developed in order to change the world. This includes their views on direct action, revolution, organization, state socialism, reforms, and trade unions. The consistent heart of anarchism was the idea that anarchist ends can only be achieved through anarchist means. Baker draws upon a vast assortment of examples to show how this simple premise underpinned anarchist attempts to put theory into action.
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £21. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £18.48, a saving of £2.52).
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.
We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book and author
“Means and Ends is a new overview of the revolutionary strategy of anarchism in Europe and the United States between 1868 and 1939. Zoe Baker clearly and accessibly explains the ideas that historical anarchists developed in order to change the world. This includes their views on direct action, revolution, organization, state socialism, reforms, and trade unions. Throughout, she demonstrates that the reasons anarchists gave for supporting or opposing particular strategies were grounded in a theoretical framework—a theory of practice—which maintained that, as people engage in activity, they simultaneously change the world and themselves. This theoretical framework was the foundation for the anarchist commitment to the unity of means and ends: the means that revolutionaries propose to achieve social change have to involve forms of activity which transform people into individuals who are capable of, and driven to, both overthrow capitalism and the state and build a free society. The consistent heart of anarchism was the idea that anarchist ends can only be achieved through anarchist means. Cutting through misconceptions and historical inaccuracies, Baker draws upon a vast assortment of examples to show how this simple premise underpinned anarchist attempts to put theory into action.”
Zoe Baker is a libertarian socialist philosopher with a PhD on the history of anarchism. She is known for popularizing the theory and history of anarchism, feminism, and Marxism on her popular YouTube and Twitter platforms
On Wednesday 26th June 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to a free copy of the book as a pdf, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event, venue and free resources.
In 2011, many Syrians took to the streets of Damascus to demand the overthrow of the government of Bashar al-Assad. Burning Country explores the horrific and complicated reality of life in present-day Syria.
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £14.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £13.19, a saving of £1.80).
Event format
We are very fortunate that one of the authors, Robin Yassin-Kassab, is hoping to join us half way through the meeting to answer questions about the book. We will also be joined by Rami, a Syrian refugee living locally.
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university.
We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book and authors
“Burning Country explores the horrific and complicated reality of life in present-day Syria with unprecedented detail and sophistication, drawing on new first hand testimonies from opposition fighters, exiles lost in an archipelago of refugee camps, and courageous human rights activists among many others. These stories are expertly interwoven with a trenchant analysis of the brutalisation of the conflict and the militarisation of the uprising, of the rise of the Islamists and sectarian warfare, and the role of governments in Syria and elsewhere in exacerbating those violent processes. With chapters focusing on ISIS and Islamism, regional geopolitics, the new grassroots revolutionary organisations, and the worst refugee crisis since World War Two, Burning Country is a vivid and groundbreaking look at a modern-day political and humanitarian nightmare.”
Robin Yassin-Kassab is a regular media commentator on Syria and the Middle East. He is the author of the novel The Road from Damascus (Penguin, 2009) and contributor to Syria Speaks (Saqi, 2014).
Leila Al-Shami has worked with the human rights movement in Syria and across in the Middle East. She is a founding member of Tahrir-ICN, a network that aimed to connect anti-authoritarian struggles across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
On Wednesday 29th May 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to a free copy of the book as a pdf, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event, venue and more. We’ll be looking at three quotes in particular, discussing them in small groups. If you don’t have time to read the full book, we recommend Chapter 2 (pages 71-86).
This book argues that the perceived passivity of the poor is the direct result of economic, social and political domination. It suggests that in some countries the oppressors use the ‘piggy bank’ system – treating students as passive, empty vessels – to preserve their authority and maintain a culture of silence. Through cooperation and dialogue, Freire suggests, the authoritarian teacher-pupil model can be replaced with critical thinking so that the student becomes co-creator of knowledge. Crucial to Freire’s argument is the belief that every human being, no matter how impoverished or illiterate, can develop an awareness of self, and the right to be heard.
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £9.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £8.79, a saving of £1.20).
Event format
At this event we’ll focus on three quotes – which you can read below. We’ll discuss these in small groups before coming together as a single group at the end of the meeting to share reflections that have come up through those discussions or from reading parts of the book we haven’t been able to discuss. We’ll start the session with an invitation to share brief personal thoughts on our own experiences of education.
From Chapter 2 (page 73) “This solution is not (nor can it be) found in the banking concept. On the contrary, banking education maintains and even stimulates the contradiction through the following attitudes and practices, which mirror oppressive society as a whole: (a) the teacher teaches and the students are taught; (b) the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing; (c) the teacher thinks and the students are thought about; (d) the teacher talks and the students listen—meekly; (e) the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined; (f) the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply; (g) the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher; (h) the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it; (i) the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students; (j) the teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects. It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.”
From Chapter 4 (page 149): “In the words of Francisco Weffert: All the policies of the Left are based on the masses and depend on the consciousness of the latter. If that consciousness is confused, the Left will lose its roots and certain downfall will be imminent, although (as in the Brazilian case) the Left may be deluded into thinking it can achieve the revolution by means of a quick return to power. In a situation of manipulation, the Left is almost always tempted by a “quick return to power,” forgets the necessity of joining with the oppressed to forge an organization, and strays into an impossible “dialogue” with the dominant elites. It ends by being manipulated by these elites, and not infrequently itself falls into an elitist game, which it calls “realism.” Manipulation, like the conquest whose objectives it serves, attempts to anesthetize the people so they will not think. For if the people join to their presence in the historical process critical thinking about that process, the threat of their emergence materializes in revolution. Whether one calls this correct thinking “revolutionary consciousness” or “class consciousness,” it is an indispensable precondition of revolution. The dominant elites are so well aware of this fact that they instinctively use all means, including physical violence, to keep the people from thinking. They have a shrewd intuition of the ability of dialogue to develop a capacity for criticism.”
From Chapter 4 (page 128): “Dialogue with the people is radically necessary to every authentic revolution. This is what makes it a revolution, as distinguished from a military coup. One does not expect dialogue from a coup—only deceit (in order to achieve “legitimacy”) or force (in order to repress). Sooner or later, a true revolution must initiate a courageous dialogue with the people. Its very legitimacy lies in that dialogue. It cannot fear the people, their expression, their effective participation in power. It must be accountable to them, must speak frankly to them of its achievements, its mistakes, its miscalculations, and its difficulties. The earlier dialogue begins, the more truly revolutionary will the movement be. The dialogue which is radically necessary to revolution corresponds to another radical need: that of women and men as beings who cannot be truly human apart from communication, for they are essentially communicative creatures. To impede com munication is to reduce men to the status of “things”—and this is a job for oppressors, not for revolutionaries. Let me emphasize that my defense of the praxis implies no dichotomy by which this praxis could be divided into a prior stage of reflection and a subsequent stage of action. Action and reflection occur simultaneously.”
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university.
We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book and author
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (19 September 1921 – 2 May 1997) was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy. His influential work Pedagogy of the Oppressed is generally considered one of the foundational texts of the critical pedagogy movement, and was the third most cited book in the social sciences as of 2016 according to Google Scholar. Freire joined the Workers’ Party (PT) in São Paulo and acted as a supervisor for its adult literacy project from 1980 to 1986. When the Workers’ Party won the 1988 São Paulo mayoral elections in 1988, Freire was appointed municipal Secretary of Education.
Freire wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed between 1967 and 1968, while living in the United States. Originally written in his native Portuguese, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was first published in Spanish in 1968
Due to the 1964 Brazilian coup d’état, where a military dictatorship was put in place with the support of the United States, Paulo Freire was exiled from his home country, an exile that lasted 16 years. After a brief stay in Bolivia, he moved to Chile in November 1964 and stayed until April 1969 when he accepted a temporary position at Harvard University. His four-and-a-half year stay in Chile impacted him intellectually, pedagogically, and ideologically, and contributed significantly to the theory and analysis he presents in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In Freire’s own words:
When I wrote [Pedagogy of the Oppressed] I was already completely convinced of the problem of social classes. In addition, I wrote this book on the basis of my extensive experience with peasants in Chile; being absolutely convinced of the process of ideological hegemony and what that meant. When I would hear the peasants speaking, I experienced the whole problem of the mechanism of domination (which I analyze in the first chapter of the book)…Certainly, in my earliest writings I did not make this explicit, because I did not perceive it yet as such…[Pedagogy of the Oppressed] is also completely situated in a historical reality.
On Wednesday 24th April 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Empire of Normality – Neurodiversity and Capitalism by Robert Chapman. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to a free extract, to buy a copy of the book at a discount, information about the venue and more.
Exploring the rich histories of the neurodiversity and disability movements, Robert Chapman shows how the rise of capitalism created an ’empire of normality’ that transformed our understanding of the body into that of a productivity machine. Robert Chapman (they/them) is a neurodivergent academic with an interest in emancipatory politics, social theory, disability, and mental health
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £14.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £13.19, a saving of £1.80).
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university.
We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book and author
Neurodiversity is on the rise. Awareness and diagnoses have exploded in recent years, but we are still missing a wider understanding of how we got here and why. Beyond simplistic narratives of normativity and difference, this groundbreaking book exposes the very myth of the ‘normal’ brain as a product of intensified capitalism.
Exploring the rich histories of the neurodiversity and disability movements, Robert Chapman shows how the rise of capitalism created an ’empire of normality’ that transformed our understanding of the body into that of a productivity machine.
Neurodivergent liberation is possible – but only by challenging the deepest logics of capitalism. Empire of Normality is an essential guide to understanding the systems that shape our bodies, minds and deepest selves – and how we can undo them.
Robert Chapman (they/them) is a neurodivergent academic with an interest in emancipatory politics, social theory, disability, and mental health
On Wednesday 27th March 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Doppelganger – a trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. We will meet at Stroud Chocolate House, 2 Bedford Street – Stroud – GL5 1AY. Below you can find links to free excerpts, to buy a copy of the book at a discount, information about the venue and more.
Doppelganger is a guidebook for our unsettling age, inviting all of us to view our reflections in the looking glass. It’s for anyone who has lost hours down an internet rabbit hole, who wonders why our politics has become so fatally warped, and who wants a way out of our collective vertigo and back to fighting for what really matters. Braiding together elements of tragicomic memoir, chilling political reportage, and cobweb-clearing cultural analysis, Naomi Klein dives deep into what she calls the Mirror World—our destabilized present rife with doubles and confusion, where far right movements playact solidarity with the working class, AI-generated content blurs the line between genuine and spurious, New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers further scramble our familiar political allegiances, and so many of us project our own carefully curated digital doubles out into the social media sphere.
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £25. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £22, a saving of £3).
This follows a discussion on 28th February 2024 of Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat – which covers similar issues and can also be bought from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop. You don’t have to have attended the previous event to join us to discuss the Naomi Klein book.
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university.
We will meet at Stroud Chocolate House, 2 Bedford Street – Stroud – GL5 1AY. This is just off the Stroud High St. There is parking nearby in Fawkes Place, and step-free access. Drinks will be available – please bring some cash. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book
When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously. Then suddenly it wasn’t. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity – all we have to meet the world – so unstable? To find out, Klein decided to follow her double into a bizarre, uncanny mirror world: one of conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters, where soft-focus wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists (all in the name of protecting ‘the children’).
On Wednesday 28th Feburary 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat, a book by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski and Julian Walker – hosts of the Conspirituality podcast. We will meet at Stroud Chocolate House, 2 Bedford Street – Stroud – GL5 1AY (see below for more venue details).
Conspirituality takes a deep dive into the troubling phenomenon of influencers who have curdled New Age spirituality and wellness with the politics of paranoia—peddling vaccine misinformation, tales of child trafficking, and wild conspiracy theories.
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £25. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £22, a saving of £3).
We will follow this session with a discussion on 27th March 2024 of Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger: a trip into the mirror world – which covers similar issues and can also be bought from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop.
About our events and the venue
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university.
We will meet at Stroud Chocolate House, 2 Bedford Street – Stroud – GL5 1AY. This is just off the Stroud High St. There is parking nearby in Fawkes Place, and step-free access. Drinks will be available – please bring some cash. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.
About the book
Since May 2020, Derek Beres, Matthew Remski and Julian Walker have used their Conspirituality podcast to expose countless facets of the intersection of alt-health practitioners with far-right conspiracy trolls. Now this expansive and revelatory book unpacks the follies, frauds, cons and cults that dominate the New Age and wellness spheres and betray the trust of people who seek genuine relief in this uncertain age.
With analytical rigor and irreverent humor, Conspirituality offers an antidote to our times, helping readers recognize wellness grifts, engage with loved ones who’ve fallen under the influence, and counter lies and distortions with insight and empathy.
On this page you will find a list of titles of the books we will read and discuss in 2024. When we have full details for events, there will be a link to a separate page on this site for each events. Until then, there are links to buy the books from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (YLB – where you can buy them with a 12% discount by entering the coupon code “stroudradical24”).
The Drowned and The Saved is a book of eight essays by Italian-Jewish author, Primo Levi. It is his last work, written a year before his death. It is an analytical book about life and death in the Nazi extermination camps, informed by Levi’s personal experience as a survivor of Auschwitz.
You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £10.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £9.67, a saving of £1.32)
Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book. If you do not have time to read the whole book, please choose a single essay to read.
Also taking place on Sunday January 28th at 7.30pm is a screening of Denial, as part of Stroud Film Festival. The film is based on the acclaimed book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier by Deborah Lipstadt. More information and tickets available to buy online from the Festival website. Tickets are be priced at £6 – cheaper tickets (£4) are available to people on low incomes, and people who are able can pay £8 to ‘pay it forward’.
A 4 minute video from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, introducing Primo Levi through the context of the typescript of Levi’s first book that his American relatives recently donated to the Museum (embedded below)
Stroud Radical Reading Group 